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Puzzles 101 #6 - Think Outside the Box Mystery Cache

Hidden : 8/26/2018
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 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.


I know, it probably goes without saying, but sometimes you have to think outside the box. Sometimes what you need to is easier done by printing out the cache page, getting out some crayons, or finding a pair of scissors.

You can be working with a puzzle that gives you directions that need to be drawn on paper (think etch-a-sketch), pressed on a telephone keypad to map out numbers, or something as simple as holding the page at an angle to see the oddly shaped numbers in a picture. Anyway, long story short, sometimes you just have to to something a little bit different in order to solve the puzzle.

I N O R D E R t O S O L V e T H I S P U Z
Z l e y o u W i l l n E e d T o t h i n K
O u T S I d E o f T H i s b O x Y O U c A
N p R O B a B l y s O L v e I t W I T h T
H e L I B e R a l u S E o f A b L A C k M
A r k e r b U t i p e R S o N a l l y w O
U L D F I N D i T m U c H e A S I E R T O
u s e m i c r o S O F t E x c e l t h i s
I S a L S o A g o O D t H i N k i n g e X
e R c I s E t O a S k Y O U r s E l F w h
y i d i d N O t u S e a n y s p A C E S o
R P U C t U a T I o n I n s T E a d i d i
s T I n C T L y l I m i t E D m Y s e L F
t o t h e u s e O F t H e S E c h A n G E
S I N C A P I t i l I z a T i O N s O m e
T i m e s w H e n W O R K i N g O n A P a
R t I C U l A r L y s t U b b O r N p u z
Z l E I W i L l A S K M Y S e L f a v e r
Y s I M I l A r q u E S t I O N W H y D I
D t h e c a C h E o w N e R m A K e T H a
T C H O I C E i N p U Z z L E D e S i G n

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
If you don't have Microsoft Excel (its not cheap), then I suggest using Google Sheets. https://www.google.com/sheets/about/
Etch-a-Sketch https://jenniferdewalt.com/etch_a_sketch.html
OCR Online - Useful for converting a picture with text to plain text. https://www.newocr.com/
OCR Online - Alternative if the first fails. https://www.onlineocr.net/



You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.


A NOTE TO PUZZLE COs: If you expect, or even suspect, a solver might want to copy/paste data somewhere else, then please try your best to provide it in a plain text format (such as above). I'm not a fan of puzzles where the most difficult part is transcribing the text from a picture into an Excel or Word document so that I can work with it.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[Cache:] Zntargvp haqre fxveg. [Puzzle:] Znl erdhver n fcrpvny gbby gb fbyir - fbzrguvat arneyl rirelbar bjaf. ABGR - Chapghngvba vf zvffcryyrq ol nppvqrag... vg jbhyq erdhver n ybg bs jbex gb svk vg.

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)