Puzzle 1

The first puzzle requires the user to decipher the following code:

Gur nafjre gb guvf irel svefg chmmyr vf fvzcyl guvf: yvmneq

This code is a simple substitution cipher, meaning each letter is substituted by another. In particular, it is called ROT13, because each letter is replaced with the 13th letter after it in a latin alphabet.

Using the simple substitution grid above, we get the result:

The answer to this very first puzzle is simply this: lizard

So, enter lizard into the text field to receive the first clue.

Clue

• The actual clue is a set of coordinates: -9,-59
• The coordinates point to a random position in South America (continent).
• The lack of precision is meant to show that these coordinates are the most basic for this set of puzzles.

Bonus Clue

• The bonus clue for this puzzle states: Like with this puzzle, each new clue will hint towards a location. But what location?
• This tells the player that each puzzle gives a location, and suggests that each location has a different meaning.

Notes

• Hopefully, a simple cipher like this should be solvable quite quickly. If nothing else, ChatGPT would make little work of it.

Puzzle 2

The second puzzle requires the user to decipher the following code:

26 3 6 53 73 22 8 7 16 39 8 92 18 99 118 8 8 105 92 117 73 39 16 1 18 15 9 8 86 8 74 90 53 16 16 8 71 22 8 28 106 53 88 9 9 99

This code is another substitution cipher... sort of.

In this case, it is important to figure out what the numbers mean. Obviously each number doesn't map directly to a letter, since the numbers go as high as 118.

In fact, this is called the Periodic Table Cipher, because each number is the atomic number for an element on the periodic table. You simply switch the atomic number for the element's symbol.

For example, the number 26 represents Iron. The chemical symbol for iron is Fe. So the first characters in the code solution are Fe. Here are the specific codes you need for this puzzle:

The result should be something like this:

Fe Li C I Ta Ti O N S Y O U Ar Es Og O O Db U Ts Ta Y S H Ar P F O Rn O W Th I S S O Lu Ti O Ni Sg I Ra F F Es

Once you figure out where the spaces and punctuation are meant to go, you get this:

Felicitations. You are so good. But stay sharp! For now, this solution is giraffes

So, enter giraffes into the text field to receive the second clue.

Clue

• The actual clue is again a set of coordinates: -38.4, -67.2
• The coordinates point to a random position inside Argentina (country).
• The slightly improved precision is meant to show that these coordinates are more useful than the previous ones.

Bonus Clue

• The bonus clue for this puzzle is: "There are 4 sets of puzzles. That fact is quite important."
• Basically, it is hinting that the four sets of puzzles produce clues that are separate from each other, in an important way.

Notes

• This is a step up in terms of difficulty. ChatGPT should make little work of it, though it would initially look for a single-character swap and not realize 26 meant "Fe".
• The text is quite long because with ciphers, the longer the text, the easier it should be to decipher.

Puzzle 3

The third puzzle requires the user to decipher the following code:

OKHASOTNEGDUUTALSETNHRRNHNEEEETHHMSDEOAYTEBASOOANLRSTDIEYNAORCEITWDFODIOKSIEEWEEFRMDYHLIW

This code is a transposition cipher, actually a double transposition cipher.

So, now you know the type of cipher, you can decipher this quite quickly, right? Well, no. These types of cipher are very difficult to decipher without the two keywords used to scramble it. It would take longer to do than it would to actually find the keywords, which is really the point of this task.

There are various clues to the keywords used.

• The first key is the name of a custom transformer. This transformer was uploaded to the FME Hub on 20th October, 2025.
• The second key is the name of a country. This country was represented in a 2020 World Tour presentation. The presentation showed how FME was used to supply data to a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition dashboard. The project involved 25,000km of electrical powerlines.

The text says that the transformer has since been removed. It hasn't, but it shouldn't matter anyway. The important thing is that the transformer is immortalized in an automated message to the FME Hub Alerts forum.

The second key can be easily found by searching the Safe Software website. The information is found in this story.

So, if the keywords are DateTimeIntervalCreator and Namibia, then how can they be used to decipher the message?

Well, you could decode the message manually, or write an FME workspace to do so. But the simplest method is to use an online tool:

So the result of the deciphering is this:

well done you found the keys to decode this message. There is an animal for the keyword and it is the brown hare

So, enter brown hare into the text field to receive the third clue.

Clue

• The actual clue is again a set of coordinates: -54.429, -67.151
• The coordinates point to a random position inside Tierra Del Fuego (province).
• The slightly improved precision is meant to show that these coordinates are again more useful than the previous ones.

Bonus Clue

• The bonus clue for this puzzle states: "Did you know that Greenbeard personally sailed to each of the most important locations to get the correct GPS readings? Even though it was 200 years before GPS was invented! That's what I call smart."
• This clue tells you that the locations are GPS readings but, more importantly, that Greenbeard sailed to all of the locations. That means they must all be coastal locations with harbours!

Notes

• ChatGPT (or another AI) could possibly decipher the code without the keywords, but I suspect it would take thousands of hours (maybe days)!
• The user story inset says "25 km of powerlines", but I'm sure it means 25,000 km.
• Did you notice the hidden bonus code on the page? The final sentence says "99 tiMes ouT of 100 it would be eAsier to Make use of an online serviCe to Get the solution." Keep only the upper-case letters and you get the reward code MTAMCG!

Puzzle 4

The fourth puzzle requires the user to decipher the following code:

Uncharacteristically landside, I overenthusiastically collected counterintelligence for corsairproofing lesserinvulnerable rovinglizardvessel. While two seascavengercaptains I onceheretofore knew led lesserbeskilled goldsearchers unrancorously, hyperaggressive piraticalcrews will pitilesshearted detreasurize peacelovingcrews. Nautical sailcraft navigationcrew encourage oceanreconnaissance photointerpretations whenever their old treasureraiding foes exist.

Ooh! This code is obviously in English, though some of the words are definitely made-up or compound words, such as "ROVINGLIZARDVESSEL".

Will that hurt players who first language is not English? It shouldn't do, because the content is not important. Instead, ask yourself, why are the words so long? Does their length represent anything? If we count the characters of each letter, we get this:

20 8, 1 20 9 19 3 15 18 18. 5 3 20 1 14 4 3 15 13 13, 15 14 4 15 12 16. 8 9 14 9 19 20 8 5 3 15 4 5.

What do these numbers represent? Perhaps they could be letters of the alphabet, where A is 1 and Z is 26? If we use that process and remove punctuation, we get:

T H A T I S C O R R E C T A N D C O M M O N D O L P H I N I S T H E C O D E

In other words:

That is correct and common dolphin is the code.

So, enter common dolphin into the text field to receive the fourth clue.

Clue

• The actual clue is again a set of coordinates: -54.8026, -68.3092
• The coordinates point to a random position inside the city of Ushuaia (city).
• The slightly improved precision is meant to show that these coordinates are again more useful than the previous ones.

Bonus Clue

• The clue for this puzzle states: "Continent > Country > Province > City > Location"
• This clue tells you that the puzzles in a set provide increasingly accurate clues.
• Puzzle 1: A continent-level clue. A point somewhere in the same continent as the actual location.
• Puzzle 2: A country-level clue. A point somewhere in the same country as the actual location.
• Puzzle 3: A province-level clue. A point somewhere in the same province as the actual location.
• Puzzle 4: A city-level clue. A point somewhere in the same city as the actual location.
• Puzzle 5: The actual location to be used.

Notes

• Does the original sentence have any meaning? Well, it sounds very important, but it doesn't provide any clues. If I put it into plainer English, it would say something like:
• Unusually, I was on land, not sea, and took the opportunity to gather information on how to protect my vulnerable ship against pirates. I knew two other captains who led amateur crews in search of treasure. While their crews were peaceful, aggressive pirates would steal their treasure without a thought. Experienced navigators suggest using satellite photos to check for pirates who may be close by.

Puzzle 5

The fifth puzzle requires the user to decipher the following code:

Start Time: 07:15 +0:15 +1:52 +0:00 -1:30 +4:30 -6:15 +0:23 +4:00 -0:38 -2:30 -1:00 +2:53 -1:45 +2:30 +0:07 -3:00 +0:23 +2:30 -2:08 +2:00 -2:30 +2:00 -2:52 +3:22 -2:30 -0:52 +2:52 +0:30 -2:45 +5:15 -4:30 -0:30 -1:00 +0:08 +3:30 -0:23 -1:45 +1:30 -2:52 +2:30 +1:07 -5:52 +0:00 +2:52 -1:00 +0:23 +3:30 -0:23 -3:30 +0:23 +3:22 +0:08 -0:23 -3:30 +3:08 -2:45 +2:30 +1:07 -5:52 +0:00 +2:52 -1:00 +3:15 -2:52 +1:00 -0:23 +0:00 -0:37 +3:07 -2:07 +5:00 -6:00 +1:00 -0:08 +0:30 -0:37 +0:15 -0:23 -0:37 +0:30 -0:53 +4:08 -8:00 +7:37 -0:37 +3:15 -3:08 -2:52 +1:00 -0:08 +5:08 -6:00 +2:52 +0:30 -3:22 +6:00 -2:38 -3:45 +3:15 -2:52 +3:30 -0:23 -1:45 +1:30 -2:52 +3:30 -0:23 -3:30 +0:23 +1:00 -0:08 +0:30 -0:37 +0:15 -0:23 -0:37 +3:30 -0:08 -3:22 -0:23 +1:15 +2:38 -3:53 +3:08 -2:45 +1:22 +1:30 -2:52 +2:52 +0:30 +0:15 -0:07 -0:23 -7:22 +3:52 +3:15 +0:38 -3:53 +3:08 -1:53 -0:52 -4:15 +5:15 +2:30 -3:53 +3:08 -2:45 +5:52 -2:30 -2:45 -1:00

This is a level 5 puzzle, so you can expect that it will be difficult, maybe even a multi-step process. In fact, I was quite worried no one would get this!

Obviously, there is a start time and then time offsets, so the first step is to turn those offsets into actual times, applying each offset to the time before it, like so:

07:15 07:30 09:22 09:22 07:52 12:22 06:07 06:30 10:30 09:52 07:22 06:22 09:15 07:30 10:00 10:07 07:07 07:30 10:00 07:52 09:52 07:22 09:22 06:30 09:52 07:22 06:30 09:22 09:52 07:07 12:22 07:52 07:22 06:22 06:30 10:00 09:37 07:52 09:22 06:30 09:00 10:07 04:15 04:15 07:07 06:07 06:30 10:00 09:37 06:07 06:30 09:52 10:00 09:37 06:07 09:15 06:30 09:00 10:07 04:15 04:15 07:07 06:07 09:22 06:30 07:30 07:07 07:07 06:30 09:37 07:30 12:30 06:30 07:30 07:22 07:52 07:15 07:30 07:07 06:30 07:00 06:07 10:15 02:15 09:52 09:15 12:30 09:22 06:30 07:30 07:22 12:30 06:30 09:22 09:52 06:30 12:30 09:52 06:07 09:22 06:30 10:00 09:37 07:52 09:22 06:30 10:00 09:37 06:07 06:30 07:30 07:22 07:52 07:15 07:30 07:07 06:30 10:00 09:52 06:30 06:07 07:22 10:00 06:07 09:15 06:30 07:52 09:22 06:30 09:22 09:52 10:07 10:00 09:37 02:15 06:07 09:22 10:00 06:07 09:15 07:22 06:30 02:15 07:30 10:00 06:07 09:15 06:30 12:22 09:52 07:07 06:07

Now, the way I designed this puzzle, you would convert the times from digital to analog. Here are the first few:

Next, you would look at those hands on the clock and think how much it reminds you of semaphore code:

Finally, you would convert that semaphore code to actual characters:

Convert all of the code and you would get:

Massive congratulations on solving this puzzle the other puzzles all had animal keywords and so does this the animal to enter is southwestern water vole

So, enter southwestern water vole into the text field to receive the fifth and final clue.

Clue

• The actual clue is again a set of coordinates: -54.82591240,-68.33802447
• These are the actual coordinates that this set of puzzles is working towards: an exact position inside the city of Ushuaia.

Bonus Clue

• The bonus puzzle for this clue states: "You solved a level 5 puzzle. Surely you don’t need extra clues at this point?!"

Notes

• Semaphore was the key here, but if you simply carried out step 1 (convert to actual times) an AI would probably be able to solve it using character substitution. I suspect that's what some of you did.
• What I should have done was mixed 24-hour clock values, so instead of 07:15 07:30 09:22 09:22 I would have 07:15 07:30 09:22 21:22 to vary the two S characters.
• But I didn't have time!