Life
The view from on high
‘Cabin crew, ten minutes to landing!’ Are there any more exhilarating words? Soon, for a few precious minutes, one can…
Aussie Life
Statue deconstruction is becoming the Anglosphere’s most popular artistic genre. So why are our local avant-garde artists lagging behind? Sculpture…
I love Greece and the Greeks but they have destroyed Athens
Athens This ancient city without tourists reminds me of the Athens I once knew and loved, but for the…
How to survive a heatwave
Provence-Alpes-Côte D’Azur A burning ball appears over the brow of the hill at seven o’clock every morning and then…
You can’t sing in church but you can get a tattoo
From my seat in the greasy spoon café I looked out on a typical English row of shops on a…
Solidarity in Soho: running a coronavirus testing centre
London Simon, proprietor of the sex shop opposite our Covid-19 testing centre in Soho, insisted on popping a pack…
Stringfellows with fish instead of women: Sexy Fish reviewed
Sexy Fish is an Asian fusion barn in Berkeley Square, near the car dealerships and the nightingales, if they are…
The magnificence of Carlos Brathwaite
We know about the endlessly jaw-dropping greatness of Ben Stokes (a peerage soon, surely), the furious power of a supercharged…
Dear Mary: What gift can you buy for the hosts who have everything?
Q. I am not expected to pay rent at the cottage which has been lent to me by a super-kind…
The Battle for Britain | 1 August 2020
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Might ‘may’ kill ‘might’?
‘I’m with the King,’ said my husband. The king in question was Kingsley Amis, whose choleric The King’s English was…
Tech mate
I am sure I have posed more questions to the chess engine Stockfish than to any living being. I love…
How to get into a club and on to a plane
Disaster struck the Young family last Friday. My 12-year-old son Charlie woke up with a temperature. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t matter,…
Bridge | 1 August 2020
Last week I got an email from one of my readers — the other one is possibly away for the…
No. 615
White to play. Stockfish–Leela Chess Zero, TCEC 18, Game 92, July 2020. It looks hard to make progress, despite the…
Spectator competition winners: Poems without the letter ‘e’
In Competition No. 3159 you were invited to supply a poem that does not contain the letter ‘e’. This fiendish…
2468: Noah entry?
Eighteen clues contain deficient wordplay, the missing elements of which, when highlighted, confirm the theme. Across 1 Party with…
2465: Definitely amusing solution
Unclued lights are Brewer’s ‘Chambersisms’ — words from that dictionary with quirky definitions. First prize Maureen Quarmby, Oldham Runners-up M.…
Aussie Life
Noosa Main Beach is a prime promenade for the fashion-conscious, except at 7am when it belongs to the athleisure and…
The maestro
‘Had I not become a composer, I would have wanted to be a chess player, but a high-level one, someone…
No. 614
White to play. Stefano Tatai–Spyridon Skembris, Budva Zonal 1981. Morricone’s teacher found a delightful conclusion to this attack. What was…
2467: Girl talk
Ten of the eleven unclued lights are of a kind and consist of singleton of two words, three pairs and…
2464: Topsy-turvy solution
14 Down, TAPSALTEERIE, yields TAP 10, 15 and 35, three anagrams of SALTE (16, 32 and 36) and ERIE and…
Why racing will miss Barry Geraghty
When I first began racing, few jump jockeys reckoned their careers would last beyond the ages of 32 or 33.…
The hunt for a Test-class claret
In one respect, there has been a reassertion of normality, though this is nothing to do with the virus. Although…
