MnGCA

Paklid · Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 1:00 pm Post subject: Unequivocally Puzzle Valley

For those of you who kind of like puzzle caches and aren't aware of this one, check out Unequivocally Puzzle Valley

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=28f3c495-b124-4fc7-88d5-e39939302dd9

As of today, there are 29 people watching this cache. More than 2500 guesses have been made on a coordinate checker. It's quite a perplexing puzzle.

Part of the reason there are so many guesses is that the search area is limited to one degree of latitude by one degree of longitude. Still, that's one million possible coordinates, but there is a bunch of pavement and personal property in among that, so people seem to be just picking along a given latitude or longitude and hoping for the best.

There are a couple new puzzles in the area - I haven't tried solving them, so I don't know if the final coords for them are in the solution zone for this puzzle, but I believe they are. If they indeed are, then these new ones *could* be used to narrow the search zone for this long unsolved puzzle.

Maybe we could share thoughts on the puzzle in this forum and maybe find the actual solution the way it was intended vs. the suspected undertaking of gobbling up 528 foot radius circles at a time and then brute force searching the area left over.

Along those lines....

The title has to be significant. Unequivocal means "plain" or "clear". The puzzle is not "plain" or "clear", so the word must be employed in a different sense... maybe un equal ?? an inequality?

The word "pizza" has to be significant. It seems too central to the story not to be.

There is no lottery game named "lucky sevens". I think there's one named "sizzlin' sevens". I think the top prize for that is not $7777, I seem to remember it being $77777. Similarities abound, but it's not absolute agreement between puzzle text and actual lottery game. Buying a scratch off ticket costs $5.

Why mention coupon and needing to head over to a competitor's if it wasn't important.

Did you notice that there are a bunch of words with double letters??
This is my most recent avenue of interest. words between double letter words? double words between back to back double letter words?
Puzzle
Valley
All
Pizza
Pulled
Stopped
Lottery
Well
All
etc.

There seem to be some words that make you think of numbers: one, seven, to, loser = zero?

The words "divide" and "times" make you think of arithmetic operations.

ice freezes/melts at 32 degrees (why mention slipping on it if it's not significant)

the word "onto" was split into the words "on to" which makes me think he might have meant "to hard times" means the multiplication 2 times ....

$4.04 404 2x404 = 808 2x4+4 = 804

pizza again... it's round,, zero maybe??

I'm hoping this sparks a thought for someone and the puzzle gets solved the way intended - though with more collaboration than expected, rather than yield to the elimination of real estate approach.

Oh, if anyone saw an avenue of thought for the puzzle that I didn't express, please tell me as I've got a copy of the darn thing in my pocket and I look at it when I'm waiting for a car wash or car pool buddy.
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-Paklid

msteffel · Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 3:13 pm Post subject:

I haven't spent as much time as I would have liked on this puzzle, but was thinking about starting a google wave if people were interested (but didn't know what others though about 'group solves' etc)... but I'll chip in with a few things that I remember coming across [my notes on it are at home]... (most are probably grasping at straws/coincidence)

Phone number for Pizza Man (1st result if you search for "pizza Golden Valley, MN" in google maps) ends in 59905‎, but I couldn't find a gas station or pizza place with a phone or address that ends with 22??? (but maybe I missed something).

"On the way" is mentioned 3 times... there is a cache in Minnesota called "On the way" GC1QY6M, I found a few other cache names in text but none, including "On the way" seemed to pan out.

$7777/$4.04 = 1925... when I went to type in 1925 golden valley it filled in 1925 gold standard act (probably nothing)

Paklid · Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 4:10 pm Post subject:

msteffel · Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:22 pm Post subject:

I should wait till I get home to check my notes, but just remember these two... I real thought I was on to something for a minute with this first one lol

"big payoff of $7777 and how would I divide it up"

Factors of $7777 are 101, 7 & 11. Seven-11 is the biggest convenience store in the country (there just isn't any in our area) and this thing talks about gas, pizza & lottery tickets. Sadly, Seven-11 store #101 wasn't at the crossroads of highway North 123 & West 456 or have a phone number or address that seemed to work (maybe it's been moved since the cache was published Wink

.

The posted coordinates are: N 45° 00.174 W 093° 22.634

If your putting up fake coords, why not choose coords that end in 5 or 0? Sure it looks like it's in the middle of the lake/pond, but it still seems odd. So I thought maybe the posted coords might be significant somehow. 174+634=808 (101*2*2*2) 101 seems to come up a lot, but by now I'm probably WAY off in deep end. lol

msteffel · Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:26 am Post subject:

Congrats to K0TLG, Sparkyfry, Sharknosebunnies, spstanley and seeitdifferent on solving one tough nut!

Moe the Sleaze · Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 1:53 pm Post subject:

GC21J4R is still waiting for a FTF.
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pfalstad · Geocacher Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 962 Location: Edina

sparkyfry · Geocacher Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 343

timewellspent · Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 7:53 pm Post subject:

seeingitdifferent · Geocacher Joined: 04 Jun 2009 Posts: 96

Actually he does deserve credit because he solved it the correct way. I do find some comedy that a lot of Geocachers spent a lot of time Brute forcing puzzle caches and signing logs that they had no idea which ones they were. Some that were never even published... I do believe there were 5 puzzles in the "Zone" before more of them were published. No Dig intended. I am fairly new to this but it does seem a little awkward to see an open forum working on a puzzle. I have been around enough to see many cachers logs openly admitting to never solving the puzzle and gladly signing the log in caching groups. I admire the BS 39 group of cachers. They may be non puzzle people and puzzle people alike that have adapted the game so they still have fun at what they are doing. Kudos to you! I have found out that there is very careful planning and thought that must be done to solve or locate a log to sign. As Gilby has said it is not as easy as it seems. I am not sure if this sentiment will be well received or not? It is meant in the most respectful way. I personally try to put puzzles in an area that is sensitive to traffic or on "Scrub Real Estate" I.E. Signs Etc. I agree with Sparkyfry that almost all of the real estate used in the zone was Scrub Real Estate. I know I spent at least an hour a day for the last 33 days working on the UPV puzzle and in the end a new cacher with 106 finds and a amazing vision solved it. Yes at 5:36 A.M. Way to Go K0TLG! This has been the most memorable cache to my career...

pfalstad · Geocacher Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 962 Location: Edina

TheGilby4 · Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:39 am Post subject:

sparkyfry · Geocacher Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 343

spinowner · Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:33 pm Post subject:

timewellspent · Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:47 pm Post subject: