Life
Old wine, new bottles
‘Old wine in new bottles’ must be the most protean idiom in the English language. I encountered it a few…
I was relishing the lockdown a week ago, but now I need urgent hospital treatment
In France the rule for going for a walk stipulates an hour in duration or a kilometre in distance. We…
Spectator competition winners: Love in the Time of Covid-19
In Competition No. 3143, a nod to García Márquez’s 1985 novel, you were invited to submit a short story entitled…
No. 599
A position adapted from Vojtech Plat–Ravi Haria, Hull GM tournament, 2019. The d6-pawn is crucial here, but White needs a…
The Battle for Britain | 11 April 2020
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Bridge | 11 April 2020
I think it was Warren Buffett who said: ‘Bridge is such a sensational game that I wouldn’t mind being in…
At your own risk
If there were regulatory oversight of chess openings, some would come with a litany of disclaimers. ‘You may lose more…
Could this pandemic be the death of veganism?
‘Do you want some of the private stuff from out the back?’ said the butcher to the builder boyfriend, leaning…
The way Greece has conducted itself in this pandemic is an example to us all
Aristophanes was a comic genius long before the Marx Brothers, but he also gave good advice to the Athenians: stop…
My Japanese toilet has made me a lockdown hero
Compared with every other household chore, progress in bum-wiping has been glacially slow. It’s only in living memory that schools…
The animal ferocity of ‘ramping up’
My husband is fond of an old pub in Northumberland called the Red Lion, once a drovers’ inn, it says.…
2452: Comme on dit
The unclued lights (five of two words and one of three) should be paired to reveal four expressions verifiable in…
Much of it is pointless, but that only adds to its charm: Fortnum & Mason hampers reviewed
Stop the clocks: Fortnum & Mason is still delivering hampers. I am not surprised, because this shop — or rather…
Dear Mary: How can I self-isolate without people bothering me on Zoom?
Q. Caught in Switzerland as the ski resort shut down around my ears, and feeling like a walking health hazard,…
I’m recovering – but I glimpsed the coronavirus cliff edge
So I’ve had the virus. Or rather, I think I have. Ordinary mortals can no longer get tested by the…
Our exile in NW1
Laikipia The sweetest sound to me now is the dawn chorus of birdsong at home on the farm. I lay…
to 2449: Stateless
The unclued lights, when preceded by a US state, form MISSISSIPPI 11, CALIFORNIA 22, VIRGINIA 27, HAWAII 37, RHODE ISLAND…
TripAdvisor reviews — with added spice
In Competition No. 3142 you were invited to supply a review on TripAdvisor that has been spiced up with a…
Drinking in isolation is far less appealing
Spring sense, caressing sunshine: last week, London enjoyed village cricket weather. Even in normal circumstances, the season would not have…
Why my husband is throwing socks at the TV during the Covid-19 crisis
My husband has special ‘throwing socks’. They are a rolled-up pair of woolly hiking socks. He does not hike. He…
NHS workers deserve our applause – but so does the telecoms industry
Next time there is a highly deserved round of public applause for NHS workers, do add one additional clap for…
Does horse-racing have a future?
Asked, after his Imperial Aura’s impressive win in the Northern Trust Novices’ Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, if he…
The Battle for Britain | 04 April 2020
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Bridge | 4 April 2020
I’m finding it harder than I thought to concentrate while playing bridge online. And not just because my two children…
2451: Cretinous
Unclued lights are anagrams of ten of a kind. Elsewhere, ignore an accent. Across 9 A model cure fixed skin…
