Tips for Solving Puzzle Caches

[glindakc]

They're completely foreign to me. I have no idea of what information to pick out, or whether to search certain things, or what the heck. help???

[+briansnat]

Every puzzle is different. so the best tip is to THINK.

[+GreyingJay]

Yeah, there really isn't any one answer since there are so many different kinds of puzzles.

 

If it helps, here are a few (broadly speaking) puzzle types I've come across:

 

- solve a Sudoku or a logic puzzle to get the coordinates

- derive coordinates from translating numbers from a foreign language (including other number bases such as binary)

- given a ciphertext, break the code to get instructions

- cache listing only includes part of the information you need, but it all makes sense when you get to the site (cryptic references to signs, landmarks)

- given aerial photograph of area, look for clues/landmarks to point your way

- mathematical derivations, including trigonometry or other basic (or not so basic) geometry

- caches that seem straightforward at first but there is a twist at the end, like a heavily disguised or unconventional container, a lock to figure out, or some other surprise, like the cache is high up in a tree

 

Often the title of the cache, and possibly the description and any provided photos, give you clues, so read carefully. Check the logs people leave. Often people who have been "in" on the joke will leave little references and inside jokes, and when enough people do this you can put 2 and 2 together and figure things out bit by bit.

 

Some puzzles simply need time to rattle around in your head before one day you say "OH!" and the light bulb turns on.

[+the hermit crabs]

Often the title of the cache, and possibly the description and any provided photos, give you clues, so read carefully. Check the logs people leave. Often people who have been "in" on the joke will leave little references and inside jokes, and when enough people do this you can put 2 and 2 together and figure things out bit by bit.

 

I was just about to type that hint when I scrolled down and saw your post. This method has helped us to solve many puzzles that we had been completely stuck on!

 

Some puzzles simply need time to rattle around in your head before one day you say "OH!" and the light bulb turns on.

 

Yep -- for me, the amount of time needed is frequently four months. Don't know why. But if I got back and look at the page again before the four months is up, the clock resets and the countdown starts all over again

[+Semper Questio]

Very often, Google can be your best friend with these. The trick is knowing what to search for, but usually that is in the title or description.

 

Then there is always the "ghost" letter trick and a multitude of other clever things where everything you need is right there in front of you. You just gotta figure out how to fish it out.

 

BUt agiain, there is no one way to solve these puzzles. You have to take each one as it comes. And if you can't get it, you can always email the owner and ask for a nudge in the right direction. Most are more than happy to help (at least a little).

[+niraD]

Very often, Google can be your best friend with these. The trick is knowing what to search for, but usually that is in the title or description.

Google can be especially effective for puzzles that present a list of words/names/phrases/whatever, and those words/names/phrases/whatever somehow map to numbers, like this one. Googling may not get you the answer, but at least it should help you figure out the theme.

 

Some of my favorite puzzles have been "just show up" puzzles, where you're supposed to go to the posted coordinates and figure out what to do once you get there. I'm also fond of puzzles with heavy misdirection--at least, once I cut through the misdirection and figure out the (usually simple) solution.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Every puzzle is different. so the best tip is to THINK.

 

Brian, you da man!

I have been told that some of my mystery caches are 'obscure'. Hee hee hee. The information is there. You just have to find it. Hopefully, no two are too similar. "But Harry likes to do this..." Hee hee hee. That was then, this is now.

Some puzzles are logic puzzles. Some require cryptography. Some require looking outside the box. Some are jigsaw puzzles. (Did one of those recently that gave me a major headache!) The variations are endless (hopefully.) Some just require filling in the blanks from the monument at the origin point. There's a local one that looks like a cryptography puzzle, but I have not solved it yet.

There is no one pat answer how to solve the puzzle. That's what makes them so much fun!

[+ledaily]

I found this site The Geowizard that had some useful hints. I hope the link shows up correctly!

[+ledaily]

Very often, Google can be your best friend with these. The trick is knowing what to search for, but usually that is in the title or description.

 

Then there is always the "ghost" letter trick and a multitude of other clever things where everything you need is right there in front of you. You just gotta figure out how to fish it out.

 

BUt agiain, there is no one way to solve these puzzles. You have to take each one as it comes. And if you can't get it, you can always email the owner and ask for a nudge in the right direction. Most are more than happy to help (at least a little).

 

I really hate to ask stupid questions but I can't stand it any longer!! What is the ghost letter trick?

[+Semper Questio]

.

 

Then there is always the "ghost" letter trick and a multitude of other clever things where everything you need is right there in front of you. You just gotta figure out how to fish it out.

 

 

I really hate to ask stupid questions but I can't stand it any longer!! What is the ghost letter trick?

 

Well, I suppose I should have said "ghost writing" instead of "ghost letters".

 

"Ghost writing' is something a local cacher taught me that is apparently used in blogs and other web applications, but puzzle caches was the first place I'd ever seen it (in one of his caches).

 

The characters are placed on the page so that the letters and background are the same color, making them invisible. TO see them you have to hilight the text as if you were going to do a cut-and-past. When it is hilighted, the "ghost writing" appear in the inverted (hilighted) block. Try hilighting below:

 

Hi. This is a poor example of "Ghost writing."

 

You can embed entire phrases or just scattered characters (like coordinates or codes) throughout a paragraph using this technique.

[+maureensk]

I found this site The Geowizard that had some useful hints. I hope the link shows up correctly!

 

This is a great link! In it he talks about puzzle caches with embedded images. He says to use graphics editing software to change the color of one box to a different color (in the sample he refers to, there are two boxes that are almost the same color, he says you should change one box to red and then you can see it). When I copy the image he refers to into a photo editing program, I can actually just read the message w/o doing anything, but I want to know how to actually change the color of the two boxes as I am trying to solve a different puzzle cache that I suspect uses the same or a similar technique. How does one go about getting software to recognize that there is a two-layered image there?