Life
Bridge
No February blues for me. The past couple of weeks have been the most exciting and interesting (bridge-wise) I could…
Bunratty
This year’s tournament at Bunratty in Ireland was the celebratory 25th in the series and I was invited to deliver the…
no. 495
White to play. This position is from Tiviakov-Jones, Bunratty Play-off. White’s next led to a decisive material gain. What did…
A to B
In Competition No. 3037 you were invited to take a song by Abba or the Beatles and rewrite the lyrics…
2348: It’s a trap
Clues are given according to alphabetical order of their answers. Each of thirty-two clues comprises a definition part and a…
to 2345: Counterclaim
The puzzle’s NUMERICAL DESIGNATION (3 41) is preceded by 7A and followed by 7D 12 33 37 to form the…
World Book Day is here again. God help us
For parents of primary school children, the first Thursday in March has got to be the worst day of the…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Why I’m not on board with quiet carriages
Every now and then I try to invent a new scientific unit. I’ll never come up with anything as good…
Dear Mary: How do I tell my landlords they’ve ruined my life?
Q. For some time I have been spoiled by paying a small rent for a central flat belonging to absentee…
Kilchoman isn’t a good whisky; it’s a great one
‘What seas what shore what grey rocks what water lapping the bow’. So evocative, which seems strange: one would have…
Trahison des clercs — a phrase that dates back all the way to 1927
I had long associated the phrase trahison des clercs with the writer Geoffrey Wheatcroft, though I can’t put my finger…
I dream of my perfect state: Sparta
Gstaad It was nostalgia time at Prince Victor Emmanuel’s birthday party here, with many old friends reminiscing about our youthful…
The vomit-cleaners of YouTube
My hangover was what the great Kingsley Amis describes in his Everyday Drinking guide as a ‘metaphysical’ hangover. Apart from…
I can’t live without Jane Fonda
Everything since the ZX Spectrum has pretty much left me cold. Ghetto blasters, Sony Walkmans, CDs, Apple Macs, iPods, PlayStations……
Bridge
It’s nice being part of a community. That’s how bridge is: over the years, you get to know, or recognise,…
Another Troy
One of the sharpest lines in the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 f5) is widely…
no. 494
Black to play. This position is from Drozdowski-Tay, chess.com 2014. Black played 1 … Qg6 which was good enough to…
On the way out
In Competition No. 3036 you were invited to provide a resignation letter in the style of a well-known author. I…
2347: Capital letters
Each of the eight unclued lights is a series of letters in alphabetical order which can be formed into eight…
to 2344: I’m away
The unclued lights can be preceded by or followed by the unclued word DOCTOR, which explains why I (Doc) am…
My children have turned my weight loss into the Stanford prison experiment
I’ve become obsessed with my BMI. For those of you who don’t know, it stands for body mass index and…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Hate the Winter Olympics? Here’s why you’re wrong
Despite the best efforts of this column (and the BBC), too many Brits regard the Winter Olympics with the same…
Dear Mary: how can we dissuade friends from visiting when one of us is ill?
Q. Obviously one is delighted to have visits from close friends and family when one’s spouse is ailing, but how…
