Adamson Did 75 Turns

(Background) comments about this cache:

• I came up with the idea to this geocache more than a year ago and originally wanted to have it published at the occasion of having been into geocaching for ten years. However, somehow I never got to hide a container.

• I'm currently a bit tired of mystery caches myself, but nevertheless decided to finish this cache project which has an inherent mystery character and hence decided to finally hide a container. My next cache will be a multi cache however that invites for a hike.

• This cache involves a homework part and then will require you to visit three intermediary locations and the final which are spread over Graz. There is no nice hiking route that connects the locations to be visited. The recommended means of transportation is a bicycle if you wish to visit all locations and the cache within the same day and have some exercise at the same time.

• Please visit the stages of this cache only during day times and strictly refrain from visits when it is dark! (If this rule will not be respected, I will archive the cache right away.)

• Please behave at the intermediary stages (Locations 1, 2 and 3) as normal visitors (which are welcome at all locations) and do not attract any attention to the fact that the intermediary stages play a role in a geocache. Note that no GPS-receiver is needed to locate the intermediary stages. Bringing along a camera might always be a good idea.

• The cache is hidden at a green spot (and not in an urban hideout), but the location is not directly connected to the topic of this cache. The locations will be known to those who know Graz reasonably well, but hopefully most of you will learn or discover at least something which has not been known to them before. In any case do not expect too much. Some part of the value of this cache for myself is a personal one.

• Be warned: While I tried to formulate the questions precisely, this cache will probably not appeal to the engineering type of people. At some points imagination and associative thinking are required. Feel free to contact me to have your answers checked. I'm not a fan of automatic checkers and prefer cachers who are courageous enough to send out answers that might be wrong.

• Please do your best to avoid spoilers in your logs. This cache is very sensitive against spoilers and spoilers can happen quite easily - so read your log again before posting it. You are very welcome to send me more detailed feedback and comments by e-mail.

• Last but not least, there has been no betatest. If you do not appreciate visiting early stage caches, then do not rush off before others have found the cache.

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(I) Homework part

The homework part is split up into the following steps/tasks.

Step 1 (Magic secret)

Last year when I had the idea for this cache the following thoughts came up my mind:

Looking backward - thinking about the good and the bad things in the past. Ten years ago I started with geocaching. What did you do back then? When I think about geocaching in the early times, I am a bit nostalgic while newer cachers tell me that the times are changing and that I need to adapt to the changed circumstances.

Your first task is to solve the level 1 puzzle. That will provide you with a very important helper throughout the remaining part of this cache. Let us refer to this helper as MAGICSECRET.
This helper is central for this cache and will guide you through the next steps.

Step 2 (The key persons)

MAGICSECRET should lead you to two (real-world) persons that are playing the key roles. Let us refer to them as P1 (the older one) and P2 (the younger one).

• Variable a: Let a be the total number of letters of those parts of the name of person P1 which are typically used in the public.
  

Step 3 (The ciphertext alphabet)

In some later steps a simple one to one monoalphabetic substitution needs to be applied whenever some strange words that apparently stem from a weird language show up. Take the standard 26 letters alphabet ABC....Z as plaintext alphabet. To obtain the underlying ciphertext alphabet proceed as follows:

• (3a) Write down the full original names (first names precede the last name) of P1 and P2 one after the other (in this order) without blanks and then start from the beginning of the string and delete multiple occurences of letters. Let the resulting string of letters be called S1.

• (3b) Now write down the string consisting of all letters of the alphabet with 26 letters that do not appear in S1 such that it has the property that the occuring letters are ordered in reverse order. Let us call this string S2. (For example, if BGQTZ are the missing letters, S2 would be ZTQGB.)

• (3c) Now glue together S2 and S1 (in this order, i.e., start with S2 and then append S1). This will lead you to a string S3 which consists each of the 26 letters of the alphabet exactly once. S3 provides you with the substitution/ciphertext alphabet.

Step 4 (Location 1)

Apart from leading you to two persons MAGICSECRET should provide you with two mighty helpers H1 and H2 that will help you to obtain Locations 1 and 2. For the sake of uniqueness let us assume that the numbering of the locations conforms with the alphabetic ordering (with respect to the results from MAGICSECRET).

Your next task is to find the location in Graz that came up my mind when thinking about helper H1 and person P1. Take the following hints into account to find out which location I have in mind.

• (4a) The connection is not a literal one though H1 plays a role in the name of the location. A little bit of abstract thinking might help.

• (4b) While P1 has been in Graz, P1 has not visited Location 1. What can be experienced at Location 1, is something which is at least partly familiar to P1 and is highly appreciated by P1 (Attention: The connection is not the one which might be the most obvious one to some).

• (4c) In case of doubt check whether the number a is in some connection to the location you have in mind. If this is not the case, you have the wrong location in mind.

Step 5 (Location 2)

Your task now is to find the location in Graz that came to my mind when thinking about helper H2. Take the following hints into account to find out which location I have in mind.

• (5a) The inofficial name of an object (let us call it O) you can find at Location 2 has a root word in common with H2.

• (5b) Object O has been subject of controversial debates.

• (5c) Location 2 fits well to the life of person P1 for certain reasons.

Now you are ready to obtain the next variable.

• Variable b: Sum up the positional numbers of all letters (i.e. A=1, B=2 etc) in the official name of the object O and refer to the result as b.

Step 6 (Location 3)

Again MAGICSECRET will help you on your way to identify Location 3, but this time the process runs a little bit differently than in Steps 4 and 5. Proceed as follows:

• (6a) The first hint is EIAHYNCN.

• (6b) The second hint is MAGICSECRET(28,2).

Step 7 (The magic animal)

MAGICSECRET should lead you to an animal. Your task is to obtain the scientific name of this animal.

• Variable c: Sum up the positional numbers of all letters (i.e. A=1, B=2 etc) in the second part of the scientific name of the animal above and refer to the result as c.

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(II) Fieldwork

Attention (Order of stage visits)

In principle, you can visit Locations 1, 2 and 3 in arbitrary order, but some orders might be less practical. I'd like to help you a bit with choosing the appropriate order, so take the following into account:

• If you think that BZN fits better than ACCN to this cache, then visit Location 3 as last one. Otherwise visit Location 1 as last one.

Step 8 (Visit to Location 1)

Visit Location 1. I recommend to go there on foot or by bicycle. If you happen to come by car, please do not park directly at the location. You could park after having passed the location at the left side of the road (seen from the direction of the city centre) close to a bench.

Please avoid attracting attention to geocaching and behave like a tourist.

• Variable d: d is obtained as sum of the two house numbers which are attached to an object you will pass on your way to Location 1 shortly before arriving there.

Now go to the object that dominates the area to obtain the further variables that are associated with this stage.

• Variable e: e is obtained by adding one to the total number of little squares on the front side of the object (ignore the other sides). (Can you explain this number?)

• Variable f: f is the number that you will find on the sign informing about the object that directly precedes the word that will remind you of helper H1. (Nearby also a date in the last century is mentioned.)

Step 9 (Visit to Location 2)

Visit Location 2. Once again I recommend to go there on foot or by bicycle. I do not care in this case where you park if you happen to come by car provided that your parking location is legal.

• Variable g: the number of zhsgpke ezxub.

• Variable h: h is the four digit number mentioned on the sign which tells you where you are.

• Variable j: Have a closer look at the area roughly in the South of the key object O (compare Step 5). You will notice a rather large natural object with a sign placed nearby and if you look around you will notice a second object of the same type and another sign.
  If you happen to think that byv better fits to MAGICSECRET than qznni, then select the object among the two that better fits to this term. Otherwise, take the other object.
  
  Let j be the number of letters of the German name of your object of choice.

Step 10 (Visit to Location 3)

Visit Location 3. Once again I recommend to go there on foot or by bicycle. I do not care in this case where you park if you happen to come by car provided that your parking location is legal.

Please avoid attracting attention to geocaching and behave like a tourist.

Watch out for the sign very close to Location 3.

• Variable k: Add up all year dates on the sign which you find very close to Location 3 and call this sum k'. Then set
  k := k' mod 1000

• Variable n: When you take the lane that leads directly from Location 3 into the direction of Location 2, you will pass a sign on which a region of the world is mentioned to which person P1 has a close connection.
  Let n be the number of letters of the full name of the region (take the German version).

Step 11 (The Final)

Now you are ready to compute the coordinates of the final. Calculate

• x := 2*f + h + a*b + k + (j-n)*c - g - 6

• y := f*(j+2) + d*e - h - 5*k + g*a - 21

Now go and find the cache at

N 47° x/1000' E 015° y/1000'

The cache is a small lock and lock container and intentionally only contains a log book and no trading items to leave room for trackables.

Step 12 (optional, not required for the cache)

I intentionally decided to leave this bonus question out of the cache as it might have been annoying to some cachers with no special background knowledge. For the ambitious ones I decided to pose the question below and those who send me the correct answer will receive extra credit (which is nothing worth on gc.com and you also will not be provided by me with any sort of badge or things the like and would need to do that on your own if it plays any role for you).

• Start at Location 2 and go about e*(e-10) + 2*(e-10) meter into direction d - e/2 degrees. You will arrive at a public building. Your task is to find out the name of person P3 which fits to the following hints:
• (12a): The profession of P3 fits perfectly to the building.
• (12b): P3 has the same initials as P1.
• (12c): P1 highly appreciates the work of P3.