{"id":308073,"date":"2025-12-10T02:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T02:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/308073\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T02:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T02:34:09","slug":"christmas-code-crackers-gchq-reveals-annual-festive-card-for-puzzle-fans-gchq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/308073\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas code-crackers: GCHQ reveals annual festive card for puzzle fans | GCHQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

A warning from the spies at GCHQ: a robber is on the loose, intent on stealing Christmas<\/a> presents. Luckily, he won\u2019t find it easy.<\/p>\n

The robber\u2019s target, according to the British intelligence and security agency, is a house with a large number of rooms, each of which has a letter, which are linked to each other by coloured doors and arrows. He can\u2019t go through the same-coloured door twice in a row, and can\u2019t move against any arrows. Eventually, the robber is caught by the police. How was he acting?<\/p>\n

The answer to this question \u2013 and six other festive brainteasers \u2013 can be deduced from the spy agency\u2019s annual Christmas card, which for the first time this year features designs by schoolchildren alongside its famous puzzles.<\/p>\n

Seven knotty questions have been set by GCHQ\u2019s in-house puzzlers, designed to test code breaking, maths and analysis techniques, and skills such as lateral thinking, ingenuity and perseverance. Puzzlers are encouraged to work in groups and use different ways of thinking to reveal a final Christmassy message.<\/p>\n

One question asks puzzlers to scan the card for \u2018a special seven-letter word\u2019. Photograph: GCHQ<\/p>\n

One question asks puzzlers to scan the card itself looking for \u201ca special seven-letter word which has no repeated letters and no letters which are next to each other in the alphabet\u201d. Another invites them to crack a code that begins \u201cPIGMIHM DRP MHSIAMA QDMPM MBNDQ UITL-FMQQML \u2026\u201d and, notes the question, contains lots of four-letter words. The two hyphenated words are highlighted in red, as is \u201cfour-letter\u201d.<\/p>\n

The agency\u2019s director, Anne Keast-Butler, said: \u201cPuzzles are at the heart of GCHQ\u2019s work to keep the country safe from hostile states, terrorists and criminals; challenging our teams to think creatively and analytically every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope this challenge inspires the next generation to explore Stem subjects and consider the rewarding careers available in cybersecurity and intelligence. Who knows \u2013 some of these talented schoolchildren might be solving our own puzzles in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 500 pupils took part in the competition to design a Christmas card imagining what GCHQ looks like on Christmas Day; their entries were judged by Keast-Butler and the agency\u2019s \u201cchief puzzler\u201d, whom it identifies only as Colin.<\/p>\n

The three winning card designs. Photograph: GCHQ<\/p>\n

Three winning designs were chosen, submitted by Haoran, a year 8 student from Wilson\u2019s school in London, Mariia, who is in year 10 at the Henry Beaufort school in Winchester, and year 12 pupil Amelie from South Wilts grammar school in Salisbury.<\/p>\n

Colin said the puzzles in the card had been devised to suit different skill sets: \u201cSome will suit analytical minds; others require creative leaps of perseverance. That\u2019s entirely intentional \u2013 we want groups of classmates, families and friends working together, combining their different strengths to reveal the final festive message.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith over 140,000 downloads last year, we know these puzzles bring people together over the festive period. All ages are encouraged to give them a go and remember puzzle-solving is often better as a team effort and more fun, too!\u201d Puzzles have been included in the agency\u2019s annual Christmas card since 2015.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Christmas card is available for schools and members of the public to download from GCHQ.gov.uk<\/a>. Answers will be published at 9pm on Wednesday 10 December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A warning from the spies at GCHQ: a robber is on the loose, intent on stealing Christmas presents.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-308073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}