One of the UK’s spy agencies has released a befuddling puzzle to put Britons through their paces as it looks to get more people into intelligence and cybersecurity.
The Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ, puts out a notoriously difficult Christmas puzzle every year.
The agency specialises in various areas including intelligence gathering and protecting the public from financial threats online, and cracking this one will require the skills of the next James Bond.
This year, brave codebreakers will also have to hunt for hidden “Easter egg” giving the brainteaser an extra layer of difficulty.
GCHQ head Anne Keast-Butler says she hopes this year’s puzzle will encourage young people to go become interested in Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths).
“Puzzles have always been at the heart of GCHQ, and the skills needed to solve them are just as relevant in 2024 as they were over 100 years ago,” she said.
“The puzzles are aimed at teenagers and young people, but everyone is encouraged to give them a try – they might surprise you.
“The Challenge has been designed for a mix of minds to solve, so is best tackled in groups of classmates, families or friends. Whether you have an analytical mind, a creative brain or prefer engineering, there’s something for everyone.”
Last year’s puzzle was downloaded 138,000 times in schools and homes around the world.
SPOILER WARNING: You’ll find the answers to the puzzle below, so you may want to look away if you haven’t given up yet!
Brainteaser answers in full
The spy chief’s Christmas card includes seven puzzles, each referencing GCHQ’s sites across the country, including Manchester, London, Scarborough, Bude and Cheltenham.
The answers to each puzzles are a major UK landmark.
Question 1
The first clue shows a picture of an American bank note, a monarch, ham, two friends and an ace of spades playing card.
By using the words to describe them we get: Buck, King, Ham, Pal, Ace, or “Buckingham Palace”.
Question 2
This next one will require you to find some word combinations and find the clue through the process of elimination.
The answer will be clear once quizzers identify the award, carrier, character, programme, route, and safety guide made up from a word from each column.
The award is a “Blue Peter Badge”, the carrier is a “Brown Paper Bag”, the character is the protagonist of the fairytale “Red Riding Hood”, the programme is children’s favourite the “Pink Panther Show”, the route is “Yellow Brick Road”, while the safety guice is the “Green Cross Code”.
The three words that remain will give you “Black Pool” (or Blackpool) “Tower”.
Question 3
Question three requires a bit of lateral – or vertical thinking – and tasks puzzlers with finding the missing words, letters or numbers.
The first answer is UN the french word for the number one, completing the number sequence.
The next one requires some knowledge of Roman numerals, with the next number in the sequence being the symbol for four, IV.
The third answer is “ER” the missing letter in the singing excercise Do, Re, Mi, which is shown with each word reversed.
The fourth is “IS” – as Q and G are the 17th and 7th letters of the alphabet, while RH are the 18th and 8th meaning the next in the sequence is the 19th and 9th, or I and S.
The next answer, “TY” may well be right in front of you as you take on the quiz, as it appears on the QWERTY keyboard of your computer.
This one is “OF” completing completing the sequence Joan “OF” Arc.
Old MacDonalds backwards is CAM, the sequence Great Britain is completed with the three letters BRI, while the word “Knowledge” is completed with the letters DGE.
The letters together spell out University of Cambridge
Question 4
The answers to this crossword are DENIM, GRUB, CHA CHA CHA, STYLE, GHEE, LORD, KICK IT OUT, BASSOON.
Then by writing the single letter that appears in both the across answer and the down answer sections you’ll get the next landmark: Edinburgh Castle
