Christmas Quiz 2016
The Solution
The fact that all competitors submitted the correct solution testifies to the
simplicity of this year's challenge. Read competitors'
comments here
Gazing nightly at the grid of letters, contestants quickly learnt to pick out
a key word that identified a particular Procol song, and then look for the other
related words (their lengths laving been specified) that were squirreled away in
the square.
There were of course, some reddish herrings ... and competitors fell for them
hook line and sinker, to our delight.
• Which members of Procol Harum are not included?
• Why is one included twice?
• Which Beatle is anagrammatised?
• Why is one included twice?
• Which Procol album is not represented?
And so on and so on. Herring details are spelt out in the table below, along with a running thread
thanking the indispensable Jane Clare for working the puzzles in advance, and
troubleshooting various glitches.
Once people had found out all the words, they were asked to identify
corner-squares that remianed untouched, and to compile the letters therein.
Taken in order from 25 December onward, these letters spelt out a reassuring
little message ... ROLAND HATH CHECKED THE START.
This complemented the running thread, 'Jane comes from Perth and very
kindly oversaw various final puzzle checks' ... as if, sharing out start and
ending, father and daughter had made sure everything worked.
The next step was to find a Procol tune whose name was an anagram of 'Roland
hath checked the start'.
That's not a quick task. The quick task is just to find a 25-letter song
title with a 'K' in it ... The Hand that Rocks the Cradle.
And as for the five-word phrase sung after the last iteration of the title,
it was 'Gonna be the lucky one' ... which voiced the hopes of every
competitor and tallied infallibly with the lucky four-leaf clover that
appears on every page.
Now read on ...
|
25 December |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
R
Running thread: Jane
Procol forename(s): Gary |
|
26 December |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
O, L
Running thread: comes
Procol forename(s): Barrie |
|
27 December |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
A, N, D
Running thread: from
Procol forename(s): Henry, Alan
Beatle: John |
|
28 December |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
H, A
Running thread: Perth
Procol forename(s): David, Dave |
|
29 December |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
T
Running thread: and
Procol forename(s): Ray, Ian |
|
30 December |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
H
Running thread: very
Procol forename(s): Chris
Beatle: Paul |
|
31 December |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
C, H, E, C
Running thread: kindly
Procol forename(s): Mick |
|
01 January |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
K
Running thread: oversaw
Procol forename(s): Robin, Don
Beatles: Ringo, Egoger |
|
02 January |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
E, D
Running thread: various
Procol forename(s): Geoff D, Geoff W |
|
03 January |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
T, H
Running thread: final
Procol forename(s): Pete, Matt |
|
04 January |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
E, S
Running thread: puzzle
Procol forename(s): Robin again, Keith, Mark, Graham, Tim R
|
|
05 January |
 |
 Unused corner-letter(s):
T, A, R, T
Running thread: checks
Procol forename(s): Kellogs, Josh
Beatle: John again |
How to play |
Winners |
Prizes |
Competitors' comments, good and bad