The GCHQ Puzzle Book: Perfect for anyone who likes a good headscratcher

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n) (before are pre-nominal titles with each letter replaced by its predecessor in the alphabet) BOK/CPL, LQR/MRS, QDU/REV, RFS/SGT, RHQ/SIR; (after are post-nominal appellations with each letter replaced by its successor in the alphabet) FTR/ESQ, JJJ/III, KOS/JNR, PCF/OBE, TOS/SNR

Country adjectives: Afghan HOUND, Chinese LANTERN, Cuban HEEL, Danish PASTRY, French LEAVE, Indian SUMMER, Maltese CROSS, Norwegian WOOD, Spanish FLY, Swiss ROLL For over one hundred years, GCHQ (or the Government Communications Headquarters) have worked in secret to gather information and solve the toughest of problems to help keep the people of the UK safe and secure. Anagram of a colour: RECTAL/ CLARET, MELON/ LEMON, CHORE/ OCHRE, CHEAP/ PEACH, SORE/ ROSE, SUREST/ RUSSET, LIVERS/ SILVER, ANT/ TAN m) Madness = Chris Foreman, Carl Smyth, Daniel Woodgate, Graham McPherson, Lee Thompson, Mike Barson, Mark Bedfordh) GRATE/GREAT, DISCRETE/DISCREET, HOSE/HOES, PRIDE/PRIED, RUDE/RUDE, SEER/SERE, WEAR/WARE all have a homophonic anagram: PRAISE doesn’t.

Ending of US State: COLORADO, CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE, MARYLAND, NEW HAMPSHIRE, TENNESSEE, WASHINGTON, WISCONSIN X of the Y: LADY/ CAMELLIAS, LORD/ FLIES, SILENCE/ LAMBS, LAST/ MOHICANS, NAME/ ROSE, DAY/ TRIFFIDS, WAR/ WORLDS Melting points of elements (Celsius): ALUMINIUM/659, CALCIUM/850, LEAD/328, LITHIUM/181, MAGNESIUM/650, SILVER/962, TIN/232, ZINC/420 Bird names with one letter garbled: BARBER/ BARBET, MUSTARD/ BUSTARD, BUSTING/ BUNTING, CARRIER/ HARRIER, PLEASANT/ PHEASANT, CLOVER/ PLOVER, SHALLOW/ SWALLOW, CULTURE/ VULTUREleagues: BIG league, COLleague, DIFFERENT league, HANSEATIC leagu, PREMIER league, RUGBY league, SUPER league c) VAIN. Words are anagrams of names starting A, B, C etc, male/female alternating. VAIN is anagram of IVAN. Can be prefixed by a word to form a NATO nation: CANADA, DENMARK, GERMANY, HUNGARY, ICELAND, NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, SPAIN BACON/BEACON, BOWLS/BOWELS, BURNT/BURNET, CANDID/CANDIED, CORPORAL/CORPOREAL, GALLON/GALLEON, LAND/ELAND, POT/POET, QUALITY/EQUALITY, QUIT/QUIET, RATIONAL/RATIONALE, RED/REED, SILICON/SILICONE, SLIGHT/SLEIGHT, SPY/ESPY, SWINGING/SWINGEING, TRADING/TREADING, TWIN/TWINE

b) C - the sequence is the Roman Numeral letters contained in the names of the months of the French Revolutionary Calendar: VEN DÉ MIA IRE, BRU MA IRE, FR IMA IRE, N IVÔSE, P LU VIÔSE, VENTÔSE, GER MINA L, F LORÉA L, PRA IR IA L, MESS IDOR, THER MIDOR, FRU CT IDOR d) UMPTEEN. Words are anagrams of planets with one letter changed. UMPTEEN is an anagram of NEPTU_M_E.f) Denzel Washington - Captain Bennett Marco (from The Manchurian Candidate) - Frank Sinatra - Danny Ocean (from Ocean’s 11) - George Clooney - Batman - Michael Keaton - Beetlejuice m) ELM (5 2+12 2=13 2): with A=1, B=2, …, Z=26 the letters in each trigraph form Pythagorean triplets X your Y (Y is a part of the body): CHANCE your ARM, SHOW your FACE, FIND your FEET, GIVE your HAND, USE your HEAD, CROSS your HEART, PULL your LEG, TOUCH your TOES b) Atomic numbers of chemical elements not sharing first letter with symbol - Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Iron (Fe). Silver (Ag), Tin (Sn), Antimony (Sb), Tungsten (W), Gold (Au), Mercury (Hg), Lead (Pb): 11, 19, 26, 47, 50, 51, 74, 79, 80, 82

Alternatively, for those who think 10 9 is one billion, the answer is: ‘One hundred and thirteen billion, three hundred and seventy-three million, three hundred and seventy-three thousand three hundred and seventy-three’, which has 124 letters. maid(en)s a-milking: CHAMBERmaid, IRON maiden, maid MARIAN, OLD maid, maiden OVER, PARLOURmaid, maiden SPEECH, maiden VOYAGE Mercer (Trenton); Anne Arundel (Annapolis); Richland (Columbia); Ada (Boise); Washington (Montpelier); Shawnee (Topeka); Laramie (Cheyenne).

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c) D. These the initials of the last 6 months of the year: July, August, September, October, November and December. Each number is the position in the alphabet of the letter preceding it: t(20), s(19), d(4), h(8), l(12), d(4), r(18), d(4), a(1). Furniture: Armchair THEATRE, Bed SIT, Cabinet PUDDING, Chair LIFT, Couch POTATO, Ottoman EMPIRE, Stool PIGEON, Table FOOTBALL a) Anagrams: AGREES/GREASE, ASPIRE/PRAISE, CHASTE/SACHET, ENLIST/SILENT, ENTRAP/PARENT, LATTER/RATTLE, NEURAL/UNREAL, PALEST/STAPLE, PRIEST/STRIPE, c) All are words when converted to hexadecimal: 10/ A, 190/ BE, 2766/ ACE, 57005/ DEAD, 11325150/ ACCEDE, 14613198/ DEFACE, 16435934/ FACADE