The puzzle presents eight sets of KTANE modules and a bank of extraction methods. The extraction methods must be matched with the module sets in such a way that they yield the name of a step in a colored cipher module.
The flavor text “index them into their origins like 1, 2, 3!” indicates that we should take the letter (from the cipher’s color) at the position corresponding to the step number of that encryption method.
| Modules | Extraction method | Extracted word | Colored cipher | Step | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RHYTHMTEST JUSTNUMBERS PLANTIDENTIFICATION TETRAHEDRON SHAPECIPHER BLINKINGNOTES ABILITIES ACTIVITIES SAMUELSAYS LETTERKEYS |
Reverse diagonal (last, 2nd last, etc.) | TRIDIGITAL | Blue Cipher | 1 | B |
SCRIPTING SCHLAGDENBOMB CRYPTOGRAPHY THETILEMAZE ALPHABET ASTROLOGY ASQUARE |
Diagonal (1st, 2nd, etc.) | SCYTALE | Black Cipher | 2 | L |
MICROCONTROLLER BOBBARKS TELEPATHY INSELECTABLES SYNONYMS MINI |
B in ABA | COLLON | Orange Cipher | 1 | O |
3 WEB DESIGN 1 ARROW TALK 4 A MISTAKE 1 EIGHT TILES PANIC 5 BASIC MORSE 9 THE ALTERANT TRAIL 2 MEMORY 6 SIMON STATES 5 ALLIANCES 3 BARTENDING |
Numerization (use the digits of π as indices) | BASE CAESAR | White Cipher | 1 | W |
BOGGLE CORRIDORS ASCII MAZE BLIND ALLEY HEXNULL SQUEEZE |
Double (duplicated letter) | GRILLE | White Cipher | 2 | H |
QR CODE UNICODE ANOMIA GOLF MORTAL KOMBAT INCREASING INDICES RAINBOW ARROWS ENCRYPTED DICE |
Beginning (first letter) | QUAGMIRE | Violet Cipher | 3 | O |
THE HYPERCUBE STABILITY LITERALLY LAUGHING LOLBIT |
A in ABA | HILL | Yellow Cipher | 3 | L |
MATCH EM THE WIRE LOGIC EARTH DOMINOSA RAIN HALLI GALLI WEIRD AL YANKOVIC PAPA'S PIZZERIA THE TROLL |
Ending (last letter) | MECHANICAL | Green Cipher | 3 | E |
Concatenating the resulting letters gives the answer.
BLOWHOLE