Who could turn the world on with her smile? - 1/31/17

Today's puzzle takes us to Minnesota, where she will always be remembered.  M is for Mary and:

M is for Minneapolis

If you're in the neighborhood, don't miss the virtual cache:  

Who can turn the world on with her smile?

Tomorrow we'll be in Utah.

Golden - 1/30/17

Today we head back to Canada's Alberta province for another puzzle that found its way to me recently.  Once you figure out the theme you'll be:

Golden

Tomorrow we'll ...

You Never Know ... - 1/29/17

Today's puzzle takes us back to Canada's Alberta province.  What's the most interesting thing you've found while geocaching?  While I did find a Swedish passport during a CITO once, the most interesting thing I've seen while caching is probably this:

That's one of the fun things about caching:

You Never Know What You Might Find

Tomorrow we'll be in Alberta for another day.

P.S.  Happy National Puzzle Day!  :)

Smoke and Mirrors - 1/28/17

Today's Arizona puzzle employs a bit of:

Domino Theory: Smoke & Mirrors

Tomorrow we'll ...

Babel - 1/27/17

Today's puzzle from Canada's Alberta province is one that was sent along to me last weekend, and I think it's a great one to share with you.  See what you can make out of all this:

Babel

Tomorrow we'll ...

Begging for it - 1/26/17

Today's puzzle takes us to California.  I recently had conversations with a couple of cachers whose google searches while puzzling accidentally took them into the seamier side of the internet.  They found themselves wanting to wash their brains out with soap and scrub their eyeballs.  Today's puzzle shouldn't get you in any such trouble, even though the title is:

Begging for it

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Another Great Detective - 1/25/17

Today finds us back in Nebraska with another great female detective:

Great Detectives: Kinsey Milhone

Tomorrow we'll be in California.

A Great Detective - 1/24/17

It will come as no surprise to long-time readers that I enjoy a good mystery in book form as well as in a geocaching puzzle.  My first experience with mysteries was the Nancy Drew books, and when I started caching I felt just like her.  Just look at some of the titles ... for example "The Message in the Hollow Oak" and "The Clue in the Crossword Cipher."  I got a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas that took me on quite a trip down memory lane remembering all of those books.

Today's Nebraska puzzle is one from a series that looks like a lot of fun:

Great Detectives: Nancy Drew

Tomorrow we'll visit another in the series.

Clip Joint - 1/23/17

I'm posting today's California puzzle as an excuse to mention the recent publication of book #7 in the CO's Cliff Knowles mystery series, entitled A Will to Die.  I haven't read it yet, but am looking forward to it as soon as I can get over the fact that the cover gives me the willies (I know ... "don't judge a book" and all that.)

I like the way this cache's contents coordinate with the title, and the CO's description of the business at the posted coordinates had me chuckling. On the subject of haircuts, I should point out that if you ever make it to Ithaca, unless you're a dog you don't want to get your hair cut at the:

Clip Joint

T
Tomorrow, a visit to Nebraska and another great detective.

It's not just a river in Egypt - 1/22/17

Today's puzzle marks the first time I've featured a puzzle in Egypt. Take a look and you might learn something interesting about:

#FC8 - The Nile

Tomorrow we'll be in California.

A Sexic Equation - 1/21/17

Not a sexist equation, nor a sexy equation (does such a thing exist?) but a "sexic" equation takes center stage in today's puzzle from England entitled:

The fundamental theorem of algebra

Tomorrow we'll ...

All Eyes on D.C. - 1/20/17

It's a big day today in Washington, D.C., so I figured we could mark the occasion by paying a visit to a puzzle cache there.  A virtual visit might be best kind right now ... from reading some cache pages it sounds like at least a few caches have been removed and disabled in advance of the weekend's activities.  I expect that this puzzle will be familiar to many (if not most) of you, but it's one that is fun to repeat.  I was amused by one of the logs that referenced my own version. While everyone else is focusing on the inauguration:


Congressional Aide Stickman is looking for a cache

Tomorrow we'll ...

Cachers Love These - 1/19/17

Today's puzzle takes us to Hong Kong.  They're not the easiest things to hide, but there's nothing like finding a really nice big cache:

Check out those containers!

Tomorrow we'll head to Washington, D.C.

It's 20/20 ... 1/18/17

Today's Australian puzzle provides a fun word-related challenge.  Getting started could prove a little tricky, but when you've gotten it completed you'll see that it's:

Obvious in hindsight

Tomorrow we'll be in Hong Kong.

Seeing red? - 1/17/17

Today's Texas puzzle was sent to me recently.  From the number of  wrong answers on the geochecker, I'd say it's had a lot of people seeing:

RED

Tomorrow we'll be in Australia.

"I have a ..." - 1/16/17

I chose today's Luxembourg puzzle in commemoration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.  Although it's a U.S. holiday, all around the world people know about the man who said:

"I have a ..."

*Special note:  I'm pretty sure that one piece of information (which does not affect the solution) is incorrect, or at least out of date.

??? - 1/15/17

Today we return to Utah for:

N 40° ?? ??? W 111° ?? ???

Tomorrow we'll be in Luxembourg

12 Ducks - 1/14/17

I've been going back and looking for more puzzles by CO's whose work I remember enjoying in the past.   Today we travel to Utah for:

solvethepuzzlefindthecache 12 DUCKS

Tomorrow, another puzzle from this CO.

When in Rome ... 1/13/17

Today's Ohio puzzle was another one that landed in my inbox for testing over the holidays.  As tricky as it was for me to solve, I expect it was even trickier to set up. Perhaps I'll have a chance to find it some day:

When In Rome .... 

Tomorrow we'll ...

Testing ... 1/12/17

Today's California puzzle is one that I tested over the holidays.  I enjoy the testing process, which can vary quite a bit from puzzle to puzzle.  Sometimes I just provide verification that the puzzle works the way the CO thinks it does and there are no mistakes or ambiguities.  Other times the process is more involved and the puzzle's final form looks quite different than it did to start with.   Today's puzzle came to me in just the form you see it here, although it was un-named at the time.  I had to grin when I saw that the CO ended up naming it the:

Best.Puzzle.Ever

Tomorrow, another puzzle I tested recently.

License Plate Game - 1/11/17

Today's California puzzle has been around for quite a while, but I hadn't come across it until I started looking for a puzzle with a license plate theme.  I recently special-ordered a license-plate t-shirt for my brother-in-law who has a personalized license plate, thinking it would be fun for him to have a t-shirt to match.   I don't actually have a geocaching license plate (I've seen them in the parking lot at geo-events and thought they were quite fun) but decided to get myself a shirt as well.

Hope you'll enjoy playing the:

EBGCC - License Plate Game

Tomorrow we'll ...

One Space or Two? - 1/10/17

Today's puzzle takes us to the Czech Republic.  I was reading recently that I'm apparently showing my age every time I type a sentence.  See, I just did it again.  "Back in the day" I was taught to always put two spaces after the period at the end of a sentence.  And I always do it.  Always.  Even when I'm texting.  Apparently in many circles this style of typing is considered hopelessly out of step.  I guess it's all relative ... I remember thinking it was pretty funny when my I noticed my Dad always typed a lower case "L" instead of a number "1" ... turns out the typewriter he learned on didn't have a number 1 key.  I hope you'll forgive me for continuing to use two spaces even if I now know "better."  I guess I have just grown accustomed to the extra:

Bila mista / White spaces

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

  

Stick Em Up! - 1/9/17

Today's New York puzzle is a fun one that was recommended to me recently.  Try your luck with:

Stick Em Up GWIT

Tomorrow we'll be in the Czech Republic.

The Throne and the Crown - 1/8/17

One of the gifts I received for Christmas was an elaborate 3D, multi-level jigsaw puzzle with a Game of Thrones theme.  Usually I end up doing my jigsaw puzzles alone, but fortunately the whole family pitched in on this one, or I don't know when I would have gotten it done.    It has some little pieces representing the more well-known buildings in the land, and a very tiny Iron Throne (doesn't everyone need their very own Iron Throne?)

Working the puzzle inspired me to go back and re-watch the most recent season of the show, and scour the internet for rumors of the next book's publication.  Lots of scuttlebutt that it's going to be soon (I hope so, but I'll believe it when I see it.)  A few days later I found myself binge watching the first season of another series I'm looking forward to continuing, "The Crown."  It got me thinking about some parallels between the stories ... themes of kingdoms and castles, of the dynamics of the ruling families, and of young women in powerful positions being manipulated by their advisers.  Admittedly, the 20th century story doesn't have the violence of the Game of Thrones, but you don't have to go back that far to:

The Crown Conspiracy     

Tomorrow we'll be in New York.

Gone but not forgotten - 1/7/17

A pair of puzzles in honor of two remarkable women who are gone, but will not be forgotten:

From Canada's Saskatchewan province:

Princess Leia - The Kessel run

and from South Dakota:

Musical Madness Puzzle - Singing in the Rain

Tomorrow we'll be in California.

Epiphany - 1/6/17

Solving today's Massachusetts puzzle might require an:

Epiphany - Dogma Bums

Tomorrow we'll ...

An excellent gift - 1/5/17

Today's puzzle takes us to Tennessee, quite close to my old hometown.  I received an excellent gift from my daughter for Christmas:  a "Tile" locator tag.  It's a very smart little gadget that can help me locate either my phone or my keys.  Since I happen to lose track of both objects on a pretty regular basis (but generally only one at a time), she knew it would be perfect for me.  Not only would I not waste time looking for things but no one else would have to hear me complaining:

Where are my Car Keys?

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Wordplay - 1/4/17

You may remember back before Christmas I mentioned that I'd seen a super puzzle magazine insert in the New York Times.  You can read more about the story behind it here.  Those who solved the hidden puzzle within the "Supermega" crossword puzzle were invited to submit their answers and from the correct submissions winners would be chosen at random receiving either a print-edition of the newspaper or a book of  NYT crossword puzzles.  The winners' names will be posted today, so I thought it might be a fine day to feature a puzzle involving a little:

Cruciverbalism

Tomorrow we'll ...

A Happy Snowman - 1/3/17

Today's puzzle takes us to Michigan.  Over the holidays I received a stack of nice hand-drawn cards from my niece and nephews, one of whom chose a geocaching theme for the card:

The speech bubble reads, "It's around here somewhere ..."  and I'm betting his next words were: When I find that cache:

I'll be a -- Happy Snowman!

Tomorrow we'll be in New York.

Out with the Old, In with the New - 1/2/17

It's hard to believe that another new year has arrived.  I came down with a bad cold over the last few days, so the highlight of my New Year's activities was managing to get a new cache published, which I'll share with you today.  I look forward in 2017 to continuing to share fun and interesting puzzles from around the world, and to my regular communications with so many of you.  I believe that my 2016 Puzzle of the Day bookmark is now complete (if anyone spots one that I missed bookmarking, please let me know, and I'll take care of it), so we turn the page to a brand new year.

Out with the Old, In with the New! 

Tomorrow we'll ..

Happy New Year! - 1/1/17

Today we travel to Michigan, where I located something just perfect to wish you a:

Happy New Year!

Tomorrow we'll ...