GCHQ Christmas Puzzle 2024

[Throughthebluebells]

Has anyone completed this yet?

www.gchq.gov.uk/news/gchq-christmas-challenge-2024

I have and think I have the correct answer but have two letters left over at the end!

I haven’t sat down with it yet …

We've managed to answer all the qns, decipher the santa sleigh bit, but are stuck at the animals at the end. Grr.

I'm sure we'll have an "of course" moment at some point... we've opened a bottle of wine for inspiration.

Ah, it turns out that DH couldn't count the letters properly.

Well done GCHQ!

We're stuck! Have answers to ques 1-5 but don't get the 6 as the answer is a number and I don't understand what to do with the answers!!!

I don't think I ever would have worked out 6 from the actual puzzle, I worked it out from the map instead but do know now how to work it out.

The individual differences between what is right and what is wrong are the important bit. None are greater than '24'.

Hope that isn't too much of a spoiler.

Yeah I've had it explained to me and understand now but don't think I would have got it on my own!

Am I misremembering but didn’t it used to be interactive??

Someone told me there are some hidden puzzles as well. I've found the binary and the morse code. Has anyone spotted any others? I did wonder if the animals wearing scarves/hats has significance?

I have answered all 7 questions, but I have two left over letters too for the final solution. I think I can work out what the answer is supposed to be, but the letters don’t add up.

I've just checked and have 3 left over letters, once I'd worked out what it was meant to be I didn't bother double checking!

I'm guessing the bee/satellite dishes/donut are something?

Yes, you do 1-7 before/after sorting out the morse. Then figure out the animals (in the right order and make sure you can count through letters)

Yes I've done that but have 3 letters too many to what I think the answer is

I've done it. If you have the same two leftover letters as me I've found they work if you put them between words 1 and 2 of the solution.

Ahh I've got it now!

@EdithGrantham the donut is the nickname of GCHQs office in Cheltenham - I assume the others are similar

At last! It was a true family effort - with some help from a binary translator that I didn't know existed.

Donut - A site, Bee - B site and the other two are satellite offices.

Yes, I did it. I thought it was easier than the previous two, which were less transparent about what you had to do for each clue! But as an adult, I of course had an advantage of knowing more of the geography and using that as a clue.
I did the morse code but haven't seen the binary bit, will have another look.

I was confused trying to work out the final answer as there are two words in it that I expected to be next to each other but they're not.

I did it today and felt pretty chuffed with myself. I had to work number 6 backwards though, despite having got the number diffs i hadn't worked out what to do with them til i knew the answer from the picture!

The morse code seemed irrelevant to me?

For the people saying they have leftover letters I don't understand that. My letters made the exact right answer (well I presume it's right!). Initially I assumed the answer was going to be something else (so am wondering if you thought the same) but once I put each set of letters in the right order - following father Christmas's sleigh, it made sense exactly.

V happy with myself - don't think ive ever managed it before (though I might hunt down previous years and see how I get on).

Finished, also used up all letters if my answer is correct. I was actually able to get this answer before number 7, and then work back to understand the answer for number 7 lol

Yep. I liked it, but agree with a previous poster I reckon it was easier than previous years.

The letters all work out fine, not sure what people are confused about with that.... ??

Need to go back and spot the binary though - got the morse.

Edit: ah, got it now, my ebook reader for PDFs on phone has shit contrast for seeing that!

Got it now! The ‘missing’ letters for me were due a misspelling, applying the the wrong number code and then guessing the wrong answer. I don’t think GCHQ are going to be queuing up to employ me any day soon!