Life
Bridge
I’m not trying to pretend it will make up for the drubbing England took in the World Cup, but if…
Blitzkrieg
Chess, unlike football, appears to confer little or no home advantage. In a recent article for Kensington & Chelsea Today,…
No. 320
White to play. This position is a variation from Mamedov-Carlsen, World Blitz 2014. Here White played 1 hxg5 and Carlsen…
Ground work
In Competition No. 2853 you were asked to incorporate the following words (they are real geological terms) into a piece…
2168: History exam
Each of twenty-two clues contains a superfluous word. Initial letters of these words spell three specimens of 5; these are…
to 2165: Not far off
According to Fred HOYLE (24), SPACE is ‘only an hour’s drive away if your car could go straight upwards’ (10…
Do people really hate free schools – or do they just hate me?
This isn’t a headline I was expecting to read: ‘Free schools could be a bigger negative for the Tories than…
Battle for Britain
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Now England are out of the World Cup, we might just have to cheer for Iran
Iran, eh: who knew? Last time I checked it was the great Satan, locking up its own people, stamping out…
Dear Mary: How can I evade nosy questions at parties?
Q. How, in a party context, can one avoid answering what used to be called ‘nosey’ questions without being rude?…
At the Chiltern Firehouse, smugness should be on the menu
Here then is Gatsby’s house, after an invasion by the Daily Mail. It is called the Chiltern Firehouse. It is…
The bloody battle for the name Isis
‘This’ll make you laugh,’ said my husband, looking up from the Daily Telegraph. For once he was right. It was…
Dinner with the paparazzi
Here then is Gatsby’s house, after an invasion by the Daily Mail. It is called the Chiltern Firehouse. It is…
England’s World Cup: the post mortem
Iran, eh: who knew? Last time I checked it was the great Satan, locking up its own people, stamping out…
Winning ways
The one sight I was determined not to miss at Royal Ascot was that of the Queen from over the…
Coming soon: my engagement to Kristin Scott Thomas
As everyone who has ever joined a club knows, Pugs is the world’s most exclusive one, its members ranging from…
An orgy of violence at the summer fête
After three days tête-à-tête (and sometimes tête-à-pied) I walked into town alone to get some air and see what the…
Please take your holiday in Kenya this year
Rift Valley Many of my British tribe fled Kenya around independence in 1963 because they believed there was no future.…
2167: Groupies
The unclued lights are of a kind and are listed together in Chambers 2011. Solvers should highlight two normally clued…
to 2164: Blank crossword
The unclued lights are types of CROSS. Solver were required to indicate clearly the FYLFOT at the centre of the…
Terrorists still can't 'execute' anyone
During the sudden advances of ISIS in Iraq, one visual image stood for their brutality. As the Daily Mail reported…
To the eco-warrior on the moped...
‘Well,’ said my gay lawyer friend Stephen as I pulled over to drop him off at Sloane Square Tube, ‘it’s…
On being fired – and hired – as an editor
Last week was unusual. At the start of it, I was mooching about in the country in my customary way,…
Bridge
It takes a lot for me to give up on a ‘double-dummy’ bridge problem — i.e. one in which you…
Hat trick
For the second year running, 24-year-old Sergei Karjakin has won the Norway International, on both occasions ahead of Magnus Carlsen. The…
