MACLA Xmas Quizzes.

A deceptive puzzle to start with: In the Christmas song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, how many gifts did my true love send me in total?

To get you started, the song states that I received from my true love one gift (the partridge in a pear tree) on the first day, and three gifts on the second day (a partridge, and two turtle doves), and so on

And, here's a piece of the song to help;

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree
On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree
...and so forth, until the last verse:
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a-leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a-milking
Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
Five gold rings
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree

So how many gifts in total?

What's the significance of the answer?

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Next, a small Christmas related cryptic crossword clue I came across recently

The clue: ABCDEFGHIJKMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (4)

Can you solve it?
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Our Age by Eating Out Maths

It takes less than a minute, just work it out as you read - It is not one of those waste of time things, it is fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to eat out (more than once but less than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2
3. Now add 5
4. Then multiply it by 50
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1758... If you haven't, add 1757.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number
The first digit of this was your original number (i.e. how many times you want to go out to eat in a week.)

The next two numbers are:

YOUR AGE ! ------ (Oh YES, it is!)

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2008) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS