**** The facts below are fictional - believe 'em solely for the
purposes of doing this puzzle ******
At a recent gathering, a number of the Tiresome Usual Suspects
were sitting around discussing their very First First To Find
(FFTF). Now it turned out - amazingly - that none of the them had
FFTF'd (pronounced "First FTF'd") the same type of cache ... nor
the same size of cache ... nor the same difficulty cache ... nor in
the same month (though all the same year). Based on the questions
below you need to figure out what each cacher FFTF'd: the type of
cache, the size, the difficulty and the month it was FFTF'd. For
your assistance, I've provided some grids you may find helpful in
attempting to solve this logic puzzle, affectionately known as an
Einstein puzzle. Once you've figured out who found what, then you
need to use those answers to derive the coordinates to locate the
small final which I've conveniently placed in a locale certain to
infuriate one of the TUS. Have fun!
1. The cache FFTF'd in May, which was the latest one FFTF'd, was
a 1 star cache. OBE did not FFTF the large cache.
2. FunnyNose didn't find the 3 star cache but he FFTF'd his
cache before the small cache was FFTF'd.
3. The multi-cache was not a 4 star cache. The letterbox micro
cache, was not FFTF'd in January which is when the first cache was
FFTF'd. The web cam cache was not a regular cache.
4. OBE didn't FFTF the 5 star small cache, which wasn't a puzzle
cache.
5. The traditional cache was FFTF'd before the regular cache,
but after the cache that The Mercury Project FFTF'd.
6. From the first to the last cache FFTF'd: the webcam cache,
the cache that Nolenator FFTF'd, the 2 star cache, the huge cache,
the cache that the 3 headed monster FFTF'd.
A = ____ The cacher who FFTF'd in January was:
1. FunnyNose
2. Nolenator
3. OldBaldEagle
4. 3 Headed Monster
5. The Mercury Project
B = ____ The difficulty rating of the Large cache was:
1. 1 star
2. 2 stars
3. 3 stars
4. 4 stars
5. 5 stars
C = ____ The cache FFTF'd in March was of the type:
1. Traditional
2. Puzzle
3. Multi
4. Webcam
5. Letterbox
D = ____ Nolenator FFTF'd his cache in:
1. January
2. February
3. March
4. April
5. May
E = ____ The size of the Multi cache is:
1. Micro
2. Small
3. Regular
4. Large
5. Huge
F = ____ The number of heads a 3 Headed Monster has is:
1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
You will find the camo'ed tupperware container here:
N 47 39.(B+D)(A+B)(C*A) W 122 18.(D*D+E)(B+C)(F*F)
NOTE: In this situation I need to add a bit of a difficult
checksum. Add all 15 N and W digits together. Then add the digits
together of the resulting number. Keep doing that until you get to
one digit. That digit should be 5.
peace, fishiam
NOTE added after FTF (congrats to fauxSteve and schulesjoe and
probably Mud Club since they emailed the correct solution first but
the checksum didn't work at the time). I want to assure everyone
that the puzzle is completely solvable using straightforward logic.
I solved the original (which I found on a puzzle website) and then
altered names and things so it so it could be used for geocaching.
No guessing or assumptions are required anywhere. It is one of the
tougher einstein logic puzzles I found. I apologize for the small
formula error when this posted (I had D*D+A instead of D*D+E for
the first longitude digit) but otherwise everything else checks out
as originally posted. Keep at it and consider every bit of
information in each statement.
SECOND NOTE ADDED AFTER FTF: After posting it appeared that a
certain wily cacher (cough *TMP* cough) had discovered an alternate
solution using a purely empirical method. So, for a while, I added
an extra hint so that solution would not be "discovered" again.
Well, after much analysis it turns out THAT alternate solution is
invalid and thus once again I assert there is a unique solution
best found using pure logic. Another cacher wrote a brief computer
program that also asserts a single solution. If you believe you
have another ... send it to me and, like the Mythbusters, I'll
eventually find the error.