This is the latest in my occasional series of cryptic puzzles – others are available in Erewash, Amber Valley, Bolsover, Ashfield, Broxtowe, Rushcliffe and North West Leicestershire. Follow the bookmark to see these and the related “A to Z of …” puzzles.
The City of Derby is what is known as a “unitary authority” as only one single council covers everything – administratively, Derby is no longer even part of Derbyshire, where responsibilities are split between the County Council and various District or Borough Councils (and in many case Parish Councils too). Derby is a small city, having only received city status in 1977 – it has a population of around 250,000 and covers just 30 square miles.
There is no need to visit the posted coordinates, which are not relevant to the puzzle itself, and which are also rather wet!
For this puzzle, you need to solve the cryptic clues below to identify 20 place names in the city area – some are well-known locations, others may be a bit obscure. Local knowledge will certainly help, but if you are struggling a good map may well come in handy too. Several of the place names consist of two words.
- Barge slave brought to order
- Bartlett grows here
- Bright knoll
- Elk in Tunisian school – what a turn round
- Five balls instead of six
- Godolphin’s stallion ridden to monastery
- Group of lions stop here
- Mapped in 1769
- Maryland crossing
- Match work for the best outcome
- Mixed up soon around the pole
- Note drive at this ancient place
- Offspring surrounds a small lake
- Rowdy Derbyshire town
- Sadly I’ll never finish it now. Initially I thought I’d make it.
- Started from a handful of acorns
- Sunshine state
- Tea seller
- Was this the town rec before being developed?
- William the Conqueror was a real heavyweight
Once you have solved them, put the 20 place names into alphabetical order, and then use this to calculate the coordinates. The final location is also within the city council area.
The cache is to be found at N52 AB.CDE W001 VW.XYZ, where:
A = Number of letters in the 10th place name divided by 2.
B = Number of letters in the 5th place name.
C = Number of letters in the 16th place name, minus number of letters in the 18th place name.
D = Number of place names beginning with the letters A, B, C or D.
E = Number of letters in the 13th place name.
V = Number of place names beginning with the letter O.
W = Number of letters in the 14th place name.
X = Number of letters in the 2nd place name, minus number of letters in the 3rd place name.
Y = Number of place names beginning with the letter S
Z = Number of letters in the 18th place name.