LEARNING TO PUZZLE (CANTERBURY) Mystery Cache

This cache is NOT at the posted coordinates, so please do not go there or you will be dancing in the middle of an intersection. The actual coordinates will slowly be revealed as you complete the steps below.

This puzzle cache is for all those cachers out there that have no idea on where to begin with solving a puzzle cache. More experienced cachers may find this boring, but feel free to get the smiley anyway.

Dont' expect to be able to solve alot of 4 or 5 star puzzles after ging through this exercise, but the 2 and 3 star puzzles should start to fall before you if you use some of tools and techniques we will go through.

Hidden coordinates:

Most puzzle cachers probably have their own strategies regarding how they attack a puzzle cache. For me, the very first thing I do when i open up a puzzle is look for hidden coordinates or other hidden information in the form of messages or hints.

There are actually lots of places on a cache page to hide information, with one of the most common hiding spots being in the html source code. This is most simply done by including a comment line when preparing the cache page writeup, but there are also other sneaky ways to hide information in the coding for those who are more experienced with html, so always look at all of the user created coding, including any links (some of which may not be apparant on the cache page) and the names and locations of any images.

To view the source code for a cache page in most browsers, Right click the page with your mouse and select view source or view page source. Most browsers will have similar menu selections available to view the source code. When the source code come up in a new window, scroll about half way down until you see a line that delineates the user supplied content.

The information directly below that line is the content supplied by the cache owner, where you are likely to find hidden information, if it is there. Give it a try and see what you find in the source code for this cache page.

Another common way to hide information on the cache page is to put some information in a white font, so that it can only be seen when higlighted or cut and pasted to another document. I have hidden something below this paragraph. Highlight the area below that appears to be blank, and see what you find

Congratulations! you found the hidden text! B=3

Another way to hide information is right in the text by having certain words or letters in bold or italics or in a different font size, etc. Some of these little changes can be very hard to see on the cache page, but become more obvious when looking at the source code.

Se​cretly hidden in this text ​is a little me​ssage ​for you. It is not easy to see, but ​it is there if you know where to look and ha​ve the ey​es for it. Can you find it?

Other less common places to hide information include in the background image for the cache page (be sure to check the background image for this cache), any images on the cache page, other images available in the gallery, in the cache title, in the hint are, or in the listed waypoints. Theretically, even the attributes could be used to communicate information since the attributes are entered by the owner. Any place on the cache page where cache owners can enter information, they can hide information. Some puzzle cache owners are very tricky.

Speaking of tricky, if the cache does not specifically say that the cache is NOT located at the posted coordinates, then always try the posted coordinates in the geochecker if available, because the whole puzzle could just be a decoy. Also, some cache owners will place a clue at the posted coordinates, or put the posted coordinates at a sign or object that is actually a hint for the puzzle, so if you live nearby the posted coordinates, it may be worth stopping by to see what is there.

Codes and ciphers:

Lots of puzzle caches use various forms of codes and ciphers. A code can be something like morsecode, Binary, or Braille. Foreign languages are often seen as well. The ciphers can range in difficulty from cryptograms to much more sophisticated ciphers that use keys. Many of the ciphers utilise symbols, often utilising the wide variety of symbolic fonts currently available.

You would be amazed at what some puzzle cache owners use as decoders. Some of them are very simple tools that people use every day. For example, pull out your cellphone or any hone key pad, and you can decipher the fake south coordinates for this cache:

GE KI.FBL

Or, just use the top row of your keyboard to decipher the fake east coordinates for this cache:

!&! $$.^()

Things like morse code can fairly easily be decoded by hand if you know them or have decoders available to you. On the internet, not only can you find the decoding tables you need, but also online decoders, where you just have to hand enter or cut and paste the code and the site does all the work for you.

Here is a morse code decoder:  http://www.onlineconversion.com/morse_code.htm

To decode this morse code:

- .... . .-.. . - - . .-. . .. ... . .. --. .... -

Here is a site for decoding braille: http://www.translatum.gr/converter/braille.htm 

Binary, octal (Base 8), and hexidecimal (Base 16) can be, and often are, used to hide either common decimal numbers or text (ASCII characters).

Here is a Binary to text converter: http://binarytranslator.com/ that will allow you to convert the following to text. See what you Find

01010100 01001000 01000101

00100000 01001100 01000101

01010100 01010100 01000101

01010010 00100000 01000110

00100000 01001001 01010011

00100000 01000101 01010001

01010101 01000001 01001100

00100000 01010100 01001111

00100000 01000101 01001001

01000111 01001000 01010100

Here is a site: http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/units-converter/numbers/ For converting from binary, octal, hexidecimal and other bases to decimal numbers base conversions.

There are also puzzle caches that utilise QR codes, barcodes and even more sophisticated matrix 2D barcodes. Barcodes can be used to code either numbers or text. Here is a link to wikipedia that cover the basics of barcodes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode

Many barcodes can be decoded using cellphones, if they have the necessary apps.

Basically ANYTHING that has either number or text equivalents can be used as code on a puzzle cache, so there are many more options out there than what I have listed here.

The use of foreign languages to hide information and coordinates is similar to coding. I like to use google translate for puzzle cache translations. Try using the site to translate the following from french to english:https://translate.google.com/

La lettre g est égal à cinq

​There are lots of choices out on the internet for language translations. Sometimes it takes more than one site to get all the information you need from a foreign language translation based on often wide variations in language usage. 

The most common cipher used in puzzle caches is probably just the ordinary substitution cipher or cryptogram, where one letter (or symbol) actually represents another letter, and that holdes true throughout the cipher. Sometimes the location of spaces is given (which makes solving a lot easier) but sometimes the spaces are not known.

Here is a good cryptogram solver: http://www.quipqiup.com/

If the cryptogram you are solving uses symbols, the symbols will have to be converted to letters first. If you find that there are more than 26 different symbols, some symbols may represent capital letters or punctuation, in which case the online solver I gave you above will not be able to handle it, and you will have to find a more sophisticated solver or tackle the transformation by hand.

Try using the site above to solve the following cryptogram (or try solving this cryptogram by hand if you are brave!):

Hfyc jhb ecz zqc dhkbzohf zh zqod ywjmzhewri jhb tokk sfht zqrz zqc kczzcw q od cabrk zh hfc

One specific form of a substitution cipher is called ROT13. Here is a ROT13 transformation site: http://www.rot13.com/

ROT13 is actually the way that hints are scrambled on a cache page.

Similar to ROT13 is ROT47, which works the same way, but includes all ASCII symbols (not just letters). Here is a ROT47 conversion site: http://www.just-stuart.com/cgi-bin/ur13

Try using the site to decode the following:

%96 =6EE6C x :D 6BF2= E@ D6G6?

Some ciphers require a key word to solve them. The key will often be hidden in the text somewhere. There may be a seemingly innocent comment in the description such as "Patience is the key to solving this puzzle" where what they are really telling you is that the word patience is the key word needed to solve the cipher. Other times, the key may be the title of the cache or some other item on the cache page such as the name of the park where the cache is hidden.

One of the most common keyed cipher in puzzle caches is the Vigenère cipher. Here is a solver that can be used for Vigenère ciphers: https://sharkysoft.com/vigenere/1.0/

Try solving the following cipher using the above site, and remember "Patience is the key" on this one.

Xf rwy huis tam vvili kxg abth, non emyn jxnw blnv xwe emxggv Y il muhcp io hvi.

Some other common ciphers include Atbash, Ceasar, Bacon and Playfair. Here is a site with a whole variety of cipher tools to play with: http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/

There are many more ciphers out in the world than what are listed above, and some are very complicatedand will require more in depth study regarding how ciphers work. Unfortunately, not all ciphers will be able to be simply inserted into a solver, and some may actually require multiple transformations.

I have found that lots of cipher puzzle caches out there just use symbolic fonts, which can be downloaded for free from the internet. Fonts can be found that are comprised of holiday symbols, ancient writing, and even ink blots.

Of course the easiest way to solve puzzles that simply use a symbolic font is to find the font on the internet and download it. However, beware that the original text may have first been scrambled before the font was converted.

Lists:

Another very common type of puzzle cache is the list. Most cache coordinates will be made up of 15 numbers, So if you see a list of 15 items, it is very likely tht each item can be associated with a single digit number.

Say I had a puzzle cache called "INXS KICK" and the puzzle was a list as follows:

Need you tonight

Devil inside

Mediate

Need you tonight

Devil inside

New sensation

Mediate

Guns in the sky

Wild life

Guns in the sky

Need you tonight

Need you tonight

The loved one

Mystify

The letter K equals need you tonight.

If you were to go to the following Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_(INXS_album)#Track_listing for the album and looked at the track listing, you would find that, using the number for each track in the list, that the above list would reveal the fake coordinates for this cache.

The key to solving this type of list puzzle is finding the pattern among the items listed. One thing you have to go on to start your search for the necessary pattern is that, in the South Island, The first item is most likely to be a 4. So, if the first item on the list is a person's name, and among all the info you gather about this person you find that the person died in 1984 (a year ending in 4), then it might be worth checking to see when the other people on the list all died. Or if the first person on the list had four kids, etc.

The puzzle list can contain less than 15 items, if some of the items in the list could be a multiple digit number.

Sometimes the list puzzle is a list of pictures instead of a list of words, but finding the pattern is still the same way to solve the puzzle. If the list involves photos, be sure to take a look at the names of the jpg images for possible clues or aditional information. Also, be sure to see if the photos have links to other websites, which may contain additional information.

Some very tricky lists require you to find more than one pattern, or require you to use more than one attribute for each item.

Word puzzles:

Most word puzzles, such as crosswords, word searches, anagrams, etc. are usually pretty straight forward as far as the rules, but that does not mean that they are all easy. Here are a few websites that may help you when trying to solve these types of puzzles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_search#Strategies%3EWord%20Search%20Strategies%3C/a%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Ca%20href=

http://www.oneacross.com/

http://www.ssynth.co.uk/~gay/anagram.html

For word searches, there is often a hidden message in the letters that remain behind after the list of words are all found. That hidden message may not necessarily start at the beginning, and it may not read left to right.

Many word puzzles depend on converting the numerical value of a letter to a number (i,e A=1 and Z=26). If the first letter on a puzzle in the south island is D (equivalent to #4), then you may be on to something and have somewhere to start.

The letter L = C

There are plenty of online dictionaries, thesaurus, which can all be very helpful with word puzzles.

Math puzzles:

Most math puzzles are also straight forward, but as with word puzzles, that does not mean that they are easy. Here are a few websites that contain a lot of common equations that may come in handy when trying to solve math puzzles:

http://sizes.com/numbers/triangles.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle

http://www.mathsisfun.com/area-calculation-tool.html

http://www.onlineconversion.com/

The letter M is equal to a side of a square where the squared area is 49.  M x M = 49

Keeping track of your units is very important in puzzle caches. The given information may be in different units than the answer, requiring conversion.

N is the number of metres to that equals 196.85 inches.

For story problems, start by writing down everything that is given, and then look for formulas that you can use to calculate the things that you need to know from the given information. Just take the whole thing one step at a time.

Logic puzzles:

Logic puzzles come in a wide variety of forms. Some common puzzle types falling in this category are sudoku (in all its various forms), Kakuro, nonograms, hidato, and others. Then you have the old fashioned story problem type of logic puzzle.

Here is a link to an online sudoku solver. It solves traditional sudokus as well as several other variations: http://www.sudokuwiki.org/sudoku.htm

The key to solving old fashioned story problem type of logic puzzle is to make an appropriate grid, as shown at: http://www.logic-puzzles.org/ . Without using the grid, these puzzles can be very difficult to solve.

O equals the number of letters in the word logic, minus 5

So lets see what you have learnt through this process. This puzzle can be found at:

SOUTH: AB CD.EFG

EAST: HIJ KL.MNO

You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.

Feel free to contact me if you need any help.