Life
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…
The Chancellor’s strange connection to cancel culture
The cancel culture wants to obliterate people who do, or more often say, the wrong thing (for example, that there…
My plans for a Covid inquiry
The public inquiry into the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis has already started. Not the official one, which won’t…
Bridge | 25 July 2020
Gunnar Hallberg moved to England from Sweden 25 years ago to play professional bridge, and made such a success of…
Jam and Opium on the Somme
Phone calls aside, the only human contact I had on my ten-day Somme battlefield tour was with the lady who…
You wait ages for an ambulance, then five come along at once
‘I need an ambulance!’ yelled the builder boyfriend into his mobile phone as the cyclist lay bleeding from a head…
Dear Mary: Where should we seat wedding guests who hold unfashionable views?
Q. Our daughter is going ahead with her wedding despite the restriction on guest numbers. Although it is a relief…
In memory of the man who never slept
The enforced boredom of lockdown has been replaced by a feeling of loss. My nephew by marriage, Hansie Schoenburg, died…
Why I won’t patent my brilliant idea
In the past 30 years, I have driven about 8,000 miles in France in right-hand-drive cars. And I would be…
The Battle for Britain 25 July 2020
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Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer meets Spock
In Competition No. 3158 you were invited to supply an extract describing a well-known fictional detective who finds themselves catapulted…
How did I end up in Epstein’s little black book?
Every time Jeffrey Epstein is in the news, I start getting calls from strangers wanting to scream abuse at me.…
