In Snakes - a puzzle cache, I defined what I mean by a "snake polyomino". You can see the full definition and examples there, but here's a quick review: A polyomino is a figure formed by joining some squares of the same size along their edges. In a snake polyomino, there are two "end" squares, each of which shares an edge with exactly one other square; the other squares in the snake form a single path from one end to the other. Each of the intermediate squares shares an edge with exactly two other squares in the snake. Finally, there are no holes inside; you can move from any point that's not part of the snake to any other such point without crossing the snake.
In a crossword puzzle, you're given the definitions of a bunch of words, and you have to figure out what the words are and write them in a square grid of letters. Each word forms a straight line, either left to right or top to bottom, and you're shown where it starts and ends. A snakeword puzzle is similar, except that each word forms a snake polyomino instead of a straight line; you're shown where both ends of the word are, but you have to figure out the shape of the snake and which end the word starts at.
Here's a small sample puzzle:
|
CLUES |
| 1 |
Diamond sources |
| 2 |
Flu symptom |
| 3 |
Unconcealed |
| 4 |
Footprint, for example |
| 5 |
Occurrence |
Feel free to solve it yourself. Or if you just want to make sure you understand how this sort of puzzle works, click here to see the filled-in grid and here to see the shapes formed by the words.
Here's the puzzle that you need to solve to find the cache. Ignore the blue shading in some of the squares for now; it'll be used later to get coordinates from your solution.
|
CLUES |
| 1 |
Mythical self-eating snake |
10 |
Brave |
| 2 |
Snake's poison |
11 |
The ones here |
| 3 |
Leave out |
12 |
Study of snakes |
| 4 |
Nevada city |
13 |
Type of tie |
| 5 |
Sleep noisily |
14 |
Young cat |
| 6 |
Snake genus or programming language |
15 |
"The ____ Gunmen", X-Files trio |
| 7 |
Beginning |
16 |
Snake with an audible warning, briefly |
| 8 |
Snake language spoken by Harry Potter |
17 |
Fourth month of the year |
| 9 |
Twisted, like a snake |
18 |
"And miles to go before I sleep" author |
When you've solved the puzzle, arrange the letters in the 6 shaded squares in alphabetical order. Then translate them to digits using this code:
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
5 2 8 8 3 0 6 7 9 6 4 0 5 4 4 1 9 7 5 1 9 2 7 3 0 2
Use those digits to fill in the blanks in the coordinates:
N 40 51._ _ _ W 124 03._ _ _
I recently discovered the Sunny Brae section of the Arcata Community Forest, and decided to hide a couple of caches there before someone else claims all the good spots. The listed coordinates are for the trailhead: Walk up the stairs and follow the trail past the water tank.
It's hard to get good GPS readings in the forest, so I recommend that you check your coordinates with Certitude:
If your coords are correct, Certitude will give you a fairly complete description of how to find the cache. You can also see who else has solved the puzzle. Note: You can remain anonymous if you want to; incorrect guesses are always anonymous. (Puzzle makers, you can create your own Certitude links here.)
The cache is a hanging bison tube.
Congratulations to the first certified solver, gallaghd, and the
first finders, humspuds.
On 6/12/2014, this puzzle was
