Life
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…
The Wild Rabbit's food may be organic - but nothing else there is
The Wild Rabbit is a pub in the Cotswolds, that small corner of Britain full of evil grinning cottages; if…
Dot Wordsworth's week in words: Did William Empson have the first clue what 'bare ruined choirs' meant?
I am shocked to find that William Empson, famous for his technique of close reading, was no good at reading…
Is this really a pub?
The Wild Rabbit is a pub in the Cotswolds, that small corner of Britain full of evil grinning cottages; if…
Who’s really down under?
This weekend is the final round of the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship, the best tournament outside the World Cup and…
Bicyclists in burkas
Gstaad The Swiss canton of Ticino is holding a referendum on a burka ban, and it is about time, too.…
Morning after
I woke up in the foetal position, on my back, on Trev’s tiny sofa, with an old curtain over me.…
The police give Melissa Kite short shrift
Walking the spaniel on Tooting Common, I was apprehended by a man on a bike. He was ashen-faced. His young…
Alexander Chancellor: The Kindle is marvellous, but it cannot satisfy an addiction to books
My brother John’s great book sale, about which I wrote on this page a couple of weeks ago, finally took…
Dean Ivory — from mechanic and welder to enthusiastic and successful trainer
Trainers used to come into racing with Aunt Agatha’s legacy after a short service commission, having probably worn a trilby…
Bridge
This week I’m tackling one of the great unmentionable subjects of bridge: the fact that players so seldom go to…
Max Fuller
I am sorry to hear that the Australian master Max Fuller has died in Sydney at the age of 68.…
No. 285
White to play. This position is from Fuller-Sorensen, Copenhagen 1980. The Black king has been driven out into the open.…
Let’s twist
In Competition 2816 you were invited to submit a short story with an ingenious twist at the end. I was…
2132: Ricochet
The unclued Across lights, when correctly paired with the unclued Down ones, are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. …
to 2129: DUMPYNOSE
The unclued lights (1A, 1D/36, 4/31D, 5/27, 15/16A, 16D, 25A/40, 42 are each the PSEUDONYM (anagram of ‘Dumpynose’) of a…
The great zebrafish massacre
I should never have agreed to buy Sasha fish for her tenth birthday. But it seemed like such a modest…
Dave
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Nobody takes a flight from London to Manchester. So why would we take HS2?
From Edinburgh airport there are more than 45 flights a day to London. And, I imagine, the same number back.…
