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[Ozle]

Using Google Maps and the internet, find the location in the picture below (minus the red X):

Use the old ways to add 5.5 yards to the back of AU
And find the new land where it grows
When there, find the site of an old world battle
Then head north, crossing the island, until you come across an ancient messenger.

[/i]

[Thisisnotasmile]

So apparently American Football fields must run north to south unless granted special permission by the NFL comission. You learn something new every day.

[Ozle]

So apparently American Football fields must run north to south unless granted special permission by the NFL comission. You learn something new every day.

Wow really?
Why?

[Tables]

So apparently American Football fields must run north to south unless granted special permission by the NFL comission. You learn something new every day.

Wow really?
Why?

Presumably due to sunlight. It means teams are never playing into the sun.

[Thisisnotasmile]

Something to do with making sure sunlight doesn't get in players' eyes. Some sources seem to suggest it's not actually a rule, but most stadiums do it anyway. Others say it is a rule and the ones that aren't N-S have to take special measures to block out the sun.

[Ozle]

What if the place it is located is 90 degrees to the sun though?

[clb]

Presumably, the vast majority of american football fields will be in the northern hemisphere, so the team going south may still get the sun in their eyes, especially in northern climes in the winter.
even aside from that - say you go out to receive a pass, if you are running a wide route, you will be looking east-west to your quarterback and so will run the risk of losing the ball in the sun.
I know it isn't your rule - I am just hoping (for the sake of national pride) that it is an old wives' tale.

edit: spelling

[Thisisnotasmile]

[theorel]

Okay, so working on this challenge.
The image is a track and field track, not a football stadium (so, I don't really know how we got off on that tangent).

Anyways, the clue...(I like this clue much better than the other one, "river where 2 countries meet in a line" gave me nothing to work with)

Use the old ways to add 5.5 yards to the back of AU
And find the new land where it grows

5.5 yards = 1 pole (or rod or perch)

So, old ways might have to do with that (i.e. those units of measure are "old"), or it could mean something else.

AU=?  Could just be the letters AU, Astronomical Unit, Gold,...not sure of anything else.
So, if we add pole, etc to the "back" of those we could get
Aupole, Aurod, Auperch
Goldpole, Goldrod, Goldperch

(obviously astronomical unit doesn't fit there)

So, of those the most obvious choice for "growing" would be the plant goldenrod.  Less obvious would be aupole-sounds kind of like apple?
Let's go with goldenrod...
According to wikipedia:
It is most common in North America, but has been introduced to Europe.
Well, depending on how "new land where it grows" is being used here that could be North America (as a new land relative europe) or Europe (being where goldenrod newly grows).  Moving from there might need more particulars about goldenrod (assuming goldenrod is in fact correct).

When there, find the site of an old world battle
Is the next step.  So, what is the potential site of an old world battle that can be tied into this?

[theorel]

I'm going to start with Kentucky/Nebraska where goldenrod is state flower.  And work from there.  Other opinions/suggestions are welcome.

[ashersky]

Old world battle is probably Revolutionary War or Civil War, if we are in the US.

[ashersky]

Ancient messenger..Hermes?

[theorel]

or, I thought Mercury.
I've searched through for Mercury and Hermes Kentucky, Nebraska, and Alabama with no luck so far.

[theorel]

Some other possibilities for Goldenrod:
It was adopted by gardeners in England.
It has become an invasive species in Germany (and China).

[Thisisnotasmile]

This probably still isn't helpful, and I'm not trying to derail this again, but I'm pretty sure that IS and American Football field. I did doubt it when theorel said it wasn't (what with me being UKish and not really knowing anything about American  Football), but I've just done some research. The lines on the field is what made me think it was before, and from what I can tell now, there are exactly the right number of lines with the right spacings for an AF field. Obviously, this is not an NFL stadium or whatever. It's probably a school/college sports field (hence the running track and tennis courts too, and no stands for a crowd), but we want to be looking in places they play AF, unless anyone can prove it's not an AF field.

[theorel]

There are no goalposts...

[Thisisnotasmile]

There is a Mercury Bay in North New Zealand (Near Auckland where one of the two NZ AF leagues is based). According to this, Goldenrod is a treasured garden plant in NZ.

Can't find that field in the area though, but if anyone else wants to follow up my lead, feel free to do so.

[Thisisnotasmile]

There are no goalposts...

They might have been taken out because it's out of season? Don't know if they do that in America but we definitely take out our Football (read: Soccer) goalposts on school fields when it's the wrong season (and they sometimes get replaced by rugby posts). They also could have been taken down because they're having a track event. There's lots of reasons the goal posts might not be there, but it definitely IS an AF field.

Edit: (There's also a second AF field to the top left, not that it really matters)

[theorel]

Actually, looking closer at the top field, I can see what looks like an h-style goalpost.  And, looking closer at the main image I believe it has the same.

A brief online search reveals nothing regional about H-style goalposts.
It looks like even most American High Schools have yardage indicators.
Also, while looking around, a lot of places in america are taking you to an isometric view by the time you're sufficiently zoomed in to get that image.

[Thisisnotasmile]

Are you using the Google Earth plugin view or the Satellite view? You shouldn't get an isometric view at any level using satellite.

I'm getting isometric view now. It's not everywhere, but some places.

[Qvist]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete ?
It's called Operation Mercury.

[theorel]

yeah, near major cities it seems.
I was getting it in Auckland also.

[theorel]

Mercury Bay is also north of Thames, which gave me more hope for it to be correct.  But I also don't see/can't find anything there

[Thisisnotasmile]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete ?
It's called Operation Mercury.

Had a quick look around there but I couldn't find anywhere on/near the greek islands that was green enough to be this place. Even the green bits aren't green enough. It's hard to find Hermes/Mercury in Greece too since all of their hotels and businesses are names after Gods...

[Thisisnotasmile]

Mercury Bay is also north of Thames, which gave me more hope for it to be correct.  But I also don't see/can't find anything there

Mercury Bay has 1 school from what I can tell, and it's not the one we're looking for

[Thisisnotasmile]

Triple post but... I think the fact that there are 2 AF fields in the picture might be helpful afterall. If this place has (at least) 2 fields, then they must expect to have (at least) 2 games going on at the same time, at some point. Because of this, I'm pretty sure we need to be focussing on North America, because I don't think the sport is popular enough anywhere else in the world.

[Brando Commando]

Presumably, the vast majority of american football fields will be in the northern hemisphere, so the team going south may still get the sun in their eyes, especially in northern climes in the winter.
even aside from that - say you go out to receive a pass, if you are running a wide route, you will be looking east-west to your quarterback and so will run the risk of losing the ball in the sun.
I know it isn't your rule - I am just hoping (for the sake of national pride) that it is an old wives' tale.

edit: spelling

I think it makes sense. It's not clear from what you've written if you know that they switch ends of the field mid-game. It's not perfect, but it evens things out. I can imagine that passing and running on the axis of the sunset would be kind of terrible.

In fact, I never understood why they switched sides (since the grounds presumably can be maintained/controlled at the NFL level so that one side of the field doesn't have some advantage) but this makes a lot more sense.

[Ozle]

Presumably, the vast majority of american football fields will be in the northern hemisphere, so the team going south may still get the sun in their eyes, especially in northern climes in the winter.
even aside from that - say you go out to receive a pass, if you are running a wide route, you will be looking east-west to your quarterback and so will run the risk of losing the ball in the sun.
I know it isn't your rule - I am just hoping (for the sake of national pride) that it is an old wives' tale.

edit: spelling

I think it makes sense. It's not clear from what you've written if you know that they switch ends of the field mid-game. It's not perfect, but it evens things out. I can imagine that passing and running on the axis of the sunset would be kind of terrible.

In fact, I never understood why they switched sides (since the grounds presumably can be maintained/controlled at the NFL level so that one side of the field doesn't have some advantage) but this makes a lot more sense.

Is the switching ends not linked to fan support like it is in football?
As well as incase the pitch isnt completely  perfect

[theorel]

Triple post but... I think the fact that there are 2 AF fields in the picture might be helpful afterall. If this place has (at least) 2 fields, then they must expect to have (at least) 2 games going on at the same time, at some point. Because of this, I'm pretty sure we need to be focussing on North America, because I don't think the sport is popular enough anywhere else in the world.

Actually, as I was thinking about this, that probably means it's not a school.
maybe a ymca or something...(dunno what it would be called in other parts of the world)
Looking at a ymca in Hastings NE, the fields look similar (as opposed to high school fields which pretty much all had yards marked and bleachers).

[Thisisnotasmile]

Triple post but... I think the fact that there are 2 AF fields in the picture might be helpful afterall. If this place has (at least) 2 fields, then they must expect to have (at least) 2 games going on at the same time, at some point. Because of this, I'm pretty sure we need to be focussing on North America, because I don't think the sport is popular enough anywhere else in the world.

Actually, as I was thinking about this, that probably means it's not a school.
maybe a ymca or something...(dunno what it would be called in other parts of the world)
Looking at a ymca in Hastings NE, the fields look similar (as opposed to high school fields which pretty much all had yards marked and bleachers).

Hastings in NE, where Goldenrod is the state flower? Funny you mention that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings

Join me in my quest northwards.

[Thisisnotasmile]

The quest was very interesting indeed.

[Ozle]

Boom! Correct entry sent in!

Congratulations: You have unlocked Level 3

[Davio]

Well done, guys!

[Thisisnotasmile]

By the way, don't even bother looking north of Hastings. I found it through another lead I was persuing...

[Davio]

By the way, don't even bother looking north of Hastings. I found it through another lead I was persuing...

Well, Hastings NE should be sufficient for any proficient Googler.

I found it easily from that info.

[theorel]

The quest was very interesting indeed.

Huh, not what I would have thought of as messenger.

[Qvist]

I found one that looks veeery similar to the photo, but not identical.

[Ozle]

I found one that looks veeery similar to the photo, but not identical.

Was the difference it didnthave the big Red X in it?

[Thisisnotasmile]

By the way, don't even bother looking north of Hastings. I found it through another lead I was persuing...

Well, Hastings NE should be sufficient for any proficient Googler.

I found it easily from that info.

Shhhhhhhhh. It's a secret.

The quest was very interesting indeed.

Huh, not what I would have thought of as messenger.

Well it's not what comes up when you google it. But it's right.

[Qvist]

I found one that looks veeery similar to the photo, but not identical.

Was the difference it didnthave the big Red X in it?

Yes, but some extra differences were there too.

[Ozle]

The quest was very interesting indeed.

Huh, not what I would have thought of as messenger.

Which bit are you thinking of? Because if you have the right place it should fit Ancient Messenger...


And it shouldnt be straight googleable deliberately

[Ozle]

I found one that looks veeery similar to the photo, but not identical.

Was the difference it didnthave the big Red X in it?

Yes, but some extra differences were there too.

PM me where you think it is

[theorel]

Nevermind, it makes sense.  Just took a minute.

[Kirian]

Aw, come on, post the answer!

Another way to be certain it's a US football field:  the distance between the two goal lines is shorter than the distance for the 100m race on the track.

[Ozle]

Aw, come on, post the answer!

Another way to be certain it's a US football field:  the distance between the two goal lines is shorter than the distance for the 100m race on the track.

I can PM you the answer, but obviously id rather not. And please dont post actual answers in the thread.

[Thisisnotasmile]

Aw, come on, post the answer!

Another way to be certain it's a US football field:  the distance between the two goal lines is shorter than the distance for the 100m race on the track.

Surely you can find it if you read through the thread? A lot of work has been done out on the open here...

OGMC1 on the other hand, is a different story. I want to know when other people get there with that one.

[Ozle]

Fun fact: The Battle of Hastings did not actually take place in Hastings, rather at the site now known as the town of Battle.

[Qvist]

I'm too dumb. I don't get it. 

[Ozle]

I'm too dumb. I don't get it. 

Sent you a clue.

[shraeye]

Got this too.

[Ozle]

Got this too.

On a role!

[Schneau]

I haven't made any progress after scouring Nebraska (and Kentucky). Hint please?

[Thisisnotasmile]

Did you find any sites of old world battles?

[heron]

I found a city in Nebraska that had a promising name, but there were no matching fields that I could see in it. So I went North, but I never found any messengers. Or fields, really. All farmland all of the way to South Dakota. Well there was one city, but there was nothing messenger-y about it. I'm confident I've found the site of the old-world battle, but I still can't find the image.

[Schneau]

Did you find any sites of old world battles?

How old-world are we talking? I found a city named after a American revolutionary war battle, but nothing to the north the is a messenger. Besides that and the aforementioned Hastings, I haven't found anything.

[heron]

Hmmm, I think we have the same city Schneau, but you have less confidence in it than I do.

[Thisisnotasmile]

I found a city named after a American revolutionary war battle

This is wrong. It's a British battle you're looking for.

Big hint, don't look if you don't want it spoiled:

The battle has been mentioned earlier in this thread.

[Schneau]

Still no luck looking north of any battle mentioned in this thread. Are we talking straight north, or a little off to the side?

[Thisisnotasmile]

Follow the road North.

[Ozle]

I updated the last line to make it easier for people to know when they are on the right track

"Then head north, crossing the island, until you come across an ancient messenger."

[Schneau]

Finally found it! I can't believe that took that long - I could have sworn I looked there two or three times before!