Try this one for starters: The manager of a Spanish football team sends the following encoded message to one of his scouts in England indicating that he is interested in signing a British player. Who is the player? (Answer below)

Norwich City 3            Nottingham Forest 2

Aston Villa 4              Manchester United 3

Everton 1                    Yeovil Town 1

If you think that’s tough, wait until you get to the really hard ones!

Along the way, you’ll discover how to unravel codes, ciphers, deception puzzles, standard and keyed cryptograms, pangrams and many more. You’ll also learn a bit more about the greatest codes and cryptic messages of all time.  Answers to all questions are included if you get really stuck. So, get a pen and paper and get cracking!

(Answer: ROONEY. Take the numbered letter of each team in turn as indicated by their score)

Philip Carter is a UK Mensa Puzzle Editor and vastly experienced author.  He has written & co-written well over 100 books on all aspects of testing, puzzles and crosswords.