GCHQ, the UK intelligence agency, has released its third annual Christmas code-breaking challenge for children. Dubbed the “trickiest” challenge yet, over 1,000 secondary schools have signed up to take part in the event. Designed to keep young minds challenged over the winter break, GCHQ’s gift tags, Christmas cards, and candy canes themed code-breaking challenges aim to test skills such as maths, analysis, and codebreaking.
The challenge centers around a Christmas card sent by Anne Keast-Butler, the director of GCHQ. Enclosed in the card are a range of challenges that are intended to test various skills, with each challenge designed to be more complex than the last. Some of the questions, though, are deceptively simple. For example, one puzzle asks participants to split nine gift tags into three equal groups of three. The three groups must be linked by a word that follows “Christmas”.
There are seven brain teasers in total, and a challenging maths-based bonus puzzle has been included. Participants are encouraged to approach the challenge with teammates, drawing upon each individual’s skillset to crack the code. GCHQ hopes it will show young people that problem-solving requires a diverse mix of skills.
This year’s Christmas challenge theme has a historical nod, featuring Bletchley Park—the wartime home of the UK’s spy agency—on the card. A group of scientists broke the German Enigma code at the location over 80 years ago. The card includes a photograph taken in 1940 that was discovered in the personal family album of codebreaker Joan Wingfield, who worked on Italian naval codes
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