Life
No. 691
Black to play. Maric-Gligoric, Belgrade 1962. White has offered to exchange the rooks on f5 and c3. But Gligoric found…
How 'like' lost its way
A strange crisis has befallen like. It had long been an object of obloquy and vilification in two functions. The…
Bridge | 26 February 2022
My friend Nick Sandqvist says that coaching the England juniors is a joy; so great when someone enthusiastic and creative…
The Battle for Britain | 26 February 2022
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Is football hooliganism on its way back?
Forty-odd years ago a friend, a Liverpool supporter, somewhat unwisely took his girlfriend to Elland Road for a Leeds match…
2544: Fives
Clues lead to 5-letter solutions. Each set of ten clues is presented in alphabetical order of the solutions. Correct positioning…
A victim of its own mythology: Langan’s Brasserie reviewed
Langan’s, a brasserie off Piccadilly with curling orange neon signage calling its name, is under new management after it fell…
Dear Mary: How do I tell my friends that napkin rings are the height of naff?
Q. Three weeks ago I banged my head on the lower branch of our near neighbours’ tree, which I couldn’t…
Mexico is no country for journalists
I’m writing this on my last day in Mexico City, having accompanied my 18-year-old daughter here for the first week…
2541: Beastly - solution
The unclued lights form a quartet of three-word terms, each of which has the letter count of (6,6,6) which is…
Spectator competition winners: Monosyllabic short stories
In Competition No. 3237, you were invited to submit a short story using words of only one syllable. This challenge…
Nakamura the wildcard
Hikaru Nakamura justified his wildcard invitation by taking first place at the Fide Grand Prix in Berlin this month. The…
Every village needs a kebab shop
‘A diary?’ said the lady in the chintzy gift shop, pronouncing the word very much as Edith Evans said ‘handbag’…
The moral courage of P.J. O’Rourke
Was it Socrates who said that chaos was the natural state of mankind, and tyranny the usual remedy? Actually it…
Aussie Life
If a week is a long time in politics, two months is a geological epoch, during which not just goalposts…
Aussie Language
Writing in the Daily Telegraph James Morrow referred to something called a preference cascade which he said was a term…
When does ‘middle age’ end and ‘old age’ begin?
I was a bit irritated by all the millennials saying the Superbowl half-time show made them feel old. The 15-minute…
Where’s the ‘mystery’ in mystery plays?
In The Archers, Ambridge put on its own set of mystery plays dramatising the Nativity and Passion. BBC Radio 4…
A toast to Victorian Britain
Across oceans and continents, less favoured nations produce more history than they can consume. In these islands, the English —…
Why restaurant food at home beats eating out
‘The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be…
Dear Mary: How do I tackle the menace of strangers making mobile calls on speakerphone?
Q. As if it wasn’t bad enough to overhear one side of a conversation as it’s bellowed into a mobile…
Steak Diane: the perfect date-night dish
Cooking for romance is no laughing matter. The stakes are high. Get it right and woo the love of your…
Spectator competitions winners: ‘O, my love is like…’
In Competition No. 3236, you were invited to submit a poem that begins ‘Oh my love is like…’ . From…
No. 670
Black to play. Shuvalova–Pavlidou, Women’s World Blitz Championship, 2021. White was winning, but has just played 89 g3-g4? No resignation…
2543: Parts of speech
Unclued lights form a progressive set, plus the name of the speaker. Across 1 Talk shortly about present-day veg…
