OK, asking for any input here: When trying to solve a puzzle cache where you have NO CLUE on how to get started, where do you go? Do you have resources you use, or do you ask for hints from the owner, or what?
(IE: We're scratching our heads over Joe Smith here....we've tried country codes, time zones, and letters, but aren't getting anywhere, so now we're STUCK, and have no idea where to begin.)

Joe Smith might be a little easier if there weren't errors in the puzzle.

OK, so Joe Smith has errors? Then how do you solve it? Three of you have found this cache, and four of you have solved the puzzle...where do we begin?

(I just read the logs for Logically...Nylimb has me waaaay confused, and now I'm scared to attempt it!)

This may not help for Joe Smith, but it's a nice primer about puzzle caches.
Solving Puzzle Caches

What really gets me is how Nylimb figures out most puzzles at first glance. He should give a seminar on how to approach puzzle solving. It took me about two years just to understand the hints he gave me on mystery caches I sent him.

And don't forget to reference the

• Secret Code Breaker
• Cipher Tool
• Purple Hell
• Riddle Tools

Actually, "errors" may be too strong a word. I can see how sweetj might have gotten the numbers that he did; it's just not the way I'd do it. I would add 2 to all of his numbers in parentheses except 21 (and fix a couple of typos):

N40 (21,72) .5(103,103) W124 (125,21 .125,64,103)



Don't be scared, the puzzle is now correct. The only thing still missing from the description is that you should list the people in alphabetical order by first name. If you list them in some other order then the ROW numbers in the equations would be wrong.

And while we're discussing sweetj puzzles, can anyone explain to me (privately, so we don't spoil it for anyone else) how to decode the coordinates in SWEETJ'S WONDERFULL CACHEORIUM? I eventually came up with the right coords, but only after trying several random variations when the obvious method didn't work. Neither the enciphered text in the description nor the decrypted hint helped me. Are the apparent typos in the enciphered text really hints that I don't understand? Is there something in the movie which gives a clue?

I wish that were true! Usually my first few ideas turn out to be wrong. And there are many puzzle caches that I've never figured out. Luckily all but one of them (namely the archived and never-found Lumber Jack micro by sweetj) are too far away for me to visit anyway.



Don't anyone tell Hidegoseek this, but giving unhelpful hints is one of only two ways that I can find a cache before he does.

I'm interested in responses to this too. I finally went to bed last night after we worked on this one for a while. Once it became obvious we were going to have to try all the possible combinations of coordinates, my brain started to hurt, so we called it a night.

One of only two ways? What's the other way? Or is that yet another puzzle I have to lose sleep over?

Here's a pretty good primer about creating puzzle caches. It's from the Geocachers of the Bay Area website.

Oh yes, SWEETJ'S WONDERFUL CACHEORIUM. You do not need to see the movie to solve the puzzle. I don't want to spoil this "WONDERFUL" puzzle for the rest of you, so I will PM Nylimb. GL to all on the puzzle

Florida cacher ePeterso2 loves puzzle caches. Check out his Puzzle Solving 101 series:

• Puzzle Solving 101 – Lesson 1: Strategy
• Puzzle Solving 101 - Lesson 2: Tactics
• Puzzle Solving 101 - Lesson 3: Trivia
• Puzzle Solving 101 - Lesson 4: Wordplay
• Puzzle Solving 101 - Lesson 5: Mathematics
• Puzzle Solving 101 - Lesson 6: Logic Problems
• Puzzle Solving 101 - Lesson 7: Cryptography
• Puzzle Solving 101 - Lesson 8: Steganography
• Puzzle Solving 101 - Lesson 9: Lateral Thinking
• Puzzle Solving 101 - The Final Exam

Of course, now that we all know the tricks to puzzles there is no need for another puzzle cache in Humboldt County.

Curse you, hidegoseek! When I read your post I had to start working on the puzzles, spurred on by the possibility of logging the Puzzle Solving 101 Remote Solver TB . Really, I had no choice at all!

It took me about 12 hours to get the coords of the first 9 caches, and to solve the first 5 puzzles in the Final Exam. But then I hit a wall at the 6'th puzzle. I tried a bunch of different ideas, but none of them worked. From time to time since then I've thought of other possibilities, but they didn't work either. Finally today I thought of one more, and this one happened to be correct! So finally I get to log that TB.

(Hmm, all that work and I don't even get a new icon for it; I must be insane...)

Good job, Nylimb. When you finish making the Powerpoint presentation for the Puzzle 101 solutions let me know and I'll rent the River Lodge for the seminar.

I'm guessing we'll need lots of and snickerdoodles to get through it.

I will make the Snickerdoodles

I like Snickerdoodles.

-eP

Of course everyone of those caches not placed at the co-ords. ( and there are many ) Is a puzzle cache. Sooooooo with that mindset off we go to the land of frustration.

Hiding a cache at the posted coordinates is just soooo five minutes ago.

Does the previous post in this thread remind anyone of a thrown gauntlet. Perhaps it is tongue in cheek, however, it may be an alternate point of view.

Throwing gauntlets is so five centuries ago.

En Guarde and Touche

After my first few dozen finds, I got pretty bored with finding large caches at their listed coordinates; it just wasn't much of a challenge. (Unless the location was hard to get to.) Fortunately there were quite a few puzzle caches and cleverly hidden micros in the area where I started caching (Davis/Sacramento), and they soon became my favorites. But in both cases, I like the actual coordinates, whether they're given on the cache page or as a solution to a puzzle, to be as accurate as possible. Finding a needle in a haystack can be fun, but not if you don't know which haystack to look in.

10-4 to that which is the biggest point of all

Nylimb will be offering a free seminar, PuzzleTalk 101, on...on....oh well, you figure out where and when.

Hey everyone. Have fun with Puzzlehead.

some of those are hard, if a trick could be explained for "envelope challenge" thad be much appreciated

Most puzzle cache owners are willing to give hints for their caches; they actually do want people to find them. I've never asked the owner of Envelopes for a hint, but I'm pretty sure he's a reasonable guy. If you email him and tell him what you've figured out so far, he'll probably either confirm that your reasoning is OK and give you a hint about what to do next, or tell you where you've made a mistake.

Be forewarned, his "hints" are as difficult as his puzzles.

as usually

I have a few devious caches that I am planning, but it is finding one to start with that is the problem. Sure I could start with a traditional cache, but where is the evil genious factor in that? I wonder if one of these should be a puzzle cache that is a physical puzzle in itself. That'll take some ingenuity and brain power, but I think it is do-able. Where is Igor?...Mwahahahahahahaha!!!

Well, you could always hide an ammo can. Around here that would puzzle cachers and they would say, "Hmm, what's this? And how does it work?"

Interesting tidbit on ammo cans, Keelut just went out 36 and found one of the caches that was in the center of the fires. Turns out that the cache is fine, but the plastic bag was melted inside. Thank goodness it was an ammo can. I dont think much else would have survived.

Sometimes I feel sorry for Nylimb's puzzle caches...they're so lonely out there. Please everyone, watch this public service announcement and do your part.

Thank you.

I pledged already.... and shed a few tears... and bought more tylenol for my headaches from trying to solve them...

rofl, i would unneglect them if i could figure them oout

I am doing my part by posting this service announcement on my messaging and sharing sites.

It's almost here! January 29 is National Puzzle Day! Here are some ideas on how to celebrate.

find a nylimb?

hmm an ammo can what a novel idea

Have you found "Welcome to Scotia"? it's an ammo can protected by poison oak

why so hot? still scratching?

An ammo can!!!!!! ... with all of this forested land such a waste of ultra-micro-nano hiding places

Oh I forgot, ammo cans are way too hard to hide in a redwood forrest or deserted coast line they would stick out like a sore thumb! lol but on a serious note I challenge everyone on this board to hide one ammo can before the end of February. that could add some fun to the local scene.

I'd like to learn the secret to this one.

ill go for that if i can get a can

my bffl lives in corvalis

 

GC13V2J Half a Kilo Puzzle Challenge A cache by LTG Keith B. Alexander     Hidden: 11/26/2009 Size:  (Micro)     Difficulty:      Terrain: This is a Premium Member Only cache. N 33° 42.128 W 117° 55.917 Other Conversions UTM: 11S E 413635 N 3729519  SE 600.7mi from your home coordinates In California, United States View M  PDF: No Logs 5 Logs 10 Logs The cache is at the post Coordinates. But to log this cache you have to have found 500 Puzzle caches. I marked puzzle cache find #700 at a Pirate Event in Hollywood on September 19, 2009. This is a challenge that everyone can do it just takes time. When you log a find on this cache please post a screen shot of your profile showing 500 or more Unknown/Puzzle type caches found. Have fun. Please Don't log notes on this cache only find logs. Notes will be removed

Hey, I only need to find 5 more puzzle caches...





... and then I'll be 1/4 done with this challenge. It should only take another 20 years or so.

GRRRRR U

I only need to find a number of puzzle caches equal to the sum of three consecutive primes. This number is also a narcissistic number. Without looking at my GC profile, can you figure out the number?

I think the only narcissistic number less than 100 that is also the sum of three consecutive prime numbers is six.

No; there are two possibilities. Is it a Harshad number?

6 isn't a sum of three consecutive primes. The smallest 3 primes are 2, 3, and 5, and their sum is 10.

Once upon a time, people considered 1 to be a prime, but eventually they realized that everything works out more simply if the definition excludes it.

I know the answer!! Really, I do. Of course, I was caching with Nylimb today, so I guess that's cheating.


Whoops, no I don't. Really, I don't.

I don't know why I lost track of the original topic, but for some reason I was thinking 100 puzzle caches instead of 500. So yes, there are two possibilities, 371 and 407. If it is a Harshad number that would be 407.

Speaking for Enbay and myself, all I can say is

Hmmm ... never heard of Harshad numbers. But the value I'm thinking of is the same as the area code whose boundaries include Puzzle Lake. Seriously.

Neither had I, until I went looking through the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences for a way to distinguish between 371 and 407. (I'd never heard the name "narcissistic numbers", either.)



Cool! But why isn't there a puzzle cache there?

I like the comment in its Wikipedia article that "the lake is believed to be partially seen from State Road 46".

Well, where does a wide spot in a marshy river end and a lake begin? That's the problem ... in Florida, the elevation is so low that a few inches rise or fall in the lake can make miles of shoreline appear or disappear. If you zoom in and out on Google Maps, you can see that when the resolution in the map data changes, the height of the lake changes dramatically. Zoom out far enough, and the lake is full. Get close, and it turns into this thing that looks more like a river delta than a lake.

I have seriously toyed with the idea of putting a puzzle cache there ... but getting permission and, well, just getting there are making that pretty much too difficult to bother with.

Oh, oh. Sweetj joined the Puzzlehead group on Facebook. Hold on to your seats, everyone!

Here is a cache by CLRL that uses Hallmark's Augmented Reality to solve. You can view CLRL's videos for help on several geocaching puzzles.

I dont wory about caches that far off

The coords aren't that far off.

HEY,the comments are pushing me deep down into a state of mental depression for which i would never return if it was not for

Enbay1, the same could be said of your comments on our mental health as well.

ya but i dont wanna spam

I wish they had a "butt spanking" gremlin!

Enbay1, may I, with a sincere heart, request you learn a little humility and be willing to take a correction now and then. No one or thing is perfect and each of us can be a little more approachable and friendly when we are willing to listen to others. I hope you read this in a friendly way, or someone will say it in an unkind way, and have reason to.

Sometimes hijacking a thread is necessary.

UH-OH

I an very humble if i need to be, but use a lot of the "poor me" and i can take ant criticsm

So after spending quite some time thinking I had the correct chords only to put them into Geochecker.com and it displaying "INCORRECT", I realized that there are way too many chord combos to just start guessing. Is there anybody with helpful hints on how to solve "SWEETJ'S WONDERFULL CACHEORIUM" (GC1ME0J).

Here is another resource for puzzles: RiddleMeThisSWAG.