Excellent work - high five!!
Okay, 6 is a fun one.
Each bar represents a binary number with the half notes as 0 and the quarter notes as 1. So the numbers are
00011
00001
10010
01111
01100
Which translate in decimal to 3 - 1 - 18 - 15- 12. Which translate in letters to C-A-R-O-L.
Nicely done!
And the overall answer is YULETIDE FELICITATIONS .
That was fun, and as you said, great teamwork!
Oh, I’ve just figured out how you got that. Nice!
I was able to solve the entire puzzle last year and this year, including the final message and the solution word for puzzle #3, except Yorkshire.
The 2024 challenge is out:
A first quick bash - some of the others will need writing down for me to solve.
1 Buckingham Palace
2 Blackpool Tower
3 UN, IV, ER, SI, TY, OF, CAM, BRI, DGE
5 GI, ANTS, CAUSE, WAY
Just noticed this thread. Started one myself in MPSIMS, solved it in about 15 minutes. Note you will need the picture on the main page, not included in the PDF
Edit, my mistake, it is in the PDF, don’t know how I missed it 
To finish off Gyrate’s list:
4 EDINBURGH CASTLE
6 STONEHENGE
7 PRINCIPALITY STADIUM
Final answer:
Using Santa’s route and the numbered letters for each item
UNITED IN PROTECTING THE KINGDOM
Shouldn’t that route say, We wish you a (. . . .)(. _)(. _ _ .)(. _ _ .)( _ . _ _ ) Christmas? It is British, after all
Heh, completely missed that.
I don’t know why Americans seem to think we say Happy Christmas by default, (I’ve seen this in several threads now). The expression is always “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”.
And after translating it the carol in particular uses the phrase “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”
I opened this thead and scrolled down, then I started solving last year’s card without noticing. I understand the 7 clue words, but does anyone remember how they got the final answer YULETIDE FELICITATIONS?
I’ll start on this year’s puzzle, too.
Look at the symbol in the outline of the question, match it with the colour scheme, then use the letter in the word. For example the first letter is pink and white, look at the picture, it’s the gingerbread man. Question 2 has the gingerbread man symbol, so the first letter is letter 3 from the answer to question 2. (DAY)
If you’d like entire books of these puzzles, get The GCHQ Puzzle Book, The GCHQ Puzzle Book II, and Puzzles for Spies.
Thanks. For some reason, my brain was trying to work it the other way; I kept think the number was which answer (1-7), and the color code (matching the ornament, mitten, or whatever) told which letter to take.
I got all of the clues this time except 6. From Gyrate’s answer, I was able to figure how they got the correct answer.
Again I’m stumped on the final answer. I worked out the Morse code. I see the animals with the numbers underneath, and I’m just not seeing the connection with those.
Look at Santa’s route. The first place he visits is the Principality Stadium, which is represented by the robin icon, so look at the robin, then take letters 18, 4, 6 ,11 from “Principality stadium”. Repeat the process for each place Santa visits in order.
Thanks. So the left-to-right order of the animals (unicorn, owl, etc.) doesn’t mean anything. Plus, I wouldn’t know where most of those landmarks are in the UK, anyway.