To celebrate the publication of Brief Answers to the Big Questions, we have commissioned a PhD student at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics – Stephen Hawking’s department at the University of Cambridge – to set the international Big Questions Puzzle. The competition questions have been inspired by the ten big questions in the book. The answer to each question is a nine-letter word. The first nine answers, put into a nine-by-nine grid, form the basis for the tenth question.

The prize for first person to correctly complete all the puzzles will be an exclusive print of the famous signed Thorne-Hawking bet on the existence of black holes, made between Stephen Hawking and Professor Kip Thorne in 1974, and donated by the Stephen Hawking Estate. Professor Kip Thorne, a long-time collaborator and friend of Stephen Hawking, has written the introduction to BRIEF ANSWERS TO THE BIG QUESTIONS.

The first entrant to correctly answer and submit all ten puzzles will win the first prize and the following 5 fully correct answers submitted will each win 1 of the 5 runner-up prizes.

The puzzles have been designed and tested by a team at DAMTP and the competition will be open to entrants from around the world*.