Life
2406: Heptad
Clockwise round the grid from 6 run the names (9,5,7,6,8,7,8) of the leading members of a group. The unchecked and…
to 2403: Hexad
The second and fourth letters of six unclued lights gave abbreviations of the states forming New England: ACATER (13) Connecticut, ERNIE…
Charities are allowed to be political – if they’re left wing
On Monday, I appeared on Good Morning Britain to debate President Trump’s forthcoming state visit with Asad Rehman, the executive…
The Battle for Britain
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Leeds United is the soap opera which keeps on giving
Say what you like about Elland Road — and in my experience it is not a place to linger —…
Dear Mary: did our friends regift us out-of-date chocolates?
Q. A university friend and I want to get an invitation to a very good shoot owned by a colleague…
Soho hasn’t deteriorated – you have: Kiln reviewed
Each suburban soul yearns for the Soho of their youth. It isn’t that Soho was better in the 1990s when…
A duck ducks and a swift is swift – so what about the lapwing?
Some birds seem inherently comical. I can’t help being amused by the duck taking its name from its habit of…
In praise of privacy
David Niven’s younger son Jamie, now an old man and a bit overweight, approached my table and announced that he…
The joy of scrumpy
‘How’s your day going?’ said the taxi driver as he snapped his knob into drive. If I caught the plane…
Have I misrepresented the builder boyfriend?
‘That’s not the builder boyfriend,’ said the luncheon guest as he eyed the builder boyfriend over the table. ‘Well then,…
The genius of Henry Cecil
There are people I know who regard racing as a cold-hearted business that exploits animals and achieves little besides putting…
Bridge
Jonathan Harris is a man of principle. He and his wife Jenny had each entered a team for the Venice…
Venit, vidit, vicit
India is quite possibly the birthplace of chess, with the four branches of the ancient Indian army, infantry, cavalry, chariots…
no. 551
White to play. This position is a variation from Vitiugov-Duda, Prague 2019. How does White exploit the greater activity of…
Praise be
In Competition No. 3095 you were invited to submit an elegy by a poet on another poet. The prompt…
2405: Satanic
Doc writes: welcome to Smurf as our third new compiler joining our team. One unclued light, the heart of which…
Solution to 2402: Test Pilots
BOYCOTT (24), GOWER (25), MAY (40), GRACE (2), STRAUSS (23), HAMMOND (27), CLOSE (34), and ROOT (36) have all held…
What would a Corbyn victory mean for me?
Until now, I haven’t been too worried about Jeremy Corbyn. True, he exceeded expectations two years ago, but that was…
The Battle for Britain
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Finding hope in poetry, politics – and white Burgundy
During the Middle Ages, some of the monastic halls which evolved into Oxbridge colleges allowed their younger inmates to indulge…
In defence of inaction: why it’s usually best to do nothing
I recently came across the Small Robot Company, a British agricultural robotics start-up. Their vision is that with smart, autonomous…
Did ‘haggis’ steal its name from thieving magpies?
Someone on The Kitchen Cabinet remarked that sambusa, as samosa is known in Somalia, came from Arabic. Perhaps it does,…
Dear Mary: how can I tell my chatty masseur to stop talking?
Q. Like many of his profession, Manolo, my most-proficient masseur, has the gift of the gab and maintains a garrulous…
The comedy and tragedy of Trump
New York On 21 April 1980, Rosie Ruiz won the fabled Boston Marathon in record time and looked as fresh…
