Buta Sudoku - Corvallis Style Mystery Cache
Buta Sudoku - Corvallis Style
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This is the 11th in a series of new Team GreenWoodTurner puzzles! These puzzles will not simply require you to Google a bunch of useless information. Instead, you will need to grab a pencil and some paper, and use the old noggin! This puzzle is one we encountered while preparing for a geocaching trip; hope you enjoy it!
The coordinates listed on the cache page are not correct, so don't go there! Instead, you must first solve a 3-part puzzle, in order to obtain the real coordinates. We've included a coordinate checker so that you can verify your answer. Sadly, quality hiding spots in Corvallis are hard to come by 
. Although the final location was crying for a cache to be placed here, there were no ideal spots to hide anything other than a bison tube ... our apologizes for that 
. Fortunately, the coordinate checker will provide you with a nice spoiler photo, which should make this an easy find ... after all, the challenge was meant to be the puzzle ... not the hide.
I owe a debt of gratitude to PhilNi, who was kind enough to allow us to duplicate this rather novel puzzle.
When I first encountered this puzzle, my first thought was "Wow ... this is an interesting twist on a common puzzle genre"! It took me at least 4 attempts (and several erasers) before I finally managed to complete the puzzle without making any mistakes. My next thought was "Now what"????? I wasn't able to make heads nor tails of the hint, so I eventually resorted to emailing the CO for a nudge. After receiving the nudge, I thought "what an idiot I was for not getting what I needed from the hint alone"! The cache hint was excellent and should have given me everything I needed to solve the remaining two steps of the puzzle. So ... if you get stuck after solving the Sudoku, be sure to read the hint ... if you're still stymied, feel free to email me for a nudge.
To solve this puzzle, you need to insert both a letter and a number in each square. 1 to 9 and A to I for the 9x9, J to M and 1 to 4 for the 4x4. The numbers and letters must follow the usual Sudoku rules. In addition each pair must appear once and only once. The tables below the grids are to help you keep track of the pairs you've identified so far. When you are done, the string of letter number pairs will give you the final coordinates!
Although the cache is near private property, if you find yourself attempting to come at this via someone's yard, you are not coming at this correctly! There is a very public and obvious way to get to GZ.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[puzzle]Ohgn vf cvt va Wncnarfr. Naq oevat lbhe bja cra.