Life
2378: Boundary
One unclued light, a term for a boundary of an area whose name is formed by two unclued lights, is…
to 2375: 2
Unclued lights are MOONS OF (1A) SATURN (9), which are OTHERWORLDLY (2). First prize Don Young, Shaw, OldhamRunners-up Samantha Pine,…
Of course the young like socialism – they’re taught to
It beggars belief that Jeremy Corbyn can, with a straight face, announce that capitalism has failed and we’d all be…
Battle for Britain
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Markets are clever precisely because people are silly
A month ago I wanted to travel to Bath for a 60th birthday party. From Kent, this either involves a…
Dear Mary: Is it really forbidden to eat with a fork’s tines facing upwards?
Q. My husband and I have been invited to the birthday party of a distinguished public figure with whom we…
Stockbridge, Hampshire: an unexpected gastronomical haven
‘The doors clap to, the pane is blind with showers / Pass me the bottle, old lad, there’s an end of summer.’…
Why ‘embolden’ is a word in a million — and it’s currently in vogue
Embolden is a word in a million. In other words it is quite common. Using data from Google Books, the…
An audience with the Pope
Perception and reality, truth and falsehood, black and white; nowadays the salivating chattering classes don’t know their arse from a…
A foretaste of Frexit
Moving day. The contents of a hillside shack to be moved four miles to a cave house perched high on…
Why my lodger has to be a girl
The little lodger is moving in. I chose her after an exhaustive search of twentysomethings looking for accommodation, during which…
Bridge
Around this time each September, I get to say, ‘I’m off to Tangier for a few days to play high-stakes…
Interregnum
The only official interregnum in the reigns of the world chess champions was that between the death of Alekhine in…
no. 524
Black to play. This position is from Gurgenidze-Tal, Moscow 1957. What is the most direct way to break into the…
This sporting life
In Competition No. 3066 you were invited to submit an ode to a piece of sporting equipment. There is a…
2377: In order
The dozen unclued lights can be arranged in a specific sequence when preceded by or followed by their sequence indicators…
to 2374: Watch your step
The unclued lights are DANCES. First prize K.J. Williams, Kings Worthy, Winchester. Runners-up Bridget Workman, Purley;C.S.G Elengorn, Enfield. Got something…
It’s as I suspected – my defects can’t be cured
I’ve just finished making a one-hour documentary about character for Radio 4 that’s due to be broadcast on Saturday at…
The battle for Britain
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Is there a limit to what the human body can do?
Has the world gone mad? There’s Beauden Barrett, the world’s best stand-off, and rugby player of the year seemingly by…
Dear Mary: Our insufferable children are rounding on our eightysomething neighbour
Q. A neighbour, a wonderful old friend in his late eighties, is a marvellous raconteur. As a family we have…
It is essentially a crap Le Gavroche, and that is not an insult: Roux at Parliament Square reviewed
Politicians are having a terrible time of late, along with the rest of us — it’s not much fun watching…
Why ‘whiter than white’shouldn’t get you suspended
A detective superintendent has been placed on ‘restricted duties’ while the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigates a complaint that…
My faux pas at the Duke of Beaufort’s bash
A letter from a reader in South Africa mentions that the writer’s father insisted a white dinner jacket was permissible…
Back from the brink
The long table was set out under four beautifully pollarded plane trees festooned with coloured lanterns and red balloons. Twenty…
