To solve the puzzle you must correctly fill in each of the sixteen squares (A1 through D4) in the grid below with a letter or number. When correctly filled in, the following conditions apply:
1. Each row and each column of 4 characters, when preceded by "GC" is the identifier of an active geocache at the time of this cache's publication.
2. Each of those caches is within 17 miles of the posted coordinates.
3. There are no duplicate caches among the eight.
Three combinations satisfy the above conditions at the time of publication, and future caches could create more, so I will provide some additional information. One of the row caches is owned by popeye2. One of the column caches is owned by digitalfish. After the FTF I will add more information about the owners*.
Once you have solved the puzzle, enter the sixteen characters of the magic square as one long string without spaces, from upper left to lower right into certitude below to get the final coordinates. In other words, enter rows A,B,C,D in that order.
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
*Now that the FTF has been made, here is some additional information to make this more accessible to non-computer solvers. All the CO's of the row caches are in this list:
- popeye2
- The Petoskey Stones
- British Invasion
- Bykenut
- ChrissySkyking + Blaze
-
(Note: there are 5 CO's listed but only 4 caches, so at least one of these is a red herring. Also, note that it is possible for one or more of the caches to have been adopted by someone else, so the name of the CO listed here may appear on the cache page, but not be the current person maintaining the cache. I am only saying that if you have correctly identified all four row caches, each will have one of the above names showing as owner.)
Similarly, all CO's for the column caches are among these names:
- digitalfish
- Stacy & Jerry
- Mystery Ink
- Chipndonna
- Chronic
- WalkingBackwards
-
The same warnings apply. There are at least two red herrings listed. Note also that although all eight caches are unique, I did not say all eight CO's are different. Maybe they are, maybe they're not.