The cache is not at the posted coordinates although it is within a couple of miles.
This utterly fascinating puzzle has been around for many years, at least since seventies and probably before that. (It is in the public domain.) Solving requires a good dose of logic, a little luck, and some quiet reflection. It is chastening to realize the first solvers had to do it without spreadsheets and calculators. Even so, a modern solver should set aside a quiet hour or two (along with a nice glass of wine).
[Note: I am leaving this page as I originally wrote it. However, I have since discovered that the author of this puzzle was William Thomas Williams (1913-1995) (W. T. Williams) and it was first published in the Strand Magazine in 1935. Not only did the first solvers not have access to calculators and spreadsheets, but they were also given no information beyond the grid and its clues. They had to assume the current year and had to know how many roods were in an acre and so forth. In adddition, clue 6 down also had no year. Ted was simply twice as old as Mary. The puzzle was so popular that it was reprinted in subsequent years with various slight modifications to keep it current. As you might guess, the version printed here comes from 1939.]
This puzzle concerns the Little Pigbsy farm that has in the Dunk family for several centuries. one particular rectangular is popularly known as Dog's Mead. Use the clues to fill in the grid with the appropiate numbers. The hardest part is getting started; that is, after you have filled in the first two trivially easy digits. It is going to take you the better part of quiet hour (and the second glass of wine) to finish.
Things you should know:
- The year is 1939.
- There are 4840 square yards in an acre.
- There are 4 roods in an acre.
- There are (or rather were) 20 shillings in one pound sterlling.
Normally they don't tell you this, but I won't make you look it up: There are 1760 yards in a mile.
ACROSS
1. The area of Dog's Mead in square yards.
5. The age of Farmer Dunk's daughter Martha.
6. Difference in yards between the length and breadth of Dog's mead.
7. Number of roods in Dog's Mead times "8 down".
8. The year when the Dunk family first acquired Little Pigsby.
10. Farmer Dunk Age.
11. Year of birth of Mary, Farmer Dunk's youngest child.
14. The perimeter in yards of Dog's Mead.
15. The cube of Farmer Dunk's walking speed in miles per hour.
16. "15 across" minus "9 down".
DOWN
1. Value in shillings per acre of Dog's Mead.
3. Mary's age.
4. The value Dog's Mead in pounds sterling.
6. The age of Farmer Dunk's first born, Ted, who was twice as old as Mary in 1935.
7. The square of the number of yards of the breadth of Dog's Mead.
8. The number of minutes it takes Farmer Dunk to walk one and 1/3 times around Dog's Mead.
9. See "10 down".
10. "10 across" times "9 down."
12. One more than the sum of the digits in "10 down."
13. The number of years that the Dunk Family has owned Little Pigsby.
By the way, Mrs. Gooby is Farmer Dunk's mother-in-law. The square of her age is number "2 down." The cache is at North 37:24.ABC and West 122:05.DEF. The FTF prize is a 25 cent quarter.
- A equals the sum of the digits in sum of the Dunk children plus 1.
- BC equals the last two digits in the year Mrs. Gooby was born minus 3.
- DE equals the last two digits in "one down" minus 3
- F equals the digits in the sum of Mrs. Gooby age minus 1