Think you know your banned books? Take our holiday quiz and see

Enter our mind-bending competition to work out the titles of some of the best-known banned books to win one of five one-year subscriptions to Index on Censorship magazine

It’s that time of the year again when the team at Index on Censorship brings a little light into a dark world. This year, we have delved into the mind of author Marc Nash to come up with our banned books holiday quiz. He has taken the titles of 20 books that have been banned around the world and created fiendish cryptic clues to each of the titles.

For example, one of his clues might be: Nurture and harvest neither minerals nor vegetables (6,4). The numbers at the end show how many letters are in each word of the real title of the book. To solve the clue, you will need to think laterally. What is neither mineral nor vegetable? Well, an animal. Then what is a synonym for "nurture and harvest"? In this case the answer is "farm". This leads to our answer - Animal Farm. You get the idea?  Some clues are fairly easy but others are tougher and you might need a clue from the fake book covers we have created to go with them.

To take part, enter your answer beneath each book cover. When you have answered as many as you can, submit your entry. Once the competition closes on 3 January 2025, we will put all the entries into a hat and draw out five people at random who will win a one-year subscription to Index on Censorship magazine. To enter, you will need to sign up for our regular weekly email newsletter. It's full of stories of banned books, interviews with dissidents and news of how persecuted artists, musicians and activists are getting their voices heard around the world. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Best of luck.

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Created by Index on Censorship

Holiday Quiz 2024

Guess the banned books from their fiendishly cryptic titles

1 / 20

Lady-in-Waiting’s yarn (3,9,4)

2 / 20

Wind-up citrus (1,9,6)

3 / 20

Sirocco removing all in its path (4,4,3,4)

4 / 20

Unadorned repast (5,5)

5 / 20

Unendurable existential levity (3,10,9,2,5)

6 / 20

Abattoir quintuplet (14,5)

7 / 20

MA (hons) celebrates with tequila & triple sec in salted glass (3,6,3,9)

8 / 20

Contract out on fowl warbler (2,4,1,11)

9 / 20

Numinous insect wrangler (4,2,3,5)

10 / 20

Fresh global valour (5,3,5)

11 / 20

Enclosed nocturnal galley (2,3,5,7)

12 / 20

Phonetic alphabet’s T aggregates trinity (3,5,5,5)

13 / 20

Subjective cognisance of incarcerated tweeter (1,4,3,3,5,4,5)

14 / 20

Obsidian pulchritude (5,6)

15 / 20

Lachrymal whale adipose (7)

16 / 20

Benefits of a blooming mural climber (3,5,2,5,1,10)

17 / 20

Specific case of tadpole into frog, caterpillar into butterfly, nymph into cockroach… (3,13)

18 / 20

Diabolic poesy (3,7,6)

19 / 20

Full-on occidental ventral hushing (3,5,2,3,7,5)

20 / 20

Evidence of bees’ finished output (3,5,2,3,5)

Please enter your contact details if you wish to take part in our competition to win one of five one-year subscriptions to Index on Censorship magazine. By entering, you agree to receive our regular weekly newsletter and occasional email updates. You can unsubscribe at any time.

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