Kit Williams, Masquerade, etc.
David White
This is more of a historical than puzzle-type question, but I've been
intrigued recently reading Kit William's _Masquerade_ puzzle book as well
has his nameless one. I'm too young to remember anything about the book
and the time it was written, but the idea of a country-wide (or
world-wide) treasure hunt intrigues me.
I was wondering if anyone had any information about puzzle books like Kit
Williams'. Is he still alive, and if so, what does he do now? Has he
made any since? Has anyone else written any? What was it like during the
months that his 2 books were out in England - was it just a minor thing,
or was the whole country interested in looking for the treasure? Can/will
such a thing ever be done again?
Anyway, I'm just interested in huge global puzzles like that in general,
and would appreciate any info anyone might have. Thanks.
=-=-= David =-=-=
Chris Cole
==> references/books/masquerade.p <==
What is the solution to _Masquerade_ by Kit Williams?
==> references/books/masquerade.s <==
The original book:
_Masquerade_ by Kit Williams, Jonathan Cape, London, 1979
The answer book:
_Masquerade The Complete Book with the Answer Explained_ by Kit Williams,
Jonathan Cape, London, 1982
The whole story:
_The Quest for the Golden Hare_ by Bamber Gascoigne, Jonathan Cape,
London, 1983
_Masquerade_ contains fifteen very detailed one- or two-page paintings
rendered in the fantastic style typical of a high quality children's
book, together with a dreamy story containing characters such as Jack
Hare, Tara Tree-tops and the Lady Moon. Most of the very lifelike
people in the paintings are actual friends of Mr. Williams. This book
set off a frenzy of solving activity unequalled by any subsequent book,
even though its imitators offered much higher prizes, culminating in
the $500,000 of the book _Treasure_ with puzzle by Paul Hoffman (a.k.a.
Dr. Crypton).
The solution to Masquerade is simplicity itself, and is fully in
keeping with the nature of the book: namely, a picture book. First of
all, the text has nothing to do with it; the pictures alone contain the
answer. Secondly, the answer is literally pointed to by the pictures.
Each picture is bordered by letters, which is a dead giveaway since the
letters have no reason for being there if they are not part of the
puzzle. By drawing a line from the eyes of the various creatures in
the pictures, through their longest fingers, biggest toes, etc., and
extending to the bordering letters, this message is found:
CATHERINES LONG FINGER OVER SHADOWS EARTH BURIED YELLOW AMULET MIDDAY
POINTS THE HOUR IN LIGHT OF EQUINOX LOOK YOU.
The first letter from each page spells:
CLOSE BY AMPTHILL
This method of solution is hinted to on the title page with the rhyme:
To solve the hidden riddle, you must use your eyes,
And find the hare in every picture that may point you to the prize.
Armed with this information, it is a simple matter to discover that
there is a statue of Catherine of Aragon in a public park near the
village of Ampthill. By doing a little amateur astronomy, the exact
spot pointed to by the statue's long finger can be determined without
waiting for the equinox. Beneath this spot was the treasure, a golden
hare. The book also contains a number of confirming clues.
_Quest_ chronicles some of the amazingly far-fetched approaches taken
by Masqueraders. Mr. Gascoigne, a respected author on the arts,
accompanied Mr. Williams the night he buried the treasure. He also
read the tens of thousands of letters received by Mr. Williams. The
hare was found three years after the book was published by a shadowy
figure with pseudonym Ken Thomas. Mr. "Thomas" found the hare by
researching Mr. Williams' life, going to places that he had lived, and
doing a lot of digging with the occasional help of some of the
confirming clues. Two British physicists did finally solve the puzzle
with the help of a hint published by Mr. Williams in the Sunday Times,
but they were a little too late.
After the announcement that the hare was unearthed, many fanatical
Masqueraders tried to prove that their approaches could lead to the
correct solution. For example, someone discovered that the word
"thill" means a fleck of paint (according to some obscure dictionary),
and he thought he saw an inexplicable fleck of paint in each painting.
He also thought he saw the word "amp" hidden in each painting. For
example, in one picture a girl is floating in the air above houses.
And a volt (vault) over an ohm (home) is an amp. Mr. Gascoigne
summarizes his observations thus:
Tens of thousands of letters from Masqueraders have convinced me that
the human mind has an equal capacity for pattern-matching and
self-deception. While some addicts were busy cooking the riddle,
others were more single-mindedly continuing their own pursuit of the
hare quite regardless of the news that it had been found. Their own
theories had come to seem so convincing that no exterior evidence could
refute them. These most determined of Masqueraders may grudgingly have
accepted that a hare of some sort was dug up at Ampthill, but they
believed there would be another hare, or a better solution, awaiting
them at their favourite spot. Kit would expect them to continue
undismayed by the much publicised diversion at Ampthill and would be
looking forward to the day when he would greet them as the real
discoverers of the real puzzle of Masquerade. Optimistic expeditions
were still setting out, with shovels and maps, throughout the summer of
1982.
==> references/books/unnamed.p <==
What is the solution to the unnamed book by Kit Williams?
==> references/books/unnamed.s <==
The title is "The Bee on the Comb."
In the first picture, there are two "hybrid" animals, one half-mouse,
half-horse, the other half-cat, half-toad. If you've read
"Masquerade", the drawings remind you of the circle of animals in one
of the pictures in that book, and there's even a footnote there
explaining the names of the animals in that picture. Using the same
reasoning, the two animals in "The Bee on the Comb" ought to be called
a "morse" and a "coad". So the obvious conclusion is that this is a
clue indicating that Morse code is involved. The Morse code is around
the frame of the gardening picture, and spells out "All animals are
equal in a tale of tail to tail, end to end to end." This is the same
message that is around the picture in "Masquerade."
Each picture in "The Bee on the Comb" contains a hidden animal. Ignore
all the naturalistic animals: you're looking just for one animal hidden
in some visually punning way. For example, in the first picture,
there's a parrot hidden in the young man's vest--turn the page upside
down and the leaves pictured on his vest become the parrot's feathers.
If you write down all fifteen hidden animals and take their last
letters, "end to end to end", it spells out "The Bee on the Comb". I
recall that we found the hidden animal in the picture on the kitchen
(the one with the box of Oxo cubes on the mantel) particularly
difficult to find, though I expect that'll vary from person to person.
The hidden animals are wonderfully cleverly hidden. Oh, and the animal
ending in C is rather obscure; I think we had to figure out its name
only after we'd figured out the title of the book and knew it ended in
C.
If you count the number of bees in each picture and convert it to
letters, using A = 1, B = 2, etc., you get "Bees Only Sting". By
looking at the honeycomb that obscures the title on the cover, you can
see how many letters the words in the title contain, and "Bees Only
Sting" does not work.
There's at least one other indication that the bees are a red herring. The
fourth line from the end of the text reads "the bees they are of little
consequence". I'm not positive that this isn't a coincidence, but it sure
looks like it might be a message to ignore the bees.
Scott Marley
hu...@well.sf.ca.us
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Mark Parry
dsw...@gibbs.oit.unc.edu "David White" writes:
>
> This is more of a historical than puzzle-type question, but I've been
> intrigued recently reading Kit William's _Masquerade_ puzzle book as well
> has his nameless one. I'm too young to remember anything about the book
> and the time it was written, but the idea of a country-wide (or
> world-wide) treasure hunt intrigues me.
>
It obsesses me!
> I was wondering if anyone had any information about puzzle books like Kit
> Williams'.
Kit Williams is a craftsman. Having completed Masquerade he had no interest
in Treasure Hunting.
> Is he still alive, and if so, what does he do now?
Yes, he paints.
> Has he made any since?
No apart from the untitled book
> Has anyone else written any?
Yes see list below
> What was it like during the months that his 2 books were out in England?
> was it just a minor thing, or was the whole country interested in looking
> for the treasure?
When Masquerade was launched it took over the country.
No-one had ever seen the like before. Over 2,000,000 copies were sold.
People went treasure hunting crazy over night.
> Can/will such a thing ever be done again?
>
See future at the end of the list
> Anyway, I'm just interested in huge global puzzles like that in general,
> and would appreciate any info anyone might have. Thanks.
>
After Masquerade the next book to catch the imagination was Conundrum.
This caused a lot of problems as many of the treasures were buried
near ancient monuments, which caused the lunatic fringe to ignore
the warning that no treasures were buried on the sites of ancient
monuments and dig the mouments up.
Treasure hunting or Armchair Treasure Hunting as it is more often
referred to went down hill from then on.
In 1992 we formed a club in Great Britain catering for all those
people for whom the desire to dig up buried treasure needs to be
satisifed. We bury our own treasures and produce a newsletter
six time a year. We are gradually raising the profile of Armchair
Treasure Hunting to the extent that in September our founder
Dan James will be launching a new book with a quarter of a million
pound prize.
If you are interested in the club you can contact me via Email
at Mpa...@mertcplc.demon.co.uk or write to:
The Armchair Treasure Hunt Club
PO Box 841
Uxbridge
Middlesex
UB10 9QT
England
This is a list of all of the Treasure Hunt books that I know of.
To qualify for the list there has to be a prize that is either
buried or hidden.
1979
Title: Masquerade
Author: Williams, Kit
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Prize: Golden Hare
Status: Discovered
1982
Title: Longboat Treasure Hunt
Author: Unknown
Publisher: Longboat Butter Company
Prize: 15 Silver Longboats
Status Discovered
Title: The Golden Key
Author: Shaw, Don
Publisher: William Maclellan
Prize: Golden Key + #50,000
Status: Withdrawn by author. Plans to relaunch.
Title: The Last Fairy
Author: Hancock, Fred
Publisher: Fantasy Publications
Prize: Golden Wand & Fairy
Status: Discovered
Title: The Piper Of Dreams
Author: Fenby, Terry Pitts
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Prize: Golden Flute
Status: Discovered
Title: With Interest
Author: Betts, David
Publisher: Treasure Books
Prize: Royalty Fund & Interest
Status: Discovered
1983
Title: Spirit Of The Stones
Author: Worsley, John
Publisher: Sheerjewel Ltd
Prize: 41 Diamond Shrouds + Cash Fund
Status: Time limit over, some diamonds undiscovered
Title: The Will
Author: Unknow
Publisher: Tricore Associates
Prize: #25,000 in Gold
Status: Unknown
1984
Title: Conundrum
Author: Shaw, Don
Publisher: Hamlyn / Cadburys
Prize: 12 Gold Eggs
Status: Discovered
Title: Treasure
Author: Krypton, Dr
Author: Warner Brothers (N.Y.)
Prize: Gold Horse & $500,000
Status: Time limit over.
1985
Title: The Goden Arrow
Author: Holmes, Armstrong
Publisher: Home Ales Brewery
Prize: #5,000 Gold Arrow
Status: Discovered
Title: The Golden Brain
Author: Spitting Image
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Prize: #1,000 Gold Brain
Status: Discovered
1986
Title: Quest For The Stone
Author: Betts, David
Publisher: Treasure Books
Prize: Increasing cash fund
Status: Ongoing
Title: So You Think You Know All About Cheshire
Author: Thompson, Debbie
Publisher: R.E.T. Publications
Prize: #500 Silver Cat
Status: Discovered
1987
Title: The Lost Cross Of Gold
Author: Osborne, Peter
Publisher Paragon Books
Prize: #200 Gold Cross
Status: Discovered
1989
Title: Helium Dream
Author: James, Dan
Publisher: Amethyst Books Ltd
Prize: Gold Heart
Status: Discovered
1991
Title: Lake District Hunt
Author: Thompson, Dick
Publisher: Puzzles By Post
Prize: #1,000 Bankers Draft
Status: Time limit over
1993
Title: To Search and Prosper
The Treasure Trail
Author: Park, Keith
Prize: #25,000
Publisher: KBP
Unknown
Title: Tiger Kub and the Royal Jewel
Author: Don James
Prize: Jewel
Status Unknown
Future September 1994
Title: TREASURE
Author: James, Dan
Publisher: Studio Editions
Prize: 250,000
** Please note where you see # read pounds stirling.
Be in touch.
Mark
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+--+--+--+--+
| 9|13|16|99| Mark Parry - Mpa...@mertcplc.demon.co.uk
+--+--+--+--+
| 7| 8|92|92|
+--+--+--+--+
|90|53| 7|19| The best of men is only a man at best,
+--+--+--+--+
|47|18|53| 7| And a hare, as everyone knows, is only a hare.
+--+--+--+--+ KW 1979
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