We have a mystery puzzle... and we have to work on it!
It's got a cat on it...
I don't like cats... just sayin'...
Anyhow... the mystery is "Can you name the artist's cat? A riddle within a puzzle! Piece this puzzle together and solve a catly conundrum at the same time."
Right then... Sherlock Sandy and Cocoa Watson are on the case!
First... we noticed there are little pictures around the edge...
That look like bits of famous paintings. That's a Money in the top right... and there are red numbers in the four corners of the box and... written numbers next to the other pictures... in different languages!
See... that's a Klimt in the top right...
So... the first thing we did... Oh, there's the Scream by Munchhausen... or whatever his name is... and that's a Van Gogh chair below that one...
Anyhow... the first thing we did was... oohh... is that a Turner on the bottom... between the two faces? OK... focus!!!
The first thing we did was print out the small paintings... We've seen that tiger in the jungle before!!
Pretty sure that's a Picasso in the middle...
Anyhow... there we go... that's the lot! Because... we might need some help with this!
OK... see the numbers? That says Quattro with the women's face... that's Italian (Spanish?) for "four".
The the tiger is "un"... that's French for "one"!
See... we did screen shots off the phone and then assembled them... and printed!
So... we thought maybe the little paintings should be grouped by numbers... all the ones together, etc.
So we... well... the human... cut them all apart...
And we grouped them.
But... there are definitely different artist's in each group...
And not even the same number of paintings for each number.
Only two of the 4s...
Hmmm...
Maybe there's another system?
And no 7s at all...
We don't think this is the right solution...
And then the four corners are different too... sigh.
While Sandy's wrestling with paintings... I thought I'd show you closer bits of the puzzle. The cat is wearing an "L" tag on her/his collar so maybe the cat's name starts with "L"?
Or maybe there's another clue somewhere?
We think
Geoff Tristram is the crazy artist who did this puzzle!
Maybe that's his self-portrait?
We looked... Winsor and Newton are a real brand! Bet
Beanie Mouse knows them!
And a paintbrush named Sage from France...
A note... about meeting some people and phoning some people...
It says "Join Noel and Dora for supper in Milan" Also "Phone Marc" and "Alison a.m."
And then a recipe for paint colours... sigh... That one tube of purple looks like... "Burm... Lila..." Presumably Burmese Lilac but... could Lila be the name of the cat?
Meanwhile... back at Sandy' corner... trying to figure out the artist's for each painting! This is hard!!!
neither of us is big artist aficionados but we are going to do our best!
Sooo... we googled... and we googled!
Honestly... I think we should Beanie as well!!!
...hours later...
Shoot me now!!!! Ugh!!!!
This is sooooo hard!!!!
In part because Mr. Tristam has only given us a snippet of a famous painting. Ugh!!
I'm not cut out for this!!!
We got maybe 80% of them... so we are going to give it a try... the new method is... use the number next to each painting to pick a letter from the artist's name... got it?
So we started in the top right corner with:
Monet - 5 = T
unknown - deux - no idea
Constable - eight = L
Pollock - 3 = L
Matisse - un = M
Vermeer - Twee = E
Klimt - 5 = T
Whistler - 2 = H
Holbein - 5 = E
My jove I think we're getting somewhere!!! First... the written out number matches the nationality of the painter (un=French, Twee=Dutch, etc.). And... so far we have "T_LL ME THE"
Munch - 3 = N
VanGogh - 2 = A
Millais - 1 = M
??? - 4 =
??? - 2 =
??? - 1 =
Turner - 1 = T
Hals - 1 = H
Cezanne - 2 = E
Magritte - 2 = A
Rousseau - 1 = R (the tiger!!)
Sergent - 7 = T
Hmmm... "NAM_ _ _ THE ART..."
Hebuterne? - 4 = U
unknown - 6 = ???
Boticelli - 3 = T
Picasso - 5 - S
DaVinci - 6 - C
Gaugin - 2 - A
Seurat - 6 - T
Hmmm... "...U_TS CAT"
Wait... what????!!!!
And altogether... "T_LL ME THE NAME OF THE ARTU_STS CAT"
Nooooooo!!!!
Sooooo... here's the thing... This Cobble Hill version is not the original version of the puzzle. That was a Ravensburger Puzzle which had this on the cover...
It says - "Decipher - the Riddle and answer the Question"... Hmph...
And... "Find the names of 28 famous artists"
And... "The jigsaw is packed with cryptic clues to help you solve the riddle of The Artist's Cat"
"Don't forget to read the artist's notes on the back of the box - they should help you solve all the clues"
Hmph!!! Well... there was none of that on the Cobble Hill Box!! And after a bit of sleuthing we found the artist's notes online from an auction site...
This jigsaw is packed with cryptic clues to help you solve the riddle of The Artist’s Cat. Find the names of 28 famous artists. Decipher the riddle and answer the question. Discover 5 more artist’s names hidden in the picture, and the title of a very famous painting! [What???]
A message from Geoff Tristram:
“Look closely at my painting of The Artist’s Cat. The cat is making itself at home in its master’s studio, surrounded by the tools of the painter’s trade. The border around the painting depicts small details I’ve copied from 28 paintings, all originally painted by famous artists. I’ve painstakingly reproduced them all just to show you how versatile (and modest) I am!
To solve The Artist’s Cat Conundrum, you must first work out which artist painted each of the pictures and list their surnames, beginning with the top left-hand corner and working clockwise, so t’s no confusion. Some of you may well be able to list the artist’s Christian names and the titles of each of the paintings as well, just for fun or to impress your friends. However that extra knowledge won’t necessarily help with solving the puzzle, but it will certainly make you appear extremely intelligent, which isn’t a bad thing! Now ’s the tricky bit. These pictures are placed in a specific order, and ask a question, if you know w to look. And ’s a little tip for you - those curious words and numbers next to the pictures may well have something to do with it. Decipher this hidden question, and then find the answer to it by carefully studying the main picture of the cat in his master’s studio.
Next, see if you can find the names of 5 more famous artists hidden in the main painting (not counting Geoff Tristram of course, so you can forget that rejection slip on the back of the canvas!). Again, surnames will suffice unless you’re keen to show off.
Finally, the title of a very famous painting is also hidden in the picture. And ’s an important clue. The painting in question is not a famous mural. It’s a traditional oil painting in a frame. Can you find it, and crack my intriguing Artist’s Cat Conundrum?”
