Life
The travellers could teach the locals a thing or two about being responsible citizens
The travellers were blamed for fly-tipping when all that was left on the common after they went back up north…
Bridge
‘Table presence’ is a funny old expression. It sounds as though it refers to a player’s magnetic appeal or domineering…
Adams Avalanche
Mickey Adams won the British Championship, which finished last week in Torquay, for the seventh time. Leading scores (out of…
no. 566
White to play. This position is a variation from Adams-Pigott, Torquay 2019. How can White crash through to gain a…
Redoing the hokey-cokey
In Competition No. 3110 you were invited to provide a version of the hokey-cokey filtered through the pen of a…
2420: Crafty
Four unclued lights are thematic and are defined by two others. They are found in The 21 and 2 (also the…
to 2417: Six nations
The unclued lights are LAND OF (25A): MILK AND HONEY (11A), CAKES (12A), HOPE AND GLORY (39A), ENCHANTMENT (7D), MY…
Donald Trump isn’t to blame for America’s mass shootings
The BBC’s flagship news and current affairs programme wasn’t in any doubt about who to blame for America’s latest bout…
The Battle for Britain
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Any true English cricket lover has to acknowledge that Steve Smith is a great hero
During the World Cup (remember that?), Virat Kohli, the very model of a modern major cricketer, appealed to Indian fans…
Dear Mary: How can I deal with overly demonstrative colleagues?
Q. A friend constantly walks around with his bootlaces undone. His wife declines to nag him on the grounds she…
Lunch on Leonard Cohen Island: The Pirate Bar reviewed
The Pirate Bar is an oddity, even for this column: a bar and restaurant themed in homage to a pirate,…
Where did Boris Johnson’s ‘gloomsters’ come from?
When Boris Johnson hit out at ‘the doomsters and the gloomsters’, I was willing to believe that the word gloomster…
Chatting to Bob Geldof about Boris and Brexit
Coronis We are steaming on Puritan towards the private isle of Coronis for a long Pugs weekend and the…
A trip to Dartmoor Prison with my grandson and his cousin
My grandson Oscar (nine) shares a bedroom with his cousin Lucas (eight) and sits next to him at school. Before…
The village fête has been cancelled due to an ‘unauthorised incursion’
The village fête had to be cancelled because of what they called an ‘incursion’ on to the green. The way…
Saturday’s King George was the finest contest I have ever seen on a racecourse
It is stupid to become attached to inanimate objects but when modern technology finally forced me to ditch the Olivetti…
Bridge
TGR’s Bridge Club in Paddington is the daily home to those of us who want to play bridge but cannot…
Game plan
What distinguishes the expert from the amateur in chess is partly tactical fluency, but also the ability to map out long-term…
no. 565
White to play. This position is from Capablanca-Lasker, Havana 1921. Capablanca was another great champion famed for his ability to…
To bee or not to bee
In Competition No. 3109 you were invited to submit a short story entitled ‘The Last Bumble Bee’. The buff-tailed bumblebee,…
2419: Figures in place
The unclued lights (individually or one pair) are of a kind. But, before entry into the grid, all but one…
to 2416: Silence
Each unclued light contains a SILENT letter (with 11 containing two). First prize P.L. Macdougall, London SW6Runners-up Sir Graeme Davies,…
I’m considering joining the police – they need me
I was driving to Gunnersbury Park last Sunday for my weekly 10K run when I caught the tail end of…
The Battle for Britain
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