Inspired by 'Geocaching Meets Sudoku in Louth' (GCPVT8)
Rather than a traditional challenge over a vial of Iocane powder the Dread Pirate Roberts presents instead a ‘Scr@bble’ challenge with a tour of East Cowes thrown in. During your route you will pass East Cowes Heritage centre – open Monday – Saturday 10-1 that provides further history of the town and also a demonstration hovercraft (good button pushing opportunity). The second half of the trail provides good views of the Solent. A good place to see cruise liners departing Southampton, normally around 45 minutes - 1 hour after their scheduled departure time – see http://www.southamptonvts.co.uk/cruise_ship.asp for schedule. There is a paddling pool and small water play park in this area. Near to the paddling pool is a cafe that is open during the summer where calculations may be done.
Each clue has a word answer and also a number. The words form part of the Scr@bble challenge to give one half of the final cache coordinates, the numbers the other half. Knot numbers refer to small wall plaques that form part of the Cowes Heritage Trail - leaflet available from Island Tourist Offices.
A. N 50º 45.444 W 1º 17.256
WORD (B9-Across): Who raised the funds? (3,1,5)
NUMBER : What knot number?
B. N 50º 45.438 W 1º 17.292
WORD (C6-Across): What do Exide and Drydex provide? (9)
NUMBER : What knot number?
C. N 50º 45.450 W 1º 17.424
WORD (D4-Down): What did the reef knot turn into? (6)
NUMBER : How many pence to take one ox and one pig across the Floating Bridge in 1921?
D. N 50º 45.630 W 1º 17.340
WORD (F1-Down): Who was assaulted? (6,6)
NUMBER : In which year did Freddie Attrill commit this assault?
The house referred to here is in Cambridge Road, very near to the car parking suggested coordinates. The house number is 35. (Mrs Montoya fondly remembers visting the shell murals in the 70's - the remaining ship is still worth a look.)
E. N 50º 45.756 W 1º 17.304
WORD (B2-Across): What ship is this piece from? (8)
NUMBER : What knot number?
F. N 50º 45.972 W 1º 16.650
WORD (D11-Across): What sort of area is this? (7)
NUMBER: How many dormant law enforcement officers (fcrrq uhzcf) between Point E and this point?
In May 2014 there was a landslip so the co-ordinates above are only accessible by beach. If the tide is in the answers you are looking for are gheavat and gra. Apparently be careful of quicksand if walking on the beach!
For the final coordinates, fit the words into the ‘Scr@bble’ grid according to the grid reference for each clue (alongside the question). Then work out the scores for each word, the ‘Scr@bble’ letter values are given below along with the square colour actions (they are very similar to another type of word game). Letter operations are performed before word operations.
Grid colours : Red – Triple Word Score, Pink – Double Word Score, Dark Blue – Triple Letter Score, Light Blue – Double Letter Score
To work out the final cache coordinates use the following formulae.
North (WORD VALUES) N 50º D-F.(BxC)+(4xA)+(7xE)
West (NUMBER VALUES)W 1º C+F.D-(25xA)-(10xB)-(22xE)
Sanity Check: the total for the 6 words should add up to 218, the numbers 1914 and the final cache location is within walking distance of the original car parking suggestion. If you get into difficulties then please email answers for verification.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.
Update 29.07.2018. Cache replaced in original position