Tips for solving puzzle caches Geocaching NSW Incorporated.Puzzle caches are a great alternative to traditional geocache.But for many geocachers, they are too difficult or require too much effort.This page has been written to give you some tips on how to solve those puzzle caches that might currently be beyond your reach.It covers what to look for when solving a puzzle cache, some of the clever techniques used to hide clues and how to confirm youre on the right track.This session was originally presented at the Geocaching NSW 2.AGM event by founding president, Darren Osborne.Look for patterns.A puzzle cache will typically require you to solve all the digits in the coordinates 1.For example AB CD.EFG HIJ KL. MNO 1.S3. 3 AB. CDE E1.FG. HIJ 1. 0 digits.S3. 3 2. 6. ABC E1.DEF 6 digits. Solving a 1.Puzzles that require 1.Armed with this knowledge, you should look at the puzzle to see if there are 6, 1.This may be where the answer is hidden.Study the fake coordinates.Since mid 2. 00. In southern Australia, this equates to roughly 2 minutes eastwest and 1.Typically this will also mean the degrees portion of GZ will be identical to the fake coordinates unless it is close to a longitudelatitude line, which will narrow down your search for 1.For example, if the fake coordinates are S3.E1. 51 0. 2. 6. 77 and you need to solve AB CD.EFG HIJ KL. MNO, you can reduce this to S3.D. EFG E1. 51 0. L.MNO and that D is 3,4,5 or 6 and L is likely to be 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4.If the puzzle uses repetition such as AB BB.ACA this will help you even further.Example The geocaches starting coordinates are S 3.E 1. 51 0. 1. 0. The puzzle asks use to find the cache with the following AA BC.DEF GHG FG. ACGWe could quickly solve most of this as we know A3, B4, G1, H5 and F0.So now our puzzle have been reduced to this 3.C. DE0 1. 51 0. 1.C1. 3. Substitutions.There are many ways to convert numbers and text into something that looks unintelligible.Below are some examples.To crack the substitution code, look for repetitions and patterns see tip.Examples Actual coordinates S 3.How To Crack Playfair Cipher Using Pictures' title='How To Crack Playfair Cipher Using Pictures' />The title of any book, monograph, or article tells the reader broadly what he can expect to attain from the book by reading it.The title is essentially a shortest.The Playfair cipher is my personal favorite.It is relatively simple to understand, and it is very secure.In the previous ciphers, each letter had a symbol or letter.E 1. 51 0. 2. 9. Morse Code.Roman numerals. XXXIII XLVI CMLXXV CLI II CMXCVIASCII Codes in Decimal Base 1.Binary Base 2. 00.Octal Base 8. 14.Hexadecimal Base 1.F E6. 74. 14. 4. Learn about ciphers.Not all puzzles will solve as numbers.QXM19k2s3wBc_p0Y8Yk9UCDY_7S6LuFpbmEl6cysZeM9GlpK7yMLZ2qMPzxnLZ3Lhc4=h900' alt='How To Crack Playfair Cipher Using Picture Frames' title='How To Crack Playfair Cipher Using Picture Frames' />How To Crack Playfair Cipher Using Picture BooksSome spell out the coordinates as words, such as south three three.Ciphers have been used to hide text for thousands of years.In fact the hints that are typically shown on geocache listing pages use the ROT 1.Caesar shift 1. 3 cipher.ROT5 is a simple numeric substitution cipher.Other substitution ciphers include substitution, Keyed Caesar, and Pigpen or Masonic.These are all monoalphabetic ciphers, meaning that each incidence of any particular letter or number in the original message always encodes to the same symbol in the encrypted message.ROT1. 3 cipher. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMCaesar shift 5.ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEROT5.Keyed Caesar. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZKEYWORDABCFGHIJLMNPQSTUVXZPigpen cipher.The first step to solving these ciphers is to use a technique known as frequency analysis.This involves looking at which letters, or combinations of letters, appear most frequently.For example, the letter E is the most commonly used letter in the English alphabet.If the letter J appears most often in the ciphered text, then you maybe able to assume that J represents E and the cipher could be a Caesar shift 5.Also look for common combinations that look like THE, THREE, and AND.Other patterns include.The two Es in the word THREETY on the end of TWENTY, THIRTY FORTY etc.SEVEN and SEVENTY repeats E in the 2nd and 4th positions.NINETEEN repeats one character in the 1st, 3rd and 8th places and another in the 4th, 6th and 7th places.COORDINATES is a relatively long 1.O repeated in the 2nd and 3rd positions so it can be easy to spot.Examples UQWVJ VJKTVA VJTGG HQTVA UGXGP RQKPV VYQ PKPG QPG GCUV QPG JWPFTGF HKHVA QPG VYQ RQKPV PKPG UGXGP UGXGP8 1 4 2 3 2 2 3 2 1 2 3 4 2 3 2 4 3 7 4 8 2 6 2 3 1 3 2 7 3 8 1 4 2 3 2 7 3 6 3 2 3 5 2.The topic of ciphers and codes fills volumes of textbooks far more than we can even begin to outline here.But if youre interested in learning more, here are some related terms worth researching Affine.Columnar Transposition.Playfair. Atbash.Double Transposition.Polybius Square. Base.Enigma. Railfence.Baudot. Keyed Caesar.ROT4. 7Bifid. Letter Frequency.Steganography. Caesar.One Time Pad. Vigenere.Also, at the end of this article is a list of useful websites.Other coordinate systems.Some puzzles result in coordinates that are not in the commonly used degrees decimal minutes format.They may be decimal degrees S3.E1. 51. 1. 78. 9, degrees minutes seconds S3.E1. 51 0. 3 1. 2, or other grid references UTM5.Picture speaks a thousand words.There is more to a picture than the picture itself.Some contain hidden information known as EXIF data.Look at the files properties or use a photo editing program to look at the data included with the image to see if there is anything hidden.Changing various attributes such as brightness, contrast, alpha channel or colour depth may also reveal information.Try inverting images, or using filters such as Local Equalization and Find Edges if available.If you dont have Photoshop, you may find these free software titles useful 7.Go to the source.Some puzzle geocaches have clues hidden in the HTML code of the page, also known as the source code.To look at the HTML code, right click on the page and choose View source.It may be text that is commented out, made white or hidden using some other method. Birth Control Patch When To Start Taking more. Because most of the code is generated by the cache listing website, you will only need to look in the section that contains the cache description.Example lt span idctl.Content. BodyLong.Description The City gates caches sit close to large monuments declaring your entry or exit of the Australian Capital Territory.But not every border crossing has such an announcement.The border itself is even subtler.The cache is at S 3.E 1. 49 0. 0. 4. This line is a comment that wont display on the listing.You wont see this clue either It will appear as a blank line.Its up in the tree.To find the cache you must crack the puzzle.But where is itlt p lt p There are two ways of getting to this location, both shortenjoyable walks down on the border.Confirm your answer.Once you have what you think is the answer, copy and paste it into a mapping program such as Ozi.Explorer, Mapsource or Google Maps maps.This will give you a first look at whether you have the right answer.If the arrow points to a solitary tree, a gazebo, clump of rocks, fork in the road, etc., you can feel reasonably confident that you have the correct answer.If it lands in the middle of a busy intersection or out in the Pacific Ocean, you probably have more work to do.Some geocache listing pages include a coordinate checker for you to confirm your coordinates.Some have a ten minute delay between searches or limit the number of searches you can do in any ten minutes, so its recommended you try the map test first.Brute force. The final method is to search for the geocache without solving the puzzle known as brute force.Look at a map of the area to identify any logical hiding places within a reasonable distance of the starting coordinates.Read through the logs and closely examine any photos.Try searching the internet for the GC code and title for clues.If the description includes what looks like phrases or poetry, search for it on the web it may provide clues to the author or some other pieces of information.Whatever technique you use, if you find the cache through this method DO NOT mention it in your log.Some puzzle cache owners may feel cheated and decide to delete your log.It may also encourage other future hiders to follow the same path.Remember, the purpose of the puzzle is for people to solve it, not cheat.Ask for help. When all else fails, email the cache owner or a previous finder and ask for a hint.
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