The UK’s spy agency, GCHQ, has delivered a Christmas brainteaser for James Bond wannabes. Can you figure out the festive answers?
The puzzles, which are based on the seven disciplines that are needed at GCHQ to help keep the country safe, feature on the Christmas card sent by its director Sir Jeremy Fleming to his contacts around the world
The disciplines are languages, engineering, codebreaking, analysis, maths, coding and cyber security.
The brainteaser, which has been “masterminded by a team of the agency’s in-house puzzlers”, is designed not only to test the knowledge of schoolchildren, but also their ability to work as a team, and inspire an interest in STEM subjects.
STEM refers to the science, technology, engineering and maths subjects and industries.
A GCHQ spokesman: “This year’s challenge comes with a twist, once they solve all seven puzzles, schoolchildren will need to think outside the box, using the design on the front of the card to assemble the answers, forming three separate What3Words locations.
“Joining the three place names together will reveal the special festive answer.”
What3Words is a mobile phone app which divides the world into a grid of three metre squares and allocates three words to each square to enable people to share their precise location.
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Speaking about GCHQ’s festive brainteaser, Sir Jeremy said: “From breaking Enigma to harnessing the latest cutting-edge technology, our brilliant people have worked together throughout our history to help keep the country safe.
“This year’s GCHQ Christmas card challenge gives an insight into the skills we need every day as part of our mission – from languages to coding.
“But skills alone won’t be enough to crack this one. Puzzlers need to combine a mix of minds to solve the seemingly impossible.”
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Sir Jeremy’s card has been sent to partners who work with the agency to counter threats, from terror groups and organised crime gangs, both around the UK and the world.
Schools and individuals interested in taking part in the puzzles can find a resource pack on the GCHQ website.
