KesterTester95 - What and where is it? [Updated with results and Winner!]
Photo: Vasárnapi Újság means Sunday Newspaper - I suspect the founder was not at his most imaginative when naming this news organ.
Or maybe he was?
I'd guess that something like 8 - 10,000 people see this objet d'art on most working days, although but few will actually look at its intricate detail as they pass by.
So where/what is it? (NB, just because the language is Hungarian doesn't necessarily mean the engraving is in present day Hungary, of course.)
The correct answer sent via the site messaging system or email could win you global celebrity status and the right to buy me two beers - remember, there's never been a competition like this one! (Please don't answer in the comments section as it may, of course, give the game away - assuming you have sleuthed correctly! :))
And don't forget, KT94, Cheese, please! is still open for entries, I'm still pondering whether to add another clue.
As it's late Sunday afternoon, I'll wish all a great week - keep your eyes peeled, you might even see this tester on your travels :)
UPDATE, Additional Clue: Well, this tester is proving very difficult, it seems, certainly much more difficult that I had imagined.
So how can I give you all another clue without making it too easy? Hmmmm.
Well, ok, here goes. You can see this in Budapest from tram numbers 4 or 6, ie somewhere on the routes between what I still call Moszkva tér to Újbuda-központ & Móricz Zsigmond körtér.
There, that's reduced your geographical-sleuthing concerns from the vast area of Hungary pre-1918 to a distance of 'just' over 9 km - I don't think I could get much fairer than that, could I?
Now, your turn to think :)
UPDATE 2: The competitors and winner!
One can never predict the responses to KesterTesters – at least I can't. I thought this one might be a wee bit difficult, but I certainly expected more correct results. I think some readers will be amazed that they've never really noticed this objet d'art when they learn where and what it is.
Anyway, Dale Martin was first to swoop in, but I fear he did not really read the question properly.
“Dear Kester,
To my mind this is this paper, most likely from 1900, as it was established in 1854.
To be quick I didn’t open it and send you only the screenshot –
Wishing you a good start of this week!”
Dale seems to understand and use all the latest internet wizzjos, but I couldn't open whatever it was! However, as his answer seemed to try to identify the paper (rather than the thing in the photo), the Competition Committee agreed it was an incorrect entry. (Sorry, Dale, better luck next time.)
Laszlo Jakabfi then pitched in:
“As I can see the name Kálmán Széll at left, it is the one-time prime minister Kálmán Széll of Hungary, and the date is 1899, 19th century.”
Well, yes, Laszlo – this is true, but what we want is where you can see this, and what is it all about? I'm sure you'll get better at this as you sleuth on, but sorry, global celebrity status won't result from this entry. (You can always buy me a beer or two, of course :))
I didn't doubt Hubert “Poirot” Warsmann would appear, and he did not disappoint.
“This is the background of the Kálmán Széll statue on the Buda square of the same name. It is a repro of the edition of the paper on the day of the resignation of PM Dezső Bánffy and the appointment of his successor Kálmán Széll.
Eight to ten thousand passers-by sound low ball to me given the location in between the M2 station access, the T4-6 terminus and the many bus stops near by.” he confidently asserted.
Maybe, Hubert. Difficult to know. And we must remember we count many of them twice, en route to work, and en route back, so I tried to account for that.
The next entrant was a surprise, considering the vituperative criticism I've had to endure since launching the first KesterTester from one Alex Faludy. (I did propose to the Competition Committee that his entry should be voided for all the trauma that I've had to endure caused by him, but was informed in no uncertain terms that “ no petty personal action” was allowed in a public competition of such international prestige. Shucks, the things I have to endure.
“Rarely, this one is quite interesting so I am deigning to participate.”
Oh, we are all honoured, dear Alex! (Though I suspect the real reason is it's one you think you can geuninely answer – but that is not a kind thought, so I shall banish it.)
“Nice little trick you used to throw people off the scent -suggesting that it might be located somewhere in the former ‘Greater Hungary’. Does not fool me though.”
Not for one milli-second would I have allowed such thoughts to enter my head!
“It is part of the Széll Kálmán memorial sighted in the eponymous square in Buda. I’ve often used said memorial as a handy meeting point when meeting friends, acquaintances and (unsuccseful) Romantic prospects, so know its details rather well.”
I see. Well, you got your entry in before the second clue was given out, so I must congratulate you on that, Alex.
But with such a paucity of entries, I had to put up the extra clue, whereupon Misi Hollos responded with a rapid:
“Hello Kester,
I gather the engraving is on the New York Palota building. Now the Boscolo hotel, (one of) the most expensive hotel(s) in town and located in Erzsébet körút near Blaha Lujza tér, the edifice, originally built -in the late 19th century- for the New York Insurance Company, the building housed for long decades different newspapers' editorial offices. The grandiose legendary New York Café, located in the same bloc, and still in business, used to be frequented in the interwar period (and even before that) by journalists and writers. As a matter of fact, in those days many great writers of fiction were also journalists.
Best, Misi"
Oh gosh, is it?
Well, Misi, you may well be correct in asserting that a similar engraving is indeed on the New York Palota – I shall look next time I pass by. But, alas, it is not the engraving in the photo! Sorry, but you can feel you perhaps have a moral victory of sorts with this entry.
Following hard on Misi's heels came Géza Jeszenszky with an email entitled Moszkva tér!
“Kester, F.Y.I. I never called Széll Kálmán tér Moszkva tér, neither Andrássy út by any other name.”
{For recent more arrivals, Géza here is referring to the habit of successive government's (or local authorities) renaming streets and avenues according to the political winds of the day. What today is (again) today's Andrássy út went by the pronunciation testing Népköztársaság útja (Peoples' Republic Road) during the Communist era.}
I must confess, Géza, your email initially confused me (maybe I was working on something at the time and could not give it clear thought), and it was only later that I came to the conclusion that you were answering where said artwork stood – but, perhaps in haste, you didn't identify the piece itself!
So, with much reluctance, I'm sorry, but the Competition Committee ruled your entry - assuming it was such – invalid. But you too can take heart in having a moral victory, if that is what you meant by your answer.
Next in was this shortie from Zsolt Maroti.
Szia Kester,
This is part of Kálmán Széll’s statue in Széll Kálmán/Moszkva tér! zs.”
And that was it. Despite 160-odd visits to the post, no more entries. Not even Mrs Eddy could get it, despite walking past the work only a few days previously.
For future reference, I will post the full photo, which I had cropped, but still leaving (I thought) little clues as to the full extent of the monument.
Photo: The full piece, or most of it. Now you know where you've seen that before, right? :)
And so to the moment, the pinnacle of tension, which took place an hour or so ago, when Mrs Eddy was charged to draw the winning number from out of the EU-approved green Afghan cap. (Which I found in my coat pocket just last week. I don't know how many years it had been there, but since I can't find the EU-approved Black Woolly Hat, I've seconded it for the draw.)
As per the new rules on extra clues, those who submitted a correct answer before the extra clue's publication get two numbers.
Hence this draw consisted of: Hubert “Poirot” Warsmann, numbers 1 and 4.
Alexander “the critic” Faludy, numbers 2 and 5.
Zsolt Maroti – number 3.
And, amid a whirr of cameras and under intense TV lighting, the winner, against all the odds, was number 3 – Zsolt Maroti (wave of long applause and widl cheering from the excited audience)!
So, congratulations, Zsolt – be prepared to be mobbed tomorrow on your way to work. As you will learn, winning a KesterTester involves more than basking in the glory of it all and buying me two beers.
Well done everyone who entered (yes, even you, Alex, though I suspect we'll have to wait another year or so while you work off your pique and deign to enter).
I'll aim to post the next Tester on Friday, if I can find time. Till then, stay well!