The cache is not at the posted coordinates. Solve the puzzle to find the final location.
Congratulations to La Deep Hike for FTF!
Every time we walk a neighborhood to make a Little Pictures cache we have the same problem: needs more octopus! Sure, sometimes we’ll come across one or even two per neighborhood. But since nobody on team rifkegribenes can drive, it didn’t make sense for us to make a puzzle that required driving to find a dozen octopuses spread around the city. So we settled for something that can be solved at home, with the help of either your own personal deep knowledge of Portland octopus street art, or lacking that, a search engine and some patience. All of the information you need to solve the puzzle is either available online or can be figured out by process of elimination. It might go quicker if you have found a bunch of the Little Pictures caches already but it’s not necessary.
For all puzzle clues, you are looking for a one-digit number. In all but two cases this will be the last digit of the number of the corresponding image in the image grid. For clues I and M, use the first digit of the image number.
Final coordinates: Solve for AB° CD.EFG' HIJ° KL.MNO'
A: Mural, possibly in honor of the dearly departed Spoticus, formerly on a temporary construction barrier near the World Trade Center near the corner of SW 2nd and Salmon, unknown artist (signed ‘FRESH’ in corner)
B: Painted by Haley Cassatt on the window of Books With Pictures, a comic book store on the corner of SE Division and SE Orange (photo March 2022)
C: Mural by Portland artist Shannon Steed, painted on the facade of the PSU Epler Hall Bike Garage
D: Mural painted by Seattle artist Zach Bohnenkamp, formerly displayed inside the now-closed Boxer Sushi restaurant (SE 20th & Hawthorne)
E: Mural painted by Portland artist Christian Grijalva (@firekatg) inside Three Little Figs, a NE Portland business producing small batch gourmet jams and preserves.
F: Window decorations painted at Portland Fish Market at SE 44th & Woodstock by Portland artist Griz, photo January 2022.
G: Spoticus, the 10-foot x 40-foot sculpture that lived above the Greek Cuisina restaurant (downtown, 4th & Washington) from the 1970s to 2010.
H: ‘Pearl Diver’, a bronze drinking fountain on the Santa Cruz Munincipal Wharf, designed by Santa Cruz artist Sean Monaghan. This is the only non-Portland octopus included in this puzzle, but it’s important because we found it while searching for the Santa Cruz Little Pictures cache, which inspired all of the Portland caches with the same name.
I: Spanish octopus 'Pulpo' tin, used as cache container for Powell Park Little Pictures: Pulpo. (first digit!)
J: Final location of Woodstock Little Pictures: Octopus Garden.
K: Mural on the western wall of New Seasons Woodstock, designed by Mike Lawrence and painted by Dan Cohen. (To be perfectly honest I realized years after including this image in a Little Pictures cache that this one is probably supposed to be a spider, but too late! We're using it anyway! It has 8 legs and could be plausibly mistaken for an octopus by somebody who has octopus for brains.)
L: Tin designed by illustrator Sarah Watts, used as a cache container for several Little Pictures caches.
M: Mosaic tile created by children at Woodstock Elementary School (first digit!)
N: Octogalaxy glitter holographic octopus sticker created by artist ChelzArt and featured in several Little Pictures cache images and cache containers.
O: ‘Mr. OG’, a 10-foot tall cephalopod created by Washington State chainsaw artist Ray Schulz in early 2020. On display in front of Green Oasis dispensary in Sellwood.
Checksum A-O: 67
Final location: This is a neighborhood cache so please limit searching to daylight hours. Accessible from street, no need to wander into the wilderness. One of the images in the grid is of the cache container!
Art credits for images not used in puzzle clues: Mason Parker, Steven Franklin, Daniel Mac Lloyd, Jason Brammer, Morgan Davidson, Annie Preece, Jenna Morello. These ones are mostly not in Portland. We are still on the lookout for more Portland octopus art and hope to eventually fill the grid with 24 homegrown images! Send us tips if you find any out in the wild!
More Little Pictures!