Tag Archives: festive puzzle

A Puzzle for Christmas and the First Night of Hanukkah!

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Hello fellow puzzlers!

Christmas has come and gone, but Hanukkah has only just begun, and thanks to the creative minds of George Barany and Michael Hanko, I’m delighted to have an additional puzzle to share with you all at this festive time!

George and Michael have titled their puzzle December 25, 2024 (clued to midweek difficulty), and they’ve provided the following preface:

This holiday puzzle, with its dual time options and its two sets of clues, offers you the gift of choice. To accentuate your experience of your holiday–whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah–choose the clue set that corresponds to your personal tradition. Or, to ramp up your puzzle’s level of difficulty, choose a clue set that is outside your personal tradition. However you choose to approach our puzzle, we wish you a happy and/or merry solve!

George and Michael have playfully called the Christmas version of the puzzle HO and the Hanukkah version, OY. (You can download PDF versions of each by clicking the links provided.)

And for on-line solving with full “check” and “reveal” functionality, you can click on the links:

HO version

OY version

Reminder, a SINGLE answer grid is produced by solving from either clue set.  George and Michael are grateful to Noam Elkies, Charles Flaster, Theresa Horan, and Markand Thakar for taking time from each of their busy holiday leadups to test solve both versions and make helpful suggestions that improved it.

By request of the constructors, if you like the puzzle, please spread the cheer to your own circle.

Oh, and if you’re looking for other seasonal puzzles, check out this rectangular one created by Noam Elkies!

Thank you to George, Michael, and Noam for letting us share these puzzles with you all. Happy solving everyone!

The 2024 GCHQ Christmas Challenge Launches Tomorrow!

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One government agency in England celebrates Christmas a little bit differently than most.

The GCHQ — or Government Communications Headquarters — provides security and intelligence services for the British government. Back when they were known as GC&CS — Government Code and Cypher School — they were responsible for funding Bletchley Park and its successes cracking the German “Enigma” code during World War II.

And now, they provide one of the coolest and puzzliest challenges of the year, designed for solvers aged eleven to eighteen to test their skills, hoping to inspire the next generation of puzzle solvers.

Yes, it’s time once again for the GCHQ Christmas card.

GCHQ card
A look at 2021’s GCHQ Christmas Card.

We provided detailed breakdowns of their Christmas cards in 2016 and 2021, and if you’d like a sample of the GCHQ Christmas Challenge, they have an archive of the last three years ready for you to solve!

The 2024 edition of the GCHQ Christmas Challenge launches tomorrow, Wednesday December 11th for the general public. (Schools were able to register for early access to the puzzles, complete with lesson-planning materials, which is very cool.)

Here’s what the GCHQ has to say about the event:

At GCHQ, we love creating puzzles and breaking codes. That’s why every year we create the GCHQ Christmas Challenge, a series of fiendish brainteasers and puzzles, designed by our very own team of codebreakers. It encourages children aged 11-18 to think laterally and work as a team, as well as showcasing some of the skills they might need to become a spy.

The puzzles are not designed to be solved alone, and each student will bring something different to the challenge. At GCHQ, we believe the right mix of minds enables us to solve seemingly impossible problems.

I’ve always been impressed with what festive puzzly efforts GCHQ brings each year, and I can’t wait to see what the 2024 edition has in store for solvers.

So, fellow puzzlers, do you accept this year’s Christmas Challenge? Let us know in the comments section below!

Solution to Last Week’s Merry Birthday Puzzle!

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A week ago, we shared a brain teaser sent in by a PuzzleNationer named Darrin (who credited Marilynn Rapp Buxton as the creator of the puzzle). Darrin challenged us to solve the following logic puzzle.

Today, we’re going to share not only the solution, but how we got there! Please enjoy this brief solve and tutorial, submitted by one of your fellow PuzzleNationers!

Four friends — two girls named Holly and Joy, two boys named Kris and Noel — all celebrate their birthdays during December. Though none was born on Christmas Day — each was born on a different day — they all have festive names. Can you figure out each person’s last name and order of birth?

1. Nobody’s first name goes with the traditional last name (Berry, Fully, Kringle, or Singer) that you might expect.
2. Someone’s birthday is three days after their friend Joy’s birthdate.
3. Holly’s birthday is three days before Noel’s and three days after Kris’.
4. Miss Fully’s birthdate is six days after Joy’s.
5. Noel’s birthdate is six days after the one whose last name is Berry.

christmas elves

[Image courtesy of Moji-Moji Design on ravelry.]

Let’s sort out the order of birth first.

We know from rule 3 that Holly’s birthdate is three days before Noel’s and three days after Kris’s. So their birthdate order is Kris, Holly, Noel.

But we also know from rule 2 that someone’s birthday is three days after Joy’s. Since they all have different birthdays, that means Joy’s birthday comes first in the order, giving us Joy, Kris, Holly, Noel.

Rule 4 tells us that Miss Fully’s birthdate is six days after Joy’s, so Holly’s last name is Fully.

Rule 5 states that Noel’s birthday is six days after the one whose last name is Berry, so Kris’s last name is Berry.

That gives us Joy ____, Kris Berry, Holly Fully, Noel ____.

Rule 1 tells us all four last names — Berry, Fully, Kringle, and Singer — and that nobody’s first name goes with the traditional last name that you might expect. Logically, those names would be Holly Berry, Joy Fully, Kris Kringle, and Noel Singer.

Since Kringle and Singer are the two remaining last names, and Singer can’t go with Noel, our final list reads Joy Singer, Kris Berry, Holly Fully, Noel Kringle.

How did you do, fellow PuzzleNationers? Did you solve this one? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

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A Festive Brain Teaser Submitted For Your Puzzly Pleasure!

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[Image courtesy of SharpBrains.com.]

When’s the last time you had your brain properly tied in knots by a riddle?

That’s a pretty common occurrence around here, honestly. In our puzzly explorations of the world, we stumble across all manner of brain teasers, riddles, logic puzzles, math problems, mind ticklers, deduction games, and wordplay-fueled bits of linguistic legerdemain.

Sometimes, we even receive them directly from our fellow PuzzleNationers!

And on those occasions, we happily share them with you, dear reader, so that you can also enjoy the challenge of unraveling whatever fiendish puzzly conundrum has been placed before us.

This time around, a solver named Darrin submitted this festive holiday puzzle he found in his aunt’s collection of puzzle books. (He credits Marilynn Rapp Buxton as the constructor of this puzzle.)

Let’s see how we do.

Four friends — two girls named Holly and Joy, two boys named Kris and Noel — all celebrate their birthdays during December. Though none was born on Christmas Day — each was born on a different day — they all have festive names. Can you figure out each person’s last name and order of birth?

1. Nobody’s first name goes with the traditional last name (Berry, Fully, Kringle, or Singer) that you might expect.
2. Someone’s birthday is three days after their friend Joy’s birthdate.
3. Holly’s birthday is three days before Noel’s and three days after Kris’.
4. Miss Fully’s birthdate is six days after Joy’s.
5. Noel’s birthdate is six days after the one whose last name is Berry.

Will you be accepting this puzzly challenge from a fellow PuzzleNationer? Let us know in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!

   dailypopwsicon

Treat yourself to some delightful deals on puzzles. You can find them on the Home Screen for Daily POP Crosswords and Daily POP Word Search! Check them out!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!