How to Solve a Puzzle

This blog is the first in a four part series.

I have enjoyed working jigsaw puzzles for most of my life. I started with the standard puzzles that come in a box with hundreds or thousands of pieces and branched out into 3D puzzles that required solving rather than completing. I have shared my passion with my two daughters. We have spent hours putting puzzles together.

A couple of years ago, my family travelled to the beach, which we do almost every summer. After spending lots of time in the sand and sun, we needed a little rest. So we decided to put together one of the puzzles that was in the rental property where we were staying. We poured the pieces on the table and got to work. It was a large puzzle and we spent most of the week working on it when we were resting in the A/C, but our goal was to complete it before leaving. We made great progress, but it wasn’t until the very end, that we discovered the puzzle was missing several pieces. Even though we brought it as close to completion as possible, we were still sad that we couldn’t reach our goal.

Puzzles are fun because they are challenging, but they can also be frustrating if you can’t complete them. Here are the four steps we follow when putting together a large puzzle:

1. The first step is to turn all the pieces face up and locate the edge pieces. The corner pieces should also be identified and organized separately from the other edge pieces.
2. Next, using the corner and edge pieces put the perimeter of the puzzle together. It may also help if you start looking at the picture on the box to identify which pieces go where.
3. Using the picture on the box, identify a person or thing and find the pieces for that part of the puzzle and put them together (and repeat). This step will help if you are doing the puzzle alone or with a group of people. If you are doing it alone, it will keep you focused and more efficient. If working with a group, it will be mean less fussing because you will not be fighting for the same pieces.
4. As areas of the puzzle are finished in step 3, they can be moved around within the completed perimeter using the picture on the box as a guide. Then the left over puzzle pieces can be used to fill in the gaps and your puzzle should look exactly like the picture on the box.

Albeit more complex, fraud investigations can be very similar to completing a puzzle. Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging about these steps to connect them with investigating fraud. In addition, I will discuss the following identifiable complexities throughout the series that make investigations more challenging than your typical jigsaw puzzle:

1. You don’t know what the puzzle looks like until it’s complete;
2. You don’t have all the pieces; and
3. You have pieces that could be from another puzzle.

Please stay tuned for this exciting new series that will keep you coming back for more!