Detective Inspector Playfair, an energetically boisterous policeman who often complained about Endeavour Morse having his own TV show, was sat on a bench at the side of Coldport's newly laid town square (Tile-laying for beginners ) holding a lacquered programme in one hand and a steaming-hot cup of coffe in the other. Miss Flava, who had worked with him for years, was patiently awaiting the outcome of his deductive methods.
"Coldport's Choral Ecdysiasts," said Playfair, "know more than they're letting on about the theft of an artefact from our museum. We have a man on the inside and he's sent us a message via the programme for the concert tonight. Only his handler is off sick, and I have don't have time for him to recover."
Miss Flava looked at the programme. Inside the first page was a ticket bearing the words
Admit three to room one at quarter past six pm on December nineteenth.
After that was the concert listing:
- GQ PKF DOFOH GKBXGQYKD
- QN OLHF TTAP C GKSQKHKP ACBOC
- DDYB OGKE QKB XHPUDO'D VGVAY
and finally there was a "fun page for children" where they could turn their names, letter by letter, into Christmas phrases.
"I'm a fan of Acboc," said Miss Flava, "but I find Vgvay a bit... ecumenical. And--"
"Ignore the typo in Hanukkah," said Playfair, "it's not part of the puzzle. I know that there's something common to items in the concert listing and it will lead to the message we're after. I just haven't worked out what it is yet...."
Using the clues provided, find a three-word message to D.I. Playfair.
[An ideal solution will lay out the clues and how they lead to the solution: just the three-word message is not enough.]