Competition
Small-minded
In Competition No. 3228, you were invited to provide a well-known extract from adult literature rewritten for inclusion in an…
Mnemonic
In Competition No. 3227, you were invited to provide verses to help children remember the sequence of the last eight…
Show time
In Competition No. 3226, you were invited to rewrite, in pompous and prolix style, any well-known simple poem. The seed…
Night terrors
In Competition No. 3225, you were invited to provide a version of the Lord Chancellor’s ‘Nightmare Song’ from Iolanthe for…
Tourist misinformation
In Competition No. 3224, you were invited to submit snippets of misleading advice either for tourists visiting Britain or for…
Anyone for Dennis?
In Competition No. 3223, you were invited to supply an acrostic poem in which the first letter of each line,…
Group think
In Competition No. 3222, you were invited to supply a dystopian short story that incorporates as many collective nouns for…
One for the ode
In Competition No. 3221, you were invited to submit an ode on the Marble Arch Mound. The 25 metre-high artificial…
Chapter and verse
In Competition No. 3220, you were invited to supply a newly discovered short story by a well-known 19th- or 20th-century…
Follow the science
In Competition No. 3219, you were invited to supply clerihews on well-known scientists, past and present. The subject of the…
Cooking the books
In Competition No. 3218, you were invited to supply a recipe as it might have been written by the author…
In the soup
In Competition No. 3217, you were invited to supply a poem that begins or ends with the line ‘Why must…
Rock god
In Competition No. 3216, you were invited to retell a well-known biblical story in a secular style that would enhance…
TB or not TB
In Competition No. 3215, you were -invited to supply a poem about Geronimo the alpaca. The camelid’s fate was finally…
Face time
In Competition No. 3214, you were invited to choose a well-known painted portrait and let the subject speak for itself,…
Art nouveau
In Competition No. 3213 you were invited to submit a villanelle whose first line is: ‘The art of [insert gerund…
Trip adviser
In Competition No. 3212 you were invited to provide a spiel that a well-known character from the field of fact…
Sing a song of Covid
In Competition No. 3211 you were invited to submit a nursery rhyme inspired by the pandemic. When I set this…
Alpha to Zulu
In Competition No. 3210, you were invited to provide a poem or a piece of prose containing words from the…
Take seven
In Competition No. 3209, you were invited to provide Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of a Tory MP. Inspiration for this challenge…
Marriage guidance
In Competition No. 3208, you were invited to submit a recipe for marital bliss on behalf of an author of…
Give us a clue
In Competition No. 3207, you were invited to supply an extract from a thriller, written by a well-known politician, that…
Universal
In Competition No. 3206, you were invited to supply a sonnet on the universe. The late Frank Kermode reckoned that…
Pop culture
In Competition No. 3205, you were invited to supply a rigorous literary-critical analysis of a well-known pop song. Thanks to…
Let’s go round again
In Competition No. 3204, you were invited to supply a rondeau with a summery theme. The best-known English rondeau is…
