Answers to GCHQ puzzles

1. Tea – the initial letters spell MERLOT.
2. 9th – taking the identified letters spells ‘Beethoven’.
3. Northern Ireland. It is, for example, ‘West of Scotland’.
4. Papa. ‘Mike lives in Quebec, and is very fond of Golf’ etc.
5. a) Charles Dickens, b) Arthur Conan Doyle, c) Evelyn Waugh.
6. Forty (winks!)
7. 2017. They all had prime number ages in a year which was a prime number.
8. THE LIST. The words are anagrams of ROSE, LEEK, SHAMROCK, and THISTLE, which are the symbols of the parts of the UK. THE LIST is an anagram of THISTLE.
9. Anagrams of members of the Rolling Stones: Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Brian Jones, Mick Jagger.