Life
Eating poetry
In Competition No. 2895 you were invited to submit a poem describing a meal with a well-known poet. Sylvia Fairley…
2209: Safe-blowers
The unclued lights (two of two words) are to be linked with one of the clued lights in translation. All…
To 2206
The thematic unclued lights (4D, 20D, 34D, 40A and 41A+27A) are COUNTRIES, and the other unclued lights are their anagrams,…
My Brasenose college reunion was great (even if David Cameron didn’t turn up)
A couple of weeks ago I returned to my old Oxford college for a ‘gaudy’ — posh, Oxford-speak for a…
Battle for Britain
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Next time, David Cameron should pretend to support Bournemouth
Here’s an election-winning idea for Dave: forget about Aston Villa (or West Ham) and become a full-on Bournemouth fan. They…
Dear Mary: How to buy dinner for high net worth individuals
Q. Six months ago I invited some old friends to be my guests at a reunion dinner. We all love…
The Portrait restaurant: a secret glade of stone and brick, suspended above Trafalgar Square
The Portrait Restaurant lives at the top of the National Portrait Gallery, London. It is fiercely modern, but likeable. You…
English cities don’t have quarters – whatever the executives say
‘No quarter given,’ yelled my husband as he stabbed at a cushion with his stick, spoiling the cavalier effect a…
Battle for Britain
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Nigel’s controversy
British chess grandmaster Nigel Short has form when it comes to provocative statements. When competing in a tournament in France…
No. 360
Black to play. This is from Short-Polgar, Madrid 1995. Judit Polgar is the strongest female -player ever, with an overwhelming…
Eating poetry
In Competition No. 2895 you were invited to submit a poem describing a meal with a well-known poet. Sylvia Fairley…
Dear Mary
Q. Six months ago I invited some old friends to be my guests at a reunion dinner. We all love…
Square meal
The Portrait Restaurant lives at the top of the National Portrait Gallery, London. It is fiercely modern, but likeable. You…
High life
Talk about how the mighty have fallen. Time magazine was for the better part of the 20th century the model…
Low life
Two stylists work at this deeply rural French ladies’ hairdresser. Christelle is a gorgeous 17-year-old point-of-lay pullet, so lithe and…
Quarter
‘No quarter given,’ yelled my husband as he stabbed at a cushion with his stick, spoiling the cavalier effect a…
Come on you blues. Or, er, reds
Here’s an election-winning idea for Dave: forget about Aston Villa (or West Ham) and become a full-on Bournemouth fan. They…
Reuniondues
A couple of weeks ago I returned to my old Oxford college for a ‘gaudy’ — posh, Oxford-speak for a…
Reuniondues
A couple of weeks ago I returned to my old Oxford college for a ‘gaudy’ — posh, Oxford-speak for a…
The real McCoy
At Sandown Park last Saturday an era ended. Twenty thousand of us turned up to cheer on Tony McCoy as…
2209: Safe-blowers
The unclued lights (two of two words) are to be linked with one of the clued lights in translation. All…
Neither London nor New York will be livable in ten years’ time
A recent column in the FT made me mad as hell. The writer, Simon Kuper, calls Vienna a backwater, which…
What’s On in South Devon gave me three choices: functioning psychotic preacher, bingo or a poetry evening
I’m such a constitutional lightweight lately that I’ve started looking on the website What’s On in South Devon for things…
