Life
Bridge
When I was first married, there were no satnavs to hold our hands; we relied on maps (if there was…
Luke’s gospel
Perhaps the outstanding clash of the recently concluded British championship in Hull, supported by Capital Developments Waterloo Ltd, was the…
No. 519
White to play. This position is from Fernandez-Pritchett, Hull 2018. White found an extraordinary, problem-like move to finish the game.…
The appliance of science
In Competition No. 3061 you were invited to imagine a well-known author who doesn’t normally write in the genre having…
2372: Spot-on
One unclued light (three words) is a phrase referring to an item whose scientific name is formed by two unclued…
to 2369: Prodigious
WUNDERKIND — given by corrections of misprints in clues — can be read as W UNDER KIND, indicating the unclued…
Vocational schools are not to be sneered at
When I was 16 I failed all my O-levels, bar a grade C in English Literature, and concluded I wasn’t…
The Battle for Britain
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Why data doesn’t always reveal the truth
In late 1973 the graduate admissions department at UC Berkeley discovered that for the forthcoming year it had awarded places…
Dear Mary: What do I say when people want to visit my family’s stately home for free?
Q. My husband and I were among the first to arrive at a recent large house party in Scotland. We…
Wine, women and willow: a perfect combo for a perfect English summer day
The first time I went to Lord’s was in 1970, just before the unofficial Test series which replaced the cancelled…
Petrichor: an awkward word for a pleasant phenomenon
I’m not too sure about the word petrichor, invented in 1964 as a label for the pleasant smell frequently accompanying…
Amazon and Facebook: the twin evils of our age
They used to say that the primary function of a boat was to be beautiful. I suppose that is why…
How to survive a French heatwave
Me in a black polo-neck jumper looking sour; Oscar wearing a floppy hat; her youngest daughter nude and stooping to…
Welcome to customer services, Guantanamo Bay-style
The engineer from Beko arrived and got to work trying to mend the new fridge. Having spent a very long…
Bridge
Over the many years I’ve been playing competitive bridge, I’ve managed to cobble together a system-file which now runs to…
Royal shame
Nine-year-old Shreyas Royal, widely regarded as the UK’s best hope to become a future world chess champion, is being deported…
no. 518
Black to play. This is from Howell-McShane, British Championship, Hull 2018. This was the conclusion of the game that enabled…
A new Jerusalem
In Competition No. 3060 you were invited to provide an updated version of ‘Jerusalem’ starting with the words ‘And did…
2371: In a paddy
In loving memory of 20 41 Considine (10/10/27–24/7/18), the doyenne of crossword compilers. The unclued lights and those clued without…
to 2368: Cobbled together
The unclued lights (6, 20/9, 21, 23/31, 30D/13, 34/3 and 42/32) are characters in Coronation Street with its COBBLED streets. First…
Thanks, Ryanair, for wrecking our holiday
The Young family’s annual summer holiday could not have got off to a poorer start, thanks to Ryanair. As veteran…
Battle for Britain
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Sport will not survive if it keeps being sold to the highest bidder
It’s just too hot and too early to get worked up about football, so the two highlights of the late-summer…
How should you deal with a competitive best friend?
Q. Good friends, who moved away from our city suburb a couple of years ago, retain a pied-à-terre the better…
