|
This is a puzzle created especially for the caching family -
though it should be just as must fun for the adults without kids at
home to solve too!
 Presented here is a fun
"Solve at your Desk" style puzzle for caching parents to work
on with their kids. The kids will have fun figuring out how the
puzzle pieces go together and resolving the coordinates.
Background:
Gerolamo Cardano (1501-1576) was a gifted
mathematician, scholar, lawyer, inventor, and chess player (no
wonder I like him). He may be best known for his contributions to
modern algebra - publishing volumes on cubic and quartic algebraic
formulas and how to solve them. He was also a notorious gambler and
talented cryptographer. Of course, the latter is the part we are
most interested in.
Gerolamo Cardano
In 1550, Cardano developed a means of secretly hiding a message
in a longer hand-written note (clandestine) or a random grid of
characters (not so clandestine). In order to retrieve the message,
one would hold a card or "grille" over the note / grid. This grille
would typically have holes punched in it. The secret message would
then be revealed through the holes in the grille. This became known
as the Cardan Grille.
Others then took the concept of using a grille and ran with it.
This method of encryption eventually became known simply as a
"Grille Cipher". How the grid and grille were used was only limited
by the imagination of those who created them - thus making them
difficult to detect and almost impossible to crack. Unless somebody
was able to intercept the grille itself, grille ciphers were very
secure.
The Puzzle:
Keeping with the idea that grille ciphers are only limited by
the imaginations of their creators, I have presented you with a
grille cipher of my own design. It's close to what is known as a
"turning grille" since the grille is a square and can be oriented
in any of four ways. I have provided you with both the grid
AND the grille (What??? Am I crazy???). However, to make
it so that retrieving the coordinates isn't as trivial as printing
out the grid and grille and overlaying them, I have divided the
grid into 16 pieces. It is up to you, then, to figure out how the
grid goes back together so you can use the grille to retrieve the
secret coordinates! It works much like a jigsaw puzzle - but with
matching colors instead of shapes that snap together.
The grid pieces, the grille, and instructions are all in a PDF
file you can download by clicking the below link (after the
requisite Groundspeak disclaimer).
Required Groundspeak Disclaimer: You are about to download a
file in order to obtain further details needed to find this
geocache. As the cache owner, I represent that this file is safe to
download although the files needed to complete this geocache have
not been checked by Groundspeak or by the Geocache Reviewer for
possible malicious content. As a result, you are downloading this
file at your own risk.
[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PUZZLE PDF].
You will need Adobe Acrobat
to read the file. You'll need to cut the pieces out, so you will
need scissors for cutting and tape for assembling the grid. If you
have a black and white printer you may want to get some markers or
crayons to help with the colors.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: The numbers on the grid
pieces are randomly oriented so as to not give away the piece's
proper orientation. The number six HAS A DOT UNDER IT. The number
nine HAS NO DOT.
Remember, I designed this puzzles with families in
mind. If you have kids, please let them help you solve it!
They'll get a kick out of putting everything together and getting
the coordinates for the "secret cache" by using the grille.
The Hide:
The hide makes this an overall 3.0 difficulty puzzle. The puzzle
is perhaps a 2.0 to 2.5 difficulty for adults, more challenging for
the kids. The cache container is a well camouflaged bison-tube like
container just above adult eye level.
|