How would I start to solve this one?

[+mrdan01]

http://coord.info/GC1M1J6

[+power69]

http://coord.info/GC1M1J6

its generally frowned upon to ask for help on a specific puzzle in the forums.

[+Bear and Ragged]

http://coord.info/GC1M1J6

its generally frowned upon to ask for help on a specific puzzle in the forums.

Ask the cache owner?

[+releasethedogs]

how do you go about solving puzzles any how. I mean sometimes they show just a random photo. I really don't get them most of the time.

[+The Blorenges]

how do you go about solving puzzles any how. I mean sometimes they show just a random photo. I really don't get them most of the time.

 

There was a puzzle cache like that here in UK. The only information was a photograph of a nice view and the information, "All you need to solve the puzzle is in the photograph".

 

A keen FTFer received the new cache notification on his phone, recognised the view and assumed that the cache was hidden at the point the photo was taken from. He quickly drove to the location and spent some time searching the area. No sign of a cache.

There followed a terse DNF on the cache page and some frustrated emails to the cache owner along the lines of, "I know I was at the right spot. There's nothing there. It must've been muggled."

 

The CO checked and assured him that the cache was still in place at its correct location.

 

Somebody else got FTF. A couple of other cachers logged finds saying, "Neat puzzle, good fun."

 

When the would-be FTFer finally looked at the cache page at home, on his PC, light dawned...

 

Moving his mouse around over the photograph he discovered several links... e.g. "Sheep"... "Clouds"... "Buzzards"... and one which said "Cache is at [co-ords]"

 

MrsB

[+NYPaddleCacher]

how do you go about solving puzzles any how. I mean sometimes they show just a random photo. I really don't get them most of the time.

 

A puzzle cache is actually published as a mystery/unknown cache type. Like any mystery it may require a bit of detective work to solve the mystery and in the case of a geocache puzzle it's "hiding" a set of coordinates. If I knew nothing about geocaching puzzles and wanted to solve this mystery which appeared to be a random photo I'd start by trying to find more information on how someone could hide information in a photo. (Google is your friend).

 

When solving a mystery, you may have to look everywhere for clues, and there are only so many places where they can be hidden in a cache page. The cache title, the text and images in the description, the hint and other things which appear on a cache page can be examined. Look for something out of place and keep not of "things you know". For example, geocache coordinates are typically represented as two sets of 15 digits and the first 3-4 digits of the actual coordinates are likely the same as the published coordinates. That might not help in all puzzles but it's something to look at to see if the puzzle can be approached in that manner. IF there are obviously 15 objects represented on the cache page, each object (whether it's a digit, text string, or symbol) probably maps to a digit in the puzzle solution.

[+dfx]

Relatively easy puzzle. Will provide hints via PM if desired.

[+niraD]

A while back, The Rat offered a puzzle-solving class as an event cache. His slides are available here:

http://thegba.net/resources/general_information.php

 

Among the tips he offered:

 

Identify the theme. Check the cache title, the hint, the HTML source, the graphics (including names/URLs), any links (including URLs), whatever is at the posted coordinates, etc. If you can figure out the theme, then you should look for numbering systems that are associated with that theme (zip codes, area codes, telephone keypads, episode numbers, etc.).

 

Around here, coordinates will have 15 digits, and will look like "N 37° xx.xxx W 122° xx.xxx". So when I'm solving a nearby puzzle, I look for a group of 15 things, and then I look for ways to get the digits 37xxxxx122xxxxx from them. In general, I look for ways to get the number 37 (or the digits 3 and 7) from something near the beginning of the puzzle, and the number 122 (or the digits 1, 2, and 2) from something near the middle of the puzzle. (Of course, you'll need to adjust this for the coordinates near you.)

 

Other useful resources include:

Puzzle Solving 101 Series (bookmark list)

Puzzle Shortcuts Series (bookmark list)

Solving Puzzle Caches (online article)

How Do I Solve All These $@! Puzzle Caches? (tutorial-style puzzle cache)

Puzzle FUNdamentals (archived event cache) and the Puzzle FUNdamentals resources on the GeocacheAlaska! education page

The GBA's Puzzle Cache FAQ (for puzzle designers, but useful for understanding how puzzle caches work)

[+jacob501]

how do you go about solving puzzles any how. I mean sometimes they show just a random photo. I really don't get them most of the time.

 

There was a puzzle cache like that here in UK. The only information was a photograph of a nice view and the information, "All you need to solve the puzzle is in the photograph".

 

A keen FTFer received the new cache notification on his phone, recognised the view and assumed that the cache was hidden at the point the photo was taken from. He quickly drove to the location and spent some time searching the area. No sign of a cache.

There followed a terse DNF on the cache page and some frustrated emails to the cache owner along the lines of, "I know I was at the right spot. There's nothing there. It must've been muggled."

 

The CO checked and assured him that the cache was still in place at its correct location.

 

Somebody else got FTF. A couple of other cachers logged finds saying, "Neat puzzle, good fun."

 

When the would-be FTFer finally looked at the cache page at home, on his PC, light dawned...

 

Moving his mouse around over the photograph he discovered several links... e.g. "Sheep"... "Clouds"... "Buzzards"... and one which said "Cache is at [co-ords]"

 

MrsB

Haha! Nice! I would be punching the sheep on the computer screen, stupefied by my own stupidity, if I was that would-be-FTFer!!! :lol: