Greater Than Sudoku (Auckland) Whenuapai, North Island, New Zealand
By kiwicouple on 09-Mar-11. Waypoint GC2PY0W

Spent a very long time looking at the wrong spot but eventually thought about expanding my search area and here it was. I love the sudoku, i have another special one of yours to solve but havent yet figured out how to do it. TFTC

Fun puzzle. Hide, hint juxtaposition.

Luckily I enjoy sudoku...but this was way harder than the usual !
Good to have it solved and signed the log today as in the area.
Close to home,!
Thanks KC

Up in Auckland for the mega with Philip.Perry and McJandals. Left home at 0300 over the hill to Tauranga to pick up the others in Auckland by 6am. Only plans today are to attend Mega sign log there then follow the map to get as many caches as possible. Signed logs TeamBOP.

FINALLY we get to attend the MEGA. Attending as part of Team BoP. We have a load of solved puzzles and whilst we are concentrating on those, won’t pass up on trads either. This is day two of our great weekend.
Nice to finally sign off on this one
I am logging using the Cachly app template so please excuse generic logging along the way. It’s just my way of keeping track, but I do genuinely thank each and every one of you cache owners for taking the time and energy to place these caches. Many Thanks for bringing me here. Cheers.

Team BOP is back on the road this time heading to Auckland with our sights set on some Labs, puzzle solves and the NZ Mega 2020… I mean 2022

Our current incarnation includes Davidson Clan, McJandals and myself and we’ve signed the cache logs as ‘Team BOP’ to save time and log space. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the journey as most caches have been found quickly & without fuss thanks to accurate coords and a straight forward placements.

I appreciate there’s a stigma attached to cut’n’paste logs like these so I’ll try to provide cache specific notes retrospectively when I get home. We do genuinely respect the work put into these caches, particularly some of the puzzles, but with a numbers mission like this - the hides start to blur together unfortunately. So Cheers COs, TFTC and most importantly - thanks for bringing us here

As I am not a numbers person I was pleased to have some help on this solve.
( I am keen on word games.....)
However a friend's daughter is brilliant at these and made a quick solve .
Was in the area doing cache maintenance and thought it was about time to sign the final!
I had thouggt about where the hide might be and I was right!
Very cool....

When I lived in China I had a sudoku app on my phone (an iPhone 1 I got in early 2008 I'll have you know - talk about an early adopter) which I would use to while away the time while on public transport but I have never seen one of these before. Finally after a few goes I was able to solve this one today.

Out for a drive to take the hound somewhere nice for a walk and do some cache maintenance on a missing cache and took a detour here to strike while the iron is hot. We looked in one spot for a while, found nothing, switched, missed it, switched again and then came back and spotted the tiny cache. All good here and thanks for replacing this one.

# 1837 Preetty ironic that this was part of the Marathon of Mysteries Challenge, whatever that is, because it sure was a marathon. I enjoy a sudoku, but this was a type that I had never encountered before. Took me probably four real iterations to get it right, and over the course probably of a bout three days. I tried a few different processes to get the answer, but actually the most logical made the most sense. My second to last attempt saw me get to the third or fourth last number to realise i had made a mistake, but with all the previous practice, i knocked off the final iteration in less than an hour. Its easy once you know how...

Pretty happy to have knocked this one off, and got a real sense of achievement with all the effort put in. Turns out Jimmynz had solved this many years ago and i was even in the car when he signed it. Happy to have solved it myself. Thanks kiwicouple for this great puzzle type and replacing this missing cache. Fav from me.

Put a new cache in place this afternoon.

Thanks to the CO for allowing me to log this one after visiting GZ with my grandson who was most disappointed with a DNF. Photo provided to prove final location visited. A great puzzle that was fun to complete. Thanks so much kiwicouple.

This geocacher reported that the cache might be missing.

Had fun solving but cache is missing.

Will check it out when we get home next week.

This took awhile to solve, with many versions started and left unfinished. I received a helpful hint on how to approach this. Finally had a chance to really sit down and finish this puzzle after all my exams were over. Happened to be passing by, so stopped by and made a quick find. Thanks for the challenge.

Today was a cold, wet blustery day. I had to drop my son off at the airport so I did some caching around that area in between showers. I did get soaked but nothing a change of clothes can't fix. Headed home out the back way especially to collect this cache. I really liked learning how to do a new type of puzzle. The last few times I've been down it was MIA so thanks for replacing it. I do love collectinging puzzle solves, TFTC

Managed to solve this over a year ago. A nice twist to the standard Sudoku. Today I was on a mission to find some of my solves and this was one. Knew exactly where to look when I got to GZ and I was not disappointed. Also very glad of the recent replacement - my GPSr hasn't been updated all that recently and I completely missed that the cache needed the replacement. Signed a blank log. Thanks kiwicouple! Needs an FP from us (not that GAR had anything to do with the solve or the find for this cache).

The cache has been replaced in the same spot

Good to go. The cache has been replaced.

A previous finder has confirmed the the cache is missing. We will replace next week when we are back home.

I like a challenge and this certainly was a doozey. I don't know how many times I had to restart but I was overjoyed to finally get it out and a tick on the geochecker. I am down from the far north for a few days and collecting my solved puzzle caches.This gz was very appropriate but I couldn't spot a cache anywhere as per the geochecker hint. I'll keep an eye out to see what's happening with it. Thanks for a great brain workout

Mystère décodée dans le cadre du Challenge:International Man of Mystery, Québec.

Goodness gracious, this made my head hurt trying solve. Just when I'd started getting the hang of KenKen Sudoku, you guys go find another even harder variant of Sudoku to try. However after a bit of reading I saw what the hint ment so printed out a nice big copy and sat down with a pencil to have a go at solving. Once this printout copy became to worn to read the pencil scribbles, I reverted to pen, before printing out another copy and starting over from scratch. Just as I thought I was making good progress, arggghh a double up on my fourth digit, noooo !!. Do I try and shuffle the last couple of recent numbers around (yes), did it work (no), back to the printer for another copy...
This proved to be useful, albeit a little time consuming, because I soon reached the earlier point where I had gone wrong the first time around, while comparing my different working printouts.
Certainly an interesting Sudoku puzzle, and very unforgiving for minor silly mistakes that end up leading to a dead end, but really rewarding once it begins to fall into place. Finally with a completed grid I finished the calculations and achieved a green tick on my first attempt at geocheck.
Finding time this afternoon, I was keen to get out and complete the formalities on this great puzzle.
Had to laugh at the GZ, nice play on the theme, and quick find of the cache here today.
Thanks for the fun puzzle and introducing me to this different type of Sudoku, TFTC.

It is the first time I have looked at this type of puzzle this week; I have do a few Sudoku before now and not that taken with them but this one is much more challenging and enjoyed a lot more. I started by trying to figure it out myself and did get a reasonable start but quickly ran into problems. Did a little more reading and then worked through a little more methodically to final make the solve.
Really loved the final location, was expecting it to be something else that was greater than; but this worked out much better. FP for an excellent puzzle; will look for more to do. TFTC.

Wow! That took Greater Than the amount of effort I usually put into a cache.
Chelle solved it much quicker so I HAD to persist. 3 copies of the puzzle later I had it figured out. But ho! I had Greater Than the allowable number of 4 in one section. Greater Than frustration level!
Luckily I had Chelle to tell me if I was correct as I worked through the iterations until ... Greater Than average sense of relief and Greater Than average sense of satisfaction.
We had a pretty good idea of where it might be hidden from the hint on GeoCheck and the find was easy.
Greater Than happy!
We live in South Australia and over for some touring, some relatives visiting (I was born in Nelson), and of course watching a rugby match. (Lions vs Hurricanes on 27th).
TFTC kiwicouple )
10:56 am - Find #2523

My second visit to NZ from South Australia; this time to explore Auckland, some of the North Island, and to visit Apty's family in Upper Hutt.

I absolutely loved this puzzle!

Apty gave me a copy on paper months ago when he was first planning to come over here. I tried to work it out while on the tram out of Adelaide after work one day, and was so engrossed that I missed my stop and had to walk back half a km

Thought about the strategy for quite a while, but didn't really have time to sit and nut it out... until the flight over, and later on that evening. My strategy worked, I didn't have to make any assumptions, and the geochecker worked first shot!

I knew exactly where to look as soon as I read the hint, miles away from GZ

Still, Apty saw the cache first. He was pleased, because he struggled with the puzzle substantially more than I did LOL

TFTC kiwicouple
16/6/17, 10:54 am Find #939

Solved some time ago and finally in the area today to make the find. Found 28 March 2017 16:19 by GH6710 T F T C kiwicouple

#8438, 12:37,
During our holidays in Newzealand we searched some Caches.
First looking at the big » then at the next >
Thanks for placing and maintaining this box
arbor95

Together with arbor95 I am on a holiday tour in New Zealand.

We are two Germans, old friends since a long time. Together we visited a lot of other countries in the past, even before we started geocaching. [^]

For our trip we usually looking for some extraordinary caches.

Therefore we had mostly a lot of fun.

Thank You very much for this geocache, for the challenge and for the maintaining.

Greetings from tripleclaus to kiwicouple.

#1137. Up visiting friends. As I really enjoy sudoku puzzles I focussed on this one to solve. After a quick google I was led to some great instructions on how to go about this variety. Once I had determine the method, solving the puzzle was fairly straight forward (although still took 2 attempts). Came over to visit a friend on base and stopped by to retrieve this cache. A nice quick find here.

Just dipping a TB not re-claiming a find as I didn't leave the airfield.

#163. The puzzle took a couple of attempts to solve but I hit on an approach to solving it that proved useful. Finished it late evening, checked on Geochecker to confirm coordinates, and then I was on my way. Very fitting GZ, considering the puzzle. Signed log. Thanks for the very satisfying challenge. Really enjoyed it.

I love sudoku puzzles and this was certainly the mother of all sudokus. It took a far greater time than I thought it would and half a dozen print outs to get this one right. It also sat in my solved basket for a greater time than I hoped. I loved the simple hide in keeping with the theme. f/p from me

Up in AK playing in a squash tournament this weekend... was hoping for good weather too so I could get out and about in between games but that was too much to ask this weekend.
So a quick early walk up trig road before the rain came was in order.
This puzzle was solved a while back with a little help from a friend.
QEF in between cars. TFTC kiwicouple

After a number of attempts to solve this we left it alone for a few days and then returned to it last night. On attempting it again, we were pleasantly surprised when the solution fell out in front of our eyes. Pleased to resolve this and appreciate the significance of the name of the cache when we got to GZ.

I started as suggested, but then I solved this with a simple, but highly nested PERL script. The final program only took ten seconds to find the solution.
As I approached GZ, I knew what was hiding the cache. I just had to search one other before I got to the right one. TFTC.

Finally! I like Sudoku but this one had me struggling. Every time I thought I had it solved I would discover double ups in numbers and so would have to start back at the beginning. So on a rainy afternoon I tried again, filled in all the squares then did my calculations and nearly fell off my chair when I got the green tick! Yay! Today I took the opportunity of a break in the weather to head out and get the smiley face. Thanks for this very frustrating at times puzzle, fp from me.

Solved it for the Marathon of Mysteries. We never saw this sudoku before. Thanks.

Very good hint, knew exactly where it was on arrival at gz (: so glad to have this ticked off the map, and thank you for all your help kiwicouple. Cheers (:

We decided to head out and grab this cache today after our sourcing much of the solving - I got fairly good at these late last year but the added trickiness is probably a little much for me.
After finding the easy parking it was a short walk to GZ and an easy find in the second place I looked.
T F T C kiwicouple.

Had to get some help solving this one- I can't even do the easy ones. My usual tactic is to put them on the whiteboard in our student office and it's solved via procrastination rather quickly.
Quick find once at GZ by Tommygun9
[ * * * * Thanks for placing the cache * * * * ]

Finally after the 15th try I got the puzzle to work out! first time I ever tried this type.....sure gave this old brain a workout! Solved for the Marathon of Mysteries. Thanks

Back up in Auckland again for work but with a few hours to spare today I decided to go caching out West. I solved this puzzle ages ago and attempted to find it about 10 months ago but the cache was missing then. Back in the area today and the cache was much easier to find when its there. TFTC, Biggles.

Solved it for the marathon of mysteries.

TFTC

Pouring with rain and in need of our daily cache. Puzzle solved months ago but unfortunately cache had gone missing. Glad to see it up and running again. Perfect for our needs today. Nice easy park n grab. We did not get too wet either. TFTPuzzle

#10666. One of the must finds on today's list; good to knock it off. TFTC.

The cache is back in place.

A trip to Hobsonville was planned as neither of us had been to the area before, and there were lots of caches to find too, as well as this cache being reinstated just this morning . It was a bit tricky navigating at times as neither GPSrs had recent enough maps and there were lots of new roads to contend with, but we found 22 caches in all and just one DNF so a good days outing.
This was very high on our list of caches to find as I had solved it yonks ago and was very keen to turn it into a smile. Really enjoyed this version of Sudoku, the first of its type for me. Took some time to nut it out but got there in the end after a few false starts. An apt place for the final and no parking problems here either. And many thanks for replacing. TFTC.
PS, mistakenly signed with tomorrows date, but definitely found on the 5th.

Good to go again.

Solved for Marathon of Mysteries. Thanks for this Sudoku, it was hard calculating.

Solved for Marathon of Mysteries.
Thanks for this very challenging puzzle.
I've never seen this kind of sudoku before.

There has been a change at GZ that has taken the cache. We are getting a new one sorted.

After completing the diabolically difficult Halcombe "Greater than Sudoku", I decided to have a shot at this one, the only other of its kind at present in the North Island. Both puzzles I found to be extremely challenging and ultimately satisfying. It took me several attempts on geochecker to get the correct co-ordinates at Halcombe but with that experience under my belt I only had one false start here and I discovered the mistake early enough to correct it. Consequently, it took just one attempt to get tick number 115 for this cache.
Now that I know where to look, it's just a matter of waiting until the cache is definitely present, and then making the trip down memory lane to an area I passed regularly as a teenager in the 1970s on the way from BHB to grandparent visits at Red Beach and Kaukapakapa.
This will definitely go onto my list of favourites when the log is signed.

Puzzle solved a few weeks back. Took a few attempts but got there in the end.

Found hint objects once at gz but unable to track down the cache.........
Suspect it is no longer around.

Hmm. Managed to solve this one a few days ago and decided to go find it today while I was in the area but didn't have any luck finding the cache.

Finally solved it, hard work ...

Solved for GC4D92J Marathon Of Mysteries

Thanks

Solved it for the Marathon of Mysteries. First time for me to see this kind of Sudoku. With great patience and accuracy I was able to complete all boxes. Thanks for this nice puzzle! Regards from WayBay, Holland.

While I generally enjoy solving Sudoku puzzles, this one was painful and took heaps of attempts before a possible solution appeared. Thankfully the Geochecher agreed with our solution and the cache container was a straight forward find once we arrived at the GZ. Thanks Kiwicouple for the Puzzle nd the hide.

Out to find a few caches today in the West.

Solved this puzzle as part of the Dutch Marathon of Mysteries. Tricky puzzle took several attempts.

Quick easy find with the hint.

#3336

Boy that was not easy but once I had a strategy figured out and after a few mistakes the numbers lined up nicely, and I got the green light. Thanks for making this nice puzzle. I solved it as part of the Marathon of Mysteries, wish I could stop by and search for the actual stash .

Greetings from Holland

Hello,

This sudoku is a part of Marathon of Misteries. I solved it but it was not easy ik took me several hours.

I never had seen a greater than sudoku and hope never to see one again. Ha Ha.

thank you voor making this puzzle.

greetings,

thegerhard1969

Hi Kiwi's,

the Dutch team is 3Beren, and this is the cache http://coord.info/GC4D92J.

Greetings!

Our apologies to the Dutch cachers who contacted us about this cache - we have lost your contact details. We would be very happy for you to use this puzzle.

Loved the minimalistic version of the sudoku puzzle. Cache was tiny but easily found. TFTC & Merry Christmas!

Wow smallest geocache ever, good work

What a marvellous puzzle, got so far then trapped and had to contact some family and friends in the UK who produce crosswords and puzzles (Sudoku) for the press. They had not heard of Greater Than Sudoku ?????? However finally resolved puzzle and subsequently the co-ordinates. A bit disappointed in the actual hide, which was quite easy but it tended (location) to distract from an excellent puzzle and brain-stretcher HOWEVER it deserves a favourite from us!! TFTC

This entry was edited by Rozanz on Wednesday, 07 August 2013 at 21:46:01 UTC.

Out west this afternoon caching in the rain after work finished early. Decided I could fit one last cache in and decided it had to be this one. A very enjoyable solve as I am a big fan of logic puzzles. This was always going to be a favourite for me. Took a couple of passes but soon spotted the elusive hide. Cheers for the puzzle cache!

Dad solved this puzzle when it was first listed - Mum was so proud of him! After GoogleMap-ing the co-ords, we were fairly certain we knew where to look... but like so many other puzzles, this remained solved but not collected... we decided to collect this one today.
We were right - exactly where we thought it would be! 9YO was first to actually locate it - Parents 3, kids 2.

The kids were fascinated with the horses (especially 2YO) - one was hoping we would feed it as we walked past his field... Out of luck as the family each held tight to their afternoon tea of muesli bars!

Got a friend to unlock the answers from the fiendish puzzle, thanks Ahj
At GZ this evening and fairly quick and easy find
TFTC

By far the worst days weather we'd had in a while so a good opportunity to find a good puzzle to solve whilst stuck inside. What a toughy. Nearly gave up early on, but took a break (went out and found some other caches) and came back to it. Realised we were stuck for no reason and powered through. Waiting for the geochecker to turn green was like waiting for exam results. Picked up the cache the next day, tftc and a great puzzle

What a great fun Sudoku!!! I love sudoku's, so once expanding my puzzle solving area, printed this one off, and had it quickly completed before going to sleep one night.
Really enjoyed the twist, and the fact that there were no numbers! I love doing tough sudokus!! And Karukos are awesome too!! Hehe.

So came past today, as I realised that this one would be easy to park next to.
And I had a great laugh with the hint when I got to GZ!! The maths nerd in me had a great time, and what's seen can't be unseen, so I will see that everywhere I go!!

The whole time, GPS was pointing me to the wrong spot, and I was confused, as I saw the cache nowhere!! GRR!! Then I decided to search a bit over eventually, and the cache was then easily spotted right away - cloud/rain cover I blame! Haha.

TFTC!!

I'm usually pretty good with sudoku's but this one had me stumped for a wee bit, not use to the twist. In the end i was just methodical and worked it out. Didn't matter it was late into the night, Greenslime and i ninja'd out to the actual location to find it. TFTC and the headache!

Great fun solving this cache and a cleaver place to hide. TFTC

Made an Auckland Expidition with Nova Lightining to collect the cycle trail and over at Kauri Point, 32nd of 60 for the day, Left home at 5.50am, finally made it back home at 7pm, what a great day.
Nice little puzzle, took a bit to solve, TFTC

Having not been much of a sudoku fan until recently, this puzzle really tested my sudoku solving abilities! It took awhile but i got there in the end. Out with stretch.kerr yesterday and stopped in here after doing the Puppy Powertrail. We made a quick find of the cache at GZ. TFTP&C!

A very taxing puzzle. Went wrong early, and came to a dead end several times. Once I realised my mistake, the rest of the puzzle came together. TFTP&C.

Not much of puzzle solver usually, but thought this one looked doable, so decided to give it a crack. Took a few attempts but got there in the end. Certainly got the brain going. Luckily the find wasn't quite so taxing, and having driven down this road many I time I had a fairly good idea where it would be. Sure enough, after a quick look, we had find in hand. Thanks for a fun puzzle and nice little hide!

Had spent a long time trying to find a means of solving this that didn't involve me having to do it but finally gave in and made the effort to solve the puzzle. Also had mel_ramsay trying to do the same from her end and in the end she beat me to it. Managed to get even at GZ though as I found the sneaky little hide.

Very enjoyable puzzle and a fitting location for the final. TFTC

#1382 @1045
Solved ages ago. After picking up daughter from the Spirit of Adventure we cruised the CBD for a bit, then headed to Helensville for lunch with relatives. Stopped en route to pick up this cache. Easily found. TFTC and the puzzle.

#5332-5411
Found it with portokeil while visiting from France and Portugal
Puzzle was solved in the plane between Guangzhou and Sydney and therefore was the very last mystery solved for this NZ vacation trip.
Nice kind of sudoku renewing the interest for that kind of puzzle!
Thanks to the nice owners that we've met in the same evening at the Event

# 5541 - 5570
Found during the last day our vacation in North Island, on a day dedicated to find and claim the mysteries solved prior our trip to NZ.
It was a great day for caching in Auckland and around.
No problem knowing what to do with this puzzle but it was Starless who actually do it right - I was sleeping when he did it.
Thanks to the nice owners for this interesting mystery.
TFTC

Finally! Don't know how I missed it, maybe the cunning spider's web but its now found. a great finish to a rainy caching day. T4tc

Having solved this great puzzle a while ago it was time to sign off the log. The name of the cache and the hint for the cache might be "Greater Than" but the cache container is certainly of the "Less Than" variety.

Enjoyed the puzzle ,took longer as i was doing the puzzle while watching TV and lost concentration. Got there in the end , no worries finding cache , TFTC

I worked out the puzzle and it's correct but the co-ordinates aren't correct apparently

The puzzle took two attempts but we got there in the end! TFTC.

Solved! I really enjoyed working out how to solve this new to me type of Sudoku. Now to get to find it. Thanks very much kiwicouple

Nice puzzle.

TNLNSL

T4TC

I got the suduku expert of the family on to this. NOT me!! Thanks.

Deciding that Ryan needed a break from Physics and Maths homework and out need was Greater Than his study we set him to work on the puzzle. Solved in Less Than 1/2 hour and first chance we had to swing by and add a smiley to our list. This is our #2300 milestone and really wanted a Kiwicouple puzzle to mark it and this certainly fitted the bill. Thanks for all your caches that have helped us towards this mark.

6551 There’s nothing Greater than a blank Sudoku... a really cool puzzle that didn’t take too long to sort out. Found after rounding up a few missing puppies, TFTC.

Had to do something on the flight back from Christchurch.

TFTC

Published

Hadn't done this type of sudoku before. Thanks for the puzzle. FTF, TFTC