The cache is NOT at the posted coordinates
About This Series
This Calgary Puzzle Solving 101 Series (CPS101) is based on the original Puzzle Solving 101 Series by ePeterso2.
The first 12 caches in this series help you build your puzzle-solving skills. Each contains a lesson focusing on a specific skill, examples of how to use that skill, an actual puzzle to test that skill, and a cache to find as a reward. Study the lesson, solve the puzzle, and you’ll have the location of a cache.
When you enter correct coordinates into the geochecker, a piece of information will be revealed that is required for the final exam (the 13th cache in the series).
Lesson 12: Lateral Thinking
On a single day, one woman publically marries three different men in Calgary, but she isn’t charged with polygamy. Why not?
From an early age, we’re taught to accept certain social conventions and see the world in particular ways. These shortcuts assist us in communicating effectively and making efficient decisions. But they also can restrict our views, dampen our creativity, and lead us to false conclusions.
Occasionally, we’re stymied when certain situations don’t match our preconceptions. Lateral thinking puzzles exploit these situations, forcing us to remove our blinders and “think outside the box.” Women, for example, can be priests. And priests can marry couples…even multiple couples on the same day in Calgary.
Lateral thinking problems are some of the hardest to solve because they require us to use original and creative methods. While this makes them difficult and infuriating, it also makes them challenging and rewarding.
Examples
Nine Dots Puzzle
The classic lateral thinking example is the Nine Dots puzzle. Print the above image on a piece of paper, then draw four (or fewer) straight lines that pass through all nine dots without lifting your pencil from the paper or retracing any line.
The reason you might have trouble solving this puzzle is that we impose boundaries upon ourselves. (Were you taught to colour inside the lines?) Most people keep their lines within the edges of the square, but the puzzle imposes no such restriction. Try again.
Even when you “think outside the box,” you’re really just thinking inside a bigger box. If you challenge your assumptions further, then you can complete the puzzle with only three lines. Continue expanding your metaphorical box. Wrapping the paper around the right-sized cylinder at the correct angle allows you to connect all the dots with a single line. Using a giant pencil with a dull point also accomplishes the task with a single line. Cut the paper into three strips and tape them together to form one long strip. Starting to get the idea?
Situation Puzzles
One of the most common types of lateral thinking exercises is the situation puzzle. These puzzles give you a small amount of information and ask you to explain the situation. For instance:
1. There are six eggs in a basket. Six people each take one egg. How is it possible that one egg remains in the basket? To see the answer, position your cursor 
.
2. A baby fell out of a twenty-story building, landed on the ground, and lived. How is this possible? Position cursor .
3. A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink. The bartender pulls out a gun and points it at him. The man says, “Thank you,” and walks out. What happened? Position cursor .
Need to shed additional preconceptions? Here are some bonus situation puzzles. There’s an ongoing forum featuring hundreds more.
Local Geocaches
Geocache puzzles also can force you to think outside the box – some more than others. Randomly pick a BVPete puzzle to solve, and there’s a good chance you’ll have to ponder sideways at least a little.
Here are a few imaginative lateral thinking puzzles near Calgary:
General Solving Techniques
When you examine a typical puzzle, you often know immediately which road you must travel to solve it. That route could include a steep hill, but at least it’s well paved. If you encounter encrypted messages, then your course might be less clear and could involve a few wrong turns. Those roads are mapped, though, and you can continue testing the limited possibilities.
Lateral thinking problems, in contrast, require you to explore vast uncharted territories. People who create these puzzles intentionally make them unusual or even unique. Because of this, it’s impossible to develop a checklist of specific solving techniques. The best we can offer are some general guiding principles that might come in handy.
Get into the zone. If you’re having trouble with what you suspect is a lateral thinking puzzle, then you might not have fully shifted gears. You won’t make much progress by digging in and pushing harder in a forward direction. It takes a conscious effort to think outside the box, so work on some situation puzzles to get into the right frame of mind.
Challenge assumptions. Beware of the obvious answers, keep an open mind, and be prepared to break rules – especially unwritten rules.
Use your head. People who analyze these puzzles with pencil and paper are 30 percent less likely to succeed than those who use only their heads. Writing tweaks the left side of your brain, which deals with verbal and logical (algorithmic) reasoning. It’s the right side that handles visual and creative (heuristic) thinking.
Brainstorm. Quickly jot down 20 solution theories, no matter how absurd they might seem at the moment. Later, with an open mind, carefully consider each possibility and determine if it might work. If none of the theories gets you anywhere, then write down 20 more. As Edwin Land noted, “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.”
Work with others. Two heads are better than one. Each new mind brings a unique perspective to the table. Others will think of new ideas that, in turn, can trigger additional insights from you.
Review strategies and tactics. Many of the strategies and tactics discussed in Lesson 01 and Lesson 02 are especially important in solving lateral thinking puzzles.
Look for subtle clues. Appreciating the difficulty of lateral thinking puzzles, many writers will go to extra lengths to supply clues in them. Reread their titles, author names, descriptions, and additional hints.
Be patient. Unusual solutions won’t always pop into your head immediately. These types of puzzles often must simmer on your brain’s backburner for hours, days, or weeks. Keep returning to them and reviewing them with a fresh eye. Then, suddenly, inspiration could strike when you least expect it, and the answer will be obvious.
Puzzle 12: Fundamental Elements
A cache by William Caslon
It was a relatively quiet Wednesday morning at the Glenmore Water Treatment Plant (GWTP), and I had nearly finished writing the Stage 2 Initial Distribution System Evaluation (IDSE). All I needed was Karen’s analysis of the Unified Treatment Method (UTM) for dealing with turbidities of up to 1,000 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) during spring runoff.
Karen knew the evaluation wasn’t due until the end of the week, and I knew she was a geocaching fanatic with a devious streak. So I wasn’t entirely surprised when she sent this message to my pager:
I pondered the mysterious note for an hour and got nowhere. I set it aside and did some other work, but the puzzle kept taunting me. Again, I studied it. Again, it refused to reveal its secret.
At lunchtime, I went outside, took a long walk, and rested on a bench above the reservoir. Clouds drifted by as seagulls circled overhead. A cool, gentle breeze came from the west.
Eventually, I pulled out my pager, but this time I looked at it from a completely different perspective. Suddenly, an idea struck me like an apple falling on my head. Eureka!
Key pieces came together, while unimportant ones faded away. I started writing, and this time it actually made sense. I knew where Karen had put her analysis.
Verify your coordinates by clicking on the image below:
We initially stocked the cache with 13 lapel pins, but feel free to trade whatever you like.
Please note: The cache location can be slippery when wet or icy.
Congratulations to “green ducks” for being the first-to-find.
If you’ve already looked at the Additional Hints and need one more puzzle clue, then decrypt the following:
