There has been a request to place more puzzles in the South Bay that would be more accessible to a wider range of solver abilities.
Here is my contribution to this effort.
I have begun a series of puzzle caches to teach advanced strategies for solving Sudoku. In order to place a rose among the thorns, I here present a beginner Sudoku that can be solved using basic strategies only. If you follow the basic rules of Sudoku, you should be able to find the cache.
Every Sudoku is played on a 9 x 9 grid: Nine Columns, Nine Rows, and Nine Interior Squares with nine separate cells.
Place the digits 1-9, inclusive, into each cell such that no digit repeats itself in any Column, Row, or Interior Square.
Once you have filled in the missing digits, note the letter appearing at the top left of some of the empty cells. Use these digits to solve these equations. If an answer is a multidigit number, take the final digit. The cache then is at these coordinates:
North: LM NO.PQR West: STU VW.XYZ
L = F * 3
M = C * 7
N = A / B
O = I * 9
P = B * 7
Q = 7 ^ D (i.e. 7 to the power of D)
R = F * 3
S = G * 1
T = E * 2
U = B + I
V = H - F
W = D * 0
X = I * 8
Y = A * 2
Z = H * 8
Please note that I am not trying to trick anyone here. If you need any hints, please contact me and I'd be happy to help.
The cache is a magnetic hide-a-key. Parking is free. Please make sure you are on the parking lot side of the fence. Although I believe this location is open 24 hours, I do not suggest searching at night. There was some scatter so my coordinates may not be spot on. As long as you are on the parking lot side of the fence, you should be able to find it. See the hint if necessary. As is my custom, there is a gold dollar coin for the FTF.
I apologize for the confusion earlier today. I have no idea how I could have screwed up the diagram, but screw up I did. Everything should be fine now. If not, please let me know. Thank you to Geokashers and KendraH for pointing out the issues. A special Woo Hoo also goes to KendraH for figuring out the correct original diagram!
