For this challenge we were presented with the following QR code and asked what was wrong with it.
Comparing with other QR codes online, it should become quickly apparent that they all have distinctive squares in three corners. In this example, on of the squares is not filled in and as these squares are used by the reading software to align the code and decide which way up it should be this one cannot be read.
The first step to solve the problem is to use your image editor of choice to fill in the blank square to match the others. The code can then be read and it says:
'God save thee, ancient Mariner! From the fiends, that plague thee thus!— Why look'st thou so?'—With my cross-bow I shot the ???. AES: d94036f3b2606d1584fd870720040dd9087765316cf0d14c7b29c235e07be7bd ff84e28231e476f0783ced1537160de6
Now, as anyone who has studied any English literature knows, these are lines from a famous (and very long) poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge called “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and the missing word at the end of this stanza is Albatross. Sadly, Albatross is not the answer. To discover this, we have to paste the two lines of hex into cyberchef and AES decode them with the key “Albatross”. This then reveals the token which is the answer.