Puzzles queen set for world challenge

PUZZLE queen Liane Robinson

PUZZLE supremo Liane Robinson will fly the flag for Britain when she jets out to Turkey with a team of eggheads.

The 44-year-old mother-of-two is busily brushing up on her puzzle-solving skills ahead of the World Puzzle Championships.

She will face a battery of logic-based puzzles, ranging from Sudoku and spot the difference to battleships and word searches in foreign languages

Liane, who lives in Milnrow Road, Shaw, explained: “There are many, many others, but they are all ones where you don’t need language to solve them — fortunately for us, all the instructions are in English.”

Liane is part of a four-strong team which will compete against puzzle wizards from more than 20 countries in the three-day challenge in Antalya in November. She was picked for the UK team four years ago after selection through a tough online test, and took part in the world championships hosted by Hungary.

“Training consists of ignoring the housework and doing as many puzzles as possible from wherever I can lay my hands on them,” laughed Liane.

“I’ve currently got a set from the German Championships, and while I recognise certain puzzles, for others I have to use a German dictionary to translate the instructions.”

Liane will take part in a 24-hour contest in Hungary next month as part of her warm up, when she will tackle a gruelling 13 rounds of 100 minutes each with only a 10-minute break in between and a couple of 20-minute food breaks.

In November’s world championships — the 18th, the supersonic solvers will go under the spotlight both individually and as a team in 13 rounds ranging from 20 minutes to more than two hours.

Liane and her fellow puzzle maestros will come under stiff pressure in a weakest link game where individual tests uncover information to make a team puzzle solvable.

The UK team has not so far received any honours in the championships, and Liane said: “Certain solvers from around the world are so quick it is mind-boggling to even begin to wonder how they spot the way to solve some puzzles.”