The spy agency has issued a challenge for you to put your puzzle-solving skills to the test with the launch of its annual Christmas challenge. And here it is for you, dear reader. It’s a wet day at the bach or crib. Grab a pot of tea and a slab of G’Ma’s fruit cake. The challenge with a Christmas card, fronted by a rare image of a snow-covered Bletchley Park, is designed for a mix of minds to solve. Whether you are an analyst, an engineer or a creative, there is a puzzle for everyone.
The test includes seven increasingly complex puzzles that test skills such as codebreaking, maths and analysis. It’s best to work as a team to reveal the final festive message. A maths-based bonus puzzle has also been included. GCHQ’s Keast-Butler said: “Puzzles have been at the heart of GCHQ from the start. These skills represent our historic roots in cryptography and encryption and continue to be important to our modern-day mission.”
“Our mission relies on people thinking differently and finding inventive ways to approach challenges. Like the work at GCHQ, solving the puzzles on the card requires a mix of minds, and we want to show young people that thinking differently is a gift.
“In order to read the final message these different approaches need to be brought together, demonstrating the value of teamwork as the final piece of the puzzle. Not only do we want the Christmas Challenge to introduce young people to how we work at GCHQ, but we also intend it to be fun!”
Now, you lot, NO CHEATING, but weve given you a link to the answers. And to get you started you might like to watch the YouTube introduction!
The answers
YouTubers can watch the video below. Hard media buffs or traditional puzzle solvers can read the answers below.
ONE
The first clock shows 8pm which is the 20th hour of the day. The 20th letter of the alphabet is T. Therefore the four clocks represent: T - I - M – E
TWO
The answer is: DAY
THREE
Declan, Jasmine and Sticky = Rice. Sirius, Pitch and Penny = Black. Scarborough, Pudsey, Beverley = Yorkshire. All words that precede PUDDING
FOUR
MI x MI = MAA
12 x 12 = 144
TI + TI = RA
32 + 32 = 64
DO - SO + TI - MI = RE
98 - 58 + 32 - 12 = 60
RE x RE = ?
60 x 60 = 3600
3 = T, 6 = R, E = 0.
The answer is TREE
FIVE
TH, RD, ND, ST. 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st
ET, EL, PM, OC. The word ‘complete’ backwards
WU, SQ, OM, KI. Each subsequent letter is two letters before the last in the alphabet
WR, AP, PI, NG. The word ‘wrapping’ as in ‘wrapping paper’
The answer is STOCKING
SIX
The puzzle is in binary. Filled-in notes are 1s and hollow notes are 0s. Each bar represents a letter and each note within each bar is a number. The first of the five symbols in each bar represents 16, the second 8, then 4, 2, 1. The first three symbols of the first bar are 0s. The final two are 1s so we add 2 and 1 to get 3. The third letter of the alphabet is C. Therefore the symbols correspond to 00011, 00001, 10010, 01111, 01100 (which translated to decimal gives us: 3, 1, 18, 15, 12) so the answer to the puzzle is CAROL.
SEVEN
Assuming that ‘4-hmqqmk’ translates to ‘4-letter’:
First solve the code.
Identify a 4-letter word. Look everywhere. Maybe it’s very obvious.
Take the first letter of each sentence and you get FILM.
EIGHT
The challenge.
To solve this puzzle:
Match the pattern in the top left square to the corresponding item in the image above this quiz
Match the item to the icon before each question
Using the answer to the question, find the nth letter of the word using the number in the top right square
Example:
The pattern matches the gingerbread man
The gingerbread man icon represents question two
The answer to question two is DAY
The third letter is Y
The answer is: YULETIDE FELICITATIONS