Life
Most of the racing crowd were saddened that Godolphin was dragged through the mire
Driving to Newmarket through a biblical-style deluge that had sheep, cattle and horses queuing in twos in case Noah had…
Bridge
The Ukip treasurer Stuart Wheeler’s recent comments about women being less good than men at bridge (and chess, and poker)…
Hedgehog fund
The Hedgehog is a respected chess formation, usually adopted as Black, where the defender crouches behind a wall of pawns…
Puzzle no. 281
Black to play. This is from Caruana-Adams, Dortmund 2013. Despite play being in an endgame Adams sacrificed a piece. His…
Bookish
In Competition No. 2812 you were invited to provide a poem celebrating bookshops. Space is tight, which leaves room only…
2128: Carbon copy
This puzzle marks a 42/27 by 11 in 17/19. Five other unclued lights (one twice hyphened) together suggest another form…
Solution to 2125: Nil desperandum
The part quotation was ‘BUT WESTWARD, LOOK, THE LAND’ (1/5/28) from Say not the struggle naught availeth by Arthur Hugh Clough.…
Sorry, Rayhan Uddin, but your comprehensive didn’t teach you how to think
An acquaintance of mine called Daisy Christodoulou has just published a book called Seven Myths about Education. It’s a merciless…
The Battle for Britain – 31 August 2013
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Think fracking’s bad for the countryside? Just look at farming…
I’m off to Balcombe this weekend. In fact I might even carry a placard and paint my face with a…
Dear Mary: How can I stop this bore reading his novel aloud?
Q. Is there a polite way of halting a wannabe novelist from reading his oeuvre aloud to an unwilling audience?…
Dining in style at David Cameron’s favourite Italian
It is impossible to think about any Italian region without wondering ‘What if?’ Sardinia lacks the glamour, grandeur and menace…
Vikings
‘What’s he saying now?’ asked my husband in a provoking manner when an actor read out a bit of the…
A dinner fit for a prime minister
It is impossible to think about any Italian region without wondering ‘What if?’ Sardinia lacks the glamour, grandeur and menace…
The turf
Driving to Newmarket through a biblical-style deluge that had sheep, cattle and horses queuing in twos in case Noah had…
Meet the real scourge of the English countryside
I’m off to Balcombe this weekend. In fact I might even carry a placard and paint my face with a…
If all left-wing academics were as nice as John Sutherland, Taki would tolerate Hush Puppies
Just before I left Gstaad for the Greek islands I went to dinner at Eugenie Radziwill’s, whose other guests included…
Jeremy Clarke in France: A couple of formidables, dinner with bucketfuls of rosé, dancing, cognac with sugar cubes and a delightful romance
Golly my testicles are shrinking fast. At this rate by Christmas they’ll be down to the size of garden peas.…
Melissa Kite: Spare me from successful neighbours
At last. I’ve waited a long time for this moment. I’ve been through years of torture at the hands of…
Alexander Chancellor Why can’t we have more public toilets and fewer wheelie-bins?
After a carefree month at my wife’s house in Tuscany — the longest summer holiday I have spent there for…
Killing in Kenya: Aidan Hartley tracks the last steps of an elephant
Laikipia The bull elephant had roamed our northern marches of the Laikipia plateau for decades. I always recognised him…
Bridge
If jealousy is measured in twinges my twinge-o-meter has gone viral. On my self-imposed sabbatical, otherwise known as a holiday,…
Dortmund
Britain’s top grandmaster Mickey Adams has won clear first prize in the tournament at Dortmund, ahead of former world champion…
No. 280
White to play. This position is from Williams-Brown, British Championship, Torquay 2013. What is the most direct route to victory…
New word order
In Competition 2811 you were invited to take an existing word and alter it by a) adding a letter; b)…
