Life
2541: Beastly - solution
The unclued lights form a quartet of three-word terms, each of which has the letter count of (6,6,6) which is…
Spectator competition winners: Monosyllabic short stories
In Competition No. 3237, you were invited to submit a short story using words of only one syllable. This challenge…
Nakamura the wildcard
Hikaru Nakamura justified his wildcard invitation by taking first place at the Fide Grand Prix in Berlin this month. The…
Every village needs a kebab shop
‘A diary?’ said the lady in the chintzy gift shop, pronouncing the word very much as Edith Evans said ‘handbag’…
The moral courage of P.J. O’Rourke
Was it Socrates who said that chaos was the natural state of mankind, and tyranny the usual remedy? Actually it…
Aussie Life
If a week is a long time in politics, two months is a geological epoch, during which not just goalposts…
Aussie Language
Writing in the Daily Telegraph James Morrow referred to something called a preference cascade which he said was a term…
When does ‘middle age’ end and ‘old age’ begin?
I was a bit irritated by all the millennials saying the Superbowl half-time show made them feel old. The 15-minute…
Where’s the ‘mystery’ in mystery plays?
In The Archers, Ambridge put on its own set of mystery plays dramatising the Nativity and Passion. BBC Radio 4…
A toast to Victorian Britain
Across oceans and continents, less favoured nations produce more history than they can consume. In these islands, the English —…
Why restaurant food at home beats eating out
‘The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be…
Dear Mary: How do I tackle the menace of strangers making mobile calls on speakerphone?
Q. As if it wasn’t bad enough to overhear one side of a conversation as it’s bellowed into a mobile…
Steak Diane: the perfect date-night dish
Cooking for romance is no laughing matter. The stakes are high. Get it right and woo the love of your…
Spectator competitions winners: ‘O, my love is like…’
In Competition No. 3236, you were invited to submit a poem that begins ‘Oh my love is like…’ . From…
No. 670
Black to play. Shuvalova–Pavlidou, Women’s World Blitz Championship, 2021. White was winning, but has just played 89 g3-g4? No resignation…
2543: Parts of speech
Unclued lights form a progressive set, plus the name of the speaker. Across 1 Talk shortly about present-day veg…
My existential crisis was straight out the terrible twos’ playbook
Early on St Valentines Day I walked down to the car park where the raindrops were knocking off the young…
The young trainer Sam Drinkwater is one to watch
Certain sections of the media love to run a knocking story and when champion trainer Paul Nicholls’s horses failed to…
Insurance is like a toxic love affair
‘Do you have any questions?’ said the man at the insurance company after an hour of me trying to take…
Contemplating loss
Contemplating a lost position is a bit like having sauce down your shirt. It is annoying in itself, but worse,…
The perils of a sex party
Gstaad I cross-country ski the old-fashioned way, not skating but on machine-made narrow tracks. It is known to be the…
Bridge | 19 February 2022
A couple of weeks ago, just as I’d begun to think that if I hadn’t got Covid by now I…
The Battle for Britain | 19 February 2022
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2540: Recycling components - solution
Unclued lights (PLAY, WITH, HOLD, DOWN) comprise components for the unclued cyclic sequence PLAY WITH, WITHHOLD, HOLD DOWN and DOWNPLAY.…
Aussie Life
You’ve possibly heard of a ghastly woman called Patrisse Cullors. Her chief claim to fame is that she founded that…
