The given coordinates are where I parked when I hid the cache, but do not necessarily represent the closest parking to the cache. Solve the puzzle below to determine the location of the cache.
By late 1602, Queen Elizabeth I, who had ruled England for 44 years, began to start showing signs of declining health. The queen had never married and had no descendants and had steadfastly refused to choose an heir. James I of Scotland was considered a possible successor, as both were descended from Margaret Tudor. However, James knew that there would be other claimants to the throne, and he wanted to know as soon as possible when the queen expired, so that he could ride down to England to assume the crown. He could not risk showing up in England before the queen's death, lest she consider him a rebel or a clown prematurely celebrating her death. In those days, a foolish pretender to the throne would likely be beheaded or otherwise executed. The queen was known to have executed at least 72 people during her reign.
James arranged for a sapphire ring to be delivered to Lady Scrope, one of the queen's chamber attendants and confidants. When the queen passed, Lady Scrope was able to drop the ring out of a window to her brother, Sir Robert Carey, who had arranged for a string of horses to be prepared for him along the Great North Road from London to Edinburgh. Carey rode continuously for 70 hours, even once falling from his horse and getting kicked in the face. Bleeding, swollen, and exhausted, he arrived at the palace of Holyroodhouse and became the first to announce the news to the new monarch of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
James asked what letters of confirmation Carey had brought with him from the English Privy Council, but Carey had none. The Privy Council had closed the palace upon the queen's death and hadn't announced the news yet. But Carey did have the sapphire ring, which James had previously signified for this exact purpose, and thus he accepted the news as true, and he subsequently made his way south to London to claim the throne of England.
There is no documentation on what happened to the ring after these events, but it is known that James was responsible for both the colonization of America and the translation of one of the world's most widely read manuscripts, and I found possible clues left in Song of Solomon 2 and 2 Timothy 2.
This site is not suitable for a geocache, although there is a public structure here, it is technically located on private property. So, take the main eight-letter word on top and combine it with the main three-letter word underneath to form an eleven-letter string to enter into certitude here:
You can validate your puzzle solution with
certitude.
Special Notes about the 2023 Puzzle Challenge: To be considered for Fastest Solver points, you must verify your solution with Certitude. Finders will receive Top Finder points when submitting Found It logs to the cache page. All "point" scoring is arbitrary, subject to change, at the discretion of the cache owner, and probably completely meaningless (unless you just want to be announced sooner at the celebration party, which will probably happen in Spring 2024). The real challenge is to see whether I can even figure out how to create a new puzzle each month this year, as I'm running out of ideas! To maintain fairness, hints should not be offered by the cache owner or other solvers until the fifteenth of the month.
Special Notes about this month's puzzle: Although Stage 1 is divinely inspired, there should be no reason to step onto private property. Please do not dig there looking for the ring. I don't know whether it is there. The cache answers are readily visible from the street or sidewalks. The final cache is located in a park that is only open sunrise to sunset. Upped the difficulty from 3 to 3.5. Added an additional hint on April 17th.
First To Solve: Galileo the cat (128 minutes)
First To Log: Galileo the cat (229 minutes)
Named pre-hint solvers: 18
Pre-hint finds logged: 4
KPC2023 Solvers Scoreboard
KPC2023 Finders Scoreboard
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