Life
2482: Perm all five - solution
The unclued lights each contain all five vowels once only, but in different orders. First prize Dr Stephen Clarkson, Hadleigh,…
Spectator competition winners: letters to cities
In Competition No. 3176 you were invited to write a poem to a city. This challenge was inspired by both…
No. 632
White to play and win. E. Pogosjants, Shakhmaty v SSSR 1976. Promoting the a-pawn allows Black a perpetual check. Which…
‘Bonjour, monsieur! Douleur?’: My night in a French hospital
I regained consciousness on a trolley in a recovery ward. A masked porter wheeled me from there back to my…
Why animals’ names matter
Pretty Man was a plump white pony in the forefront of a sad picture. The photograph showed the seizure by…
Bridge | 28 November 2020
Each November, Paula Leslie organises the Young Chelsea Women’s Teams — a fantastic event, attracting many of Europe’s best players…
Kiwi Life / Language
Amy Brooke Once you have paid the Danegeld… We seem to have ingrained in us a sense of fair play,…
Me, myself and Thai: my cooking lesson from Cher Thai Eatery
Lockdown is hurting everyone except the chickens. I have bought them a conservatory because Philippa, a Light Sussex, looks like…
No. 631
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by Sam Loyd, 1857. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by…
Bridge | 21 November 2020
The rubber bridge world has lost one of its best and most flamboyant players; David Herman was an emaciated, elegant…
2481: Octet solution
The octet associated with CHERRY STONES (19) is: tinker (1A), tailor (40), soldier (20), sailor (15), rich man (6A), poor…
2484: Troubled
The unclued lights are of a kind. Across 9 Go in with force, showing initiative (10) 14 Cast is enormous,…
The perils of being a Kenyan farmer’s wife
Laikipia As the train pulled into Victoria my wife Claire, back home on the farm in Kenya, revealed that a…
My neighbour’s dinner party was a near-death experience
At dawn, starving, I drove to a commercial laboratory in the town centre where five phials of blood were taken…
The language of lounging around
At the Austrian embassy in Naples, a German diplomatist asked the great beauty Madame de Ventadour if she had been…
Dear Mary: Will my friend be offended if I buy her an XL dress?
Q. My son has moved his girlfriend into our fairly small house for the second lockdown. I am grateful for…
‘This Be The Prequel’ (and other poetic prequels)
In Competition No. 3175 you were invited to submit a prequel to a well-known poem. C. Paul Evans’s opening to…
Farewell to Graham Cowdrey, cricket’s king of the dressing room
So the Good Lord really wants to fill out his team: how else to interpret the passing in recent months…
Speed freaks
Writing in January, I described internet bullet chess, where the players have one minute for all their moves, as ‘popular,…
In praise of femininity
New York Who was it that first coined the expression ‘It ain’t over until the fat lady sings’? The great…
The strange case of the ‘alleged bonfire’
The council has told me that what I saw was an ‘alleged bonfire’. When I described flames towering into the…
The Battle for Britain | 21 November 2020
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
The dangers of censoring anti-vaxxers
Earlier this week, the Labour party wrote to the government urging it to bring forward legislation so that social media…
Aussie Life & Language
Simon Collins A British newspaper once ran a TV ad extolling the virtues of journalistic objectivity. ‘Point of view’, which…
The Brick
I own a few chess books that could serve as a murder weapon, but none so hefty as Chess: 5334…
