Life
Olympiad
The Tromsø Olympiad finishes on Thursday 14 August, too late for any definitive conclusions to be drawn here as to…
no. 327
White to play. This is from Kasimdzhanov–Kramnik, Tromsø Olympiad 2014. How did White blast through? Answers to me at The…
Pet sounds
In Competition No. 2860 you were invited to submit a short ode on the death of a pet in unusual…
2175: Elated grunt
Across unclued lights combine with down ones to form anagrams of the titles (one of two words) of four works…
Solution to 2172: Para
Gerry Goffin, popular LYRICIST (40), died on 19 June 2014. He wrote the perimetric songs IT MIGHT AS WELL RAIN…
Mark Simmonds was just saying what a lot of MPs think
I feel some sympathy for Mark Simmonds, the Conservative MP who’s resigned as a minister and is stepping down at…
Battle for Britain
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How oneupmanship wrecks things for everyone
‘There’s a little bit of a fascist in all of us. For some, the tragedy of human want may provoke…
Dear Mary: What do we do with a teenage guest who hogs the bathroom?
Q. We have taken a flat in Edinburgh for a month and a young girl, temporarily homeless and a friend…
Visiting Burgundy from my hospital bed
There have been some splendid rumours about my health. According to the most exotic, I was cas-evacked from a hill…
Is Boris Johnson standing for Parliament — or running for it?
‘Boris Johnson broke cover yesterday to declare that he will run for parliament,’ the Times reported last week. The Mirror…
Escape to Burgundy
There have been some splendid rumours about my health. According to the most exotic, I was cas-evacked from a hill…
How oneupmanship ruins things for everyone
‘There’s a little bit of a fascist in all of us. For some, the tragedy of human want may provoke…
Greece is calling – three more years and then I move south
Porto Cheli I have been thinking about my children and my own strange boyhood as I gaze up at the…
I might have no testosterone but I do have a Fiat Barchetta
I’ve might have no testosterone. (My production is currently being stopped by injection once every three months.) But what I…
Will I end up in Belmarsh for fiddling kitten heels?
A parcel has arrived addressed to ‘Cydney Kite’. The spaniel is ecstatic. She has never received her own mail before,…
If you want real stress, move to the country
It’s much more stressful to live in the country than in a town. There are always threats of one kind…
Bridge
Two very exciting tournaments drew to a close last week. The first was the Spingold, the main teams event in…
Goodwood is Ascot without the vulgarity, Aintree without the spray tans
If I get to choose where to spend my last day on earth it will probably be at Glorious Goodwood.…
Two’s a crowd
The British Championship, which finished in Aberystwyth last week, has been shared by international master Jonathan Hawkins and the defending…
no. 326
White to play. This is from Perez Ponsa–Frick, Tromso Olympiad 2014. How did White blast through? Answers to me at…
Voter repellent
In Competition No. 2859 you were invited to submit an offputting party political broadcast by the Tories, Labour, the Lib…
2174: Difficulty
Five clues consist of cryptic indications of partial answers; in each case, the indicated part must be treated thematically to…
to 2171: 31 Across
The seven 2×2 squares each used the letters STAR in order, and depicted the seven major stars that make up…
What’s the point in being married if I can’t feel superior to my single friends?
I’m due to speak at an Intelligence Squared debate on Saturday and I’m worried that I might be on the…
