Life
No. 699
Black to play. Sukandar-Niemann, Reykjavik Open 2022. In this preposterous position, Black found a quick forced mate. What did he…
Spectator competition winners: Let’s parler Franglais
In Competition No. 3245, you were asked to take a passage from a classic of French literature and recast it…
2552: 😀
Eight unclued entries comprise four pairs whose thematic ordering is provided by 3, 31, 37 and 41. Across 1…
The Battle for Britain | 23 April 2022
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The tragedy of being a QPR fan
Normal families spend the Easter holidays by the seaside or in the Mediterranean. But not the Youngs. My three boys…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my father’s girlfriend boiling a full kettle for one cup of tea?
Q. Financially successful friends have kindly invited my husband and me to stay for a week in France. Our problem…
Why I won’t be following the new equine vaccine regime
When the vet had finished giving my horses their annual flu boosters, she reminded me the vaccination regime had changed.…
The linguistic ingredients of ‘salmagundi’
‘It makes me hungry,’ said my husband when I mentioned the word salmagundi. That is his reaction to many words.…
The Harrods disadvantage: Em Sherif reviewed
I am never bored with Harrods, only disgusted, and it is disgust of the most animated and exciting kind. It…
The nature of luck
I was walking across a fallow field to the pub with my two grandsons. ‘What’s this?’ said my 11-year-old Oscar,…
Bridge | 23 April 2022
It seems ironic that while many bridge players are fighting to ‘Keep Bridge Alive’, raising money to encourage and teach…
What English cricket needs now
You couldn’t ask for a more amiable man than Rob Key to run English cricket: affable, shrewd and universally liked,…
The sad demise of Brooks Brothers
New York Our own Douglas Murray is the canary in the Bagel coal mine as of late. The left controls…
Aussie life
Is the woke tide finally starting to turn? One aspect of the mainstream media’s coverage of the Ukraine crisis might…
Language
The word ‘fatigue’ has been part of the English language since at least 1693. It comes from a French source…
The secret to baking the fluffiest hot cross buns
What makes a hot cross bun a hot cross bun? Is it in the bun: the spice, the dried fruit…
No. 698
White to play. A variation from Esipenko-Nakamura, Fide Grand Prix Berlin 2022. Which move would allow White to force a…
2548: Poem VII - solution
The poem is ‘Rondeau’ by Leigh Hunt. Its first three words as quoted in ODQ are ‘JENNY KISSED ME’ (diagonally…
2551: Madness
Unclued lights (including two of two words) suggest nine words (all in Chambers) starting with the same four-letter word that…
Dear Mary: How do you stop a cat from sneaking next door?
Q. A great friend is in a terrible state regarding a cat foisted on her by a close relation. She…
Is this Premier Inn all I’ll be remembered for?
It’s fairly commonplace for people to wonder what, if anything, they’ll be remembered for. I’m going to be 59 later…
Bring back Nancy
The bank was having Transgender Visibility Day when I popped in to deposit some cash.The stressed-looking customers, meanwhile, seemed mostly…
My sojourn in the Test Valley
After north Cornwall I came to the Test Valley, I think. That is what it says on the council vans…
Spectator competition winners: poems for St George in Bono-metrics
In Competition No. 3244, you were invited to submit a poem to mark St George’s Day that rivals in awfulness…
The age-old story of strongmen
The only good news, after the massacres in Ukraine, is that so many ugly behemoth super-yachts have been seized and…
