Sharing the solution to puzzle caches

[+9Key]

Imagine a purely hypothetical situtation, of course , where your best caching friend is having trouble with a difficult puzzle cache that you solved and found. Do you give them the answer if they can't figure it out? How about a casual aquaintence that you've met once or twice? A cacher you've only corresponded with online? Where do you draw the line?

[Skippermark]

On a related note, say one person solves a puzzle yet 6 people go out and find the cache on a cache run. Should they all be able to log it as a find?

[+J-Way]

I never give out hints on other people's puzzles. If I'm asked (and I have been, on many occasions), I always politely reply that they should contact the cache owner. But if the owner is missing in action and cannot be contacted, well, then I might give a hint or two, but never a blatant answer.

[+9Key]

On a related note, say one person solves a puzzle yet 6 people go out and find the cache on a cache run. Should they all be able to log it as a find?

Very good question, and that's kinda what I'm getting at. If a puzzle is a 5 difficulty and only one of the six people out of the caching party have actually solved the puzzle, doesn't that cheapen the finds of those that have actually solved the puzzle on their own? How is it different from the 5/5 cache with a 40 foot technical climb up a tree (ropes, harness, etc) traditional cache where the poor soul that does the work tosses the log down to several cachers on the ground to find?

 

Yeah, I know, "who are you to tell people how to enjoy the game?" I'm not telling people anything, just posing a question.

[Trinity's Crew]

On a related note, say one person solves a puzzle yet 6 people go out and find the cache on a cache run. Should they all be able to log it as a find?

Very good question, and that's kinda what I'm getting at. If a puzzle is a 5 difficulty and only one of the six people out of the caching party have actually solved the puzzle, doesn't that cheapen the finds of those that have actually solved the puzzle on their own? How is it different from the 5/5 cache with a 40 foot technical climb up a tree (ropes, harness, etc) traditional cache where the poor soul that does the work tosses the log down to several cachers on the ground to find?

 

Yeah, I know, "who are you to tell people how to enjoy the game?" I'm not telling people anything, just posing a question.

Let me turn it around a little... would you delete the logs of the other five cachers if only one of the six solved the puzzle? I wouldn't, but on the other hand I would probably be reluctant to outright give away coordinates to somene who wasn't with me when I found the cache.

[+9Key]

On a related note, say one person solves a puzzle yet 6 people go out and find the cache on a cache run. Should they all be able to log it as a find?

Very good question, and that's kinda what I'm getting at. If a puzzle is a 5 difficulty and only one of the six people out of the caching party have actually solved the puzzle, doesn't that cheapen the finds of those that have actually solved the puzzle on their own? How is it different from the 5/5 cache with a 40 foot technical climb up a tree (ropes, harness, etc) traditional cache where the poor soul that does the work tosses the log down to several cachers on the ground to find?

 

Yeah, I know, "who are you to tell people how to enjoy the game?" I'm not telling people anything, just posing a question.

Let me turn it around a little... would you delete the logs of the other five cachers if only one of the six solved the puzzle? I wouldn't, but on the other hand I would probably be reluctant to outright give away coordinates to somene who wasn't with me when I found the cache.

Back at 'cha > Would you delete the logs of those that logged your 5/5 up in a tree but didn't climb the tree? What's the difference? A physical challenge versus mental challenge.

[+Star*Hopper]

I'm beginning to think it ain't worth the trouble of working up a good puzzle & publishing it.

Around here, one person finds it, word hits the 'grapevine', and

"Solve this for the West coordinates: 78 +

4 A D K G

S 8 D H J

L E 2 X Q

D J X 8 W

Z O S R 7

And multiply by reciprocal of pi"

 

becomes "On the Frisbee Golf course just go to the 3rd Tee and look in the flower box on the left side".

 

Signs 'it' has happened are, it lays there for 2 months with no finds....then in the next 2 weekends it gets 19 logs.

 

Oddly, same thing happens on particularly tough hides. You might get 1 or 2 DNFs at first, a few requests for hints....then one particular 'FTF Hound' finally gets to it, & a steady stream of finds follows. Including a few "Quick stop on the way to the beach TFTC" types.

 

Hard to beat the 'Old Boy Network'.

~*

[Trinity's Crew]

On a related note, say one person solves a puzzle yet 6 people go out and find the cache on a cache run. Should they all be able to log it as a find?

Very good question, and that's kinda what I'm getting at. If a puzzle is a 5 difficulty and only one of the six people out of the caching party have actually solved the puzzle, doesn't that cheapen the finds of those that have actually solved the puzzle on their own? How is it different from the 5/5 cache with a 40 foot technical climb up a tree (ropes, harness, etc) traditional cache where the poor soul that does the work tosses the log down to several cachers on the ground to find?

 

Yeah, I know, "who are you to tell people how to enjoy the game?" I'm not telling people anything, just posing a question.

Let me turn it around a little... would you delete the logs of the other five cachers if only one of the six solved the puzzle? I wouldn't, but on the other hand I would probably be reluctant to outright give away coordinates to somene who wasn't with me when I found the cache.

Back at 'cha > Would you delete the logs of those that logged your 5/5 up in a tree but didn't climb the tree? What's the difference? A physical challenge versus mental challenge.

You can't throw it back at me until you answer my question! But yes, I would let those logs stand.

 

By the same token I wouldn't post a "Found It" log under those circumstances unless I was the one climbing the tree. I would just post a note. And if I was in the tree, I would probably tick off those on the ground because I wouldn't throw the cache down.

 

Yeah, I know it's contradictory and confusing but it makes sense to me.

[+sbell111]

Sharing the solution to puzzle caches, When do you cross the line? Is there a line?

There really isn't a line or more accurately, the line is drawn by each individual sharer, not the cache owner or the community.

Imagine a purely hypothetical situtation, of course , where your best caching friend is having trouble with a difficult puzzle cache that you solved and found. Do you give them the answer if they can't figure it out?

I would certainly give my friend hints to help him on his way. This may certainly lead to my giving him so much info that he can't help but find it. Of course, this is all moot since I am horrible at puzzle caches.

How about a casual aquaintence that you've met once or twice?

Same as above. I would certainly give him a hint or two.

A cacher you've only corresponded with online?

Most of my geocaching casual aquantences and even friends I've only met online. Therefore, I would give them hints and have received hints from them.

Where do you draw the line?

What line?

On a related note, say one person solves a puzzle yet 6 people go out and find the cache on a cache run. Should they all be able to log it as a find?

Of course.

Very good question, and that's kinda what I'm getting at. If a puzzle is a 5 difficulty and only one of the six people out of the caching party have actually solved the puzzle, doesn't that cheapen the finds of those that have actually solved the puzzle on their own?

Of course not. My enjoyment of a cache is not dependent on how well that cache has been enjoyed by anyone else or how many times it has been logged.

How is it different from the 5/5 cache with a 40 foot technical climb up a tree (ropes, harness, etc) traditional cache where the poor soul that does the work tosses the log down to several cachers on the ground to find? ...

It's no different.

 

If a family is caching together and they come to a tree climb cache, I have no problem with a teen scrambling up the tree and bringing the cache to the rest of the group, as long as the cache is replaced after everyone signs. This is really no different than a group of cachers searching for a devilishly hidden cache (say anything owned by JoGPS). If one person finds the cache, the rest still get to sign the log.

[+TeamAtlas]

Imagine a purely hypothetical situtation, of course , where your best caching friend is having trouble with a difficult puzzle cache that you solved and found. Do you give them the answer if they can't figure it out? How about a casual aquaintence that you've met once or twice? A cacher you've only corresponded with online? Where do you draw the line?

 

Friend - sure

Casual Aquaintence - would give hints if they asked

Online Corresponder - probably not

 

Now, as to the queston of only one person in a group solving the puzzle - if I were part of a group and only one had solved puzzle, of course I'd log the find if I was present when the cache was actually found. If I was the one that solved it I wouldn't care if the rest of my party claimed the find, as long as we all did the actual 'finding' together.

Same as the tree climbing scenario. I'm not climbing a tree, but if someone else in the group does and I'm standing at the base of the tree, my name better go on that log.

[Skippermark]

Imagine a purely hypothetical situtation, of course , where your best caching friend is having trouble with a difficult puzzle cache that you solved and found. Do you give them the answer if they can't figure it out? How about a casual aquaintence that you've met once or twice? A cacher you've only corresponded with online? Where do you draw the line?

I would offer a hint so that they can solve the puzzle on their own or let them know they're going about it all wrong or they're on the right track.

 

I've had a few people that I know, and some that I don't, ask if I could give them a hint to help them get started. None have ever said, "Can you tell me where the final is." Most just want a short hint that points them in the right direction.

 

Let me turn it around a little... would you delete the logs of the other five cachers if only one of the six solved the puzzle? I wouldn't, but on the other hand I would probably be reluctant to outright give away coordinates to somene who wasn't with me when I found the cache.

I would not delete the logs of the 5 people who were with the 1 who solved it. I've solved puzzles and others have found it with me, and others have solved puzzles that I've found while caching with them.

 

I've also solved puzzles where the other person with me (who loves solving puzzles) didn't solve it and felt funny about signing the log. He eventually did but said that he would write a note on the cache page and not change it to a find until he had solved the puzzle himself.

 

We've also done hard caches where one person in the group has "done the deed" to get the cache. Sometimes it's me, and sometimes it's someone else, but everyone signs in.

 

We've also cached in a group where each person makes the find. Once one finds it, they walk away and cross their arms and wait. Then, as others find it, they walk away with crossed arms until everyone finds it.

 

Generally, we go along with what the group is doing.

Edited September 5, 2008 by Skippermark

[+StumpWater]

Seems like decent thread on which to pose this question:

 

I have a 5/5 puzzle cache. In order to solve the final puzzle, you have to have found a number of other caches to get clues needed to solve the final/final. No finders yet after almost three months.

 

Eventually, however, it seems to me that someone might stumble across stage one of the final. Assuming they can (and also choose to) complete that multi, they will then access the final. I hate the thought of allowing a find this way ... but the thought of adding ALR or deleting finds are not appealing to me either.

 

Thoughts?

[+sbell111]

Seems like decent thread on which to pose this question:

 

I have a 5/5 puzzle cache. In order to solve the final puzzle, you have to have found a number of other caches to get clues needed to solve the final/final. No finders yet after almost three months.

 

Eventually, however, it seems to me that someone might stumble across stage one of the final. Assuming they can (and also choose to) complete that multi, they will then access the final. I hate the thought of allowing a find this way ... but the thought of adding ALR or deleting finds are not appealing to me either.

 

Thoughts?

If a muggle stumbled across my puzzle/multi, I would allow their find to stick. The same would apply if I owned a cache like yours.

[+StumpWater]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't necessarily mean if a MUGGLE stumbled across the final cache, though ... I was thinking more of a cacher out hiking, looking for a spot to place a hide of their own, or whatever.

 

Basically, I guess I'm stuck: add ALR and then delete any finds that don't meet the ALR, or live with any "happenstance" finds. Gonna choose the latter I think. The number of happenstance finds will most likely be zero or at least a very, very small number. I guess I was more worried about the original topic of this thread: happenstance find occurs and then coords propagate. Probably that won't happen.

[+sbell111]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't necessarily mean if a MUGGLE stumbled across the final cache, though ... I was thinking more of a cacher out hiking, looking for a spot to place a hide of their own, or whatever.

I would handle both the exact same way.

[+fox-and-the-hound]

Share a solution? No. Share the time to teach them how to solve it themselves? Absolutely!

 

I think this is another one of those situations where only you can control how you play the game. You can ask for the answer instead of working it out. You'll find the cache, but cheapen the experience. How do you want to remember it? It's like playing a game of solitaire and cheating. You're only stealing the fun from yourself.

[+prntr1]

We have a group of cachers near here that put out a lot of puzzles, then the rest of the group "solves" them and they all run out and log them.

 

I think it makes them feel superior to everyone else. Another cacher and I recently went after one of the puzzles, and the cache owner removed it when he found out we were in town, his stated reason "I don't think they really solved the puzzle", of course he found out from another one of the group that regularly "solves" the puzzles, that we were in town.

 

Of course, I logged a DNF, the first of which was promptly deleted First time I ever had a DNF deleted

 

Having said that, a puzzle cache is meant to be solved, does it matter how it is solved? Do the math, research the answers online, phone-a-friend, look at spoiler pictures, what is the difference, the coordinates are found, the mystery is solved. Maybe add an additional logging requirement, sorta like elementary math, "You must show your work to get credit for this cache"

 

 

More on topic, if the cache is found, it should be logged, the point is to get to the final coordinates right?

[+Renegade Knight]

If it's my best friend, we solve the puzzle together as a team. Others...well it's all I can do to spend time with friends and family.

Edited September 5, 2008 by Renegade Knight

[+The Cooker]

I have a puzzle cache GC151EH - "Under Lock and Key" that requires cachers to find 4 travel bug keys. Once they have the keys they can then find and open up the cache. It has a side purpose that cachers can highlight their favorite local caches, and meet up with other cachers if they each get some of the keys.

 

I didn't expect cachers to find the keys and then pass all four of them around to other cachers without placing them in caches in between. I wasn't mad or frustrated, It was very interesting to see what the community did with this puzzle, so I updated the description to say "These keys will be moving from cache to cache or cacher to cacher as all good travel bugs do. "

 

No use getting upset, enjoy how the new cache is enjoyed by the caching community. Will they miss out on things you find fun, yeah. Are they doing what is fun for them? Maybe, I don't know, but I assume they are enjoying it.

 

I make puzzles because I like making them, and I hope others enjoy them.

 

The Cooker

[+wigglesworth]

Sometimes it is the cache setters desire to prove how clever they are; sometimes it is the cache finders to show how clever they are.

Sometimes it is the caching community to show how jointly 'clever' they are.

 

It is a game? or am I wrong!!

[+DGDK]

When I go out with my BCB (Best Caching Buddy), I'm usually the one who figures out the puzzles beforehand, and as long as he's with me for the find, he signs the log with no problem. As far as up the tree, the one up the tree (or in the river, or on the cliff, etc) will usually toss the log for the other to sign. Is it cheating? Don't care. It decreases the probability that one of us will get injured.

[Skippermark]

Eventually, however, it seems to me that someone might stumble across stage one of the final. Assuming they can (and also choose to) complete that multi, they will then access the final. I hate the thought of allowing a find this way ... but the thought of adding ALR or deleting finds are not appealing to me either.

I would let the find stand. They found the final container with the log in it. Ideally, it's not how you wanted it to be found, but they did find it.

[+WebChimp]

Imagine a purely hypothetical situtation, of course , where your best caching friend is having trouble with a difficult puzzle cache that you solved and found. Do you give them the answer if they can't figure it out?

 

I've written several puzzle caches. Most of them include a note, something to the effect of this: "No hints will be given for the first seven days", or something similar. Sometimes it's "No hints until it has been logged online.".

 

I want there to at least be a good effort to solve it before the logging frenzy begins.

 

Around here, a new puzzle cache generally sees one or two cachers get together and work on the solution. Once it's solved, they may go after it by themselves, or fill up the vehicle and then go. Depends on the time of day, I guess.

 

I've been on both ends of the "FTF run" group activity. I've even ridden with the FTF group on one of my puzzle caches to watch them look. They called another cacher to meet them at the location, which he did, and he signed the log, too. He didn't solve the puzzle, but he was there, and he signed the log.

 

That's okay by me.

 

If they've signed the log book, and written a nice online log, what else can you expect?

[+wigglesworth]

Request for clarity.

Do the rules state that you have tp solve the puzzle cache in the way the setter expected you to. The other option is to find a way to solve the problem which is ultimately to obtain the correct coordinates.

[+sbell111]

Rules?

[+TrailGators]

Imagine a purely hypothetical situtation, of course , where your best caching friend is having trouble with a difficult puzzle cache that you solved and found. Do you give them the answer if they can't figure it out? How about a casual aquaintence that you've met once or twice? A cacher you've only corresponded with online? Where do you draw the line?

 

I follow the request of the cache owner. If he requests on the cache page that no hints be given out for the first month then I won't give out any.

 

Also people around here that get help always put that in their logs when they find the cache. I like when people do this with my puzzle caches because it gives me some feedback on how many people were actually able to solve the puzzle. This helps me the next time.

 

Finally, the true puzzle solvers won't ask for help but they may work as a team.

[+wandering4cache]

On a related note, say one person solves a puzzle yet 6 people go out and find the cache on a cache run. Should they all be able to log it as a find?

 

I have to say yes to this one. Its not our fault that our rental car was following your rental car in CA for a few hours. We had no control over it. It was only 1 cache.

 

(Is that like "I didn't inhale!" ??)

Edited September 5, 2008 by wandering4cache

[+flask]

there's a cache near my house that has a puzzle that's just stupid. i'd tell you how stupid it is, but this is a public forum. the local practice with this cache is for people to just give the coordinates outright.

 

there's another cache near here for which you have to know the location of the hider's former residence and the former location of his favorite restaurant, no longer in business. there are no clues about it, so you have to kind of be an insider in order to guess that the cache is in the guardrail across the street from the place where the restaurant used to be.

 

if you want the coordinates to that cache, i will happily send them to you.

 

i have a series of puzzle caches near my house that require the finders to know a little something about music theory. a group of my friends wanted to do the series and i had to give a lot of instruction to the best puzzle guy in that group. they all learned a little something about the theory and they all had a lovely walk and they all helped in the finding.

 

i don't care that they didn't all solve the puzzles.

 

my friend tharagleb puts out hard puzzles, but he really wants people to find his caches, so after they've been out a while, he puts spoilers in his bookmark list and you can get all the hints you want, if you want.

 

i like that.

[+TrailGators]

Eventually, however, it seems to me that someone might stumble across stage one of the final. Assuming they can (and also choose to) complete that multi, they will then access the final. I hate the thought of allowing a find this way ... but the thought of adding ALR or deleting finds are not appealing to me either.

I would let the find stand. They found the final container with the log in it. Ideally, it's not how you wanted it to be found, but they did find it.

This is why I think it would be nice if people that didn't solve the puzzle had the option to log the cache as a traditional cache. When I've been with someone that solved a puzzle that I had not, I always go home and solve it before logging it. However, many people would be perfectly happy to go home and log it as a traditional because they don't want to solve it. If you didn't solve it then it really was a traditional for you. Edited September 5, 2008 by TrailGators

[+OzzieSan]

When I go out with my BCB (Best Caching Buddy), I'm usually the one who figures out the puzzles beforehand, and as long as he's with me for the find, he signs the log with no problem. As far as up the tree, the one up the tree (or in the river, or on the cliff, etc) will usually toss the log for the other to sign. Is it cheating? Don't care. It decreases the probability that one of us will get injured.

 

And there lies the problem with our society today... People just "don't care"!

[+wandering4cache]

Let me see if I can explain this one. Recently, while working on a puzzle that I was having trouble with, I asked another cacher if I was going in the right direction with solution. They said no & I needed to start all over. OK. While still working on puzzle, I picked up a little piece of info from a past log about a letterbox. It was the last log & it was about 6 months old, so I guess no one else used it to help them. Did a bunch of homework & finally found the 9 part letterbox series referred to. Well all it did for me was help me know what piece of land cache was on. Even from letterbox coordinates, there was no way to back into the puzzle coordinates to find the cache. You needed to solve the puzzle! I thought hey, as a very last resort months from now, I'll go letterboxing...and maybe stumble upon a cache. Only kidding of course.

 

Finally solved the puzzle. Great puzzle too. Had a bit of difficulty getting GPS to locate cache & I had brought along letterbox info. Actually found a letterbox stage where GPS told us. Then used letterbox info to find cache.

 

I told all this info to cache owner. At which point, the previous poster was asked to remove info about letterbox from 6 mth old last log....AND the cache was pulled & disabled.

 

I felt like I did something wrong. I solved the puzzle as intended. And found the cache. Email from owner didn't sound annoyed or angry, but it was disabled immediately.

 

I don't have any puzzle caches yet, but if I put out a really hard clever one, and someone was more clever than I in finding a loophole, I would say good for them. But that's me. This thread is helpful that I can now see that not all owners probably feel that way.

Edited September 6, 2008 by wandering4cache

[+prntr1]

...

I told all this info to cache owner. At which point, the previous poster was asked to remove info about letterbox from 6 mth old last log....AND the cache was pulled & disabled.....

 

Sounds a lot like our situation, however the owner states it is still there. The picture spoiler on the cache page has now been modified, another local cacher verified for us the cache is not where it was, but the owner still hides behind the myth that it is "right where it is supposed to be".

I guess it was lucky someone else didn't come along looking for it at the time, of course they could have, not everyone posts their DNF's

 

A lot of things fall under the "its a game" umbrella, but wrong and right are obvious to most people, some however will always do the wrong thing, and someone else will always be astonished either way.

 

Back to Will's original question, I will help anyone find a cache, they are after all meant to be found. Need a lifeline, give me a call, I try to be helpful and friendly at all times

[+prntr1]

.....

 

I don't have any puzzle caches yet, but if I put out a really hard clever one, and someone was more clever than I in finding a loophole, I would say good for them. But that's me. This thread is helpful that I can now see that now all owners probably feel that way.

 

That is a great attitude to have.

[+markandsandy]

 

i have a series of puzzle caches near my house that require the finders to know a little something about music theory.

 

 

Great, now I have a series of puzzle caches that I have to solve and will probably never get to find because I'm on the wrong side of the country.

 

[+CM-14]

A little from the otherside here. Personally I take great pride in being able to solve a puzzle and then finding it and I think that it would lessen my sense of acomplishment if I let someone else solve it for me. That being said, my wife tags along to find all the puzzles that I have solved

[+flask]

 

i have a series of puzzle caches near my house that require the finders to know a little something about music theory.

 

 

Great, now I have a series of puzzle caches that I have to solve and will probably never get to find because I'm on the wrong side of the country.

 

 

too bad, because if you do the whole set (three puzzles and two bonuses) you get a nice loop-and-spur walk on pretty trails through varied habitats with an obstructed view of the notch and a clear view of the champlain valley.

 

if you're looking for a little fun, though, check out this cache.

[Skippermark]

I've written several puzzle caches. Most of them include a note, something to the effect of this: "No hints will be given for the first seven days", or something similar. Sometimes it's "No hints until it has been logged online.".

We try to respect the wishes of the owner with puzzles and regular caches.

 

Had a cacher email me once for a hint on a difficult non-puzzle cache. We had to go multiple times before we finally found it, even with a hint from the owner.

 

I knew the owner only wanted a certain amount of info to be given out about the cache, so I offered the cacher the same hint that the owner had given me.

 

He replied back saying he'd already gotten that hint from the owner and wanted a more detailed hint, but I wouldn't give any any. "If that's all the hint they gave you, then that's all they want you to have..."

 

Thankfully, it all worked out and no ill-will occurred between anyone. The cacher has tried several times and still not found it and has sort of turned it into a joke in the local forums about how many times he's had to search.

[+Guinness70]

i 've been given the coordinates of a puzzle cache which i dont know where to start on. its more of a history lesson cache.

havent been out to it. wont go to log till i figure it out at least now i can check wether im correct or not.

[Skippermark]

On a related note, say one person solves a puzzle yet 6 people go out and find the cache on a cache run. Should they all be able to log it as a find?

 

I have to say yes to this one. Its not our fault that our rental car was following your rental car in CA for a few hours. We had no control over it. It was only 1 cache.

Uh huh, whatever you say you puzzle mooch.

 

I told all this info to cache owner. At which point, the previous poster was asked to remove info about letterbox from 6 mth old last log....AND the cache was pulled & disabled.

 

I felt like I did something wrong.

I don't think you did anything wrong. Maybe the owner didn't see the original found it log or something. They could have just asked the person to remove the letterbox comment, but maybe he felt the cache difficulty was compromised or something.

 

Great, now I have a series of puzzle caches that I have to solve and will probably never get to find because I'm on the wrong side of the country.

 

I'm not sure why, but I solve puzzles in areas where I rarely cache. We've eventually gotten around to finding some of them and once a few had been moved from where they were when we solved them, resulting in us DNFing it. Now we email the owner to make sure the cache is still at the solved coords.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

A little from the otherside here. Personally I take great pride in being able to solve a puzzle and then finding it and I think that it would lessen my sense of acomplishment if I let someone else solve it for me. That being said, my wife tags along to find all the puzzles that I have solved

 

I have solved quite a few puzzles for caches that I likely will never find. I have also collaborated with other cachers both local and afar to solve a puzzle cache. From what I've seen the practice of 2 or more cachers working together on a puzzle is fairly common and I don't think I've seen any complaints from a CO when cachers work together to solve a puzzle.

 

However, on a couple of occasions I worked on a puzzle with someone else and contributed quite a bit to the solution but the other person came up with the final coordinates, then went out and got FTF before letting me know that they had solved it.

 

In another instance I started working on a puzzle, then worked together with someone else that got to a point in the puzzle where they got stuck so stopped working on it for about a year. When I got to the same point (after working on the puzzle for about a month) I figured out the next part within minutes, which turned out to be the last piece that led to the final coordinates. Since the actual cache is 700 miles from where I live I might not ever get to find the cache. However, it's near the location of the next Geo Woodstock so you never know.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I have a 5/5 puzzle cache. In order to solve the final puzzle, you have to have found a number of other caches to get clues needed to solve the final/final. No finders yet after almost three months.

 

Eventually, however, it seems to me that someone might stumble across stage one of the final. Assuming they can (and also choose to) complete that multi, they will then access the final. I hate the thought of allowing a find this way ... but the thought of adding ALR or deleting finds are not appealing to me either.

 

Thoughts?

 

I am very proud of the mystery cache that I never solved, but rather brute forced! Irked the heck out of the 3rd and 4th to find, who were 15 minutes behind us!

Speaking of them being 3rd and 4th, my caching partner and I find caches together. We do not require that both of us solve the mystery. One solves it, we both find it and log it!

There is one local cache 45' up a tree. The owner requires each logger to retrieve the cache and put it back.

[+ronbo]

 

He didn't solve the puzzle, but he was there, and he signed the log.

 

That's okay by me.

 

If they've signed the log book, and written a nice online log, what else can you expect?

 

Hmmmm, that's interesting. What happens when you show up and the log book has been moved and the explanation was " That cacher didn't solve the puzzle so I moved the cache".

[+C&C+COMPANY]

I have a list of 46 puzzle cache answers and growing....if anyone want them I email the solutions to them.

[+markandsandy]

I have a list of 46 puzzle cache answers and growing....if anyone want them I email the solutions to them.

 

Now THAT'S crossing the line.

[+9Key]

I have a list of 46 puzzle cache answers and growing....if anyone want them I email the solutions to them.

 

Now THAT'S crossing the line.

Agreed.

[+infiniteMPG]

I have a list of 46 puzzle cache answers and growing....if anyone want them I email the solutions to them.

I'd put that right up there with "I'm going to do a caching run next week and expect +500 finds. Anyone wanting me to sign their name to the log sheets just email me and let me know". Definitely crossing the line. There is a local puzzle cache Phone Music, a 4/1.5 and after about 5 months in the wild I have the only find on it. I have had a few people email me fishing for the answer but I politely just say if the owner wants to pass along an additional clue to them that they could contact them as it's not my place to bypass their hard work devising the hide.

[+JamGuys]

I make puzzles because I like making them, and I hope others enjoy them.

 

The Cooker

 

My sentiments exactly!

Edited September 9, 2008 by JamGuys