Stuck on Tricky Conundrum StickLinks Mystery Cache
Stuck on Tricky Conundrum StickLinks
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the coordinates above. I'm sure they would take you to a very nice location where you could enjoy God's creation. However, if you want to find this cache, I don't recommend going there; I recommend solving the puzzle instead.
Note: This cache is being published in conjunction with GC6J2DC, The Miami Valley Caching Conundrum #26, hosted by VPPLAYER.
This month's topic is StickLinks. Where does our host dig up these games? StickLinks is a takeoff on Word Search, but here you have to search for phrases ... except you don't know what the phrase is. You are given the first letter of the phrase (indicated in red in the puzzles below) and must determine the rest of the phrase from there. Each letter in the phrase must adjoin the previous letter, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. You should be able to draw a continuous line from the first letter of the phrase to the last, but it is allowed for the line to cross itself. As help, there are underscores below the matrix of letters which show the length of each of the words in the phrase. Eeay peasy ... no really!
The cache is hidden at N39 45.ABC W84 03.XYZ. To determine the missing digits, you must solve the 6 StickLinks puzzles below; each puzzle will give you one of the digits. The puzzles are in order, so the 1st puzzle gives you A and the last puzzle gives you Z. So, how do you get the digit from the puzzle? I'm glad you asked; I might have forgotten to tell you. Each puzzle has three locations in the phrase below the matrix that are highlighted in yellow. First, solve the puzzle. Then find the 3 letters of the phrase that are highlighted. Convert these letters into numbers, using A=1, etc. Then add the 3 numbers together, and use the last digit of the sum as your digit for the coords. So, if you find C, O, and T highlighted, you would add 3 + 15 + 20 = 38, and use 8 as your digit for the coords. Got it?
Remember, there are 6 puzzles below, first makes the digit A, etc. Here we go with puzzles A - C:
And here we go with puzzles X - Z:
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
FR pbeare bs przrag