Life
Night terrors
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…
Everybody expects the moral Inquisition
Last week, the former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan revealed that he’d been accused by another cricketer — Azeem Rafiq…
Trash
‘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 is a new hotel in what used to be Bow Street Magistrates’ Court: a preening piece of mid-Victorian classicism…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
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…
High life
New York Don’t let anyone tell you the Bagel is worse off than Kabul, where three people were recently shot…
Solution to 2529: Formerly
Each of the unclued lights can be preceded by OLD. First prize Heather McLaren, Seaford, East Sussex Runners-up Rupert Cousens,…
Real life
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…
Puzzle 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
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Bridge
It can’t have been a surprise to anyone who knows him that when Andrew Black — Bertie to his friends…
Low life
For early humans there was no distinction between spirit and matter. There was no idea of self; no barrier between…
Tourist misinformation
In Competition No. 3224, you were invited to submit snippets of misleading advice either for tourists visiting Britain or for…
The turf
There are Flat people and there are jumping people. People like the late Captain Tim Forster, trainer of three Grand…
Aussie Life
I’m not sure what the sacking of Michael Leunig says more about; the state of Australian journalism or the status…
Bridge
There isn’t much Nick Sandqvist (my first bridge partner, teacher and great friend) doesn’t know about bridge. He has been…
The Battle for Britain
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2531: Villainy
The unclued lights, two of two words, are of a kind. Across 1 Eastern divine seen in pilgrimage returning to…
Real life
My pro-vaxxer friends have been a lot nicer to me since they started testing positive for Covid. I’m calling my…
