Passed the checks due to IN-ner jo-IN and dist-IN-ct by the looks of it, so technically a wrong solution to the problem.

I completely agree with you. Unfortunately, when it comes to python, "best practice" seems to be shortest answer regardless of optimisation. Keep flagging these.

This is how the (unchanged, fresh start) default looks like:

def duplidictionarylookupate_endictionarylookupode(word):
print(word)

so the issue is that then.

Don't rename the function.

is there a problem with this kata now?

I think I have the right solution now, but all I'm getting is:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "main.py", line 3, in
Test.assert_equals(duplicate_encode("din"),"(((")
NameError: name 'duplicate_encode' is not defined

So, from what I can tell, there's something wrong with the tests at the moment.
Shame.