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Puzzles 101 #2 - Look for a Pattern Mystery Cache

Hidden : 8/26/2018
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:



Rules for this puzzle: No intentional red herrings, no oddball (fishiness) methods of presenting coordinates (UTM, for example, or also having coordinates read backwards), and no leaving off the N32 and W97 just to make it more difficult. There may be more than one layer on this puzzle. Collaboration is allowed and you may ask me for hints after there has been a FTF.


When looking at what appears to be a random set of numbers and letters, try to visualize a pattern. Is there an unusual amount of a particular number or letter? Are there any omissions?

Knowing the base coordinates are in there somewhere (32 and 97), how can I get a 3, 2, 9, or 7 (or in some cases, a leading zero). Often times, when I see a list of 15 items, the first thing I try to do is figure out why the 8th digit could be a zero. If it is just 14 items, then I concentrate on the anticipated 97 and the 32 (obviously, your normal locale may be different).

orange
purple
identical
chocolate
pizza
language
courage
rhythm
intellectualization
personification
love
knight
courage
exacerbation
beautiful

Puzzle Solving Tools - If I don't discuss a particular tool below in the paragraphs above, you may assume I did not use it for this puzzle; however, it may be useful for puzzles of similar style.

Description Website URL
Iterative Anagram Solver - Fantastic where you think a string of letters might make up several unique words and you want to try words individually and see what remains. http://boulter.com/anagram/
Non-iterative Anagram Solver. https://wordsmith.org/anagram/
Digital Root - This technique adds up the letter values of a word, for example, GEO = 7 + 5 + 15 = 27 = 2 + 7 = 9. The process repeats until you have a singular digit. https://www.geocachingtoolbox.com/index.php?lang=en&page=wordValue



You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.


A NOTE TO PUZZLE COs: Beware of those solvers who notice patterns quickly! If you have a set of coordinates where there are a lot of digits which are the same as the leading digits, you might need to be more selective on your puzzle design. Don't take the easy way out by dropping all of the expected leading digits... instead, do something more creative. For example, there are five 4's in the above puzzle... but can you tell?

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[Cache:] Pnzb Ovfba; yvtug gerr pyvzo. Cebonoyl bayl 9sg uvtu. [Puzzle:] Jul mreb? Chmmyr negvfgvp yvprafr.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)