Solving a Kit Williams puzzle

[Bigfella]

Checked if there was a thread for this, it was a few years old and I've gathered that the mods don't like old threads being resurrected.  I already know the solution for 'Masquerade' and the hidden title of 'Untitled'.  On Dan Amrich's site 'Masquerade and the mysteries of Kit Williams'  there is an easter egg hidden page that tells you 'Untitled' also has two alternative titles.  Got the one which involves considering all the bees, of both paint and marquetry.  Totally stumped with the message in the painting of the lady personifying Spring lying asleep with flowers sprouting out of her dress. 

[Replies From View]

Depends a lot on whether it's the chunky variant or the original slim multi-fingered Williams

[madhair60]

I believe the alternate titles are "Cum Horse" and "Racism Matters"

[mothman]

Is the title "Ha, I've constructed nonmetallic IEDs and left them around all the places I'm known to visit, try finding THAT with a metal detector, you cunt"?

[Buelligan]

Checked if there was a thread for this, it was a few years old and I've gathered that the mods don't like old threads being resurrected.  I already know the solution for 'Masquerade' and the hidden title of 'Untitled'.  On Dan Amrich's site 'Masquerade and the mysteries of Kit Williams'  there is an easter egg hidden page that tells you 'Untitled' also has two alternative titles.  Got the one which involves considering all the bees, of both paint and marquetry.  Totally stumped with the message in the painting of the lady personifying Spring lying asleep with flowers sprouting out of her dress.

The other answer I'm aware of is from the picture of the same woman planting a primrose.  I looked at the picture you're talking about, I suppose there could be

Spoiler alert

an anagram relating to the plants on her dress - they're arranged in two distinct rows but I've looked at them and not got far (FLORA'S somethingsomething - was hoping for Flora's Dream, got DAM but having difficulty now, obviously using common names and many plants have a lot of common names, so dunno)

[close]

.  Are you sure there's supposed to be something there?

[gib]

Spoiler alert

da margarine for men?

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[touchingcloth]

I have read the OP thrice and cannot parse it. I think you're supposed to swap doors?

[PlanktonSideburns]

Don't understand a single word of any of this

Am I having a stroke

[touchingcloth]

Don't understand a single word of any of this

Am I having a stroke

Have you found the Easter egg page?

[PlanktonSideburns]

Hs art?

[Bigfella]

The other answer I'm aware of is from the picture of the same woman planting a primrose.  I looked at the picture you're talking about, I suppose there could be

Spoiler alert

an anagram relating to the plants on her dress - they're arranged in two distinct rows but I've looked at them and not got far (FLORA'S somethingsomething - was hoping for Flora's Dream, got DAM but having difficulty now, obviously using common names and many plants have a lot of common names, so dunno)

[close]

.  Are you sure there's supposed to be something there?

I'm sure.  Amrich (who knows his stuff) says the 'Death of Spring' painting has a 'very difficult' message which hardly anyone spots.  I was wondering about the plant names too.

[Bigfella]

I have read the OP thrice and cannot parse it. I think you're supposed to swap doors?

wye yoo no unnerstan?  It makes sense if you're into it, I suppose.  Now you know how I feel when Sheldon and Hawking go the whole hog with 1+1+>[1-10]=*$ (but only if you allow for the bicuspid tangential integer being a prenatal number).  No offence to the maths guys!

[Huxleys Babkins]

Kat Walliams

[Buelligan]

                                    I'm sure.  Amrich (who knows his stuff) says the 'Death of Spring' painting has a 'very difficult' message which hardly anyone spots.  I was wondering about the plant names too.

Had a quick look at them when I wrote that to you - the plants are -

Spoiler alert

Foxglove, Lily of the Valley, Lady Orchid, Archangel (Yellow Deadnettle), Alkanet (Bugloss or Common Bugloss), Strawberry (wood or wild), Dandelion, Ramson, Eyebright, Anemone (wood or wild also known as Windflower, Thimbleweed and Smellfox), Marsh Marigold (aka Kingcup).  Giving FLORA'S (the Goddess of Spring and Flowers) and a group of possible letters from Dandelion, Eyebright, Anemone/Thimbleweed, Marsh Marigold and Alkanet.  Giving D, E, A/T, M/K, A/B. 

My feeling is, these flowers are extremely well rendered, they're not random, they are specific (and laid out indicating two rows or groups of letters).  The fact that you can get Flora(s) and the remaining letters look like they could give you Death or Dream (hopefully both, given the fact that many wildflowers have numerous common names and a double meaning would be delightful and apposite), leads me to suspect that, given more time, this might likely be the answer you're talking about.

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[Bigfella]

As far as I can see, you've cracked it!  Well done, Beulligan. In case you don't already know: to get the hidden page, go onto Dan Amrich's ' Masquerade' site, click on 'Untitled' and an image on that page is clickable.

[Buelligan]

No, I didn't (know that), haven't visited that site but I'll look, thanks!  Having had another quick look at the pic -

Spoiler alert

I'm thinking I've made an error in identifying the Archangel/Yellow Dead Nettle/Lamium galeobdolon aka artillery plant, aluminium plant or yellow weasel-snout.

Looking at the pic again, it's obvious that the top row of plants read as Foxglove, Lily of the Valley, Lady Orchid, Yellow Rattle, Alkanet, Strawberry.  Giving - FLORA'S.

Second row - Dandelion, Ramson, Eyebright, Anemone, Marsh Marigold.  Giving D, R, E, A, M.  So, at last, Flora's Dream! 

[close]

So glad I went back and had another look.

[JesusAndYourBush]

I remember the Masquerade book sometime around the early 80's.  We got the book, looked at it, nice pictures and that but had no clue on solving the puzzle.  A couple of years later there was a documentary on how it was solved, mainly by fumbling and good luck and skulduggery and not actually by solving all the clues.  Not long after a computer game on the Spectrum was offering the golden thingumajig as a prize for completing a badly written incomprehensible game, so the makers of the game must have acquired it.  The whole thing seemed like a bit of a fuckup.

[Catalogue Trousers]

It was. Long story short, the Masquerade hare was found by a decidedly dodgy individual who'd learned key parts of the solution from an ex of Kit Williams's. He then went on to try to cash in on the Golden Hare by offering it as a prize in a computer game which was impossible to solve due to the fact that it was so deliberately vague.

Stuart Ashens provides a pretty comprehensive account of both the book and the computer game here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouvi-fwrfIY

[benjitz]

Spoilering this just in case it relates to one of the easter eggs mentioned in Bigfella's OP:

Spoiler alert

I thought I'd cracked The Bee Book as a teenager by counting the bees on each page and turning the resultant number into a letter based on its position in the alphabet. I remember this gave "BEESONLUSTING". Which was infuriating as it didn't quite make sense (you can imagine how excited i was after the first few letters though). I had to ask my mum what lusting meant, being only 13, and whether bees could be 'on' it. Or maybe it was an anagram but couldn't really do anything with it that way. Anyway, I guess it was a red herring.

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[Bigfella]

Spoilering this just in case it relates to one of the easter eggs mentioned in Bigfella's OP:

Spoiler alert

I thought I'd cracked The Bee Book as a teenager by counting the bees on each page and turning the resultant number into a letter based on its position in the alphabet. I remember this gave "BEESONLUSTING". Which was infuriating as it didn't quite make sense (you can imagine how excited i was after the first few letters though). I had to ask my mum what lusting meant, being only 13, and whether bees could be 'on' it. Or maybe it was an anagram but couldn't really do anything with it that way. Anyway, I guess it was a red herring.

[close]

It was one of the alternative titles - except you missed a few bees on one page! Count again and it'll make sense.

[benjitz]

Ha, got it, thanks for the tip! (And without the aid of the book). Wish I'd noticed that at the time, I remember counting and re-counting each page quite a few times in a desperate bid for it to make sense so dunno how I managed to miss some...

[Bigfella]

Ha, got it, thanks for the tip! (And without the aid of the book). Wish I'd noticed that at the time, I remember counting and re-counting each page quite a few times in a desperate bid for it to make sense so dunno how I managed to miss some...

Do you know the 'real' title?  You have to discover all the hidden animals and spot a couple of other clues.

[benjitz]

I looked it up once but I've forgotten it, so I guess I could have another go, cheers for the pointer!