Life
Solution to 2558: Blonde, 78
Unclued lights were associated with JUBILEE: years (CALENDAR, SCHOOL, FINANCIAL), clips (CROCODILE,PAPER, TIE) and London underground lines (CENTRAL, CIRCLE, NORTHERN).…
2561: PORTS
Six unclued entries comprise systematically ordered non-words thematically linked by a normal entry, itself unclued. Across 1 Awaiting consideration,…
Puzzle no. 708
White to play. Rezasade-Movsesian, Bundesliga 2022. White was an underdog in this game, but found a subtle winning idea. What…
Hard times
In Competition No. 3254, you were invited to tweak a well-known book title to reflect the straitened times we live…
Cream of the Candidates
The Candidates tournament is underway in Madrid, where eight of the world’s best players vie for the right to challenge…
Aussie life
When the Minister for Blackouts, Bankruptcy and Bull finally announces that, in order to save the planet, we need to…
Language
The word ‘emergency’ has been part of the English language since around 1630. Its most common political use today is…
Solution to 2557: Heroes
The perimetric knights are MO FARAH, JASON KENNY, STEVE REDGRAVE and CHRIS HOY, all OLYMPIC WINNERS. Together they have amassed…
Have they spotted it?
Returning to the board, Mamedyarov looks at Anand’s outstretched hand with bemusement. It can’t be a draw offer – that…
Puzzle No. 707
White to play. Trent-Carlstedt, Hamburg 2022. Lawrence Trent spotted a way to deliver a quick mate. Which move did he…
Me time
In Competition No. 3253, you were invited to write a poem entitled ‘Song of Myself’ in the style of the…
2560: Obit VI
Clockwise round the grid from 7 run the names (8,5,3,3,8,3,8,7,7) of six members of a winning set, the other three…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. A close friend, who has lost most of her income in recent years, has done something disfiguring to a…
My novice night at the opera
Last Saturday I went to the opera for only the second time in my life. This was at the invitation…
Real life
The LED streetlamp outside my house was fitted with a ‘compromise’ shield acceptable to a vegan that looked as if…
Bridge
When lockdown struck, high-standard online bridge tournaments sprang up and with them a multitude of cheats, world champions among them,…
High life
He is a rich English lord with a very large house and his wife is a beautiful American with a…
Low life
I’m house-sitting for the foreign correspondent while he attends the funeral of his beloved father-in-law Toto, the last of the…
Who knew Test cricket could be like this?
Test cricket, bloody hell! For years, it’s been getting the last rites – now it’s the most exciting way anyone…
Child’s play
Ave Mario looks like Clown Town, a soft-play centre in Finchley with a ball pit so large you could drown…
The Battle for Britain: Michael Heath
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Rehash
My husband put one foot forward atan angle to the other and grasped his left hand with his right. ‘Occiditmiseros…
Aussie life
I have a confession to make. Despite voting for an Australian Republic in 1999, and despite making an ad arguing…
Scotch eggs
One of the perils of being a recipe writer is that people regularly ask me why I bother making things…
Solution to 2556: Recent origins
The unclued entries give the origins of elements 110-118 now named Darmstadtium, Roentgenium, Copernicium, Nihonium, Flerovium, Moscovium, Livermorium, Tennessine and…
