Life
Why is YouTube so afraid of free speech?
On Sunday, the hosts of Trigger–nometry, a YouTube show, posted an interview they’d done with Peter Hitchens. They labelled it…
Repulsive, depraved and oddly political: Monster Munch crisps reviewed
Now that I have considered Monster Munch I decide to eat one mindfully. I put it in my mouth, and…
The intense pleasures of lockdown
I used to live in Mogadishu for months at a time, cooped up in compounds behind fortified walls. Venturing on…
I went to hell and back to meet my new granddaughter
Wolfsegg, Austria I have finally understood what’s wrong with the modern world: motorways. These dehumanising slabs of asphalt covering our…
The £39.99 gadget that will transform how you work at home
Hours of googling have left me unable to find the essay on domestic horticulture, written by a Victorian aristocrat, which…
The French have made a hash of the hashtag
‘So my poor wife rose by five o’clock in the morning, before day, and went to market and bought fowls…
Dear Mary: is it OK to drop by to see a friend’s garden during the pandemic?
Q. I own a small, somewhat shabby and antiquated but well-located flat in central London which I have been happy…
The Battle for Britain | 6 June 2020
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Robot Wars
Twenty years ago, I was an avid fan of the cult TV programme Robot Wars. Teams of contestants would design…
2457: Beginning solution
Unclued lights suggested a section of the international radio communications alphabet: Bravo (VILLAIN: 6), Charlie (DIMWIT: 16), Delta (DEPOSIT: 19),…
Our first outing to the beach was ruined by angry two-metre-ites
We went on our first outing, to the beach at Littlehampton, but I’m not sure it was as stress-relieving as…
No. 607
White to play, Stockfish–AllieStein, TCEC Season 16. Stockfish found a beautiful knockout blow in this game against a different neural…
Bridge | 6 June 2020
When did we change from being a nation of curtain-twitching old biddies into one of full-on super-snitches? First a retired…
An 11-year-old’s birthday party was hijacked by Brexit
Saturday night we ate outside next to the floodlit rock face. Four adult guests came puffing up the path and…
Herculean sonnets
In Competition No. 3150 you were invited to submit a sonnet describing one of the labours of Hercules. This challenge…
Bitter memories: my craving for a pint
It is enough to drive a man to drink. The most glorious weather, so suitable for white Burgundy on a…
The stupidity of the ‘spare bedroom’
The Tesla Model 3 is an astounding achievement, but one thing baffles me: why do electric cars lack even the…
What’s the difference between ‘scaffold’ and ‘scaffolding’?
Whenever I turned on the news last weekend, my husband took to humming the March to the Scaffold from the…
I’ve made up for missing all my children’s and grandchildren’s births
Gstaad Well, Theodora did not wait and I missed yet another grandchild’s birth (the prettiest little blue-eyed thing ever, even…
Dear Mary: What is the etiquette about watching graphic sex scenes as a family?
Q. Please can you tell me the correct etiquette about signing the visitors book after you are married? Obviously you…
Unfortunately our new puppy is not just for lockdown
Will the huge surge in demand for puppies and kittens during lockdown lead to a lot of abandoned pets when…
2459: 22 Down
Six unclued entries (three of three words, and one of two words) can be combined to make a quotation (in…
Swindlers’ art
A lost cause at the chessboard is hard to define, but, like obscenity, I know it when I see it.…
2456: So American solution
Unclued lights are marches by John Philip SOUSA, as hinted by the title: 4/1A, 14/12, 20D, 33A/17, 37/29/26, and 41…
No. 606
Tamas Fodor — Michael Adams, Hull 2018. White to play. One from the puzzles section of Smerdon’s book, which I…
