Stumped By Clueless? Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Stumped By Clueless? (Stumped By #2)
[The cache is not at the listed coordinates.]
My much younger brother Hypothetical recently hid a cache (called Stumped By Steganography?) and now it is my turn to help Grandpa. My family nickname is Clueless. You might think that is a funny name for a girl. These names are really just for family use. Hypothetical is called that because he gets lots of imaginary ideas about things. My name is because I like doing clueless crosswords (just like Grandma) and I have made one for you to solve. I get to hide the cache too and I will put it in an old stump (just like Hypothetical did). There will be no swaps – I think those are for little kids.
Clueless crosswords are marvelous. I traveled overseas and had to enroll in school. They emphasized spelling and utilized puzzles to help. We penciled using a color of black for our answers so computer-based assessment could be used and because mistakes could be easily corrected. My brother Hypothetical is not good at spelling so maybe he needs to go there when he is older.
A clueless crossword is like a normal crossword but has no clues and the squares have small numbers in them. You have to add letters to make words until all numbered squares are filled. The number and the letter must always match. For example in my puzzle all 5’s are W’s (and all W’s are 5’s).
Rigor, lots of hard labor and luck are needed to quickly recognize favorable answers. I use computers, Grandpa is enamored with his OED books. Computer dictionaries can utilize wildcards to help analyze and then also, often more importantly, usefully minimize the problem of finding the correct word.
I created the clueless crossword below and here is some help to get you started:
5 = W, 6 = F, 8 = S, 18 = D.
Grandpa made some of the squares blue and green. When you have finished the puzzle and know which letter belongs to which number you can then complete the single line of squares at the bottom for an extra clue that Grandpa said may help.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
[Checking is highly recommended, you may not have the correct values.]
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jngpu bhg sbe erq ureevatf.
Pnpur: Ybbx sbe n oynpx ghsg. Oevat gjrrmref naq n cra.