Encrypting The Questionable Ones

[+Morningofthesun]

My family and I have found almost 200 geocaches, and are starting to venture towards some of the puzzle ones that come up as a blue question marks on the map.

 

A lot of them have ridiculous decoding and encrypting that needs to be solved. Does anyone have any advice on how to start figuring these out? They can't all be common sense. Especially since the hometown one I'm trying to decode only has four letters throughout the whole message. G,C,T and A. I'm baffled...any words of wisdom?

[+Ike 13]

First read up on simple ciphers. There's a lot of great sites that people use (purplehell, rumkin to name two).

 

I'm approaching 150 unknown cache finds and there are puzzles out there that just boggle my mind. Everyone thinks differently and this is what makes puzzles tricky. Some puzzles spell out what you need to do (I like those), others make you sift through lots of information and ciphers.

 

Every puzzle I solve gives me insight to others. So my biggest suggestion is to do the ones you know. Maybe they will trigger something that helps solves other puzzles.

 

Also check out ePeterso2's Puzzle solving series (GCYXZ1 is the first). They detail some of the most common ways to solve puzzles.

[+dakboy]

Every puzzle I solve gives me insight to others. So my biggest suggestion is to do the ones you know. Maybe they will trigger something that helps solves other puzzles.

And keep notes. I've taken up a habit of keeping copious notes on any puzzle I attempt to solve, so that I can come back to it later to finish and to use as reference material later.

[+Hurricane Luke]

Aren't G, C, T & A the four bases of DNA? Perhaps it's something to do with that - Google is your friend...

Edited January 17, 2011 by Hurricane Luke

[+Mom-n-Andy]

Every puzzle I solve gives me insight to others. So my biggest suggestion is to do the ones you know. Maybe they will trigger something that helps solves other puzzles.

And keep notes. I've taken up a habit of keeping copious notes on any puzzle I attempt to solve, so that I can come back to it later to finish and to use as reference material later.

 

I keep a bookmark list of all the puzzle caches I've solved. For each one I list the actual coordinates, the cipher involved if applicable, any needed websites, etc.

[+dakboy]

Every puzzle I solve gives me insight to others. So my biggest suggestion is to do the ones you know. Maybe they will trigger something that helps solves other puzzles.

And keep notes. I've taken up a habit of keeping copious notes on any puzzle I attempt to solve, so that I can come back to it later to finish and to use as reference material later.

 

I keep a bookmark list of all the puzzle caches I've solved. For each one I list the actual coordinates, the cipher involved if applicable, any needed websites, etc.

IIRC, you're a Mac user, aren't you? I recently picked up EverNote (didn't know it was free till I saw it in the App Store, and had been hearing good things about it) and have been using that for my notes. It's been great.

 

Actually, now that I think about it, EverNote runs on Windows too. Everyone wins!

[+niraD]

A while back, The Rat offered a puzzle-solving class as an event cache. His slides are available here:

http://thegba.net/resources/general_information.php

 

Among the tips he offered:

 

Identify the theme. Check the cache title, the hint, the HTML source, the graphics (including names/URLs), any links (including URLs), whatever is at the posted coordinates, etc. If you can figure out the theme, then you should look for numbering systems that are associated with that theme (zip codes, area codes, telephone keypads, episode numbers, etc.).

 

Around here, coordinates will have 15 digits, and will look like "N 37° xx.xxx W 122° xx.xxx". So when I'm solving a nearby puzzle, I look for a group of 15 things, and then I look for ways to get the digits 37xxxxx122xxxxx from them. In general, I look for ways to get the number 37 (or the digits 3 and 7) from something near the beginning of the puzzle, and the number 122 (or the digits 1, 2, and 2) from something near the middle of the puzzle. (Of course, you'll need to adjust this for the coordinates near you.)

 

Other useful resources include:

Puzzle Solving 101 Series (bookmark list)

Solving Puzzle Caches (online article)

How Do I Solve All These $@! Puzzle Caches? (tutorial-style puzzle cache)

Puzzle FUNdamentals (archived event cache) and the Puzzle FUNdamentals resources on the GeocacheAlaska! education page

The GBA's Puzzle Cache FAQ (for puzzle designers, but useful for understanding how puzzle caches work)

[+Mom-n-Andy]

The best thing to do is to ask the cache owner for help. If the cache has already been found, most COs will provide a hint (or two or three.)

[+Starkes]

Yeah some of the 5-star difficulty puzzle caches I've looked at seem next to impossible unless you're a CIA cryptographer or something. Though, my degree is in biochemistry and I recognize that code right away. Like someone else mentioned, those are the four bases of DNA. So, search wikipedia for 'genetic code' and I bet you can figure out the puzzle using the information in that article.

[+Walts Hunting]

My family and I have found almost 200 geocaches, and are starting to venture towards some of the puzzle ones that come up as a blue question marks on the map.

 

A lot of them have ridiculous decoding and encrypting that needs to be solved. Does anyone have any advice on how to start figuring these out? They can't all be common sense. Especially since the hometown one I'm trying to decode only has four letters throughout the whole message. G,C,T and A. I'm baffled...any words of wisdom?

 

I am not sure of that your use of the word ridiculous fits in here. I have never found that to be true. Many are complex, difficult, extremely frustrating and even evil but that is why they were 5 difficulty.

 

Solving puzzles can sometimes take quite a bit of time and research plus a pearl or two from the CO or friends. I am not a biochemist but even I recognized that the four letters are the four types of nodes in a DNA chain.

 

And the comment about Google was great. That is a resource that helps immensely.

[knowschad]

Anybody want to make a trip to Minnesota this weekend for the National Puzzle Day Event? Take a look, and drool!

[+sbell111]

You guys may wish to consider whether the cache owner would appreciate you posting hints to solve his puzzle in the forums for all to see, forever.

[+teamajk]

Anybody want to make a trip to Minnesota this weekend for the National Puzzle Day Event? Take a look, and drool!

 

Wow! That puzzle event looks amazing. If you're looking for a variety of interesting puzzles to expand your puzzle horizons, you might be interested in the geocaching puzzle of the day blog I started Jan 1. It's available here. Happy puzzling!