7.270 — Sustenance of Life Solution

The small grid is indeed a key; it represents the word KEY as the numbers 11, 5, 25. Each column represents a digit, and the rows represent the segments of a seven-segment display, with dark cells indicating lit segments. The puzzle does not use the conventional order based on the pin configuration of standard seven-segment display units, which starts with the top segment and goes clockwise all the way around, with the middle segment last. Instead, the order used in this puzzle is top left, top, top right, middle, bottom left, bottom, bottom right.

If you get the idea that it is a seven-segment display and the idea that the key spells KEY as 11525, you can solve the puzzle even without figuring out the segment order:

• The first column has all segments lit, so is an 8.
• The second column matches the third and fifth columns of the key, so is a 5.
• The third and fourth columns match the first two columns of the key, so are both 1s.
• The fifth and sixth columns match the fourth column of the key, so are both 2s.
• The seventh column does not match any other digit seen so far, and has six segments lit. That can only be 0 or 6, and since the unlit segment was lit in both 2 and 5, it cannot be 6, so it is a 0.
• The last column is another 8.

Then you need to break up 85112208 into chunks that index into the alphabet, which is 8, 5, 1, 12, 20, 8, spelling the answer, HEALTH.