30 Rocks (Solution)

30 Rocks (Solution)

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The bolded letters in each fictional rock name can be organized into a sequence of element symbols. The number of element symbols is shown to the right of each rock name. For instance, SEASONAL JASPERS has the letters SEONASPS bolded, and 6 boxes to its right. This clues the six elemental symbols, Se O N As P S.

After translating the rock names into sequences of elemental symbols, you need to trace them on the periodic table. The element sequences and traced letters are given below.

Se O N As P S       A
Si Sn Te Se Ge      b
N P S O N           O
Fe Os Ir Co         U
Al In Te            L
S Br Te S           D
Al P N B Ga Ge      e
Be Li K             r
S Te In Al          U
In Ge Al C          S
Se Ge C O S Si      e
Ar S Te             r
Ba Cs Fr K Ca Ra    A
Pt Ni Tl Ga         N
Se I Po Se          D
Ge C O              r
C Si S O C          O
Bi P Cl At Br As    A
C N S As Ge C       D
Te S Cl             r
C Ge Se S O         U
Ir Co Au Cu         N
Pa Pr U Nd          N
Ge Se S Al In Te    e
Ac Sc Ti            r
P Cl F N As Se      e
In Al Te S          N
Re Mo Cr Fe Ru Mo   e
U Nd Pa Ce Th       m
B Si N Si Ge        Y

The clue phrase is “A boulder user and roadrunner enemy”, which is the COYOTE.

Answer: COYOTE #

(other spellings, like WILE E. or WILE E. COYOTE would prompt people to submit COYOTE as the correct answer)

Solving the puzzle also gives you a fun tidbit of EFF-related trivia:

Did you know there are millions of Let’s Encrypt’s Boulder users? In fact, EFF’s Certbot and Let’s Encrypt’s Boulder both implement different parts of ACME.