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[danteIL]

First of all, just updating my book-tour clue list. Thanks to the solvers of the rail fence clue, and thanks to JustMorse for reporting the most recent clue.

[catherwood]

The Clock Without a Face "timewaster" book

[doublecross]

How exciting! Is there any news on how the location was found?

Was it indeed the emerald on the 11th floor (Ida Mayfield)? Not sure, since I saw a report at one of the book signings that the emerald number did not necessarily correspond to the floor number.

As reported on the official site, the emerald was found near Modesto, California. That means that the highway is likely to be 99, 132, 108 or 215.

[journo]

[danteIL]

Obviously catherwood and ariock and hrmpita can chime in but this is my understanding of how the emerald was found:

From the clues on Rosa Tse-Levy's floor - Floor #3:

State: CA (All of the California artist drawings)
Highway: 5 (The Chinese kanji symbol for 5)
Mile: 445 (The reversed 445 in the mirror)

So they went to the rest area at Exit 445 on Interstate 5 in California, where they found a tree that had a marker on it with a shape on it that was a pentagon like the book, and that's where they dug, as indicated by the diagram on the blackboard in the book. And yes, number 11 was found using clues from Floor 3, so the numbers/floors don't correspond.

Congrats to them!!!!

[doublecross]

Thanks. That is even more straightforward than I had thought, never mind than some other people have suggested.

Is there any way to know that a number is the highway number (other than perhaps it is large, or a particular colour, orange in this case) or the mile number? Seems a little arbitrary.

Given that information I would put money on the Sixth Floor emerald being along highway 45 in Ohio. It is 96 miles long, so not that many places to look! Perhaps near mile 20 (shaded planks in main room). There are other possibilities but they look less likely to have been created by the residents for the purpose, to keep with the theme.

[Lansu]

Thank goodness someone finally found one! My boyfriend and I are going digging on Wednesday, I'll let you guys know how it turns out!

[catherwood]

[doublecross]

Summary so far

[Lansu]

Ah, we were going to go after the 1st floor one next. Too late! Tomorrow is the soonest we could possibly go due to my boyfriend's work schedule, so I hope we don't miss our chance.

[j15bell]

#3

[danteIL]

Re: Summary so far

[UKver2.0]

Re: Summary so far

[Lansu]

I suspect the #12 will be more difficult to solve, since it's worth the most.

[doublecross]

I am also a little disappointed at how simple the solutions are, so let's hope that some are more difficult than those already found. Incidentally, no offence intended to those who have found emeralds so far - sorting the genuine clues from all the noise was no mean feat and gets much respect from me.

The method seems to be:

Find one or more images near each other that suggest a state.
If there are only two obvious numbers, you're in business - one will be the highway and one will be the mile.
If there are fewer or more than two obvious numbers, it's a little more tricky!