Great Detectives: Nick & Nora Charles Mystery Cache

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The WBs: Found a new spot.

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Hidden : 12/20/2012
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Cache not at the posted coordinates. Original was muggled; final has been relocated and replaced in a better spot.


Dashiell Hammett, who had earlier created Sam Spade in his novel The Maltese Falcon, wrote The Thin Man in 1934. Introduced in his last novel were Nick and Nora Charles. Nick Charles is a former detective and Nora his rich socialite wife; they both spend most of their time drinking and partying. Nick is drawn back into detective work to find the whereabouts of the thin man who gives the book its title.

The book was filmed with William Powell as Nick and Myrna Loy as Nora; their chemistry together leaps off the screen, and five popular sequels were filmed. The films also feature Asta, a wire fox terrier (although Asta was a Schnauzer in the book). There’s a widespread misunderstanding that Powell’s Nick Charles is himself The Thin Man, reinforced by the continued use of variations of the title in the sequels, but The Thin Man is actually the murder victim in both the book and the first film.

Powell and Loy are indelibly Nick and Nora, as anyone who has seen the films will attest, but that hasn’t prevented a radio series, a television series, and even a Broadway musical, from being attempted. Johnny Depp is currently planning a remake; the actress playing his Nora has not been announced.

The movie trailer for "The Thin Man" is readily available on the web. Fans of great detectives may wish to seek it out, as it features William Powell (as Nick Charles) conversing with William Powell (as Philo Vance).

Since the balance between Nick and Nora is the key to the success of the book and film series, let’s do an experiment in torque balance to determine the location of the cache container.

Let’s assume that the center of gravity for both Nick and Nora is located in their, er, hindquarters. Given that Nick weighs 190 pounds, Nora weighs 108 pounds, Asta weighs 31 pounds, “a” = 6 pounds, “b” = 9 pounds and “c” = 7 pounds, what must the weight of “d” be in pounds to keep our see-saw perfectly balanced?

FINAL: N 41 04.cca W 96 0c.db

Click to verify coordinates

Great Detective #29. For more information on puzzle caches by the WBs, use the “Related Web Page” link above.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

AR pbeare

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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