I Have Saved This One,

for Boxing Day afternoon,

a quiz, but one is set by the Royal Statistical Society that has published for the past 24 years wickedly difficult Christmas quizzes to entertain puzzle fans over the festive break – and this year’s challenge, set by Dr Tim Paulden, may well be one of the toughest yet. Cracking the thirteen problems below will require a blend of general knowledge, logic, and lateral thinking skills – but, as usual, no specialist mathematical knowledge is needed ,

Two helpful tips for budding solvers:

You may make use of any tools or resources you wish to help solve the problems, including books, internet search engines, computer programs, and so on.

You may find several of the question titles helpful; for full credit, these titles should be briefly explained within your answers.

Prizes of £150 (for the winner) and £50 (for the runner-up) in Wiley book vouchers will be given to the two highest-scoring entries.

Entry to the quiz is open to all, but only RSS members are eligible to win a prize. All entries should be emailed to s.mcdonnell@rss.org.uk, to arrive before 19:00 GMT on Sunday 7 January 2018 – please remember to include your RSS membership number with your entry. Entries from both individuals and teams are welcomed, but please note that a team will only be eligible to win a prize if it comprises no more than five people, and includes at least two RSS members. The quiz editor’s decision is final, and in the event of a tie, the prize-winners will be selected at random from the highest-scoring entries, so here goes with question one,

(a)  What connects the following?

A shaggy brown creature with a tall, yellow friend

Chief of the ‘SRPD’ in a comedy whose title contains a quadruple repeat

A furry toy modelled on Archie

One whose company sells air, and whose name evokes an airport

A janitor who loses a fight with Moses

Orson’s bossy cousin, who enjoys distributing demerits

(b)  Similarly, what connects the following?

A lady of many faces – including Marie, Mary, and Marjorie

The writer of the theme associated with Bill, Dan, Harold, and Ernie

A founding member of the Vicious Circle, famous for her acerbic wit

The female half of a notorious crime duo, whose car now stands at a casino

One who tunefully satirised a sacred text, and gave Balthazar a voice

An actress regularly seen alongside Kim, Kristin, and Cynthia

(c)  In what context would you see a car with six wheels, a boat, and a horse receive the labels 1, 2, and 3 respectively? (Combine the answers to parts (a) and (b) for a clue.)

you can see the rest of the questions here, be warned they are difficult, but not impossible to answer.