Sunday Drivers
A farmer is enjoying a quiet pint outside a country pub, while a pig sits next to him eating a packet of crisps. Further along the road, accompanied by a sheep and a sheepdog, another farmer waits by a gate until it’s safe to cross the road. He might have a long wait ahead of him, though, because a middle-aged lady in a big hat festooned with flowers is trundling along in a little blue Morris Minor. She’s driving so slowly, even a snail has time to get out of her way. The car’s number plate — MPH 15 — gives a clue as to how low her speed actually is.
Three further clues on the back of the box will help you to complete the rest of this Wasgij puzzle, our first venture into a more difficult kind of puzzle. The way to approach a Wasgij is to put yourself into someone else’s shoes and try to imagine what their view might be. In this puzzle, ‘Sunday Drivers’, that someone is the driver of an oncoming horse and cart.
What the cart driver is facing [Warning: possible spoilers ahead] is nothing short of chaos. Behind the Morris Minor is a queue of traffic that stretches for miles into the distance, finally disappearing over a faraway hill.
At the head of the queue are two men in a Goliath truck. They are, not surprisingly, furious at being held up. And they’re not the only ones: further back in the queue is a delivery van with the words ‘New laid eggs’ on the front. It has, it appears, been stuck in the traffic for so long that the eggs have hatched, and several chicks can be seen in the back, all making ‘cheep cheep’ noises. Close by, another van with a sign saying ‘Fresh fish’ has also been delayed too long: squiggly lines above the van indicate the presence of foul and fishy odours. Cartoon fans will recognize these lines as ‘indotherms’, or, more accurately in this case, ‘wafterons‘.
‘Sunday Drivers’ is the work of artist, Graham Thompson. His comic style naturally appealed to us and made it much easier for us to decide whether to tackle such a fiendishly difficult puzzle. In the end, it wasn’t as tricky as we had expected, although it was still enough of a challenge. If you’re thinking of trying a Wasgij, I’d urge you to give it a go. Take a look at our jigsaw gallery (the link is on this blog’s sidebar) to see a few parts of ‘Sunday Drivers’ in its completed state. [Note: ignore that last bit if you want to avoid spoilers.]