LJWorld.com weblogs The Zone
Posted
by David Lignell
August 2, 2009 at 3:38 p.m.
Treasure # 7 - FOUND by Donovan & Emma!
Congratulations to Donovan and Emma...who are shown standing in front of the 'V' at Conrad & Viola McGrew Nature Preserve with Oliver's treasure
S3_35423_1_1.JPG
It was a close chase for riches, however.
As Donovan, Emma and their father were leaving the park, they met another group of pirates heading in. Arrg! While disappointed to see the treasure in young Donovan's hands, they were happy that they had made it to the right place.
Here's the story and riddle Donovan and Emma had to solve: Treasure Hunt # 7 - Oliver (The Great)
The answer to the riddle follows below:
CLXXI totale (171 total sidewalk squares counting from the North side of Conrad & Viola McGrew Nature Preserve.)
171_mcgrew.jpg
tre pause (Oliver is Italian, so this is translated as "3 pauses," or walking bridges on the trail that interrupt or pause the total count.)
bridge.jpg
a V (Italian for "at V," which is two tree trunks growing out in a "V" shape.)
at_the_V.jpg
Congratulations again to Donovan and Emma, who are no strangers to solving my treasure hunts!
Apologies to jonas_opines, who suffered a wasp sting during a brave search for the treasure.
Check back next weekend for another hunt, all of you scurvy scallywags!! Yar!
and 3 others
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Comments
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anagram (anonymous) says…
Congratulations Donovan and Emma!! I just returned from a quick trip to McGrew and found THAT *very same* "V" tree with much trampled grass around it (and a golf ball), but obviously no treasure. I tip my hat to you.
jonas_opines (anonymous) says…
Wow, I was way off on my first clue guess. Got the other two sort of right, though.
I was checking the golf courses, which have 18 holes, on the 3rd hole. The factorial of 18 (18+17+16 etc +1) is 171.
Crazy coincidence.
Irish (Leslie Swearingen) says…
I got the 171, but come on Dave, 171 cement blocks in a sidewalk!
Did Donovan or Emma count them? How did they guess that?
I thought the V was five.
Oh well. Congrats to Donovan and Emma for just being smarter than me.
And to Jonas also who was this close. I have to say I am impressed.
I don't think any adult has won this.
dpodre (Dena Podrebarac) says…
My scallywags and I were the other pirates who were hot on the trail. If only I hadn't taken the time to feed my crew their hard tack before we set off on our adventure, the treasure would have been ours! I considered rousting the winning pirates for the treasure. There were four of us and only three of them, but I decided to stick to the pirate code of honor.
Adeas (anonymous) says…
Don't feel bad Jonas. I spent some time Saturday morning looking for a V at the intersection of Lawrence & Princeton, which happens to be a three-way stop next to the 18 hole golf course at the Lawrence Country Club. The only treasure I found there was a couple of $1 CDs at a nearby garage sale...
liggyon (David Lignell) says…
Avast!
Stop ye whining ye land lubbers, lest you keep company with the bilge rats. Grab a chair and listen…smartly. ARRGG!
This week’s raid was an anomaly of individual greed:
- Cap’n Morgan jumped ship, spending her hoard of previous hunts
- Pirate beerdriningfool was blinded on rum…again
- Anagram threw up a Jolly Roger, but found no game to rumble with
- Scallywag Jonas wandered into a patch of wasps, and paid dearly for it
- Adeas played in traffic
- Depodre nearly stole the treasure from the victors, but took the pirate’s code of honor
- Irish is miffed that 171 is as plain as cement
So stay clear of the black spot until next weekend. Take a well-earned caulk for now. Yar!
RoeDapple (anonymous) says…
Depodre?
;-)
RoeDapple (anonymous) says…
jonas, the last wasp sting I had was in early '80's. I immediately put my finger tip in the mower's gas tank and touched the moistened tip of my finger to the sting. No swelling and stopped hurting almost as quickly. My theory is the gas evaporates so quickly it draws the (poison/venom?) out with it.
When wasps get in the house I allow them to crawl on the pointer finger of one hand then walk to the door and let them out. Never been stung doing this.
(Note to anyone reading this!!!! I AM a professional!!! (Mrs Roe says “professional BSer”) Do NOT attempt these procedures at home!!! Always have adult supervision present when behaving…………………. stupidly!!!!! Or at least someone who can operate a fire extinguisher!!!!!)
RoeDapple (anonymous) says…
Heck (I mean McGrew), I wasn't even close............
Rushfan (anonymous) says…
Congrats to Donovan and Emma! Cap'n Morgann was off pillaging other coastlines and had no hints on this one at all. Maybe someone could enlighten us as to how you knew which park to go to to count the 171?
- Cap'n Morgann's Dad
anagram (anonymous) says…
The extra clue translated to "A path created in 1986." McGrew Nature Preserve was established in 1986:
http://lawrenceks.org/lprd/parks/mcgrew
I have no idea how the park could have been identified before the extra clue.
Adeas (anonymous) says…
I might have been playing in traffic on Saturday, but we found treasure on Sunday!
I didn't see the additional clue at the top until after we had found the treasure. It was Dave's 11:24 AM comment "More like 3 interruptions along a total of CLXXI" that pointed me in the right direction. My first thought was 171 steps split into four sections, but I couldn't think of any park with that many steps. (If there is one, I'm glad I didn't know about it...)
What helped me at that point was my knowledge of past hunts. It's not the first time he had us counting. In fact, it was hunt #7 at the end of July last year that involved multiple bridges ('a span ere another') and counting sidewalk sections ('hopscotch three abaft'). It was even in the same park! Last year I ended up on the hopscotch courts at Quail Run Elementary, but this year I had my junior pirates along and we held a true course.
anagram (anonymous) says…
Ah, I see. I need to reread last year's hunts!
dpodre (Dena Podrebarac) says…
I, too, spent some time on the hopscotch squares at Quail Run last summer.
This week's treasure had me hunting for the signifcance of 171 in a park on the "lower east side," where Oliver grew up. Prairie Park is 72 acres, so I was convinced I was reading the Roman numerals wrong. I didn't get the McGrew trail until the hint in Italian.