Life
Real life
After spending the day unblocking the gutters and drains in the pouring rain, he wasn’t in the mood for a…
Metal fatigue in the golden generation
Not a bad week for Roger Federer then: first pootling along being cool and rich in a morning suit at…
Fraternity, solidarity and the spirit of 1945
My father worked as a fire warden during the Blitz, trying to contain the damage done by the Luftwaffe, and…
The turf
Most racehorse trainers, those at least who didn’t have a legacy from Aunt Agatha to lubricate their way into the…
Bridge
Long after my own team had been knocked out of this year’s Spring Fours in Stratford-on-Avon (the most prestigious and…
Trumpeting success
Regular readers will recall my column of 15 April in which I speculated on the future of the eccentric Fidé…
no. 457
White to play. This is from Euwe-Fischer, New York 1957. How did Euwe capitalise on the threatening position of his…
Lost in translation
In Competition No. 2998 you were invited to submit a set of instructions for an everyday device that have been…
Constitutional Amendment
Unclued lights are six characters from 45 and its author. Five of these undergo 45 in one way before entry;…
2307: Obit IV
On 18 March 2017 the great ROCK’N’ROLLER (3) Chuck Berry died. Round the perimeter run the titles of four of…
Dear Mary
Q. My mother always told me that only boring people are bored. However she never got stuck at a drinks…
French fancies
‘That sweet enemy, France.’ It takes a poet to summarise centuries of military and diplomatic history. On a prosaic level,…
High life
At a chic dinner party last week, a Trump insider gossiped about an American president having had an affair with…
The Battle for Britain
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Low life
Chez Frank is a popular local boar-hunters’ bar, tobacconist and general store at a lonely crossroads in the forest. It…
Anniversary
‘It’s like Pin number,’ said my husband, drifting into lucidity. So it is, in a way. The construction under discussion…
Real life
The builder boyfriend has dug himself a hole. I don’t mean he’s in trouble with me. I mean he has…
Stupid is as stupid votes
John Stuart Mill is usually credited as the person who first called the Conservatives ‘the stupid party’, but that isn’t…
Why we need paper promises
When you get into a taxi, there’s usually a framed sheet of paper describing what you pay for your trip:…
Global mourning
In Competition No. 2997 you were invited to submit an obituary for planet Earth. It was a smallish but…
2309: Complicated
Each of fifteen clues contains a misprinted letter in the definition part. Corrections of misprints spell the four-word title of…
to 2306: Instruction
The instruction was ‘SEND IN THE CLOWNS’ (21D/14) from A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim. The remaining unclued lights…
Dear Mary
Q. My 23-year-old son has taught himself to play the piano, learning the theme tune to The Truman Show without…
Character floors
Six Storeys on Soho is in a slender grey townhouse on Soho Square: a bar, restaurant and club. It is…
High life
Much like the poor, the charity ball has always been with us, but lately it’s turned into a freak. Something…
