Cliche hints

[+SidAndBob]

I see the same old hints time and time again.

"Don't get stumped", "Don't forget to log it" etc

 

What are the least original "cryptic" hints (and most original) that you've come across?

[+Bud]

Hollow trees are too often hinted by "In the caching tree"

 

Don't see it too often here in KY, but in TX, I'd often see URP (unnatural rock pile), or just "rock"

 

I've got a magnetic cache on a footbridge that was near some cleared brush and trees, and had left the clue "Don't get stumped. No, really, don't." Had to change it after a complaint, though.

Edited February 9, 2007 by budophylus

[+mudsneaker]

Beware of the trolls.

 

refering to under bridges/boardwalks

heh, I just used it on a cache that really isnt meant to be difficult at all. What can I say, after doing a very detailed night cache, I needed to do something simple, and the park just reopened for a new cache.

[+Retcon]

"Like Barney Fife, this one is clueless"

 

Yes, that was a clue. A good one, too.

[+jackrock]

"this is too easy for a hint"

 

"I think I can, I think I can" - it was a can, I was looking for an old train or something

[+briansnat]

The most common I've seen have been some variation on "Don't get stumped" and "Beware of trolls".

 

Another is "Between a rock and a hard place".

[+SidAndBob]

Another is "Between a rock and a hard place".

Doh! I have a cache with that very name, but it is for a good reason though and it's not a popular name (or phrase) over here.

[+Isonzo Karst]

Easily the commonest and worst hint is, "to (sic) easy for a hint".

 

This usually trailing a cache description that's either ALL IN CAPS SOMETIMES WITH NO PUNCTUATION, or has the phrase, "your going to find there parking behind the bilding".

[+The Pastor & Pastor's Wife]

"this is too easy for a hint"

 

"I think I can, I think I can" - it was a can, I was looking for an old train or something

 

Hey, thanks jackrock! I'm going after that cache today and now I know what to look for!

 

As to the original post, I've seen some hints that are scrammbled up before encryption so you have to unencrypt AND unscrammble the hint. That can add some time.

Edited February 9, 2007 by The Pastor & Pastor's Wife

[+Lil Elephants]

We love original hints.

 

Here's some of ours...

 

* GCNPVN

How do you know if the elephant in your refrigerator is a female? By the pink nail polish.

 

* GCQAQ3

[Hint 1:]

Four Lil Elephants, oh what a sight!

Swinging their trunks from left to right.

Three are followers, and one is the king.

They all walk around in the circus ring.

[Hint 2:]

The elephant has a trunk for a nose,

And up and down is the way it goes.

He wears such a saggy, baggy hide

Do you think two elephants would fit inside?

[+BlueDeuce]

One of mine.

 

At top, go up hill and to your left. It's under an evergreen bush.

 

-

 

(It's the only evergreen bush in the area.)

 

Do I win for least cryptic?

 

sometimes included in the logs

 

"The hint saved me"

"We would have had a terrible time had we not decrypted the hint"

Edited February 9, 2007 by BlueDeuce

[+gh patriot]

We love original hints.

 

Here's some of ours...

 

* GCNPVN

How do you know if the elephant in your refrigerator is a female? By the pink nail polish.

 

* GCQAQ3

[Hint 1:]

Four Lil Elephants, oh what a sight!

Swinging their trunks from left to right.

Three are followers, and one is the king.

They all walk around in the circus ring.

[Hint 2:]

The elephant has a trunk for a nose,

And up and down is the way it goes.

He wears such a saggy, baggy hide

Do you think two elephants would fit inside?

 

 

I found both of those caches I believe and I still dont get em. Oh well.

[+gh patriot]

We love original hints.

 

Here's some of ours...

 

* GCNPVN

How do you know if the elephant in your refrigerator is a female? By the pink nail polish.

 

* GCQAQ3

[Hint 1:]

Four Lil Elephants, oh what a sight!

Swinging their trunks from left to right.

Three are followers, and one is the king.

They all walk around in the circus ring.

[Hint 2:]

The elephant has a trunk for a nose,

And up and down is the way it goes.

He wears such a saggy, baggy hide

Do you think two elephants would fit inside?

 

 

I found both of those caches I believe and I still dont get em. Oh well.

 

Well I get part of the clue but the rest...

[+tomfuller & Quill]

I found a small cache in a graveyard (mystery cache) where you had to find certain gravestones to get the proper location of the cache. One of the hints was "Thumper & Flower's friend". Sure enough, there was one flat gravestone with a spotted fawn over it. The stone was for a woman who had lived to age 99.

[+Prime Suspect]

There are a series of local caches, where the cache title is an anagram of the hint. Sounds cleaver, at first. However, I'm really not going to bother solving anagrams in the field. If I'm going to do that, I'll do it at home, using my computer. Of course, doing that, I've already seen the hint, which spoils the hunt somewhat.

[crawil]

I recently saw, "Maybe Al can help." The cache was in 2 aluminum cans spliced together.

[+Gator Man]

Here's one I like, and have used! "This is an ATTRACTIVE cache." (Magnetic)

[+Lovey Pigs]

"not above but _______"

 

this was a tuff one for me! took 4 caches to figure this one out, wish there easier hints than this!

[+Gator Man]

When I was caching in CT, I used to HATE seeing the hint "Next to the log" There are literally THOUSANDS of fallen logs within range of any forest hide there.

 

The equivalent in Florida is "Under the Palmetto leaves". Arrrrrgggghhhhh!

Edited February 9, 2007 by Gator Man

[+Cpt.Blackbeard]

The most common I've seen have been some variation on "Don't get stumped" and "Beware of trolls".

 

Another is "Between a rock and a hard place".

 

I've seen those as well, they must be common.

[+thedeadpirate]

I've got one that I don't really want folks tearing the place up looking for it, so I put the following hint:

 

"Sit down on the edging directly in front of the Korean Conflict memorial and look between your legs."

[+Harry Dolphin]

I've got one that I don't really want folks tearing the place up looking for it, so I put the following hint:

 

"Sit down on the edging directly in front of the Korean Conflict memorial and look between your legs."

I've got a similar hint: Final: Find a comfortable, level rock that overhangs another, to sit on. Let the GPS settle down. Reach between your feet.

But that's because there are a lot of boulders in the area. The hint narrows down the search area.

The clichéd hint I hate is: Not this time. But, I translate all hints before I go hunting. So, the "Hints get easier as you go down the list" is meaningless for me.

[+ePeterso2]

There's a 2-stage multi whose first stage is nearby my place, but whose second stage requires a drive of about 50 miles, the last 20 of which is a dirt road in a wildlife management area. The hint on the cache reads something like this:

 

"To find stage two, take [Major Road A] west to [Major Road B], then go north to the county line, make a U-turn, then go west for 15 miles, then north until you see [this picture in the gallery]."

 

Kinda sorta takes the fun out of finding stage one, if you ask me.

[+SidAndBob]

I've seen something along the lines of "If you can see the tree then you're in the right field" on more than one occassion. I figured which field already - as I've got a GPSr. It was the last few feet I wanted a hint with

 

Hey wait a minute - you've got me doing it now. These are supposed to be cliched CRYPTIC hints, not ridiculous ones. That's a whole different thread.

[+The Pastor & Pastor's Wife]

Maybe it's lame but this is one of mine:

(not over)(not large)(george w)

 

Of course, 10 years from now new cachers may say, "Who is George W.?" and think Washington instead.

[+KBI]

One of my all-time favorite hints was at one of my first-ever finds. It was for a small cache hidden in a large urban park:

 

"Remember the Drifters?"

 

The cache was under the boardwalk.

[+StarBrand]

"Thread the needles and balance your time under the wire at the base."

 

I have been told that the above makes zero sense until you are on scene and then is wonderfully helpful.

From this cache

Edited February 12, 2007 by StarBrand

[+Thrak]

I've found "dog speak" to be a pretty easy "hint". It kind of just gives it away - except for the cache I did where the coordinates turned out to be appx. 110 feet off - down a steep hill, and in an area with a ton of fallen trees with loose bark. When I finally found the cache the clue was a simple as I had originally thought. I submitted corrected coordinates and it was MUCH easier for the cachers who followed........

[+Muddy and Amused]

"The hint is in the title"

[+GRANPA ALEX]

"Under a pile of sticks" sounds common and not surprizing until you get to the site . . . a hurricane had recently blown through and large timber (trees) were piled up like children's pick up sticks - it was in there, somewhere!

[+Gator Man]

I found one once, and the clue was "Make sure you put the sticks back". Sure enough, when I got to GZ there was a pile of sticks covering an opening in a tree base. I quickly removed the sticks, but no cache was there! I looked around some more, and found it under a bush within 5 feet of me. I made sure I put the sticks back.

[+PlantAKiss]

As far as clues go...I just wish some people understood the difference between a STUMP and a hollow LOG. A STUMP is not a LOG...and conversely, a LOG is not a STUMP.

[+ePeterso2]

Amen. And I'd add to that the following: a BRANCH is neither a LOG nor a STUMP.

[+Isonzo Karst]

and a PACE is not a STEP ...

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

Two of our hides happen to be right next to a big spot of grafiti on a rock, so we come up with a sentence that incorporates what the grafiti said.

[+Jhwk]

It's in the stump.

 

may favorite was the one that said "under a rock" but they actually hid it under a log. I turned over 10 rocks before I finally posted a DNF and then got a note from the owner...

[+Team Grumblecakes]

Two of our hides happen to be right next to a big spot of grafiti on a rock, so we come up with a sentence that incorporates what the grafiti said.

 

I recently hid a cache named after some prominant and long-standing local graffiti - one week after the cache was published, the graffiti was covered up and replaced with something new