Hmm, that's the exact same "solution" that Kirk used in the Kobyashi Maru novel. IIRC, WoK only said he cheated, not the specifics of how he made it so the Klingon recognized him as famous. So is it an adaptation?
Incidentally, Kobyashi Maru (the TOS novel) is probably the only TOS novel I ever read and really enjoyed. Not so much because of the Kobyashi Maru stories itself, but because of some of the other scenarios the characters described, particularly Sulu's frustrating game of "Galactic Diplomacy" and Chekov's "find the assassin" wargame.