Life
2134: Mere letters
Each unclued across light can be paired with a down one (one hyphened). Each member of a pair is an…
To 2131: present
Redundant words were: IRAQI (1A), ADO (5A), AENEAS (39A), EPEE (5D), AREA (25D). In line with 16/17, remaining unclued lights…
Toby Young: I'm too posh for the Tories. I should try Labour
I’m still weighing up whether to run for Parliament, but after this week’s reshuffle I’ve concluded I’m in the wrong…
Dave
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The real reason for rotten online reviews on TripAdvisor
‘Sorry, I’d love to go the pub this evening, but I have to go out. It’s my wife’s wedding anniversary.’…
Dear Mary
Q. Is it acceptable to deal with time-critical online business while attending church? Some matters just won’t wait — Glastonbury tickets…
Treasures from a lost domaine
René Engel must have been a wonderful man. He studied wine-making before fighting in the trenches during the first world…
The week in words: When politicians use 'hard-working'
In his New Year message for 1940, Joseph Goebbels complained that the ‘warmongering cliques in London’ hated the German people…
Treasures from a lost domaine
René Engel must have been a wonderful man. He studied wine-making before fighting in the trenches during the first world…
Great expectations
At the degenerative stage of a dinner party recently I heard related with perfect timing the tale of the gent…
What’s really annoying you?
‘Sorry, I’d love to go the pub this evening, but I have to go out. It’s my wife’s wedding anniversary.’…
Taki: Mayor Bloomberg has sold New York out to the highest bidder
New York The trouble with driving into the city is nostalgia. Manhattan Island looms into view and it still has…
Jeremy Clarke: Morality in children depresses me
I went to a Tibetan yoga all-day workshop. Tibetan yoga is very simple. It would be hilariously so if it…
Melissa Kite — after nearly 40 years of riding, all I know is: horses are horses. They are not people
Natural horsemanship has a lot to answer for. After a cross country event the other day, I rode back to…
Good news from Alexander Chancellor’s menagerie
There is at last good news to report on the poultry front. In the past, when I have mentioned my…
Bridge
I defy anyone, even Tolstoy were he still alive and were he to abandon War and Peace for a bridge…
Through glasses darkly
Grandmasters Pal Benko and Viktor Korchnoi have worn dark glasses to counter perceived hypnotic influence during games. In the recent…
No. 286
White to play. This position is from Alekhine-Bogolyubov, World Championship (Game 4), Germany 1934. The black king has been driven…
Proverbial wisdom?
In Competition 2817 you were asked to provide a poem, in the manner of Harry Graham’s Perverted Proverbs, questioning the…
2133: FM
All except four clues contain a superfluous word each. Initial letters of these words spell the titles of four 29D…
To 2130: Elusive
Extra letters in clues give the assertion by HOUSMAN (31) that ‘I could no more define poetry than a terrier…
Miliband's fight with the Mail is cold political calculation
I’m writing this from the Conservative party conference in Manchester, but it’s Ed Miliband I want to discuss. In particular,…
Dave
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Steer it, Ainsley — the America's Cup winner must drive a reasonably-priced car on Top Gear
This weekend is the final round of the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship, the best tournament outside the World Cup and…
Dear Mary: How can I make a surgeon give me my book back?
Q. Towards the end of last year, I began three months of treatment for a knee replacement. During one consultation…
