Released on Tuesday 20 December 2022
Dr Tim Paulden, RSS Quizmaster, writes…
For the last 29 years, the Royal Statistical Society has published a brain-melting Christmas Quiz to baffle and entertain puzzle fans over the festive season. In a break from the norm, this year’s fiendish challenge has been devised by puzzle maestro Richard Job – a retired Government Statistician of 37 years’ service (1973-2010) who has compiled an annual Christmas quiz for friends and colleagues for almost 25 years.
Richard’s twenty puzzles (which appear in the PDF linked at the bottom of the page) are sure to provide budding solvers with a serious intellectual workout over the Christmas period – though the set also includes a sprinkling of easier questions as a starting point for newcomers. As always, you’ll need a mixture of general knowledge, logic, lateral thinking, and searching skills to crack some of the puzzles, but no specialist mathematical knowledge is required.
The 2022 Christmas Quiz will run through till
Sunday 22 January 2023 – giving you plenty of time to give the puzzles a whirl and send your entry in.
Entry is free and open to all, and if you manage to achieve a score of 50% or higher, you’ll win a donation to your favourite charity or good cause, and your name (or team name) will appear on our 2022 prize-winners’ page.
Four quick tips for solvers:
- You can use any tools or resources you wish to help solve the puzzles, including search engines, computer programs, books, and so on. To keep the quiz fun for everyone, solvers are kindly asked not to post any solutions online until after the quiz has concluded. Thank you!
- Solutions should be briefly explained for full credit (including an explanation of any ‘clues’ provided within the puzzle).
- The puzzles are not ordered by difficulty.
- Any corrections (or other quiz-related messages) between now and the closing date will be posted on this webpage, so please check back from time to time. If you encounter any technical problems, or spot an error, please get in touch via the email address below. (We won’t be able to provide any further hints – sorry!)
Prizes
The top entry received will receive an Amazon voucher for £100, and second place will receive an Amazon voucher for £50.
This year, the Quizmaster has once again pledged a donation of £500 to charity – half of this pot will be split between good causes nominated by the top five entries, while the other half will go to good causes nominated by entrants scoring 50% or more (excluding the top five).
How to enter
Entries are welcomed both from individuals and teams of up to five people, and the quiz is open to all – there is no requirement to be an RSS member.
To submit your entry, please email your solutions to Mags Wiley at m.wiley@rss.org.uk (with the subject line ‘RSS Christmas Quiz 2022’), to arrive before 21:00 GMT on Sunday 22 January 2023. Please don’t forget to mention your nominated charity or good cause at the top of your solutions.
The Quizmaster’s decision is final, and in the event of a tie, the prize-winners will be selected at random from the highest-scoring entries.
Good luck!
CORRECTIONS [added 3 Jan 2023]
Solvers are kindly asked to note the following corrections to puzzles 13 and 20:
- Puzzle 13: "Guilio Monteverdi" should read "Giulio Monteverdi".
- Puzzle 20 (part h): "Budapest" should read "Bucharest".
The quiz PDF has been updated to reflect these changes.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE 2022 RSS CHRISTMAS QUIZ [PDF format, 10 pages]