Lead alert
In Competition No. 3167 you were invited to submit a rhymed poem that is leadenly prosaic in tone and content.…
Privates on parade
In Competition No. 3166 you were invited to supply a poem either celebrating or lamenting the cancellation of Philadelphia’s annual…
Between the lines
In Competition No. 3165 you were invited to supply a job reference for a well-known public figure, past or present,…
Cento
In Competition No. 3164 you were invited to submit a poem in which each line comes from a different well-known…
In short
In Competition No. 3163 you were invited to submit well-known poems encapsulated in four lines. Now that the internet has…
Double time
In Competition No. 3162 you were invited to submit double dactyls on stars of popular or classical music. Fans of…
Bout-rimés
In Competition No. 3161 you were invited to supply a sonnet with certain rhyme words to be used in a…
Short story
In Competition No. 3160 you were invited to supply a short story whose opening sentence is ‘I have no idea…
Read my lipograms
In Competition No. 3159 you were invited to supply a poem that does not contain the letter ‘e’. This fiendish…
Watching the detective
In Competition No. 3158 you were invited to supply an extract describing a well-known fictional detective who finds themselves catapulted…
Glasto and Glynders
In Competition No. 3157 you were invited to describe a visit to Glastonbury or Glyndebourne in the style of an…
Schadenfreude
In Competition No. 3156 you were invited to supply a piece of verse or prose on the subject of schadenfreude,…
Al fresco
In Competition No. 3155 you were invited to supply a poem entitled ‘The Picnic’. This challenge was prompted by a…
Here comes the summer
In Competition No. 3154 you were invited to supply your own variations on the medieval round ‘Sumer is icumen in’.…
Sneezles and wheezles
In Competition No. 3153 you were invited to recruit a well-known children’s writer to explain Covid-19 to their young audience.…
Domestic bliss?
In Competition No. 3152 you were invited to supply a poem about the joys — or otherwise — of the…
Home truths
In Competition No. 3151 you were invited to imagine famous authors reflecting on their struggles with DIY. Highlights in a…
Herculean
In Competition No. 3150 you were invited to submit a sonnet describing one of the labours of Hercules. This challenge…
Lockdown lit
In Competition No. 3149 you were invited to tweak an existing book or poem title for lockdown and provide an…
Selfie
In Competition No. 3148 you were asked to imagine what the result might have been had a well-known writer slipped…
Going solo
In Competition No. 3147 you were invited to submit tips on social isolation in the style of a well-known writer.…
Getting your goat
In Competition No. 3146 you were invited to submit a poem about the goats of Llandudno, who recently ran amok…
Anniversary clerihews
In Competition No. 3145, to mark the 10,000th issue of The Spectator, you were invited to submit clerihews (two couplets,…
Alphabetical
In Competition No. 3144 you were invited to submit a poem, six lines at most, containing all the letters of…
Love story
In Competition No. 3143, a nod to García Márquez’s 1985 novel, you were invited to submit a short story entitled…
