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Ducks at Dusk Mystery Cache

Hidden : 11/17/2011
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

The cache is not at the above coordinates which is a suggested place to park. You are very close to the parking coordinates for my Letchmore Loop series of 12 caches (which are right beside a duck pond), so you can make a day of it!.


You are the Member of Parliament for an affluent rural constituency somewhere in the UK, loved and revered by your constituents and the general public alike.

At the weekends you retire to your small estate which, naturally, boasts a duck pond. Beside this pond are 3 duck houses given to you as a token of appreciation by your constituents.

Foxes prowl the estate at night, so at dusk you round up your ducks and secure them in their houses where they spend the night on perches suspended from each duck house roof. For breeding purposes the different species occupy separate houses but different coloured ducks are a different size and weight. However, these clever ducks know exactly which position they must occupy to balance the perches.

Your job is to determine which ducks are missing and still roaming the estate and bring them back to fill the empty positions indicated by question marks. You will need to work out their relative weights and the leverage they produce according to their positions to determine which ducks are missing (ignore the weight of the perches).

If you need some help tackling this puzzle then the hint below may assist or you can go to my website for more guidance. If you are still stuck feel free to email me. Having found the ducks missing from the first duckhouse and having taken an inventory, it's on to the second. Getting dark - just time to sort out the third duckhouse. Now use the duck totals to determine the coordinates of the cache using the following formula:

N51° 40.0(B-A+F)(D-F) W000° 20.(A+E-B)(C-B)E

You can check your answer for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.

The cache is a small clip and lock suitable for trackables and small swaps.


Additional Hints (Decrypt)

CHMMYRF: N oveq fvggvat guerr cbfvgvbaf njnl sebz gur shypehz (unatvat cbvag) rkregf guerr gvzrf gur yrirentr bs n oveq fvggvat bar cbfvgvba njnl fb, vs gurl onynapr, gur frpbaq oveq vf guerr gvzrf gur jrvtug bs gur svefg. PNPUR: Nf zl Trezna pnpuvat ohqql jbhyq fnl, vg'f va gur jrr bs n gerr.

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)