This utterly
fascinating puzzle has been around for many years, at least since
the seventies and probably before that. (It is in the public
domain.) Solving it
requires a good dose of logic, a little luck, and some quiet
reflection. It is
chastening to realize that the first solvers had to do it without
calculators or spreadsheets. Even so, a modern solver should
set aside a quiet hour or two (along with a nice glass of
wine.)
[Note
(4/11/2006): I am leaving the rest of this page as I originally
wrote it. However, I have since discovered that the author of this
puzzle was William Thomas Williams (1913-1995) and it was first
published in the Strand Magazine in 1935. Not only did the original
solvers not have access to calculators and spreadsheets, but they
also were given no information beyond the grid and the clues. They
had to assume that the year of reference was the current year and
had to know already how many roods were in an acre and so forth. In
addition, clue 6 down also had no year. Ted was simply twice as old
as Mary. The puzzle was so popular that it was reprinted in
subsequent years with various slight modifications to keep it
current. As you might guess, the version printed here comes from
1939. Of course, you might surmise from this description that you
can find the answers on the internet. If that's how you want to
find your caches, so be it. However, if you do, make sure you get
the version from the correct year (unlike at least one cacher who
will go nameless). If, on the other hand you wish to solve this on
your own and need help getting started, send me a note and I'll
give you hint.]
The puzzle
concerns the Little Pigsby farm that has been in the Dunk family
for several centuries.
One particular rectangular field is popularly known as Dog’s
Mead. Use the clues to
fill in the grid with the appropriate numbers. The hardest part is getting
started; that is, after you have filled in the first two trivially
easy digits. It will
still take you the better part of your quiet hour (and second glass
of wine) to finish.
Things you
should know:
- The year is 1939.
- There are 4840 square yards in an
acre.
- There are 4 roods in an acre.
- There are (or rather, were) 20 shillings in one
pound sterling.
Normally, they
don’t tell you this, but I won’t make you look it
up: There are
1760 yards in a mile.
ACROSS
1.
The area of Dog’s Mead in square yards.
5.
The age of Farmer Dunk’s daughter Martha
6.
Difference in yards between the length and breadth of Dog’s
Mead.
7.
Number of roods in Dog’s Mead times “8 down”
8.
The year when the Dunk family first acquired Little
Pigsby.
10. Farmer Dunk’s age.
11. Year of birth of Mary, Farmer
Dunk’s youngest child.
14. The perimeter in yards of Dog’s
Mead.
15. The cube of Farmer Dunk’s walking
speed in miles per hour.
16. “15 across” minus “9
down.”
DOWN
1.
Value in shillings per acre of Dog’s Mead.
3.
Mary’s age.
4.
The value of Dog’s Mead in pounds sterling.
6.
The age of Farmer Dunk’s first born, Ted, who was twice as old as
Mary in 1935.
7.
The square of the number of yards of the breadth of Dog’s
Mead.
8. The number of minutes it takes
Farmer Dunk to walk one and 1/3 times around Dog’s Mead.
9.
See “10 down.”
10. “10 across” times “9
down.”
12. One more than the sum of the
digits in “10 down.”
13. The number of years that the Dunk
Family has owned Little Pigsby.
By the way,
Mrs. Gooby is Farmer Dunk’s mother-in-law. The square of her age is number
“2 down.” The cache is
at North 37:33.ABC and West 122:17.DEF. It is a cammo-ed medicine
container. (Think "child-proof cap" when you try to open it.) The
FTF prize is a Sacajawea dollar. It didn't fit inside the cache so
I had to get creative.
- A equals the sum of the digits in the sum of
the ages of the Dunk children.
- BC equals the last two digits in the year Mrs.
Gooby was born.
- DE equals the last two digits in “one
down.”
- F equals the absolute value of the difference
between the digits of what Mrs. Gooby’s age will be in
1941.