Christmas quizzes 2010: 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, and in 2009 the theme was sound-clips from the excellent Salvo Reissue series. In 2010, however, we're back with Keith Reid's words ... no strange or obscure songs, just the ones you are familiar with from the official records.

So each day of Christmas you'll see a grid somewhat like the one below. In the top row are three statements about the world of Procol Harum, and underneath are three lyric-clues that relate to Keith Reid's song-words.

Your task is to find the true statement in the upper line, and to solve the clue that is published immediately below it. To do this, you need to recognise the song-words in the lower line, and identify a single missing word. The number of letters in the missing word will be found in brackets.

To solve the example above: you'll notice that the first statement in the line is the correct one ('world-class rock band') so you have to solve the 'business-friend' lyric-clue below. You'll recognise that it comes from Homburg, though if you don't spot that, you can search 'Beyond the Pale' on Google (look for 'business-friend') or try some of the following links:

List of Procol Harum songs (from a previous puzzle) | BtP search engine | Words of all Procol Harum songs | Search 'Beyond the Pale' on Google

Jane Clare, who tests and verifies the annual puzzles at BtP, comments: 'I found the Google search the best link of all, but users should remember not to delete the words 'site:procolharum.com' from the search-field, when entering the text they're looking for.'

So the answer in the above instance is 'multilingual' (it has 12 letters, as shewn in brackets after the lyric-clue), and you'd need to make a note of that word if it were part of the actual puzzle,. rather than just being an example.
On the day of the final puzzle, there will be a thirteenth instruction telling you what to do next: as always, the answer to the whole puzzle will be a single word.

Tactical advice: of course, if you can't decide which of the three statements in the top line is true, you could solve all the three lyric-clues daily in the lower line, and keep a note of all three words (in this case 'multilingual' [from Homburg], 'ambulance' [from A Christmas Camel] and 'Mexican' [from Memorial Drive]). But on the final day you probably won't be able to win unless you have figured out the correct twelve answers!

To make it all easier: there will be a hint each day on the What's New page, a hyperlink that will take you to a useful page elsewhere on this website. Reading the hint-pages will eventually help you sort the true statements (in the top line) from the untrue ones, but – just to excite your sick and weary brains – you won't necessarily get a hint that's relevant to the particular day's question. On Day One you might get a hint that won't be useful until Day Eight, for example. By the end, of course, you'll have all the hints to clarify all the true/untrue statements ... so you'll be able to tell which of the lyric-answers (in the lower line) are the twelve you need.

You can join in at any time, if you have a pencil and an internet connection! The answer at the end will  be a single word, as in previous years.

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 nine.

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 wording of all the questions, and 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 are not eligible to enter.