Christmas Puzzle 2010 Winners
The winners from the Puzzle are, once again, the charities it supports. My grateful thanks for your generosity – as a result of this year’s Puzzle I will donate £4,635, to be shared between the five nominated charities.
It was disappointing to me that after three years of rapid growth, from 226 to 340 puzzlers, and despite 35 new entrants (to whom I give a very warm welcome) the number of entries this year was down, at 299. Whether this was due to the Puzzle being harder or to the economic circumstances I don’t know. I do apologise if any of you were offended by the wording of Q40c leading to the answer Niggards – this was certainly not directed at Puzzlers but, having had almost 2,000 downloads of the Puzzle (some of which would have been multiple down-loads by Puzzlers), it was a gentle nudge in the direction of those estimated 1,500 down-loaders who, presumably, enjoyed tackling the Puzzle, but without sending me a donation.
The proportion of correct entries was slightly down on last year; remarkably, of the ten Puzzlers at the top of last year’s 10 Years Honours Board only two, Liz Constable and Sheila Furnell scored full marks – it must have been difficult. The 41 who achieved full marks (compared with 57 in 2009) were:
Olive Behan, Sue Bradbury, Malcolm Charles, Andy Cole, Jo Coleman, Janet Colley, Liz Constable, Tony Daniell, Hilary Dickenson, Pam Dudgeon, M K Enticknap, Mrs Jenny Fisher, Mr & Mrs M J Fisher, Ray & Dot Folwell, Sheila Furnell, Susan Gibb, Polly Helliar & Marilyn Fursey, David Hobbs, Debby Horsman, Mrs P E Howden, D L Johnson, DC & EBL Jones, Rachel Keegan, Sally Kettle, Pauline Ledger, John Lowe, Lowman Family, Estelle & Paul Marshall, N D Mizen, Jackie & Dave Morgan, Helen Nicolson, Donald Nicolson, Lorna Paterson, Sue Pedlow, Elizabeth Price, Tibb & George Richardson, Mrs L P K Southworth, Nigel Spoor, Heather Twidle, Roger & Helen Wilkinson, Bill Young
A draw, to select four winners, was held at St Mary’s Church, Eaton Bray, on 6 February. The winners were:
Susan Gibb, Polly Helliar & Marilyn Fursey, Sally Kettle and Jackie & Dave Morgan
In addition, one entry was drawn at random from among all the entries received, the winner being Sheila Farrow, who scored 118. These five winners each receive a cheque for £30.
Among other 'winners' was a French team, led by Jean-Charles Vechin, who entered the Puzzle for the first time scoring 80 out of 85 attempted answers – astonishing. However did they know where Bill and Ben lived?
