Can you solve my puzzle?

July 19, 2014

.

Edited May 25, 2018 by Rapaladude

2.8k · July 19, 2014

Let me get right on it, I just love puzzles.

July 19, 2014

Let me get right on it, I just love puzzles.

No luck? If you run out of certitude chances, just email me and I'll tell you whether or not the coords are correct.

3.8k · July 19, 2014

The answer is 42

4.6k · July 19, 2014

No idea.

Is it a puzzle, or a guessing game?

Your other two puzzles seem straight forward compared to this one.

10.2k · July 19, 2014

No idea.

Is it a puzzle, or a guessing game?

Your other two puzzles seem straight forward compared to this one.

I would have never looked at the other two, but I agree. No clue what you're after here, so I too will go with 42.

July 19, 2014

It's a little more obscure than my other ones. It takes a very specific web page to find the right info. Once you find the info and apply it the correct way it's super simple.

11.6k · July 19, 2014

It's a little more obscure than my other ones. It takes a very specific web page to find the right info. Once you find the info and apply it the correct way it's super simple.

I'm no good at mind reading, and never would have looked for a specific web page in a million years. I have a vague plan of what I would do when I had the info, but it's a 5-star difficulty, so the sky is the limit for the complexity of the math and codes. Knowing "it's simple once you get the info" might prevent me from avoiding the puzzle completely, if that were stated in the cache description. So I pasted the listed coords into Certitude, and left.

But if locals are great with puzzles, give them a chance to solve it. It looks pretty obscure to me.

[RANT]One thing I can't stand is when there's a cache page that nobody could solve, and then the Cache Owner gives too much away. I see a tough puzzle, develop a plan of action, begin working on it, and then the Cache Owner adds hints later so that everybody solves it... and everybody but me has live Internet access. I'd like to have the opportunity to solve a puzzle that nobody else could crack. Or if there are hints & corrections & additional info, that needs to be there from the start.[/RANT]

July 19, 2014

It's a little more obscure than my other ones. It takes a very specific web page to find the right info. Once you find the info and apply it the correct way it's super simple.

I'm no good at mind reading, and never would have looked for a specific web page in a million years. I have a vague plan of what I would do when I had the info, but it's a 5-star difficulty, so the sky is the limit for the complexity of the math and codes. Knowing "it's simple once you get the info" might prevent me from avoiding the puzzle completely, if that were stated in the cache description. So I pasted the listed coords into Certitude, and left.

But if locals are great with puzzles, give them a chance to solve it. It looks pretty obscure to me.

[RANT]One thing I can't stand is when there's a cache page that nobody could solve, and then the Cache Owner gives too much away. I see a tough puzzle, develop a plan of action, begin working on it, and then the Cache Owner adds hints later so that everybody solves it... and everybody but me has live Internet access. I'd like to have the opportunity to solve a puzzle that nobody else could crack. Or if there are hints & corrections & additional info, that needs to be there from the start.[/RANT]

Well if you don't like hints being added later, this is the puzzle for you. I will not add a hint at all until someone solves it and even then, if I do add a hint, it'll be vague.

Also, if you don't like seemingly impossible puzzles, you don't have to do em. Te only reason I have the amount of puzzles found that I do is because of friends helping me out or I just happen to be with them while they go for it. I've solved very few puzzles. They seem so impossible to me most of the time.

Because of this, if I see a puzzle I most likely won't attempt it if it's above 2.5 difficulty.

14k · July 19, 2014

It's a little more obscure than my other ones. It takes a very specific web page to find the right info. Once you find the info and apply it the correct way it's super simple.

I'm no good at mind reading, and never would have looked for a specific web page in a million years. I have a vague plan of what I would do when I had the info, but it's a 5-star difficulty, so the sky is the limit for the complexity of the math and codes. Knowing "it's simple once you get the info" might prevent me from avoiding the puzzle completely, if that were stated in the cache description. So I pasted the listed coords into Certitude, and left.

But if locals are great with puzzles, give them a chance to solve it. It looks pretty obscure to me.

[RANT]One thing I can't stand is when there's a cache page that nobody could solve, and then the Cache Owner gives too much away. I see a tough puzzle, develop a plan of action, begin working on it, and then the Cache Owner adds hints later so that everybody solves it... and everybody but me has live Internet access. I'd like to have the opportunity to solve a puzzle that nobody else could crack. Or if there are hints & corrections & additional info, that needs to be there from the start.[/RANT]

Well if you don't like hints being added later, this is the puzzle for you. I will not add a hint at all until someone solves it and even then, if I do add a hint, it'll be vague.

Also, if you don't like seemingly impossible puzzles, you don't have to do em. Te only reason I have the amount of puzzles found that I do is because of friends helping me out or I just happen to be with them while they go for it. I've solved very few puzzles. They seem so impossible to me most of the time.

Because of this, if I see a puzzle I most likely won't attempt it if it's above 2.5 difficulty.

There are high difficulty puzzle which have obvious starting points that can lure you in as you unravel many layers before finally obtaining the final coordinates. These can take days or weeks or months to solve but you feel like you're always making progress. Then there are the "read the caches owners mind" and find the one place on the web that has the information required to solve it. They can sometimes be solved within a few minutes but could take months or years to finally guess what the CO was thinking. From comments so far it seems like this one is more like that latter. For those that *do* enjoy puzzle caches, I think most would prefer the kind which at least has a clue where to start and might require some amount of deductive reasoning to figure out.

11.6k · July 19, 2014

Then there are the "read the caches owners mind" and find the one place on the web that has the information required to solve it. They can sometimes be solved within a few minutes but could take months or years to finally guess what the CO was thinking. From comments so far it seems like this one is more like that latter. For those that *do* enjoy puzzle caches, I think most would prefer the kind which at least has a clue where to start and might require some amount of deductive reasoning to figure out.

I don't mind if there's no clue. Guessing can be fun. But it needs to stay that way. If I think of a new plan, and now there are extra hints and several people have solved it, that kind of kills the whole puzzle for me, because I was working on a mystery nobody could solve (yeah, for years, maybe), and suddenly it was all given away. Plus, several locals will then approach me, since I'm so thick and can't figure out puzzles, and tell me "You take those digits and divide by Pi", or whatever, so now I don't even get to guess anymore. Hints are cool, but include them all now, if you will be doing so. There's already quite a big hint from the CO right in this thread.

It is important that it's a rock-solid puzzle, NO TYPOS, no puzzle errors (unless the "error" is part of the puzzle. Sneaky). But if it's a mind-reading puzzle, it stays a mind-reading puzzle.

I guess I should also mention that if I can't immediately identify what the "puzzle" is, that cache page goes to the bottom of the pile. And it's a big pile. One day, months from now, I may have an epiphany, and try a new idea. Until then, I'm basically ignoring the whole cache.

Edited July 19, 2014 by kunarion

4.6k · July 19, 2014

It's a little more obscure than my other ones. It takes a very specific web page to find the right info. Once you find the info and apply it the correct way it's super simple.

Obscure in that if you don't guess which website will do whatever needs to be done, you can't solve it?

For me there are two broad classifications of cache puzzle puzzle and guessing game - and I'd classify this one as the latter.

Your others are fairly obscure too insofar as I only knew what to do because I'd seen the building blocks before. As far as I can tell, there's nothing on the cache page - including the cache name - that links to the solve method or provides any clue as to what it may be.

Which leads me to the conclusion that the difference between puzzles and guessing games is that puzzles have discernible clues.

11.6k · July 19, 2014

Well if you don't like hints being added later, this is the puzzle for you. I will not add a hint at all until someone solves it and even then, if I do add a hint, it'll be vague.

That's a good plan, especially if it's something people will find really unique and cool. There aren't a lot of truly fresh puzzle ideas.

Also, if you don't like seemingly impossible puzzles, you don't have to do em. Te only reason I have the amount of puzzles found that I do is because of friends helping me out or I just happen to be with them while they go for it. I've solved very few puzzles. They seem so impossible to me most of the time.

Yes, Grasshopper. To master your fear of tricky puzzles, you made a tricky puzzle. This is the path to enlightenment. :anicute:

But seriously, I have hidden some caches of the type I can never find. It's some kind of therapeutic thing for me, I suppose. :anibad:

5.3k · July 19, 2014

It's a little more obscure than my other ones. It takes a very specific web page to find the right info. Once you find the info and apply it the correct way it's super simple.

Then it's not a very good puzzle. Good puzzles are ones that don't require "moon logic" reading the CO's mind, and they do not depend on the finder finding exactly the right version of a web page. Information from the Web is OK if it can be verified from several sources, but "magic find-my-page" puzzles tend (IMO) to suck.

The very best puzzles are those where there is a clear logical path from the information presented to the solution. It may be a very difficult path, but it should not require mind-reading.

July 20, 2014

I asked if you can solve it. That's it. Call it a bad cache, a "mind reading" or what ever. It's simpler than you think. You don't have to agree but that's the case.

1.2k · July 20, 2014

I wonder why you even brought it here.

10.2k · July 20, 2014

I asked if you can solve it. That's it. Call it a bad cache, a "mind reading" or what ever. It's simpler than you think. You don't have to agree but that's the case.

I'm not a big puzzle cache guy (although I do own a couple), and I pretty much let all the local ones, unless there's an immediately logical path to the solution, pass me by. I'd never really gone down the road of "read the CO's mind" before, but that makes a lot of sense to me now. I'd say you have that case here. Example: I'm thinking of a number.... what is it? :lol:

I'm seriously not being mean here, but I can see where some of the respondent's are coming from.

4.6k · July 20, 2014

I asked if you can solve it. That's it. Call it a bad cache, a "mind reading" or what ever. It's simpler than you think. You don't have to agree but that's the case.

Most puzzles are simple - especially when you know the solution.

Even more complex puzzles with several layers of abstraction between the information supplied and the actual coordinates of GZ are usually comparatively simple once the solution is known. When discussing puzzles I refer to this aspect of the puzzle as the machinery. Some puzzles have simple machinery - a one-step solve type puzzle, others have more complex machinery and typically involve multiple steps and some data processing or manipulation in between stages.

When grading puzzles I usually refer to them as easy/hard AND simple/complex. A simple puzzle can be hard to solve purely because the machinery is completely unknown and there's nothing about the cache page that hints at what the machinery might be. From my current perspective, this describes the puzzle which forms the basis of this thread. Likewise a complex puzzle can be easy to solve - because there are more clues as to what the underlying machinery looks like.

Puzzle setters have to try to step into the shoes of potential solvers and ask themselves If this was the first time I'd ever seen this puzzle - what aspect of it would give me any inkling as to likely solution(s)*

*Plural, as there may be several potential solutions that might fit, but only one that is correct. The correct solution doesn't need to be the only potential solution, nor does it need to be explicitly hinted at on the cache page - but leaving some breadcrumbs for the puzzlers is a good way to turn a guessing game into a puzzle - IMHO.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Team Microdot

7.5k · July 20, 2014

I asked if you can solve it. That's it. Call it a bad cache, a "mind reading" or what ever. It's simpler than you think. You don't have to agree but that's the case.

Oh. In that case, no, we can't solve it. I hope that helps.

1.2k · July 20, 2014

I asked if you can solve it. That's it. Call it a bad cache, a "mind reading" or what ever. It's simpler than you think. You don't have to agree but that's the case.

Oh. In that case, no, we can't solve it. I hope that helps.

Or we don't want to bother...

13.7k · July 20, 2014

As a side note, what happens next week, when everyone creating a puzzle asks to have it solved (beta tested maybe...) here ?

- Maybe we need a "solve my puzzle" forum.

2.8k · July 20, 2014

As a side note, what happens next week, when everyone creating a puzzle asks to have it solved (beta tested maybe...) here ?

- Maybe we need a "solve my puzzle" forum.

Nooooooo, I don't want to solve puzzles to go caching and I sure don't want to solve them when I come here to complain about caching.

10.2k · July 20, 2014

I asked if you can solve it. That's it. Call it a bad cache, a "mind reading" or what ever. It's simpler than you think. You don't have to agree but that's the case.

Oh. In that case, no, we can't solve it. I hope that helps.

That was actually kind of funny. Now I can tell you I have a unique personal experience with "song lyric" websites. And there are dozens, if not hundreds of them out there. I play a daily "name that tune" game sent out to an email list, and have been for oh goodness, about 15 years now. Are we supposed to somehow stumble on the right one, and somehow extract coordinates from it?

Also keep in mind, Google search results vary by geographic location. And not everyone uses Google. As a website owner, I can tell you in the U.S. it's 74% Google, with Yahoo and Bing evenly splitting the other 25% (and with 1% really obscure stuff like ask.com)

In other words, just give us a freaking cipher, dude. And again, I'm not being mean.

13.7k · July 21, 2014

As a side note, what happens next week, when everyone creating a puzzle asks to have it solved (beta tested maybe...) here ?

- Maybe we need a "solve my puzzle" forum.

Nooooooo, I don't want to solve puzzles to go caching and I sure don't want to solve them when I come here to complain about caching.

Sorry. Forgot the rolley eyes (or pretty-much anything...) afterwards. :laughing:

July 21, 2014

Well. I must say this was helpful. <_<

No one told you that you had to solve it or for that matter, even look at this forum post. Dont like it? Move on. That simple.

7.4k · July 21, 2014

Wow, people are cranky about puzzles.

10.2k · July 21, 2014

Wow, people are cranky about puzzles.

Would that be the owner, or the people looking at it for him? :lol:

I see he's up to 99 negative guesses, after reaching out to the whole world. I guess no one has read his mind yet. And I, by the way, am NOT one of those negative guesses, as I wouldn't even have a clue of where to start.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Mr.Yuck

15.3k · July 21, 2014

Well. I must say this was helpful.

Okay, I give up. What kind of a response were you expecting?

When people start a thread asking whether anyone can solve their puzzle, generally the replies reflect whether anyone could solve their puzzle. Sometimes, most replies mention solving it. Sometimes, some can solve it and some can't. Sometimes, a few people can solve it, but most can't.

And then there are the times when no one can guess what's in your pocket.

But in all these situations, the responses can be helpful to someone who genuinely wants to know whether their puzzle can be solved.

No one told you that you had to solve it or for that matter, even look at this forum post. Dont like it? Move on. That simple.

Did you really want to know whether anyone could solve your puzzle? Or did you really want everyone to congratulate you on how clever your puzzle was?

13.7k · July 21, 2014

Well. I must say this was helpful.

No one told you that you had to solve it or for that matter, even look at this forum post. Dont like it? Move on. That simple.

The nice thing about forums is everyone is entitled to an opinion.

11.6k · July 21, 2014

I wouldn't even have a clue of where to start.

I did the First Couple Of Things To Try on a mysterious Mystery page. They didn't pan out.

3.7k · July 21, 2014

Good grief. Is this gang up on the forum newbie day?

Please be nice to each other. You'll be rewarded with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

11.6k · July 21, 2014

Good grief. Is this gang up on the forum newbie day?

That's nothing. Wait til you see the cache log Notes, six months from now. :yikes:

May 31, 2017

Good grief. Is this gang up on the forum newbie day?

That's nothing. Wait til you see the cache log Notes, six months from now.

It's been found over 20 times now. I can safely say there's a ton of puzzles in my area that are even harder than this.

It uses guitar tabs. The first three notes from both sets of lyrics is the answer, excluding zeros.

11.6k · June 1, 2017

Good grief. Is this gang up on the forum newbie day?

That's nothing. Wait til you see the cache log Notes, six months from now.

It's been found over 20 times now. I can safely say there's a ton of puzzles in my area that are even harder than this.

Sweet! You know someone can figure it, although maybe it's not obscure enough to be a "5" difficulty.

It uses guitar tabs. The first three notes from both sets of lyrics is the answer, excluding zeros.

The what with the who now?! Yeah, it's a 5. :anicute:

Edited June 1, 2017 by kunarion

7.3k · June 1, 2017

Good grief. Is this gang up on the forum newbie day?

That's nothing. Wait til you see the cache log Notes, six months from now.

It's been found over 20 times now. I can safely say there's a ton of puzzles in my area that are even harder than this.

It uses guitar tabs. The first three notes from both sets of lyrics is the answer, excluding zeros.

Well, the 2017 "finds" were the people you explained the puzzle to, gave them the coordinates and then escorted them to the location.

I think that reduced the "difficulty" to a 1 for that group, no?

I don't think the hint "email me" is much use.I guess if I planned ahead and knew to do that beforehand, then it might help. But hints are usually meant to be helpful in the field, during the search.

I guess in this day and age where everyone has a cell phone, I'm a dinosaur.

B.

13.7k · June 1, 2017

I don't think the hint "email me" is much use. I guess if I planned ahead and knew to do that beforehand, then it might help. But hints are usually meant to be helpful in the field, during the search.

I guess in this day and age where everyone has a cell phone, I'm a dinosaur.

After another attempt at a 4.5/4.5 multi, finally just gave up.

- The "can't find anything smaller than a 30cal" is true I guess. :laughing:

The hint, "just ask" didn't help me much in an area with no service.

- That sounds like someone on a power trip to me...

Most know I don't do pmos because of micro-managers, no way I'm begging a hint.

Only one (so far) has found it in almost a year, by "just asking" the CO.

No one but me has made real attempts.

I feel that "hint" lowered the finder's experience considerably, but did give 'em a smiley.

- The CO seems like the one really missing out though.

Can you solve my puzzle?

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Join the conversation