For the young spies of tomorrow, it is a mission for your eyes only.
GCHQ has released its fiendish Christmas puzzle to test budding James Bonds.
The new head of the intelligence agency, Anne Keast-Butler has set the ‘trickiest Christmas Challenge so far’ for schoolchildren around the country.
Over 1,000 schools have already registered in advance for the annual challenge, which is part of GCHQ’s Christmas card featuring the agency’s wartime home, Bletchley Park.
Aspiring spy students will be asked to solve seven increasingly fiendish puzzles and riddles masterminded by GCHQ’s in-house puzzlers.
GCHQ has released its fiendish Christmas puzzle (pictured) to test budding James Bonds
The new head of the intelligence agency, Anne Keast-Butler has set the ‘trickiest Christmas Challenge so far’ for schoolchildren around the country. Each of the questions have a one-word answer which can follow the word ‘Christmas’
Over 1,000 schools have already registered in advance for the annual challenge, which is part of GCHQ’s Christmas card featuring the agency’s wartime home, Bletchley Park
Each of the questions have a one-word answer which can follow the word ‘Christmas’.
To discover the final festive answer, children will need to look to the design on the front of the card, which features a rare 1940 image of a snow-covered Bletchley Park taken before a photography ban was introduced at the mansion.
The image was found in the personal family album of codebreaker Joan Wingfield, a talented cryptographer working on breaking Italian naval codes who later married GCHQ’s seventh director Arthur Bonsall.
The challenge is designed to test a range of problem-solving skills and secondary school pupils may need to work together to reveal the final festive message.
Aspiring spy students will be asked to solve seven increasingly fiendish puzzles and riddles masterminded by GCHQ’s in-house puzzlers
To discover the final festive answer, children will need to look to the design on the front of the card, which features a rare 1940 image of a snow-covered Bletchley Park taken before a photography ban was introduced at the mansion
Ms Keast-Butler, who is the first woman to lead GCHQ, said it will test skills in codebreaking, maths and analysis, which are all part of the agency’s secret work.
‘Puzzles have been at the heart of GCHQ from the start. These skills represent our historic roots in cryptography and encryption and continue to be important to our modern-day mission to keep the country safe’, she said.
‘GCHQ’s history at Bletchley Park is represented in this year’s Christmas card as a reminder of the role this historic place has played in our wartime efforts but also as home to this year’s AI Safety Summit.
‘Our puzzlers have created a challenge which is designed for a mix of minds to solve. Whether you are an analyst, an engineer or a creative, there is a puzzle for everyone. This is one for classmates, family and friends to try to solve together.’ This year to celebrate the new director’s passion for maths, GCHQ is also releasing a bonus puzzle asking about sides.
The architect of the quiz, known only as Colin, has set a final test for pupils to find a hidden word in his quote: ‘Christmas is a great opportunity for GCHQ to engage young people, hence our annual Christmas Challenge.
‘Our mission relies on people thinking differently and finding inventive ways to approach challenges.
‘Like the work at GCHQ, solving the puzzles on the card requires a mix of minds, and we want to show young people that thinking differently is a gift.
‘In order to read the final message these different approaches need to be brought together, demonstrating the value of teamwork as the final piece of the puzzle.
‘Not only do we want the Christmas Challenge to introduce young people to how we work at GCHQ, but we also intend it to be fun!’
For all the answers see tomorrow’s Daily Mail.