Life
The heady Heights of Israeli wine
‘Where is this from?’ my friend asked, handing me a wine glass. It was a Cabernet Sauvignon, high in alcohol,…
Dear Mary: how do I stop guests sitting on my newly plumped sofas?
Q. We have recently installed security cameras in our remote holiday house in the south of France and I was…
The day I became a prize contrarian
Something rather unusual happened to me a few weeks ago: I was shortlisted for a prize. Not the GQ Men…
Bridge | 20 November 2021
The Champion’s Cup is an annual competition for the national champions from 12 European countries. As my team won the…
No. 680
White to play and win. The conclusion of an endgame study by Henri Rinck. The imminent promotion of the g-pawn…
Recipe: Lancashire hotpot
Nine months ago, after a decade spent in London, I moved to Lancashire. Although I’m a northerner born and bred,…
When it comes to Africa, the media look away
Kenya Each time I sit in St Bride’s on Fleet Street during the memorial of another friend, I look around…
2530: Ups and downs - solution
The quotation is ‘LAUGH, AND THE WORLD LAUGHS WITH YOU; WEEP, AND YOU WEEP ALONE’ from Solitude by Ella Wheeler…
Dominic Raab’s ‘Nightmare Song’
In Competition No. 3225, you were invited to provide a version of the Lord Chancellor’s ‘Nightmare Song’ from Iolanthe for…
Sacrificing the queen
One of the most eye-catching games from the recently concluded Fide Grand Swiss in Riga saw an early sacrifice of…
Kiwi Life
A government in jackboots A recent headline echoes the current mood of this now fed-up country, with Sir Russell Coutts,…
Aussie Language
The short-priced favourite that ran second in this year’s Melbourne Cup was a horse called ‘incentivise’. But is that a…
Racism, cricket and the problem with ancient allegations
Last week, the former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan revealed that he’d been accused by another cricketer — Azeem Rafiq…
Has Boris Johnson really ‘trashed’ parliament’s reputation?
‘When they posted the closing-night notice for his first Broadway play, Comes a Day, he went into a drunken rage,…
Sentenced to chicken: NoMad reviewed
NoMad is a new hotel in what used to be Bow Street Magistrates’ Court: a preening piece of mid-Victorian classicism…
Dear Mary: how can I learn to cope with my husband’s mess?
Q. My husband has fallen in love with ‘the country’ and retired to Exmoor while I maintain a presence in…
Yorkshire cricket: the long view
The new chairman of Yorkshire County Cricket Club played a blinder in his first innings, consistently hitting the boundary and…
Fide Grand Swiss
Alireza Firouzja, just 18 years old, was the clear winner of the Fide Grand Swiss, which concluded in Latvia last…
I’ve been back one week and the good old US of A has never seemed more depressing
New York Don’t let anyone tell you the Bagel is worse off than Kabul, where three people were recently shot…
2529: Formerly - Solution
Each of the unclued lights can be preceded by OLD. First prize Heather McLaren, Seaford, East Sussex Runners-up Rupert Cousens,…
Just another mad night out at the local bad-food gastropub
We were enjoying our evening at the overpriced gastropub until a woman in a dark uniform appeared at our table.…
2532: Patchy?
The unclued lights (one of two words) can be arranged into two associated groups. Across 1 Company accepts blame having…
No. 679
White to play. Trisha Kanyamarala–Roderick Mckay, EJCOA Forest Hall Invitational, 2021. White found a brilliant strike on the kingside, forcing…
The Battle for Britain | 13 November 2021
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Bridge | 13 November 2021
It can’t have been a surprise to anyone who knows him that when Andrew Black — Bertie to his friends…
