Christmas Quiz 2022 – How many puzzles did you solve?

Dr Tim Paulden, RSS Quizmaster, writes…

At the end of December, we published the 2022 edition of our annual RSS Christmas Quiz – a fiendish collection of puzzles devised by Richard Job. How many did you manage to crack?

(If you’d like to take another look at the quiz page before reading the solutions, the puzzles are still available.)

We were delighted to receive a very large number of high-quality submissions, with the top entries separated by just a couple of marks.

The winning entry this year was submitted by Susannah Williams and Benedict Howell, who are awarded our first prize of an Amazon voucher for £100. In second place, with a fantastic solo effort, was Becky Russell, who wins an Amazon voucher for £50.

Finishing in third place were Oliver Church and Liam Hughes; in fourth place, Charlotte Desvages, Chrissy Fell, Alan Goddard, and Ben Goddard; and in joint fifth place, Andy Knott and Sam Knott and the team comprising Derek Pugh, Gordon Cameron, Marcus Gent, Tim Green, and Tony Green.

Thanks to a very kind contribution of £150 from Richard Job, the Quizmaster will be making an overall charitable donation of £700 this year, which will be divided among the good causes listed below – these have been nominated by our top six finishers, and by the other sixteen teams who achieved a score of 50% or more:

Nominated by our top six finishers [£50 to each charity]
  • The Brain Tumour Charity (nominated by Susannah Williams and Benedict Howell)
  • The Friary, Nottingham (nominated by Becky Russell)
  • British Red Cross: Ukraine Crisis Appeal (nominated by Oliver Church and Liam Hughes)
  • Wikimedia Foundation (nominated by Charlotte Desvages, Chrissy Fell, Alan Goddard, and Ben Goddard)
  • Action Against Hunger (nominated by Andy Knott and Sam Knott)
  • Macmillan Cancer Support (nominated by Derek Pugh, Gordon Cameron, Marcus Gent, Tim Green, and Tony Green)
Nominated by teams scoring 50% or more, in alphabetical order [£25 to each charity]
  • 24th Abingdon Scout Group (nominated by Iryna Schlackow, Waldemar Schlackow, and Nadia Sidorova)
  • Alzheimer’s Society (nominated by Craig Fothergill, Alvin Kissoon, and Deane Short)
  • Azalea (nominated by David Sheffield)
  • Battersea Dogs & Cats Home (nominated by Abi Williams, Ellen Williams, and Simon Turner)
  • Cancer Research UK (nominated by Damian Kerr and Paul Tagg)
  • Diabetes UK (nominated by Neil Lynam and Greg Penberthy)
  • The Motor Neurone Disease Association (nominated by David Harris)
  • PAPYRUS – Prevention of Youth Suicide (nominated by Ian Davies)
  • RABI – The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (nominated by Jonny White, Patrick Gildersleve, Tom Barrett, David Nandi, and Jake Barrett)
  • Refugee Action York (nominated by Vincent Fish)
  • RNLI (nominated by Frank Duckworth and Tom Fanshawe)
  • RSPCA (nominated by Mark Payton, Gordon Emslie, and Merrall Price)
  • Shelter (nominated by Rosie Barron, Gerad Carter, and Molly Barron)
  • Shelter (nominated by James Taverner and Mattias Andersson)
  • St Columba’s Hospice Care (nominated by the ‘Scottish Scrabblers’ – Chris Cummins, Simon Gillam, and Ross Mackenzie)
  • WaterAid (nominated by Brenda Mandeville)
Many congratulations to all the teams and individual solvers listed above who successfully managed to exceed the magic 50-point threshold.

If you have enjoyed solving the puzzles in this year’s quiz, please do consider making a small donation to one of the good causes above – or another charity close to your heart.

Before unwrapping the solutions, we wanted to once again embrace the spirit of making connections, and share a few words from our winners and runner-up.

Benedict Howell & Susannah Williams write: “What an amazing feeling! For a couple of years during lockdown, I’d set my own Christmas quiz, which Susannah seemed to relish – so I recommended the RSS quiz to her in 2021. This year we decided to combine our efforts and enter as a team, and we are absolutely delighted to have won! Particular highlights for us included the ‘Bill of rights’ puzzle and its various hints, and Puzzles 5 and 10 for their quintessential ‘penny-drop’ moments, where all the scrolling through obscure information becomes worth it. Our thanks go to the setter, Richard, and the RSS quizmaster, Tim, for such an excellent quiz!”

Runner-up Becky Russell writes: “Wow! I am utterly astounded and delighted to have finished 2nd and to be rewarded for doing something that gives me so much pleasure during the dark days of January. The puzzles I enjoyed most are the ones that gave me the biggest headaches before solving them – in particular, Puzzle 17 and Puzzle 11. (I’m a lover of all things Italian, so will look out for a Tombola game when I am there on holiday in June!) Thank you to Richard and Tim for all the work you’ve put into making the quiz so challenging and enjoyable – and thank you also for the prize and the donation to The Friary, which are much appreciated.”

Many thanks to Becky, and to Benedict & Susannah, for their kind comments – and congratulations once again.

OK – time for the solutions! In the solutions PDF (linked below), each of the puzzles is reproduced again, with the solution appearing immediately underneath.

Solutions to the RSS Christmas Quiz 2022 (PDF)

The RSS Christmas Quiz 2022 was created by Richard Job, and edited by the RSS Quizmaster, Dr Tim Paulden. Many thanks to all those who participated in this year’s competition.
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