SOLVED - The GCHQ Christmas Challenge 2025

Every year GCHQ, the British intelligence and security agency, sets a Christmas challenge in the form of a Christmas card. They have sent it to us again this year, and Mark is going to open it and try and crack the challenge!

You can look at the puzzle here: https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/gchq-chr...

▶ OUR PATREON PAGE – JOIN THE COMMUNITY, SUPPORT US AND TRY OUR PUZZLE HUNTS◀
  / crackingthecryptic  
Follow Mole through his adventures with his friends in the December Patreon reward – a thirteen-puzzle sudoku hunt themed on the children’s classic by Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows. You are sure to be charmed by it! Just $2/month for the monthly reward, $3/month (or higher) for solution videos. Lots of other great content available, including crosswords (including some Listeners) and Connections videos – along with past rewards! There is also a Patreon-only channel on our discord for help with the sudoku hunts. Your support makes a big difference to us – thank you!

▶ BREAKING NEWS: A brand new app, Classic Volume 2, joins our large number of apps. In this app you will find normal rules applying in hand-crafted sudoku puzzles containing some lovely logic, featuring ourselves, Nikoli, and the great British constructor Sam Cappleman-Lynes. You can also find the Sudoku Worms (from Phistomefel, Marty Sears, James Sinclair, and Michael Lefkowitz), Fog of War, and many other variant types. Every app is full of hand-crafted puzzles with hints provided by Simon and Mark.
Check out https://www.crackingthecryptic.com/apps with links to all outlets. ◀

▶ SVEN’S SUDOKU PAD ◀ Your purchase helps support Sven and the many features being added regularly to the software we use every day. You can also input classic sudoku puzzles, to solve yourself. Comes with 12 free puzzles:
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/svens-s...
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/17...
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”

▶ LOOKING FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS? FIND OUR BOOKS HERE ◀
https://coffeebean.games/product-cate... Cracking the Cryptic’s Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and Vol 2, as well as the e-book editions of Fog of War (regular and deluxe editions), are all available!

Our new website, with many thanks to GeorgeTheToad: https://www.crackingthecryptic.com

▶ CTC FAN DISCORD SERVER◀
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▶ OUR VIDEO CATALOGUE – CATEGORISED WITH LINKS◀
https://tinyurl.com/CTCCatalogue

▶SEND US PUZZLES TO SOLVE/CONTACT US◀
[email protected]
Snailmail: Mark Goodliffe, Box 102, 56 Gloucester Road, London SW7 4UB

▶FOLLOW US◀
Twitter: #crypticcracking
@crypticcracking
Instagram @crackingthecryptic

▶Credits◀
Music: Lucy Audrin (Piano): Mozart's Sonata no 16; and Mark’s outro music by Riffclown.
SOFTWARE: Thanks to Sam Cappleman-Lynes and Sven Neumann
Logo: Melvyn Mainini
Opening Credits: Burak Mescioğlu

▶ABOUT US◀
Hi! We're Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe, two of the UK's most enthusiastic puzzle solvers. We have both represented the UK at the World Sudoku Championships and the World Puzzle Championships. We're also "cryptic crossword" aficionados. Mark is the 14-time winner of The Times crossword championship and twice Senior World Champion in Sudoku, and Simon is the former record holder for most consecutive correct solutions to The Listener crossword. We hope we can help your puzzle solving while also introducing you to some of the world's best puzzles.

Thank you for watching!
Simon and Mark
#gchq #puzzle #gchqchristmaschallenge

▶ Contents ◀
0:00 Theme Music & Start Of Solve - Let's Get Cracking!