Life
Spectator competition winners: meet the new Mr Men
In Competition No. 3233, you were invited to invent a new character for the Mr Men/Little Miss series by Roger…
Pixel this
When Magnus Carlsen won last year’s Meltwater Champions Tour, they made two trophies. One was for Carlsen, and the second…
Aussie Life
I live by the sea and like walking along the coastline including scrambling over the rock ledges in Noosa National…
Aussie Language
A letter writer to the Australian has pointed out that Anthony Albanese appears to have coined a brand-new oxymoron to…
Bridge | 22 January 2022
Almost everyone has a set of ‘carding’ agreements with their partners to convey information when defending. But I’m always amazed…
No. 686
White to play. Gelfand–Karjakin, Tal Memorial Blitz 2008. Gelfand’s pawn is pinned, and moving the king runs into more checks.…
Lardy cake: a royal favourite
Lardy cake has a branding problem. We don’t mind puddings or cakes which explicitly announce their richness or decadence —…
In praise of January
Gstaad According to a little bird, Boris has gone from brilliant to bawd, and according to me this village has…
2539: Wider
Six unclued lights (all real words) are the names of 35/26 minus one letter. The missing letters match those that…
The new Tote is a ray of hope for British racing
There is nothing like visiting a stud early in the foaling season. As amiable mums-to-be saunter up to the paddock…
The tyranny of the smart phone
‘Can I ask you why you don’t want a smart phone?’ said the chirpy manager, as I stood blinking in…
The farcical world of the Sharon’s Ex-Boyfriends Club
Sharon told me once that the best sex she’d ever had was with Tom in the town public conveniences, bathed…
Is the Duke of York’s title really ‘untenable’?
‘Nurse! The tenaculum!’ exclaimed my husband in the manner of James Robertson Justice playing the surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt. I’m…
Is it really such a shock that some people drink at work?
Thirteen years ago we shared an office building with a large international bank. A common lift connected both businesses to…
The Battle for Britain | 22 January 2022
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A multitude of queens
Here’s a challenge which appeared in a German chess magazine in 1848: place eight white queens on an empty chessboard…
A magnificent malt worthy of Burns
The bleak midwinter. Actually, since I wallowed in curmudgeonly complaints about dreich days, everything has improved. Clear blue skies, pleasing…
2021 in sonnets
In Competition No. 3232, you were invited to retell a news story from the past year in sonnet form. An…
Christmas crossword 2021 - solution
The NATIVITY (89) of the ACTOR (37) HUMPHREY BOGART (47/13), the singers ANNIE LENNOX (112/12) and IAN BOSTRIDGE (4/61), the…
Dear Mary: Do I have to display my friend’s awful painting?
Q. A long-standing artist friend, whose work now commands high prices, has sent me out of the blue a present…
I got Covid (again) – is it time I got jabbed?
I got Covid a couple of weeks ago. Second time for me, which was annoying because I’d told Caroline that…
Aussie Life
I am writing this in Old South Wales, in the visitor suite of my mother’s assisted living facility. When I…
Aussie Language
In his column in the Weekend Australian just before Christmas demographer Bernard Salt expressed his fear that the Australian language…
2535: Green light! Cross!
In this pangrammatical puzzle, the unclued lights are of a kind near 21A. Ignore all accents. Across 7 Fresh…
No. 685
White to play. Maxime Lagarde-Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Reykjavik 2021. Lagarde found a brilliant finish, forcing mate in just a…
