World HistoryBack to round

Kubernetes

by Cameron Montag

Answer:
EAST INDIA COMPANY

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):



FolderElements (in order)
CHAKRAS
  1. CROWN
  2. THIRD EYE
  3. THROAT
  4. HEART
  5. SOLAR PLEXUS
  6. SACRAL
  7. ROOT
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS ABILITIES
  1. STRENGTH
  2. DEXTERITY
  3. CONSTITUTION
  4. INTELLIGENCE
  5. WISDOM
  6. CHARISMA
EIGHTFOLD PATH
  1. VIEW
  2. INTENTION
  3. SPEECH
  4. ACTION
  5. LIVELIHOOD
  6. EFFORT
  7. MINDFULNESS
  8. CONCENTRATION
FIRE SAFETY STEPS
  1. STOP
  2. DROP
  3. ROLL
HARRY POTTER
  1. SORCEROR'S STONE
  2. CHAMBER OF SECRETS
  3. PRISONER OF AZKABAN
  4. GOBLET OF FIRE
  5. ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
  6. HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
  7. DEATHLY HALLOWS
JAMES BOND ACTORS
  1. SEAN CONNERY
  2. DAVID NIVEN
  3. GEORGE LAZENBY
  4. ROGER MOORE
  5. TIMOTHY DALTON
  6. PIERCE BROSNAN
  7. DANIEL CRAIG
MOUNT RUSHMORE
  1. WASHINGTON
  2. JEFFERSON
  3. ROOSEVELT
  4. LINCOLN
NOBLE GASES
  1. HELIUM
  2. NEON
  3. ARGON
  4. KRYPTON
  5. XENON
  6. RADON
  7. OGANESSON
ORDER OF OPERATIONS
  1. PARENTHESES
  2. EXPONENTIATION
  3. MULTIPLICATION
  4. DIVISION
  5. ADDITION
  6. SUBTRACTION
POKEMON RED AND BLUE GYM LEADERS
  1. BROCK
  2. MISTY
  3. SURGE
  4. ERIKA
  5. KOGA
  6. SABRINA
  7. BLAINE
  8. GIOVANNI
PLANETS
  1. MERCURY
  2. VENUS
  3. EARTH
  4. MARS
  5. JUPITER
  6. SATURN
  7. URANUS
  8. NEPTUNE
RAINBOW
  1. RED
  2. ORANGE
  3. YELLOW
  4. GREEN
  5. BLUE
  6. INDIGO
  7. VIOLET
STAGES OF GRIEF
  1. DENIAL
  2. ANGER
  3. BARGAINING
  4. DEPRESSION
  5. ACCEPTANCE
SOLFEGE
  1. A DEER A FEMALE DEER
  2. A DROP OF GOLDEN SUN
  3. A NAME I CALL MYSELF
  4. A LONG LONG WAY TO RUN
  5. A NEEDLE PULLING THREAD
  6. A NOTE TO FOLLOW SO
  7. A DRINK WITH JAM AND BREAD
TAXONOMY
  1. DOMAIN
  2. KINGDOM
  3. PHYLUM
  4. CLASS
  5. ORDER
  6. FAMILY
  7. GENUS
  8. SPECIES
UNITED STATES FEDERAL HOLIDAYS
  1. NEW YEARS
  2. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR
  3. PRESIDENTS
  4. MEMORIAL
  5. JUNETEENTH
  6. INDEPENDENCE
  7. LABOR
  8. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
  9. VETERANS
  10. THANKSGIVING
  11. CHRISTMAS
WEEKDAYS
  1. SUNDAY
  2. MONDAY
  3. TUESDAY
  4. WEDNESDAY
  5. THURSDAY
  6. FRIDAY
  7. SATURDAY
WIVES OF HENRY VIII
  1. CATHERINE OF ARAGON
  2. ANNE BOLEYN
  3. JANE SEYMOUR
  4. ANNE OF CLEVES
  5. CATHERINE HOWARD
  6. CATHERINE PARR


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.


FolderSentenceSoftware NameExtra PieceExtra Piece Location (index)Extract
UNITED STATES FEDERAL HOLIDAYSA FREE EMAIL APPLICATION THAT'S EASY TO SET UP AND CUSTOMIZETHUNDERBIRDT1D6E
STAGES OF GRIEFTHE GAME ENGINE YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FORGODOTG2T5T
POKEMON RED AND BLUE GYM LEADERSAN ADVANCED AND SECURE WEBSERVER FOR UNIXHIAWATHAH3A4W
NOBLE GASESAN EXPANDABLE REMOTE SENSING AND IMAGERY ANALYSIS SOFTWARE PLATFORMOPTICKSO4S1O
FIRE SAFETY STEPSA FREE AND OPEN SOURCE DISTRIBUTED VERSION CONTROL SYSTEMGITG5T3T
MOUNT RUSHMORETHE FREE AND OPEN SOURCE IMAGE EDITORGIMPG6P2I
WEEKDAYSFREE SOFTWARE, OPEN STANDARDS, AND WEB SERVICES FOR INTERACTIVE COMPUTING ACROSS ALL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGESJUPYTERJ7R5T
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS ABILITIESSCREEN CAPTURE, FILE SHARING AND PRODUCTIVITY TOOLSHAREXS8X2H
WIVES OF HENRY VIIIRESEARCH, ORGANIZE AND SHARE YOUR FAMILY TREEGRAMPSG9S2R
EIGHTFOLD PATHFREE DIGITAL TOOLS FOR CLASS ACTIVITIES, GRAPHING, GEOMETRY, COLLABORATIVE WHITEBOARD AND MOREGEOGEBRAG10A2E
SOLFEGEA NEW ERA FOR CONTENT CREATIONBLENDERB11R3E
CHAKRASTHE FREE, OPEN SOURCE, LIGHT-WEIGHT AND EASY-TO-USE PASSWORD MANAGERKEEPASSK12S5A
PLANETSFREE, OPEN SOURCE, CROSS-PLATFORM AUDIO SOFTWAREAUDACITYA13Y5C
RAINBOWTHE BROWSER THAT PROTECTS WHAT'S IMPORTANTFIREFOXF14X1F
HARRY POTTERA FREE AND OPEN SOURCE EMPIRE-BUILDING STRATEGY GAMEFREECIVF15V6I
TAXONOMYAN ADVANCED MOLECULE EDITOR AND VISUALIZER DESIGNED FOR CROSS-PLATFORM USEAVOGADROA16O2V
JAMES BOND ACTORSA ROBUST, COMMERCIAL-GRADE, FULL-FEATURED TOOLKIT FOR GENERAL-PURPOSE CRYPTOGRAPHY AND SECURE COMMUNICATIONOPENSSLO17L3E
ORDER OF OPERATIONSA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE THAT LETS YOU WORK QUICKLY AND INTEGRATE SYSTEMS MORE EFFECTIVELYPYTHONP18N2Y


This gives the final cluephrase E TWO T I THREE A C FIVE Y, or E2T I3A C5Y. The answer is EAST INDIA COMPANY.



Author's Notes:


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:

  • We wanted to use soccer positions as the size-11 category for THUNDERBIRD, but STRIKER and SWEEPER are both S5R :(
  • It's a bit ambiguous whether the week starts on Sunday or Monday. We went with the order you'd see on a calendar.
  • The federal holiday names are colloquial and not the official names. We also omitted DAY whenever appropriate, since having D1Y on the end of every entry is pretty obvious.
  • Specifically, James Bond actors are the ones that have appeared in movies, which is why Barry Nelson is not included.
  • Sorry, BODMAS users!
  • RIP Pluto :'(