Life
Occasional verse
In Competition No. 3034 you were invited to provide a poem written by a poet laureate present or past on…
Counterclaim
The first line of a 4 (two words) consists of 7A and the puzzle’s 3 41; the second line is…
to 2342: Decorative
The key terms are ART NOUVEAU (12) and JUGENDSTIL (19). One indicates 24 and 28D, and the other can be…
In today’s brave new world, fat is a high-tech issue
I have a confession to make: I’m a yo-yo dieter. For the past ten years, I’ve lost a bit of…
The Battle for Britain
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This Six Nations could be anyone’s – and it couldn’t be more exciting
‘It’s never easy going to Rome,’ observed Anthony Watson after the traditional mauling of a hard-working but outgunned Italian side…
Dear Mary: What do you do when your secretary accuses you of not making a pass?
Q. I am at the age where parts of the body start to go wrong, and I have a minor…
A new addition to north London’s underwhelming restaurants: Café Hampstead reviewed
Café Hampstead is a new café in — big reveal! — Hampstead, the gaudiest of the old villages on the…
Jejune
A range of book reviewers’ clichés was held up to mockery 60 years ago, in a letter by Jocelyn Brooke…
Why I am hanging up my crystal ball
Gstaad I caught a whiff of it as it rolled in from the east, the smell of hypocrisy being different…
My Burns Night haircut
At three o’clock I took half a bottle of Glenmorangie with me to Jimmy’s. That it was Burns Night, and…
Hell is a dental hygienist
‘Please, could you just clean my teeth?’ I want to say, only I don’t. I go along with it, praying…
Everyone is talking about the little girl from Devon
If there hasn’t yet been a hurricane called Bryony there should be. The impact of Bryony Frost, just 22, this…
Bridge
I have just returned from the annual pilgrimage to Reykjavik, home of one of the best tournaments of the year.…
Hypnosis?
Various champions have been accused of hypnotising their opponents, including Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Tal and, not least, the reigning world…
no. 491
White to play. This position is from Goriatchkin-Bosiocic, Gibraltar 2018. How did White finish off? Answers to me at The…
Presidential patter
In Competition No. 3033 you were invited to take as your first line ‘I am the very model of a…
2344: I’m away
A word suggested by the title can either precede or follow each of the unclued lights to form phrases listed…
to 2341: Durum, durum
The unclued lights are varieties of PASTA. First prize J Cookson, Cheltenham, GloucestershireRunners-up Margaret Shiels, Edinburgh; D King, Leeds Got…
My dislike of Blue Peter made me into the man I am today
When I tell my children about my own childhood, they often express disbelief about how wretched it was. No Xbox?…
The Battle for Britain
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Let’s face it: the Presidents Club was on to something
There exist in the annals of salesmanship certain ideas that are both highly immoral and wickedly clever. Before P. T.…
Dear Mary: I keep needing the loo during formal dinner parties – help!
Q. My wife and I have been invited to a small but formal dinner in the presence of some impressive…
Tasting the true island spirit: single malts from the Isle of Arran
Arran, in the Firth of Clyde, is an island whose charms vary with the seasons. In summer, the hills are…
How did the same word come to describe the activities of stable lads and sexual predators?
Grooming is a horrible phenomenon of modern life when it happens to abused children. Yet a magazine such as GQ…
