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Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to unravel the diabolical puzzle set by British spy agency GCHQ and a sly cryptographer known only as ‘Colin’. The challenge (actually seven challenges in one) is deviously designed to test codebreaking, math skills, and analysis - with each conundrum more difficult than the last.
The mind-boggling puzzles have previously been sent in a holiday greeting card to GCHQ’s international partners - including America’s NSA and Canada’s CSE - but amateur codebreakers also love the challenges and solutions are provided on social media. This year, the Government Communication HQ is taunting 11 to 18-year-olds to prove their code-breaking prowess and, to assist, SPYSCAPE has prepared a tip sheet (below) for those who want to excel.
Your odyssey begins now. Isn’t it time to teach 'Colin' a lesson?
GCHQ Puzzle Hints
If you need a few hints, GCHQ's Chief Puzzler ‘Colin’ can take you through the steps of solving the challenge in the video below.
Basically, each question has a one-word answer that can follow the word ‘Christmas’. Once you solve those seven questions, you’ll need to use the design on the front of the card (above) to insert certain letters into the grid at the bottom of the card (below). When you do so, you’ll reveal the final answer and GCHQ’s special message.
Hint 1 - Teamwork is key. Bringing together different minds with different skills will give you the best chance at solving the challenge. If you’re stuck, check social media and #GCHQChristmasChallenge to ask ‘Colin’ for assistance or further hints.
Bletchley Park / Enigma Hint
Hint 2 - Here’s another hint to get you started: The 2023 challenge has a more historical theme than in previous years featuring Bletchley Park - the WWII HQ for the British Government Code and Cipher School. It's also where codebreakers including Alan Turing broke the diabolical German Enigma code.
GCHQ HINTS FOR SOLVING PUZZLES:
Recognizing the type of puzzle you’re looking at will help you determine how best to solve it.
Cryptic crossword clues - A cryptic clue leads to its answer as long as it is read in the right way. What the clue appears to say when read normally is a distraction and usually has nothing to do with the answer. The challenge is to find the way of reading the clue that leads to the solution.
HINT: Look out for indicators that an anagram is included. Or perhaps there are hidden codes within the words. Could the letters be substituted for numbers? For example, ‘A’ could equal 1, ‘B’ could equal 2, and so on. Or it could be more complex - letters could be represented by their subsequent Scrabble score or their corresponding atomic number in the periodic table.
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Rebus - A rebus is the combination of letters, words, and pictures to produce a word or phrase. For example, the below shows the word ‘SECRET’ repeated a number of times:
SECRET
SECRET
SECRET
ANSWER: The TOP word is highlighted. The solution is therefore TOP SECRET.
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Sayings / Phrases - Think about how the words in a puzzle might be used in other common sayings phrases. Maybe they have alternate meanings or opposites? Or perhaps they share a common property with other words and can precede or follow the same word. For example, in this brainteaser the words can be divided into two sets: ALLEY, BOB, BULL, HANG, HOT, POLE, THUNDER, WATCH
ANSWER: While the words may seem somewhat random and not linked, they can all precede one of two words:
ALLEY, BOB, POLE, and THUNDER all precede CAT
BULL, HANG, HOT and WATCH all precede DOG
