The GCHQ Christmas Challenge has become a pre-Christmas tradition. While it is primarily targeted at school students working in teams, GCHQ encourages both children and adults to give it a try.

The Challenge is contained in a Christmas card sent by GCHQ Director Anne Keast-Butler and features a series of seven puzzles, which range in difficulty and test different problem-solving skills such as  codebreaking, maths and analysis and test lateral thinking, ingenuity and perseverance.

The focus this year is the surprising geography of GCHQ, which operates from several sites across the UK including Manchester, London, Scarborough, Bude as well as its iconic headquarters in Cheltenham.

 According to GCHQ last year’s card, which was downloaded 138,000 times by schools and members of the public. To try to cap this, this year for the first time there are three additional elements hidden within the card for those who want to take on an extra challenge.

In this video Chief Puzzler Colin introduces Christmas Challenge: 

Visit The GCHQ Christmas Challenge 2024 To download the puzzle, some hints in case you are stuck and the solutions to discover if you reached the right answers

• Mike James is the author of The Trick Of The Mind: Programming and Computational Thought, aimed at programmers and non-programmers alike, which examines the nature of programming and reveals why it is a very special skill.

More Information

The GCHQ Christmas Challenge 2024 

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