GCHQ Christmas puzzle 2024: All answers and explanations revealed

13 December 2024, 10:25 | Updated: 13 December 2024, 10:37

By Alice Dear

Here's all the answers to the 2024 GCHQ Christmas puzzle, including explanations on all seven questions and the final answer.

GCHQ's Christmas puzzle for 2024 has arrived, and it's got people up and down the UK scratching their heads as they attempt to prove their code-cracking abilities.

This year, there are a total of seven questions in the Christmas puzzle, sent out by Director Anne Keast-Butler, with all answers featuring a famous UK landmark. These answers will then allow you to crack the overall code of the quiz.

GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters, a UK intelligence, security, and cyber agency) release these puzzles every year around the festive period, encouraging kids and adults to test their codebreaking abilities, and potentially unlocking a future career in the industry.

• Listen to Heart Xmas on Global Player, the official Heart app

Here's where you can download the GCHQ Christmas Puzzle 2024, the hints (if you're struggling) as well as a full list of the answers, and an explanation of how to work them out.

What is the GCHQ Christmas puzzle for 2024?

The GCHQ Christmas puzzle for 2024 comes with seven puzzles, all which - when worked out correctly - give you the names of landmarks in the UK.

The final puzzle uses these seven landmarks to help you find the overall answer to this year's puzzle. The answer will reveal "what people across all of our GCHQ locations will be this Christmas."

You can find the puzzle here.

GCHQ Christmas puzzle hints

Here are the hints for the GCHQ Christmas puzzle:

1) Maybe one of your PALs can help you with the fourth picture

2) What Code do you follow to Cross the road safely? Which show features a panther?

3) Not all of the sequences read forwards

4) The letter in the top left box is E, as that is the only letter in both GHEE and DENIM

5) What sort of insects live in colonies? Was not knowing that the CAUSE of you needing a hint for this puzzle?

6) Write out the numbers 1-20, and then write the numbers in the question underneath them. What are the numerical differences?

7) The first two words in are ‘PERHAPS READING’. Use this to work out which letters represent A, D, E, G, H, I, N, P, R and S. These will help you find out how the MESSAGE is CIPHERED.

GCHQ Christmas puzzle answers and explanations

Question 1

Answer: Buckingham Palace

Why: The images display a Buck, King, Ham, Pal, and Ace, which when said together makes 'Buckingham Palace'.

Question 2

Answer: Blackpool Tower

Why: The award is 'Blue Peter Badge', the carrier is 'Brown Paper Bag', the character is 'Red Riding Hood' and the programme is 'Pink Panther Show'. The route is 'Yellow Brick Road' and the safety guide is 'Green Cross Code'. This leaves you with the three words; Black Pool Tower.

Question 3

Answer: UN, IV, ER, ER, IS, TY, OF, CAM, BRI, DGE (University of Cambridge)

Why:

• UN is the French word for 'one', which follows the countdown of TROIS and DEUX (three and two)
• IV is four in Roman numerals, and comes after the numerals for two and three, and before five
• ER represents the note 'RE' from the musical scale 'DO, RE, MI' which has been reversed in this puzzle
• IS are the 19th and 9th letters of the alphabet, QG are 17th and 7th and RH are 18th and 8th
• TY are the keys on the keyboard which follow QWER
• OF should be found between 'Joan' and 'Arc' to make 'Joan of Arc'
• CAM because the word is Old McDonald spelt backwards
• BRI because the three letters make 'Great Britain'
• DGE because these letters complete the word 'knowledge'

All these answers together gives you the answer: University of Cambridge

Question 4

Answer: Edinburgh Castle / DENIM, GRUB, CHA CHA CHA, STYLE, GHEE, LORD, KICK IT OUT, BASSOON

Why: By writing the single letter that appears in both the across answer and the down answer sections, you get Edinburgh Castle.

Question 5

Answer: Giants Causeway

Why: You find the answer 'Giants Causeway' by listing the synonyms for the words in brackets;

• Soldier becomes GI
• Insects becomes ANTS
• Basis becomes CAUSE
• Path becomes WAY

Question 6

Answer: Stonehenge

Why: By following a sequence of numbers (and finding the incorrect ones) you then find the difference between them, giving you 19, 20, 15, 14, 5, 8, 5, 14, 7, 5. When cross-referenced with the alphabet, it spells Stonehenge.

Question 7

Answer: Principality Stadium

Why: In the question the bold 'PERHAPS READING' is the key to this puzzle - the first two words from the sentence provide their counterparts. For example; P is an I, E is a S, R is a K and so on.

The sentence reads: "Perhaps reading it not ciphered is primarily a leading indication to you solving this admittedly devious initially unreadable message."

If you take every first letter from this sentence you are left with 'Principality Stadium.'

Final puzzle - the map

Answer: Protecting the United Kingdom

Why: Each landmark you have found (Buckingham Palace, Blackpool Tower, University of Cambridge, Edinburgh Castle, Giants Causeway, Stone Henge and Principality Stadium) have been replaced by an animal on the map.

• Buckingham Palace - Polar bear
• Blackpool Tower - Dinosaur
• University of Cambridge - Hedgehog
• Edinburgh Castle - Unicorn
• Giants Causeway - Owl
• Stone Henge - Lobster
• Principality Stadium - Robin

Each animal has letters below them, which refer to the letters of the alphabet they are code for. Once you've worked these out, you're left with: EDIN, ECTI, PROT, GDOM, UNIT, EKIN, NGTH. This anagram rearranged, it becomes 'United in Protetcing the Kingdom'.

Extras:

• The morse code shown on the front of the quiz also spells out We wish you a Merry Christmas We wish you a Merry Christmas
• The binary code in the sea reads: Season's Greetings
• The first letter of each animal in the order visited by Santa spells Rudolph