- From personal experience nothing beats doughnuts on a dreary day.
- Unusual dreary realism versus typical upbeat primitive style from Charles Wysocki.
- Moderately challenging puzzle great on cold days.
Title: Dampy Donuts on a Dreary Day
Pieces: 1000
Artist: Charles Wysocki
Size: 27in x 20in or 68cm x 50cm
Company: Buffalo Games
Year Printed: ?
Not everyone is a fan of cold rainy days. However, there are times when cold wet gloomy days elicit wonderful memories, especially when donuts are involved. For me that memorable day was the state high school regional cross country championship. It had been raining the night before and on race day, it was in the low 40s F with scattered rain showers. Scores of runners turned the saturated course became a muddy mess. It was not my fastest race, but finished it with mud splattered all over my uniform and caked all over my legs and running shoe. Afterwards, our team was treated with what seemed like an unlimited supply of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Therefore, for me donuts are ingrained as the best treat for dreary days.
As for the illustration, it is probably the least cheerful Charles Wysocki illustration we have worked on so far. If you are looking for a more cheerful doughnut puzzle, then would recommend Aimee Stewart’s Coffee and Donuts. Dampy Donuts’ style is more akin to Wysocki’s later realism, such as Root Beer Break at the Butterfield’s, than his earlier primitive style, Prairie Wind Flowers. However, it is still Americana, especially with the American flag in the window.
Build
Fortunately, the puzzle is structured into three distinctive areas, which made sorting very straightforward. The first area consisted of the main building and the blue coffee doughnut van. Within this area, the building facade, roof, all texts, and the blue coffee doughnut van were sorted into their own pile. The second area was the gray sky and bare trees. Within this area were the unique patterns for the rainbow and umbrella sign. The last area comprised of the muddy road and the covered bridge. The people with umbrella, trash heap, and smaller automobile were distinctive enough to sort out. The gray sky was fairly uniform, however, the other items listed above were all fairly distinctive from each other and other parts of the puzzle.
Difficulty
The most challenging part of the puzzle was probably the gray sky, as it was fairly uniform pattern across a large portion of the puzzle. The muddy road had water puddles that proved visual clues of where pieces could fit together. It took three puzzlers three and half hours to complete (03:29:17) the puzzle. Overall, a moderately challenging puzzle that is great for cold days snuggled inside with a warm drink and maybe a donut.
Finally, Dampy Donuts on a Dreary Day is the 58th puzzle from our 87 puzzle collection. Leave us a comment if there are any other rainy jigsaw puzzles that you would like us to review.
