Remember Dingbats? There was a time when every red top newspaper published 3 or 4 of them daily.
An arrangement of letters or symbols appeared in a box representing a saying or a word - often the solution was cryptic or required a little lateral thinking. As an example the box may contain the words MAIL MALE, the solution being POSTMAN.
Now solve these to find the coordinates for this cache - all but two have one word answers.
Now work out the values to insert into the formula below using the following procedure. Say the formula requires you to insert a value D3, then you need to enter the value of the 3rd letter of the answer to Dingbat D (where A=1, B=2 etc). If the example above was actually Dingbat D with the solution POSTMAN, S would be the third letter which is the 19th letter of the alphabet. So D3 = 19.
The last Dingbat (L) is one of those with more than one word as a solution. This is slightly different as the answer should suggest a value to you.
The cache site is best approached from Totteridge Village (A5109) although parking is impossible on this road. Totteridge Green is about 200 yards away from your starting point with parking space at the above coordinates (N51° 37.786 W000° 11.667).
From here you need to walk west to the entrance to The Close at N51° 37.826 W000° 11.876. A sign indicates it is a private road bristling with security measures. In fact it gives access within a few yards to a public footpath via a side gate for pedestrians, but you cannot park here so please respect the residents (not least because I am a friend of one of them). The footpath leads to a Nature Reserve and the cache can be found on the way at:
N51°37.(B5-E8)(I7-K3)(D6+F5) W000° 11.(L-A2)(G1-H4)(J1XC4)
London Borough of Barnet have kindly given permission for a cache placement in the Reserve although this is just outside of it. I highly recommend continuing down the path a short distance if you enjoy unspoilt countryside.
You can check your solution here:
