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FYI: Self-Referential Cache is Self-Referenetial Mystery Cache

Hidden : 5/18/2011
Difficulty:
4.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Before rushing out of the door for another tenebrus puzzle cache find, you should know something. The real coordinates are found using the solution to the puzzle below. (Shucks! That looks evil mathy.)


Do not go to the fake coordinates; they are on a power line through the pine bush behind private property. Got it? Good.

So the puzzle is simple enough - 10 questions, each having a number 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 as its answer. Oh, but the questions refer to each other. That might make things a little more interesting to solve, huh?


  1. There's only one pair of consecutive questions with a matching answer. What number was the matching answer?
    (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5.
  2. What question is the first to have "4" as its answer?
    (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5.
  3. How many times is "4" an answer to these 10 questions?
    (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5.
  4. What question is the first to have "1" as its answer?
    (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5.
  5. How many times is "5" an answer to these 10 questions?
    (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5.
  6. Which is the only answer that appears exactly once in these 10 questions?
    (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5.
  7. In only one case does the question number match the answer number. What number is that?
    (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5.
  8. How many times is "1" an answer to these 10 questions?
    (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5.
  9. What question is the first to have "2" as its answer?
    (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5.
  10. What is the right answer to this question?
    (1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5) 5.

Once you have it solved, use the answers ([A1], [A2], [A3], ...,[A10]) to determine N 42° 4A.BCD' W 73° 5E.FGH'.

Note: I had botched the instructions after this point so there were 2 minor edits. If you got this far, the hard part is already behind you. See my log (19-May-2011) for specific details.

A=[A1]–[A3], "BCD"=3×[A3]×[A5]×[A6]×[A7], E=[A2]×[A8], "FG"=[A1]×[A9]×[A10], H=[A4]+[A7]

Also, I would hate not having a good place to start looking too, so here's the deal once you have coordinates: let the light guide you. 35mm. Now go get it.

my local geocaching group
New York Capital Region Geocachers

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Frys-ersreragvny pyhrf ner nyzbfg frys-ersreragvny.

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)