This puzzle is a .zip file with multiple folders, each containing a number of .txt files. The folders and files all follow the same strange naming convention, consisting of pairs of letters with a number in the middle. The puzzle's title, Kubernetes, is often abbreviated as K8S, where the 8 represents the 8 letters between the K and S. The same abbreviation has been applied to all the words in this puzzle, so the first step is to figure out what the titles of these folders and files should be.
Each folder represents a category, and the files in that folder are elements of that category. Furthermore, each of these categories has a canonical ordering, so we can identify the names of these files (either by inspection or using a tool such as Nutrimatic):
Folder | Elements (in order) |
---|---|
CHAKRAS |
|
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS ABILITIES |
|
EIGHTFOLD PATH |
|
FIRE SAFETY STEPS |
|
HARRY POTTER |
|
JAMES BOND ACTORS |
|
MOUNT RUSHMORE |
|
NOBLE GASES |
|
ORDER OF OPERATIONS |
|
POKEMON RED AND BLUE GYM LEADERS |
|
PLANETS |
|
RAINBOW |
|
STAGES OF GRIEF |
|
SOLFEGE |
|
TAXONOMY |
|
UNITED STATES FEDERAL HOLIDAYS |
|
WEEKDAYS |
|
WIVES OF HENRY VIII |
|
Next, once we have the text files in order, we can concatenate their contents in that order to get an encoded sentence. Each of these sentences describes a specific piece of open-source software, and can usually be found on that software's website.
There is also one extra piece in each sentence that shouldn't be there - the first and last letters of this extra piece correspond to the name of the open-source software that is being described, but the number is incorrect. These numbers range from 1-18, and can be used to order our results. (This is what the flavortext means by "printed the result directly into the source code and used a memory address in the wrong context".)
The last step is to notice that the number of text files from each folder (i.e. the number of elements in each category) matches the length of the corresponding software's name. Using the location of the extra piece, we can index into the software names to get our final cluephrase.
Folder | Sentence | Software Name | Extra Piece | Extra Piece Location (index) | Extract |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
UNITED STATES FEDERAL HOLIDAYS | A FREE EMAIL APPLICATION THAT'S EASY TO SET UP AND CUSTOMIZE | THUNDERBIRD | T1D | 6 | E |
STAGES OF GRIEF | THE GAME ENGINE YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR | GODOT | G2T | 5 | T |
POKEMON RED AND BLUE GYM LEADERS | AN ADVANCED AND SECURE WEBSERVER FOR UNIX | HIAWATHA | H3A | 4 | W |
NOBLE GASES | AN EXPANDABLE REMOTE SENSING AND IMAGERY ANALYSIS SOFTWARE PLATFORM | OPTICKS | O4S | 1 | O |
FIRE SAFETY STEPS | A FREE AND OPEN SOURCE DISTRIBUTED VERSION CONTROL SYSTEM | GIT | G5T | 3 | T |
MOUNT RUSHMORE | THE FREE AND OPEN SOURCE IMAGE EDITOR | GIMP | G6P | 2 | I |
WEEKDAYS | FREE SOFTWARE, OPEN STANDARDS, AND WEB SERVICES FOR INTERACTIVE COMPUTING ACROSS ALL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES | JUPYTER | J7R | 5 | T |
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS ABILITIES | SCREEN CAPTURE, FILE SHARING AND PRODUCTIVITY TOOL | SHAREX | S8X | 2 | H |
WIVES OF HENRY VIII | RESEARCH, ORGANIZE AND SHARE YOUR FAMILY TREE | GRAMPS | G9S | 2 | R |
EIGHTFOLD PATH | FREE DIGITAL TOOLS FOR CLASS ACTIVITIES, GRAPHING, GEOMETRY, COLLABORATIVE WHITEBOARD AND MORE | GEOGEBRA | G10A | 2 | E |
SOLFEGE | A NEW ERA FOR CONTENT CREATION | BLENDER | B11R | 3 | E |
CHAKRAS | THE FREE, OPEN SOURCE, LIGHT-WEIGHT AND EASY-TO-USE PASSWORD MANAGER | KEEPASS | K12S | 5 | A |
PLANETS | FREE, OPEN SOURCE, CROSS-PLATFORM AUDIO SOFTWARE | AUDACITY | A13Y | 5 | C |
RAINBOW | THE BROWSER THAT PROTECTS WHAT'S IMPORTANT | FIREFOX | F14X | 1 | F |
HARRY POTTER | A FREE AND OPEN SOURCE EMPIRE-BUILDING STRATEGY GAME | FREECIV | F15V | 6 | I |
TAXONOMY | AN ADVANCED MOLECULE EDITOR AND VISUALIZER DESIGNED FOR CROSS-PLATFORM USE | AVOGADRO | A16O | 2 | V |
JAMES BOND ACTORS | A ROBUST, COMMERCIAL-GRADE, FULL-FEATURED TOOLKIT FOR GENERAL-PURPOSE CRYPTOGRAPHY AND SECURE COMMUNICATION | OPENSSL | O17L | 3 | E |
ORDER OF OPERATIONS | A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE THAT LETS YOU WORK QUICKLY AND INTEGRATE SYSTEMS MORE EFFECTIVELY | PYTHON | P18N | 2 | Y |
This gives the final cluephrase E TWO T I THREE A C FIVE Y, or E2T I3A C5Y. The answer is EAST INDIA COMPANY.
This puzzle was a lot of fun to write! As soon as I heard about the abbreviation "K8S" for Kubernetes, it sounded to me like puzzle fodder. This same form of abbreviation is commonly used in the tech industry for terms like I18N for INTERNATIONALIZATION, or A11Y for ACCESSIBILITY.
In the original idea for this puzzle, all of the .txt files were uncategorized and the user had to figure out which ones went in which folder. We ended up deciding that this was too difficult for Act 1. We were careful to edit the metadata of each file so that solvers couldn't get clues from the creation/modification timestamps.
Turns out finding categories with a specific length that have a canonical ordering is surprisingly tough. Especially when you have so many sixes, sevens, and eights.
Notes on specific categories: