Location: Chemistry Lab
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Solution to Mythological Connections

by Kevin Chen

Answer: DEW DROP

Mythological Connections - Solution

Clicking on the puzzle button will cause several print jobs to be submitted to MIT's Pharos printing system.

Each print job has a title, visible on the Pharos display. The first set of titles is:

  1. echo fish
  2. | cups-lpr
  3. -P submission
  4. -H p.20000puzzles.com

The actual contents of this first set of printouts is irrelevant. Running the specified command on Athena, echo fish | cups-lpr -P submission -H p.20000puzzles.com, then triggers the next set of printouts.

For the second set of printouts, the title on the Pharos display corresponds to a Pharos printer at MIT. The printed output contains a description of a mythological person, place, or thing, which also corresponds to a Pharos printer at MIT, along with a numerical prefix (in the set of numbers 1 through 5). On a map, draw a line between the pairs of printers in each set.

For set 1, these lines draw C:

  • peecs (38-370) to ajax (W20-575)
  • civil (outside 1-150) to python (W20-575)
  • sanda (4-167) to civil (outside 1-150)

For set 2, these lines draw O:

  • peecs (38-370) to maia (11-112)
  • maia (11-112) to sanda (4-167)
  • peecs (38-370) to nysa (56-129)
  • sanda (4-167) to helios (56-129)

For set 3, these lines draw M:

  • civil (outside 1-150) to maia (11-112)
  • quick-print (11-112) to sanda (4-167)
  • sanda (4-167) to pindar (66-080)
  • homer (66-080) to picus (E51-073)

For set 4, these lines draw B:

  • peecs (38-370) to maia (11-112)
  • quick-print (11-112) to civil (outside 1-150)
  • civil (outside 1-150) to sanda (4-167)
  • maia (11-112) to sanda (4-167)
  • quick-print (11-112) to nysa (56-129)
  • peecs (38-370) to helios (56-129)

For set 5, these lines draw O:

  • peecs (38-370) to sanda (4-167)
  • sanda (4-167) to civil (outside 1-150)
  • civil (outside 1-150) to metis (W20-575)
  • peecs (38-370) to python (W20-575)

This spells COMBO, suggesting the Athena cluster combo (available by running "tellme combo" on Athena). Printing the numerical Athena cluster combo using the previously specified echo | cups-lpr command generates another set of printouts. (Incorrect submissions cause a printout stating that the answer is incorrect.) The activity log shows answers submitted, along with the number of print jobs each submission generates.

Each printout from this set hints at an MIT hack. More specifically, these hacks correspond to the Athena dialup (shell) servers:

  1. howe-and-ser-moving.mit.edu
  2. biohazard-cafe.mit.edu
  3. mass-toolpike.mit.edu
  4. buzzword-bingo.mit.edu
  5. apollo-dome-landing.mit.edu
  6. mint-square.mit.edu
The titles of the print jobs on the Pharos display are filenames (such as /tmp/^.txt). Reading the contents of the files (each file containing one letter) from the corresponding machines in the specified order spells ROOTPW, suggesting the Athena cluster root password (available by running "tellme root" on Athena).

Printing this root password results in one final printout with the final answer DEW DROP.