GCHQ sets its 2020 Christmas card challenge
The card is sent by our Director Jeremy Fleming to colleagues and partners across the world, but we're also sharing the brainteaser with you for to enjoy over the festive season.
You can download the Christmas card challenge at the bottom of the page. To solve it, you'll need to complete a number of incomplete letter sequences before plotting your answers on a special Christmas bauble to reveal a hidden message.
A GCHQ spokesperson said:
“Problem solving is at the heart of what we do. Taking on this Christmas cracker gives puzzlers an insight into the skills you need to be a GCHQ analyst.
“Bring together a mix of minds by sharing it with the wise men and women in your household to find the solution.”
The challenge was put together by our staff, where problem solving is at the heart of our work to help protect the UK as it faces increasingly complex issues and threats to national security. Through the design, creation and solving of puzzles, our teams are able to constantly develop their skills in thinking differently and discover new and inventive ways of approaching problems.
We also set weekly puzzles on our Twitter channel and earlier this year announced we had raised over £500,000 for the mental health initiative Heads Together through the sales of our two GCHQ Puzzle Books.
We've now revealed the answer to the challenge which you can find in the Downloads section below.
