Life
2505: Endgame - solution
The unclued lights are the final headwords for B, D, E, F, S, T, U, W, as listed in Chambers.…
A taste inquisition on Stink Street
Walking up through the Stink Street medieval arch with a bag of shopping, I spotted Michael between the oleander branches…
Bad food is back: The Roof Garden at Pantechnicon reviewed
The Roof Garden is a pale, Nordic-style restaurant at the top of the glorious Pantechnicon in Belgravia — formerly a…
Dear Mary: should we exclude our friend for not having had his Covid vaccine?
Q. Once restrictions are lifted, our annual walking group has planned a week’s walk with after-walk gatherings in a different…
How the Great British Bake Off inspired Great British Railways
‘Why didn’t they call it Very British Railways?’ asked my husband. Unwittingly (as in most of his remarks), he had…
Aussie Life
Unlike most of the panellists on The Gruen Transfer, I still make ads for a living, and try to exercise…
Aussie Language
The Australian Breastfeeding Association has declared the word ‘mother’ to be ‘non-inclusive’. Does this make linguistic sense? Not for a…
The social tyranny of singing ‘Happy Birthday’
Among the horrors, some aspects of lockdown were bizarrely less gruelling than expected; indeed for some people, the experience was…
No. 654
White to play. Cochrane–Bonnerjee, 1852. Out of eight discovered checks with the knight on e6, Cochrane found the only one…
What Boris Johnson’s vacuum cleaner saw
In Competition No. 3199, you were invited to supply a poem in which an inanimate object comments on its owner’s…
2504: Collectors’ Items - solution
Unclued lights are nuts, as suggested in the perimetrical rhyme. First prize Adrian George, Barton under Needwood, Staffs Runners-up Willie…
2508: Knightly?
The unclued lights (one of four words) are legendary. Across 9 Broadcast live in Torbay possibly to no avail (10)…
The Battle for Britain | 22 May 2021
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Indian variant
Modern chess includes a panoply of ‘Indian’ openings, which share a common root in the starting moves 1 d4 Nf6…
Just how far will the NHS go to get me jabbed up?
More threatening letters from the NHS demanding I let them jab me up with two Covid vaccinations. Or as the…
Bridge | 22 May 2021
We all know the importance of making a viable plan before we play. If a contract is poor and seems…
I can finally spill the beans about Halston and Princess Margaret
New York Already on your idiot box via Netflix is a mini-series about a man who also used one name,…
The joy of ironing
On the Saturday morning of the Ascension Day bank holiday, I swung down the stairs and ladder to the little…
The problem with decolonising Shakespeare
Scarcely a day passes without a major British institution announcing it is ‘decolonising’ itself. Most recently it was the turn…
A novel approach to New Zealand’s wine
The last Saturday of lockdown — inshallah — and we were discussing literature. Specifically, when does a detective story become…
Dear Mary: What is the etiquette around gifts for virtual weddings?
Q. We have been invited to a virtual wedding. Is it correct form to send a present?— P.F., Barrow Street,…
‘Level’ has a bumpy history
‘I must level with you, level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones.’ That…
Aussie Life
A recent jaunt through the NSW South Coast town of Bermagui sparked a friendly family rivalry over whose forebears had…
Aussie Language
There is an organisation called ‘Dying with Dignity’. In their most recent newsletter they say, ‘The NSW Parliament looks set…
Dear Mary: How do I tell my fiancee that she eats with her mouth open?
Q. I’ve recently been approached by a very good friend who — with genuinely admirable candour and tact — pointed…
