A Healthy Diet of Brain Exercise - 3/31/16

Today's California puzzle advocates for "A puzzle that is simple but still has a healthy diet of brain exercise."  Sounds good to me.  See if you are up to the:

- .- ... -.- 

Tomorrow, a short diversion in honor of April Fools Day.

Letters and Digits - 3/30/16

Today's California puzzle simply requires the proper placement of:

Letters and Digits

Tomorrow, another in California.

Incomplete Crosswords - 3/29/16

There's a lot of fun that can be had with crosswords, and I've been doing more of them lately.  I've shared with you regular crosswords, anacrostics, cryptic crosswords, and clueless crosswords ... today from California we have:

Incomplete Crosswords

Tomorrow, another from turuthok.

Lightpost - 3/28/16

I recently came across a new puzzle by a CO whose work I've featured here before, turuthok.  My enjoyment of that one (which is being featured today) inspired me to go through the list of the CO's other puzzles, and I had a lot of fun with them.  The variety of themes allowed me to choose a whole week's worth for you.  First up ... this one's not just another:

Lightpost

Tomorrow, another from this CO.

Easter Sunday - 3/27/16

It's hard to believe it's Easter already.  Growing up I always enjoyed getting a new outfit, receiving a solid chocolate rabbit (eaten ears first, naturally), coloring and hunting for eggs (always followed by egg salad sandwiches), boisterous hymn singing, delicious ham, and permission once again break out the white shoes.  In honor of the occasion we travel to Canada's province of Quebec for a themed cache (apologies in advance ... the checker link was inoperable when I set up this post:

Barb #03 - Pâques / Easter


*Sorry for the scrambled original post ... not sure how that happened!
Tomorrow we'll kick off a week of California puzzles.

March means ... 3/26/16

Today's puzzle takes us to Massachusetts.  It seems like every year about this time a big percentage of the country succumbs to March Madness.  Since the tournament's final four will be decided this weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to feature a puzzle on the subject.  Basketball probably ranks a distant 4th (maybe even 5th) on my husband's list of favorite sports to watch, and I almost never watch it now, but I had enjoyed attending a lot of games back in high school as part of the pep band, and as a college student I still watched college games now and then.  In March, 1990, one of the locations for the early tournament rounds was Knoxville, TN, and I thought it might be fun for us to go to a game or two as we were passing through following a week of spring break wedding planning in my east Tennessee hometown. (I was on the way back to school in Memphis and he would continue on to St. Louis where he was in grad school).  I don't remember who won the game we attended, but I do remember that one of the teams was LSU, and there was a fellow named Shaquille O'Neal who seemed like he was pretty good.  ;)  Enjoy the:

March Madness

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Geodyssey - 3/25/16

There's a little less than a week left in the official Geodyssey contest I told you about back at the beginning of February.  If you resisted working on the puzzles because there wasn't a cache involved, that has changed since then.  Now you can use your solutions to find this Florida cache:

Geodyssey

Tomorrow we'll ...

I found it again ... - 3/24/16

Today's Massachusetts puzzle is from a series we've visited before, but I keep finding more fun there.  Try your luck with:

Eureka #6: Aka Dr. Black

Tomorrow we'll be in Florida.

So Fuzzy! - 3/23/16

My daughter recently spent a week home for her Spring Break.  She's back at school now, which means we can finally get the dog his much-delayed haircut.  She much prefers his shaggier self, but it means I have a lot of brushing and combing to do to stay on top of all that fur (fortunately, he's not a really big dog).  It's worth it to hear her happily exclaim, "He's so fuzzy!"  I just know she'd like the subjects of today's Oregon puzzle because:

They are so Fuzzy!

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

A Puzzling Attribute - 3/22/16

A little less than two years ago I was working on a California puzzle (not far from the one featured today) and just couldn't get a toe-hold at all.  There was one thing that seemed quite out of place ... an attribute that I wouldn't think twice about seeing around here, but that seemed strangely out of place there.  Perhaps that was part of the puzzle?  After a lot of work I finally solved the puzzle, and in conversing with the CO, asked him what was up with that attribute (which turned out to be completely unrelated to the solution).  I'm not sure he even remembered where it started, but it seems to have been a little inside joke that a lot of folks out there have picked up on.  It even inspired one CO to pen:

An Ode To My Favorite Attribute

Tomorrow we'll be in Oregon.

It's Spring! - 3/21/16

One of my favorite seasons growing up in the south was Spring.  Even though we didn't have very hard winters, it was such a treat to see the annual explosion of color.  Flowers were everywhere ... on the ground, the bushes, and the trees, and despite suffering with allergies, I loved it.  Spring in upstate New York is generally very late, and very short. The season that usually follows winter is "Mud." When playing outside my children always kept wearing their boots and snowpants (a garment I'd never even heard of until I moved here) for at least a few weeks after the snow melted.   This year's winter has been especially mild ... leaving us with the feeling of waiting for a guest who we're sure must be coming, but is very, very late in arriving.  Those who enjoy skiing and snowboarding are quite disappointed, and the rest of us, while not complaining, are left feeling a bit disoriented.  It just feels weird to have gotten through it this easily.  Can winter really be over?  Making that call is a bit dicey.  We've had snow in April before, so I won't be surprised if we still get more, but at least the calendar is saying that it's Spring.  Today's puzzle takes us up to Canada's Ontario province, where they know a thing or two about:

DICEY WORDS FOR SPRING

Tomorrow we'll be in California.

An Easy Puzzle - 3/20/16

I enjoy a hard puzzle as much as the next person, but sometimes you just want one you can solve.  So, today we travel to Nevada for:

An Easy Puzzle

Tomorrow we'll be in Canada.

Python Trivia - 3/19/16

Today's puzzle takes us to Colorado for a multiple choice quiz.  Do you think of

• A) Large snakes that make you shudder,
• B) A computer programming language you've learned about through geocaching puzzles
• C) Something else 

when you read the words:

Python trivia

Tomorrow we'll ...

 

Mosaic - 3/18/16

Solving and constructing a puzzles can be like building a mosaic ... each little piece has to go in just the right spot for the whole thing to turn out properly.  Today's New Jersey puzzle demonstrates this quite nicely:

Geo Boo Gang Series: Olga Caramel

Tomorrow we'll ...

Luck of the Irish - 3/17/16

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Today we travel to North Carolina, where I wish you the Luck(ys) of the Irish with a:

Padraig Paddy Puzzle

Tomorrow we'll ...

Comic Movies - 3/16/16

Recently I was reading about all of the new movies that are going to be coming out based on comic books.  I really don't understand what Batman and Superman have to be fighting about, but I guess that's why you'd have to go see the movie and find out.  Today's West Virginia puzzle is one that landed in my inbox recently, and it involves a:

Killer Comic Movie - Transformers

Tomorrow we'll celebrate St. Patrick's Day in North Carolina.

Par For the Course - 3/15/16

Today's South Carolina puzzle is posted in honor of my Dad's birthday today.  He doesn't get out to play much golf any more, but he keeps up with the exploits of the pros and keeps me well-informed.  His favorite tournaments are ones where they are playing courses he has played himself, and he can give detailed descriptions of rounds he played years and years ago.  Listening to him talk about golf is probably like listening to me talk about puzzles. ;)   Back in college I'm sure I was the only one who turned on the golf broadcasts on Sunday afternoons just to feel like I was back at home.   My friends may have thought I was a little goofy, but that's:

Par for the Course

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Pi Puzzle for Pi Day - 3/14/16

I've been saving today's Texas puzzle up for almost a whole year, knowing I'd need another:

PI PUZZLE FOR PI DAY

Tomorrow we'll ...

Psychic Bingo - 3/13/16

Today's New Jersey puzzle is one I saw had been recommended by a friend of mine, and I had fun figuring it out.  When I was growing up in Tennessee any kind of gambling was strictly forbidden by law, so I've always found things like low stakes Bingo or nickel slot machines a guilty pleasure.  When he was little my son was fascinated with the used Bingo sheets ... all those lovely numbers and the colorful spots from my dauber seemed quite interesting to him.  Have some fun with a little:

Psychic Bingo 

Tomorrow we'll celebrate Pi day in Texas.

Don't Forget To ... - 3/12/16

Today's South Dakota puzzle reminds us that in puzzle caching, as in life, it's always important to:

Read The Fine Print

Tomorrow we'll ...

Along the Wall - 3/11/16

I never have cached in Kentucky, and if I did get there the terrain for this one might be a little more than I'd be up for, but at least if I got close I know the cache is:

Along the Wall

Tomorrow we'll ...

Rebus - 3/10/16

Today's California puzzle is one that I know quite a few of you have already seen, but even if you've gotten the solution I encourage you to play again.  There is so much variety in the possibilities that you're likely to see a different:

Rebus

Tomorrow we'll be in Kentucky.

Get Outside - 3/9/16

It's hard to believe that there are so many different variations on the traditional sudoku puzzle.  I recently came across an intriguing one I'd never seen before ... the "outside" sudoku.  Here's an example in a puzzle from the Netherlands:

Sudoku #03 Outside

Tomorrow we'll be back in California again.

College Excitement - 3/8/16

It's an exciting time of year for all the high school seniors waiting to hear back about which colleges they have been admitted to.  Our son has heard positive responses the two he's heard from so far, and is waiting to hear from the rest.  It was really funny that I was actually working on this California puzzle when we heard the news about the first admission:

Collage Entrench Exam

Tomorrow we'll be in the Netherlands.

Feet Fresh - 3/7/16

At the end of last week a friend and I had a little time to make a puzzle run "downstate" to some territory where we'd never cached before.  We did a mix of park and grabs and hikes and I hadn't done any forest caching like that in a long time.  It was a lot of fun but by the time we were through we weren't exactly:

Feet Fresh 

Tomorrow we'll be in California.

TOTT - 3/6/16

Today's California puzzle is the first in an ongoing series that reminds us that in puzzle solving, as in so many other things, success can be all about having the right tools:

Puzzle Solvers Toolkit #1

Tomorrow we'll ...

The Geekometer - 3/5/16

Today's puzzle takes us all the way to Alaska.  I've mentioned here before that I enjoy following the exploits of the gang on The Big Bang Theory.  The show recently marked its 200th episode with a lot of fanfare, including an appearance by the full cast on Conan O'Brien.  Now, I know that the characters aren't real people ... they're just actors playing roles.  But I was still shocked and more than a bit dismayed that when asked to come up with a bit of Klingon the best any of them could do was "pon farr."  Really?  And no one on the set spoke up? I guess I'm a little farther up the scale than I realized on:

The Geekometer

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Off the Grid - 3/4/16

Today's New York puzzle will have you considering:

Living Off the Grid

Tomorrow we'll head to Alaska.

Past your prime? - 3/3/16

Anyone else out there ever feel like you're past your prime?  My husband and I have both had those moments lately ... the other night we were cleaning up after dinner and he was starting to put away our leftovers in the cabinet with the dishes rather than in the refrigerator. I had to just laugh and say I was glad it wasn't just me that found myself doing things like that.  Today's Nevada puzzle advises us to:

Factor this in if you're past your prime! 

Tomorrow we'll be in New York.

Find the difference - 3/2/16

With the sophisticated techniques for manipulating photographs today, "find the difference" puzzles are appearing in lots of popular outlets.  In keeping with that theme, I'm presenting you with a pair of California puzzles.  Can you:

Find the Difference #1

and

Find the Difference #2

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Scrabble Whiz - 3/1/16

I recently created a puzzle using the game of Scrabble for the finale of a series of puzzle caches.  I had thought that once you figured out the correct placement of the clue words, the rest would be easy, but talking with those who had trouble with it proved me wrong.  A lot of people have the game at home and even got out their boards to work on the puzzle, but a look at the "d'oh" counter reveals that many are more unfamiliar with the rules of scoring than they (or I) had assumed.  How about you? Today's Massachusetts puzzle should settle whether or not you're a:

Scrabble Whiz

Tomorrow we'll be in California.