GCHQ releases Christmas puzzle - crack brainteaser with answers in full (2025)

The Christmas puzzle from the agency is now an annual event (Image: GCHQ)

One of the UK's spy agencies has released a befuddling puzzle to put Britons through their paces as it looks to get more people into intelligence and cybersecurity.

The Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ, puts out a notoriously difficult Christmas puzzle every year.

The agency specialises in various areas including intelligence gathering and protecting the public from financial threats online, and cracking this one will require the skills of the next James Bond.

This year, brave codebreakers will also have to hunt for hidden "Easter egg" giving the brainteaser an extra layer of difficulty.

GCHQ head Anne Keast-Butler says she hopes this year's puzzle will encourage young people to go become interested in Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths).

READ MORE: You have a high IQ if you can solve this super tricky inheritance puzzle

The brainteaser starts off easy but quickly ramps up in difficulty. (Image: GCHQ)

“Puzzles have always been at the heart of GCHQ, and the skills needed to solve them are just as relevant in 2024 as they were over 100 years ago,” she said.

“The puzzles are aimed at teenagers and young people, but everyone is encouraged to give them a try – they might surprise you.

“The Challenge has been designed for a mix of minds to solve, so is best tackled in groups of classmates, families or friends. Whether you have an analytical mind, a creative brain or prefer engineering, there’s something for everyone.”

Last year's puzzle was downloaded 138,000 times in schools and homes around the world.

SPOILER WARNING: You'll find the answers to the puzzle below, so you may want to look away if you haven't given up yet!

You can have a go yourself by visiting the website here.

DON'T MISS:
Baffling riddle leaves people stumped - but the answer is so obvious [REPORT]
Simple brainteaser can determine if you're a follower or have 'creative' mind [INSIGHT]
Nintendo Switch game with 95% rating is reduced to less than £4 [LATEST]

Here are some handy hints for the puzzle (Image: GCHQ)

Brainteaser answers in full

The spy chief's Christmas card includes seven puzzles, each referencing GCHQ's sites across the country, including Manchester, London, Scarborough, Bude and Cheltenham.

The answers to each puzzles are a major UK landmark.

Question 1

The first clue shows a picture of an American bank note, a monarch, ham, two friends and an ace of spades playing card.

By using the words to describe them we get: Buck, King, Ham, Pal, Ace, or "Buckingham Palace".

Question 2

This next one will require you to find some word combinations and find the clue through the process of elimination.

The answer will be clear once quizzers identify the award, carrier, character, programme, route, and safety guide made up from a word from each column.

The award is a "Blue Peter Badge", the carrier is a "Brown Paper Bag", the character is the protagonist of the fairytale "Red Riding Hood", the programme is children's favourite the "Pink Panther Show", the route is "Yellow Brick Road", while the safety guice is the "Green Cross Code".

The three words that remain will give you "Black Pool" (or Blackpool) "Tower".

The questions require you to decipher ciphers and a maths problem. (Image: GCHQ)

Question 3

Question three requires a bit of lateral - or vertical thinking - and tasks puzzlers with finding the missing words, letters or numbers.

The first answer is UN the french word for the number one, completing the number sequence.

The next one requires some knowledge of Roman numerals, with the next number in the sequence being the symbol for four, IV.

The third answer is "ER" the missing letter in the singing excercise Do, Re, Mi, which is shown with each word reversed.

The fourth is "IS" - as Q and G are the 17th and 7th letters of the alphabet, while RH are the 18th and 8th meaning the next in the sequence is the 19th and 9th, or I and S.

The next answer, "TY" may well be right in front of you as you take on the quiz, as it appears on the QWERTY keyboard of your computer.

This one is "OF" completing completing the sequence Joan "OF" Arc.

Old MacDonalds backwards is CAM, the sequence Great Britain is completed with the three letters BRI, while the word "Knowledge" is completed with the letters DGE.

The letters together spell out University of Cambridge

All the initial answers central around famous UK landmarks, like Buckingham Palace. (Image: Getty)

Question 4

The answers to this crossword are DENIM, GRUB, CHA CHA CHA, STYLE, GHEE, LORD, KICK IT OUT, BASSOON.

Then by writing the single letter that appears in both the across answer and the down answer sections you'll get the next landmark: Edinburgh Castle.

Question 5

You get the next answer by finding synonyms for the words, i.e.:

• soldier - GI
• insects - ANTS
• basis - CAUSE
• path - WAY

Together the letters give us the Northern Irish UNESCO site "Giants Causeway".

The headquarters of GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK (Image: Getty)

Question 6

This requires you to follow a sequence of numbers and identify the incorrect ones. You then take the difference between them and the correct number giving you the sequence: 19, 20, 15, 14, 5, 8, 5, 14, 7, 5.

If you crossreference these with the letters of the alphabet you get the sixth answer: Stonehenge.

Question 7

The clue is in the question here, which begins with PERHAPS READING and is the key for a substitution cipher (P=I, E=S, R=K etc.)

The translated sentence reads: "Perhaps reading it not ciphered is primarily a leading indication to you solving this admittedly devious initially unreadable message," with the first letter of each word spelling out: "Principality Stadium".

Final answer

Now, with our seven locations deciphered (Buckingham Palace, Blackpool Tower, University of Cambridge, Edinburgh Castle, Giants Causeway, Stone Henge and Principality Stadium), the final clue can be cracked.

Each location is dotted geographically on the map along with an animal, as follows:

• Buckingham Palace - polar bear
• Blackpool Tower - dinosaur
• University of Cambridge - hedgehog
• Edinburgh Castle - unicorn
• Giants Causeway - owl
• Stone Henge - lobster
• Principality Stadium - robin

By taking finding the corresponding letters from the alphabet for the numbers below each animal at the bottom you'll get: EDIN, ECTI, PROT, GDOM, UNIT, EKIN, NGTH

When rearranged, we get the final answer and one of GCHQ's central aims: "Protecting the United Kingdom".