Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

Christmas quizzes 2003: 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 cryptic 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' and in 2002 we looked at all the Procol albums so far.

But this year we are happy to present a slight shift in style with the first set of conundra set by a BtP contributor, long-time Procol fan Hans Teutiger from Stuttgart in Germany, who writes

I was a committed Procol-fan on both sides of the Atlantic during my working life on merchant shipping lines, and since that day of course too. As an Autogramm hunter I have met with the group many times since 1967 and have had the great honor of endorsing my Procol albums, with the names of some of the greatest Musicians, my favorites. My questions are not perhaps cryptic as the webmasters-questions but I hope, that they will be worthy for your webpage at Christmas this year.

--Hans

His puzzles are organised around a chronological survey of the concerts he has been to ... so all you need to solve them will be the BtP index of setlists, a pencil, an internet connection – and your wits about you. Hans's questions will be particularly easy (we want people to win these fifteen prizes!

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 in order to be in the top three. If you're in the quickest three correct entrants (on a beat-the-clock basis) you get your own choice of the prizes. After that, all correct entries received in the next 24 hours will be placed in a Homburg, and the remaining dozen winners will be drawn from that by a suitably Glamorous Assistant.

Enjoy the quizzes daily, starting on Christmas Day – you'll find each day's puzzle-clue at our What's New page – and you could end up owning one or more of our fab Procol Harum prizes (see which prizes were most favoured).

How to win: the last instalment, on Twelfth Night (5 January), will be accompanied by a simple instruction telling you what to do with the answers you have accumulated during the twelve days of Christmas. Follow this instruction, and you will merely need to mail a one-word answer to 'Beyond the Pale': the prizes will go to the senders on the basis outlined above.

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 instruction carefully on the final day!

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 checking the puzzles in advance.

The solution is here; winners are here: see also conundrums from 1997 and 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002