Solution to 2518: Make a run for it?
As suggested by 11A, other unclued lights were all anagrams of ducks: 12A drake; 16A teal; 28A redhead; 31A smew; …
Letters
Zero balance Sir: James Kirkup (‘In defence of net zero’, 14 August) highlights the falling cost of solar and wind…
Recovery position
At the start of this year, Britain looked as if it would be the first major country to vaccinate its…
Solution to 2517: Final line-up
The unclued lights are the eleven England footballers who LINED UP at the kick-off of the Euro FINAL on 11…
Portrait of the Week
Home Parliament was recalled after the rapid fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, returned from…
Barometer
Student takeover Where did the Taliban come from? — The word ‘Taliban’ means simply ‘students’ in Pashtun. They were originally…
Barometer
Woolly thinking There were protests in Whitehall to save Geronimo, an alpaca due to be put down after testing positive…
Letters
Wage concern Sir: Martin Vander Weyer’s call for higher wages to end the shortage of British HGV drivers (‘Your country…
Portrait of the Week
Home With less frightening domestic data on the coronavirus pandemic to ponder, subjects such as the rivalry between Boris Johnson,…
Solution to 2516: Such childish vocabulary
The unclued lights are the nouns from the opening sentence of The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter. TAFFETA was…
Office politics
After seizing so much power during the pandemic, Boris Johnson’s government is having trouble working out where its remit now…
Portrait of the week
Home After the number of people ‘pinged’ (alerted by an NHS Covid-19 app) neared 700,000, the app was adjusted so…
Barometer
Happy valet Police Scotland dropped what they said was a randomly generated codeword — ‘Bunter’ — for the security operation…
Solution to 2515: Paragon
The name was Margaret, whose various versions are suggested by THE SPECTATOR (1: Mag), BARN OWL (10/36: Madge), LEAD HAMMER…
The mild West
An athlete seeking sanctuary in a foreign embassy after a state–sponsored attempt to spirit her home from the Olympics; a…
Letters
Here illegally Sir: Unfortunately, Charlotte Eagar misses the point (‘The alpha migrants’, 31 July). The Channel migrants may be ‘bright…
Letters
A note about manure Sir: I am afraid Matt Ridley shows a lack of understanding about agriculture in general and…
Solution to 2514: Welcome Back
Unclued lights were stories in The Return of Sherlock Holmes. (The Adventures of the: EMPTY (41) HOUSE (2), DANCING MEN…
Portrait of the week
Home The daily number of coronavirus cases detected by tests fell from 54,674 on 17 July to 23,511 by 27…
The new insularity
There is something bizarre about a sporting event designed to bring people and nations together but from which spectators have…
Barometer
Reinventing the wheels Skateboarding made its debut at the Olympics. Who invented the skateboard? — There are many reports of…
Portrait of the week
Home On the eve of the day that most coronavirus restrictions were to be lifted, the Prime Minister and Chancellor…
Letters
Out of Afghanistan Sir: Boyd Tonkin’s review of Anna Aslanyan’s Dancing on Ropes highlights the post-war abandonment of local Afghan…
Barometer
Waiting Games What did Japan, and the world, look like the last time Tokyo held the Olympics in 1964? —…
On the cards
Back when Boris Johnson was on a mission to stop identity cards being used in Britain, he made a very…
