Esto Spills His Guts: A Geocaching Mystery
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 1:12 pm
What is it?
This is a geocaching puzzle cross-posted to this site. The only things changed are the names of the characters. Being a geocaching puzzle, the goal is to complete the puzzle and reveal a set of latitude/longitude coordinates. A real geocache is present at the location, but for this challenge, obtaining correct coordinates is sufficient to declare victory.
Who can play?
Anyone with access to this Bored. Even you. And you, too.
How to play.
Read the “interrogation” carefully and use the information found therein to provide the 11 numbers needed to solve the puzzle. Send the answer to me.
What’s different?
This is not a group effort. The thread will be locked and can’t be replied to. I ask that each BB work alone and not share info (please don’t open a new thread for discussion—it will be deleted). All correspondence must be via email to me (or PM if you are averse to email).
Where to send.
My email address is vandalrmc@comcast.net. If you are stuck and have made a good-faith effort toward solving the puzzle I may provide a hint, if needed. Please include your Bored name with any email (if it is not obvious) so I know with whom I am dealing. Please put “Bored Puzzle” or something similar in the subject line.
What’s at stake?
It is my hope that there are multiple “solvers” for this puzzle. When it’s over, I will randomly select one prize winner from that group. I will also award a prize to the first person who correctly solves it and sends me the answer (known in geocaching terms as “first to solve”). The prize for both is a signed copy of any of my book titles. I can make it out to you, someone you know or your local library. Winner’s choice!
Good luck and have fun.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Esto Spills His Guts: A Geocaching Mystery
Narrator: The story you are about to experience is true. None of the names have been changed because no one is innocent.
[voiceover] My name is TBone and I’m a cop. An Internet cop. . .
and this is my partner, Elwood.
We got a notice from Groundspeak that someone was vandalizing geocaches. There were multiple reports of scattered cache contents and missing cache containers located in the same general area. We brought in a known low-life named Esto Nut for questioning.
Esto had a checkered past and was known to move frequently. A pretty boy with a bad attitude. Yeah, we knew just how to handle his type. We took him into the interrogation room for a little Q and A.
TBone: Okay, punk, let’s start with the easy stuff. What’s your middle initial?
Esto: N
Elwood: What’s the N stand for:
Esto: Newton, as in Isaac Newton.
TBone: Ha, more like Fig Newton in your case. What’s your educational background, Newton? Let me guess: high school dropout.
Esto: I spent two years at Peru State College in Nebraska studying aeronautical engineering. Ran out of money, so I left.
TBone: Aeronautical engineering! Sounds like someone wanted to be the next Elon Musk, right rocket man?
Esto: Wrong. More like Igor Sikorsky. I really liked helicopters.
TBone: Never heard of him. What do you do now, hot shot?
Esto: Meat inspector for the state. I make sure your steaks are clean and your burgers are pure. I’ll bet you cops like your meat well done.
TBone: Enough of this chit chat. Where were you on the afternoon of the fifteenth? Ten geocaches were reported stolen that day.
Esto: I went to a movie called The Moth Man Returns. It was a matinee.
TBone: Anyone see you there?
Esto: No one I know, but it took in 93 million over the weekend, so there were lots of people around.
Elwood: We have an eyewitness who can place you at the scene of one of those missing caches. I think you should play ball with us and maybe the judge will go easy on you.
Esto: Look, this kind of interrogation tactic may work in a backwater country like Lesotho or Kenya, but it won’t work here. You got jack squat on me and you know it.
TBone: Watch it, you gutter-mouthed punk. Let’s move on the morning of the fourteenth. Six light pole caches were removed from the Walmart parking lot. An anonymous tipster reported seeing a car that looks a lot like yours in the area. C’mon Esto, time to start singin’.
Esto: I can’t sing and I can’t dance. Besides, I was having a crown put in that morning. Can’t a guy see his dentist without his motives being questioned?
Elwood: How about we ask the questions around here. Now listen, Esto. We didn’t want to do this, but you give us no choice. We found a bottle of clear liquid in your car earlier today. Tell us why you bagged all those caches and maybe we’ll forget about this suspicious substance.
Esto: That’s an illegal search and you know it. Besides, it’s just insecticide. I hope no one got it on their skin.
TBone: We’ll stay all night if we have to, Esto. Elwood, here, has a lie detector he’s dying to try out. How about we hook you up to it? If you tell the truth you walk.
Esto: That’s it! I’ve had enough of you guys. I want my lawyer. His name is Richard Nixon, like the president. This party is over and that is my final answer.
[Esto is led away]
TBone: I hate it when they lawyer up. It takes all the fun out of interrogating. Regardless, we had him squirming in the hot seat and sure enough, Esto spilled his guts.
Elwood: Yes he did. In fact, every answer he gave contains a clue.
TBone: Then we can inform Groundspeak that our work is done here. Time to strike a pose.
Just the facts:
N 41 vw.xyz W 07a bc.def
v --> -5
w --> +2
x --> -4
y --> +1
z --> -9
a --> -2
b --> -1
c
d --> -11
e --> -1
f --> +5
When you have figured it out, send the coordinates to vandalrmc@comcast.net. I will tell you if you are wrong so you can keep trying.
This is a geocaching puzzle cross-posted to this site. The only things changed are the names of the characters. Being a geocaching puzzle, the goal is to complete the puzzle and reveal a set of latitude/longitude coordinates. A real geocache is present at the location, but for this challenge, obtaining correct coordinates is sufficient to declare victory.
Who can play?
Anyone with access to this Bored. Even you. And you, too.
How to play.
Read the “interrogation” carefully and use the information found therein to provide the 11 numbers needed to solve the puzzle. Send the answer to me.
What’s different?
This is not a group effort. The thread will be locked and can’t be replied to. I ask that each BB work alone and not share info (please don’t open a new thread for discussion—it will be deleted). All correspondence must be via email to me (or PM if you are averse to email).
Where to send.
My email address is vandalrmc@comcast.net. If you are stuck and have made a good-faith effort toward solving the puzzle I may provide a hint, if needed. Please include your Bored name with any email (if it is not obvious) so I know with whom I am dealing. Please put “Bored Puzzle” or something similar in the subject line.
What’s at stake?
It is my hope that there are multiple “solvers” for this puzzle. When it’s over, I will randomly select one prize winner from that group. I will also award a prize to the first person who correctly solves it and sends me the answer (known in geocaching terms as “first to solve”). The prize for both is a signed copy of any of my book titles. I can make it out to you, someone you know or your local library. Winner’s choice!
Good luck and have fun.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Esto Spills His Guts: A Geocaching Mystery
Narrator: The story you are about to experience is true. None of the names have been changed because no one is innocent.
[voiceover] My name is TBone and I’m a cop. An Internet cop. . .
and this is my partner, Elwood.
We got a notice from Groundspeak that someone was vandalizing geocaches. There were multiple reports of scattered cache contents and missing cache containers located in the same general area. We brought in a known low-life named Esto Nut for questioning.
Esto had a checkered past and was known to move frequently. A pretty boy with a bad attitude. Yeah, we knew just how to handle his type. We took him into the interrogation room for a little Q and A.
TBone: Okay, punk, let’s start with the easy stuff. What’s your middle initial?
Esto: N
Elwood: What’s the N stand for:
Esto: Newton, as in Isaac Newton.
TBone: Ha, more like Fig Newton in your case. What’s your educational background, Newton? Let me guess: high school dropout.
Esto: I spent two years at Peru State College in Nebraska studying aeronautical engineering. Ran out of money, so I left.
TBone: Aeronautical engineering! Sounds like someone wanted to be the next Elon Musk, right rocket man?
Esto: Wrong. More like Igor Sikorsky. I really liked helicopters.
TBone: Never heard of him. What do you do now, hot shot?
Esto: Meat inspector for the state. I make sure your steaks are clean and your burgers are pure. I’ll bet you cops like your meat well done.
TBone: Enough of this chit chat. Where were you on the afternoon of the fifteenth? Ten geocaches were reported stolen that day.
Esto: I went to a movie called The Moth Man Returns. It was a matinee.
TBone: Anyone see you there?
Esto: No one I know, but it took in 93 million over the weekend, so there were lots of people around.
Elwood: We have an eyewitness who can place you at the scene of one of those missing caches. I think you should play ball with us and maybe the judge will go easy on you.
Esto: Look, this kind of interrogation tactic may work in a backwater country like Lesotho or Kenya, but it won’t work here. You got jack squat on me and you know it.
TBone: Watch it, you gutter-mouthed punk. Let’s move on the morning of the fourteenth. Six light pole caches were removed from the Walmart parking lot. An anonymous tipster reported seeing a car that looks a lot like yours in the area. C’mon Esto, time to start singin’.
Esto: I can’t sing and I can’t dance. Besides, I was having a crown put in that morning. Can’t a guy see his dentist without his motives being questioned?
Elwood: How about we ask the questions around here. Now listen, Esto. We didn’t want to do this, but you give us no choice. We found a bottle of clear liquid in your car earlier today. Tell us why you bagged all those caches and maybe we’ll forget about this suspicious substance.
Esto: That’s an illegal search and you know it. Besides, it’s just insecticide. I hope no one got it on their skin.
TBone: We’ll stay all night if we have to, Esto. Elwood, here, has a lie detector he’s dying to try out. How about we hook you up to it? If you tell the truth you walk.
Esto: That’s it! I’ve had enough of you guys. I want my lawyer. His name is Richard Nixon, like the president. This party is over and that is my final answer.
[Esto is led away]
TBone: I hate it when they lawyer up. It takes all the fun out of interrogating. Regardless, we had him squirming in the hot seat and sure enough, Esto spilled his guts.
Elwood: Yes he did. In fact, every answer he gave contains a clue.
TBone: Then we can inform Groundspeak that our work is done here. Time to strike a pose.
Just the facts:
N 41 vw.xyz W 07a bc.def
v --> -5
w --> +2
x --> -4
y --> +1
z --> -9
a --> -2
b --> -1
c
d --> -11
e --> -1
f --> +5
When you have figured it out, send the coordinates to vandalrmc@comcast.net. I will tell you if you are wrong so you can keep trying.
