Christmas Puzzle

Posted on December 16, 2005

On a happier note, it's time to put on your thinking caps for the 15th annual charity Christmas Puzzle set by Northall villager Gordon Gray.

You can download the puzzle from www.christmaspuzzle.co.uk and the idea is that you should send in your answers, with a donation to charity, by January 22.

There's lots of info on the website, and I loved the section where people could comment on the 2004 puzzle.

One puzzler said: "What a lovely way of wasting time." Another remarked: "Difficult but not impossible. What more can a puzzler ask? Congratulations on keeping the little grey cells jumping about and supporting so many worthwhile charities."

But this was my favourite comment: "Much pleasure and frustration with the puzzle as usual. Can now use the kitchen table for meals, having put away a multitude of reference books."

Gordon has raised more than £18,000 from his puzzles over the years for good causes. This year, the puzzle will raise cash for Iain Rennie Hospice At Home; Emmaus, St Albans; and NOAH Enterprise. What an incentive to get puzzling! Pass the encyclopaedia, someone...

Source: Gazette Gossip, with Anne O'Donoghue, Dunstable Gazette, 14 December 2005