Well, it's been a long and draining Twelve Blogs this year, for us all. Mistakes were made. Metaphorical photocopiers were sat on. There was not enough, by common consensus, in the way of rude lesbian nurses. (If you don't know what that's about, do a search on previous years.) I did actually try to find some real ones to interview today, but the best anyone could manage was two out of three. Someone knew some polite lesbian nurses who I said I could put under pressure, but nothing useful came of it.

Hey, festively, the good people at The Ood Cast have put out a free Christmas single, on a Doctor Who theme, 'It's Bigger on the Inside'.

Anyhow, you'll be wondering about the quiz. We had six entrants, all of whom had a good crack at it. (Well, Jacqui Collier just had one answer right and wanted to let me know.) First, the answers:

1: Name a UK Number One hit single that contains the name of a DC Comics superhero or supervillain in the lyric but not in the title.

I was thinking of Snap's 'The Power', which mentions Brainiac, but a couple of people correctly opted for Right Said Fred's 'Deeply Dippy', which cements its vague 'I'm your Superman' by explaining much more concretely 'you're my Lois Lane'. Mark Bowers opted, also correctly, for Bucks Fizz's 'The Land of Make Believe', which also mentions Superman. 'Sunshine Superman' by Donovan, which also mentions Green Lantern, only got to number two.

2: Which episode of The Outer Limits has Suzanne Barbieri probably watched with particular interest?

I'll let contestant Dean Brown sum it up: '"The Bellero Shield". Barbieri's recently released an album "From Indian Head to Ashland" utilising samples from the tapes of Betty and Barny Hill talking about their alleged alien abduction under hypnotic regression, which it has been pointed out have striking similarities to the aliens and dialogue of that episode of The Outer Limits which aired a short time before the tapes were made.' Which is exactly right. (Though I'd point out that I don't think the episode had much influence on the Hills at all, and hardly describes what they experienced.) I also accepted James Collinge's entry of 'The Invisibles' because Barbieri has also written a book about a secret society.

3: Arthur Conan Doyle has just one, but a very good one. Samuel Beckett took none, though he could have. Will Smith has eight, but may do better next year with the Men in Black. What is it?

A wicket in first class cricket. Arthur Conan Doyle bowled the great W.G.Grace, his only first class wicket. Samuel Beckett played in only three first class matches, and bowled, but took no wickets. The Will Smith in question plays for Durham, who, because of the colours they wear in one day matches, are known as the Men in Black. Dean Brown and Mark Bowers both got this one.

4: In what movie, had she shown up earlier, might Castle's favourite detective have been asked 'what have you done today to make me feel proud?'

This is the one Jacqui wrote in about. The answer is Quantum of Solace, in which Stana Katic, who plays Detective Kate Beckett in Castle, appears, but only at the end, while Sarah Hadland, Stevie from BBC2 sitcom Miranda, whose catchphrase is the sung 'what have you done today to make me feel proud?' appears earlier. Again, Bowers and Brown shared the honours.

5: What connects a long green t-shirt, a white star on a blue background (but not recently) and, at the end for him, a stylised D or the word 'Detroit'?

They're all worn by people called Rogers. In order, Shaggy Rogers from Scooby Doo, Steve Rogers (who these days doesn't wear Captain America's white star), and the baseball player (baseball having been one of the tags I inserted in the blog description) Kenny Rogers, who at the end of his career played for the Detroit Tigers. Dean Brown was the only one to get this. Well done!

6: In what way are 'Wonder Woman', Metallo and Roger Penrose the same person?

Nobody got this. I liked Jonathan Beckner's desperate: 'Penrose believes that humanity can't be defined by algorithms, and so there may be a state where we are "off" that can't be quantified. Metallo is a man in a machine body, who can be turned "off" without kryptonite powering him, and 'Wonder Woman' is who Diana Prince really is, so for her to be in her secret identity, is for her to turn "off" who she is. All three are the same person because they are "off."' Erm, no, the real answer is, they were all played by people who also played H.G.Wells: 'Wonder Woman' is in inverted commas because she was impersonated by Jaime Murray (Warehouse 13's H.G.Wells) while she was playing Stacie Monroe in Hustle; Metallo was voiced by Malcolm McDowell (H.G.Wells in Time After Time) on several animated occasions and Tom Ward played Roger Penrose in 2004's Hawking, and Wells in The Infinite Worlds of H.G.Wells three years before. Diabolical, that one, sorry!

7: Do the Conan the Barbarian stories of Robert E. Howard ever mention the word 'shrubbery'?

Yes. In 'The Tower of the Elephant' (as David Ronanye knew) and also, as a couple of people informed me, in 'The Jewels of Gwahlur'. But 'yes' got you the point.

8: 'Tank', 'Fire' and 'Chances'. What's the musical television SF connection?

As several of you got, they've all rock tracks that have been featured on the Doctor Who soundtrack, in 'Colony in Space' (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), 'Revelation of the Daleks' (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) and 'Vincent and the Doctor' (Athlete) respectively.

9: What have Mona Lisa, The Emerald Forest and The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle got in common?

Only Mark Bowers got this (though Dean Brown's suggestion that the leads of all of them were 'in Brazil' only narrowly missed getting a point). The novelisations of these three movies were all written by great British SF writers, specifically Christopher Priest, Robert Holdstock and Michael Moorcock.

10: Going by televised Doctor Who alone, I make it that the Doctor has reputedly had four interactions with Genghis Khan. Can you briefly describe them?

I really should have given a point for 'no', but didn't. And I realised after the fact that I'd got this question wrong. There are only three (reported) televised encounters between the Doctor and Genghis Khan. In 'The Daemons', the Doctor says he heard him speak. In the TV Movie, the Master implies that the Doctor was him. And in 'Rose' the Doctor says the Tardis was attacked by him. The fourth encounter I was thinking of was from Gareth Roberts' novel Tragedy Day, where the Doctor says he delivered Genghis Khan. 'Marco Polo' doesn't count, because the Doctor there says he hasn't met Genghis.

My error didn't effect the final results, and there was no need for the tie breaker. In third, with 7 points, was James Collinge. In second, with 9 points, was Mark Bowers. And the winner, with an amazing 10 points is... Dean Brown!

I'll be emailing Dean to ask for a mailing address to send him the comps box. Thanks to everyone who took part in such a hard quiz.

And that's another Twelve Blogs done! Forgive me if I collapse panting now for a few days, next week is my week off (I may pop back to remind you about the Pertwee thing on Tor). Oh, and the next issue of Action Comics (with the Secret Six!) is out next Wednesday/Thursday, and you can see the first three pages here.

I hope you all have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and I'll see you in 2011, when:

My new Jonathan Hamilton story, 'The Copenhagen Interpretation' will be published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.

My story 'More!' will appear in the new Wild Cards anthology.

I should be writing at least two new comics, the titles of which cannot yet be revealed. And Action #900 looms large.

I'll have a new radio play broadcast.

The podcast with me and several big name authors will start.

And it's vaguely possible I might have something on television. The novel will now definitely be out in 2012, because these are the huge lead times required by publishers.

And there'll doubtless be loads more stuff happening that we can't even imagine yet. Thanks very much for all your support and comments and twittering, which was especially welcome with yesterday's blog. Cheerio!