Christmas quizzes 2005: how to play

And how to win the Procol prizes

In true Scandinavian fashion 'Beyond the Pale' will mark Christmas by running yet another twelve days'-worth of little Procol Harum quizzes. In 1997 it was anagrams, in 1998 it was clues about the songs, in 1999 the questions were based on the Procolesque obsession with The Truth; in 2000 it was a treasure-hunt in the pages of BtP; in 2001 the emphasis was on 'lucky thirteen'; in 2002 we looked at all the Procol albums so far; in 2003 the amazing Procol journeys of Hans Teutiger provided our theme, and in 2004 guest Paler John Annable from Melbourne took us on a cryptic tour of the Keith Reid songbook, and he again supplies this year's anagrammatical conundrums (thanks, John!)

How to play
Each of John Annable's twelve daily puzzles presents you with an anagram of a regular Procol Harum song-title, and a number. The number tells you which word of the song to 'collect': find the song-words here, and for the purposes of this competition treat hyphenated words (such as 'six-triggered') as two words ('six triggered'). There will be a thirteenth instruction on the final day, advising you what to do with these selected words.

For example, the clue might be HIAWATHA FEEDER SLOP (2) . The anagram obviously represents A Whiter Shade of Pale, and the number (2) denotes the second word, “skipped”. So that's the word you make a note of.      

Well simple!

As the days of Christmas unfold, keep a note of each daily answer, and in the last dose there will be a simple, thirteenth instruction, to tell you what to do to win – then you send your entry by e-mail to BtP as fast as possible. If you're in the quickest three correct entrants (on a beat-the-clock basis) you stand a very good chance of getting your prime choice of the prizes. After that, all correct entries received in the next 24 hours will be placed in a Homburg, and the remaining seven winners will be drawn from that by a suitably Glamorous Assistant.

As always, all you will need to send to 'Beyond the Pale' will be a single word. You'll also need to look at our fab prizes and decide which one you most favour ... you'll need to let us know the full order of all twelve.

Over the past years we've had one or two non-winners who claimed, 'You guys tricked me …' so here's fair warning … just read the final instruction carefully!

In the unlikely event of there being fewer winners than prizes this year, early claimants will get more than their fair share!  Prizes will of course be awarded at the absolute discretion of Roland and Jens, who run 'Beyond the Pale', and whose decision will be final; their families are not eligible to enter. Thanks as always to Jane for working the puzzles in advance.