Hello everyone and welcome to this month’s Happy Puzzle competition!
For those of you who are new to this, for 14 weeks over lockdown we had an absolute blast creating weekly puzzles which were being received by well over 50,000 people each week. We had thousands of entries and each week a winner was drawn at random from the correct entries. As the weeks passed by, the puzzles were getting more and more ambitious and in the end, Gavin had to concede that he did not have the time to produce a new one every week. So we decided to make it a monthly thing, with the puzzle coming out at 7pm on the first Tuesday of each month.
Here we go then!
Here is the 86th PUZZLE and there is a £25 Happy Puzzle voucher up for grabs.
It's Coming Home.... maybe!
In less than two weeks, the World Cup will be taking place across the USA, Canada and Mexico. To celebrate what will hopefully end the 60 year winning drought, i thought we would do a football themed wordsearch all based on which city the final took place in.
This is across both the men's and woman's competitions. Scroll down to see the wordsearch.
Click HERE for a larger, printable version.
To win the £25 Happy Puzzle voucher, once you have solved the crosswords, take all the letters that appear under one of the footballs. Those letters will form an anagram for a player that has scored in a world cup final. Simply work out that player to be in with a chance of winning this months competition.
Please send your answer to me at josh@happypuzzle.co.uk, ensuring that you put JUNE 2026 PUZZLE in the subject line.
The competition closes at 23.59 on Tuesday 30th June 2026. Both the answers and the winner will then be drawn at random and revealed in next month’s puzzle on Tuesday 7th July 2026! My decision will be final!
Now back to May’s competition!
We had many correct answers and many incorrect answers, although they were very close. Below you can see a list of the answers...
The Bill — 26 years (1984–2010)
Only Fools & Horses — 22 years (1981–2003)
Porridge — 3 years (1974–1977)
EastEnders — 40+ years (1985–present)
Coronation Street — 65+ years (1960–present)
Doctor Who — 60+ years (1963–present, incl. revival)
Top Gear — 45+ years (1977–present, with breaks)
Strictly Come Dancing — 20+ years (2004–present)
Downton Abbey — 6 years (2010–2015)
Peaky Blinders — 10 years (2013–2022)
Sherlock — 7 years (2010–2017)
The Inbetweeners — 4 years (2008–2012)
Skins — 7 years (2007–2013)
Black Mirror — 12+ years (2011–present)
Fawlty Towers — 4 years (1975–1979)
Mr Bean — 5 years (1990–1995)
The Office — 3 years (2001–2003)
Gavin & Stacey — 17+ years (2007–present, specials)
Line of Duty — 9 years (2012–2021)
Broadchurch — 5 years (2013–2017)
Call the Midwife — 13+ years (2012–present)
Midsomer Murders — 27+ years (1997–present)
Silent Witness — 28+ years (1996–present)
Spooks — 10 years (2002–2011)
Casualty — 38+ years (1986–present)
Holby City — 23 years (1999–2022)
Waterloo Road — 18+ years (2006–present, incl. revival)
Grange Hill — 30 years (1978–2008)
Dad's Army — 9 years (1968–1977)
Are You Being Served? — 13 years (1972–1985)
Keeping Up Appearances — 6 years (1990–1995)
Absolutely Fabulous — 24 years (1992–2016, incl. gaps)
The IT Crowd — 7 years (2006–2013)
Friday Night Dinner — 10 years (2011–2020)
Outnumbered — 7 years (2007–2014)
Love Island — 10+ years (2015–present, reboot)
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! — 23+ years (2002–present)
The X Factor — 15 years (2004–2018)
Britain's Got Talent — 18+ years (2007–present)
MasterChef UK — 34+ years (1990–present, rebooted)
Come Dine with Me — 19+ years (2005–present)
Great British Bake Off — 14+ years (2010–present)
QI — 21+ years (2003–present)
Have I Got News for You — 35+ years (1990–present)
Mock the Week — 17 years (2005–2022)
8 Out of 10 Cats — 19+ years (2005–present)
Countdown — 42+ years (1982–present)
Pointless — 15+ years (2009–present)
Antiques Roadshow — 46+ years (1979–present)
Blue Peter — 66+ years (1958–present)
This meant that there were five programmes that ran or were running for less than five years. 9 programmes that were running for 5-9 years, 10 programmes that were running between 10-15 years, 12 programmes that were running between 16-25 years, 11 programmes that were running 26-50 years and only 3 programmes that were running longer. It was a very close one, and lots of people guessed Purple as the correct answer, but in fact, the correct answer was red.
The winner of this competition and the £25 voucher is Ruth Peirson.
That’s it! Enjoy the competition.
Joshua Miller
Managing Director
Happy Puzzle
www.happypuzzle.co.uk
0844 848 2822