Christmas quizzes 2009: 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; in 2004 guest Paler John Annable from Melbourne took us on a cryptic tour of the Keith Reid songbook, and he supplied 2005's anagrammatic conundrums as well; in 2006 it was an album-oriented puzzle; in 2007 it was all about cover-versions; in 2008 we toyed with the alphabetical ingredients of song-titles; but this year, the focus is on your ears, and odd-one-out sound-clips from the excellent Salvo Reissue series.

Our guest puzzle-setter is Ronald E Smith ... thanks, Ronald!

So each day of Christmas Ronald has provided a brief mp3 sound-clip for your listening pleasure. In each daily clip you will hear three musical selections taken from the twelve Procol / Salvo reissues (titles listed below). His excerpts include tracks from the two CDs of the Secrets of the Hive compilation, and the three audio CDs from the All This and More box set (but not the DVD).

As you listen carefully to each day's clip, identify the three tracks that have been used, and make a note of the odd-one-out (explanation below). The answer to each day's question will be the exact name of the Salvo album that features the odd-one-out.

For example, click and listen to this clip.

You will hear bits of Good Captain Clack, Boredom and Wreck of the Hesperus. Clearly two of these originate the A Salty Dog album, but Clack comes from Procol Harum. So it's the odd-one-out, so you need to make a note of the name of the source album, 'Procol Harum'. And as the days of Christmas unfold, keep a note of each daily answer – they'll all be different. In the last puzzle there will be a simple, thirteenth instruction, to tell you what you need to do to win.

Points to note!

• The sound-clips do include some of the excellent bonus-tracks (follow the links below to read the track-listings) so don't jump to quick conclusions
• For the avoidance of doubt, the titles of the albums are as follows: Secrets of the Hive / Procol Harum / Shine on Brightly / A Salty Dog / Home / Broken Barricades / Live in Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra / Grand Hotel / Exotic Birds and Fruit / Procol's Ninth / Something Magic / All This and More (click on each title to see the track-listing)
• Each day will have a different answer
• Some tracks appear on the compilations as well as on the original albums, which will occasionally mean there are multiple possible albums from which the odd-one-out could have been drawn. Don't panic: as the days pass, you will be able to use the unambiguous cases to eliminate multiple answers

Some handy resources to help you solve the puzzles: List of Procol Harum songs from 2008's puzzles | BtP search engine | Words of all Procol Harum songs | Salvo Reissues index

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 winners will be drawn from that by a suitably Glamorous Assistant (subject to availability).

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 eight.

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 – indeed, all the instructions – 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, and the family and associates of Ronald E Smith, are not eligible to enter.