After geocaching, my next favourite pastime is cryptic crosswords and I've pondered over the last couple of years whether it would be possible to combine the two. This is my resultant attempt.
Needless to say, the geocache is not at the published coordinates. It is situated somewhere on the Berwickshire Coastal Path around Eyemouth, but to find out exactly where, you'll need to solve the attached cryptic crossword (see the Image Gallery). If you'd prefer me to email you a copy of the crossword as a pdf, please contact me via the Message Centre.
When you have completed the crossword, you're ready to crack the coordinates.
Take the first letter of each of the seven Down solutions at the North of the grid and the first letter of each of the seven Across solutions at the West of the grid and calculate their place in the alphabet (e.g. A = 1, Z = 26, etc):
1 Down = A
2 Down = B
3 Down = C
4 Down = D
5 Down = E
6 Down = F
7 Down = G
8 Across = H
10 Across = I
12 Across = J
15 Across = K
20 Across = L
23 Across = M
25 Across = N
Checksum A:N = 137
But there's a twist!
To make sure that you have completed the whole grid, and not just the 14 solutions required to get A:N, there is a 15th number you'll need to crack the coordinates.
Some crosswords are pangrams – the completed grid contains each letter of the alphabet at least once. This grid is almost a pangram – one letter of the alphabet does not feature in the solutions. Firstly, identify this letter.
This letter can be added to one of the solutions to make another word (e.g. 'r' can be added to 'bead' to make 'bread').
P = the number of the solution that the missing letter can be added to to make another word.
Now for the maths.
((( D + F + G ) - B ) x L ) - ( A + C + E ) = UVW
((( J x H ) + I ) x ( K + M )) + ( P - N ) = XYZ
The geocache can be found at N55 52.UVW W002 05.XYZ
It should be noted that there are cliff edges in the vicinity of the cache and extra care should be taken with geokids and geohounds. It is not recommended to attempt the cache at night or in bad weather.