Life
Chess puzzle No. 700
White to play and draw. Composed by Jan Timman, 2011. 1 h8=Q Rxd5 wins for Black, so how does White…
Solution to 2550: Shorties
The unclued lights and those clued without thematic definition (7, 11, 17, 30, 31, 32, 36 and 41) are SHORTened…
Ordination
In the dying seconds of an online blitz game, I promoted a pawn and instantly regretted it. There was nothing…
The Battle for Britain
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Bridge
Recently, a friend was browsing through the bridge books on my shelves, when suddenly she burst out laughing. ‘Here’s a…
Real life
After rushing our little spaniel to the veterinary hospital on the usual bank holiday emergency basis upon which all animals…
Aussie life
Of the 101 Australian military personnel who have been awarded the Victoria Cross, our highest honour for bravery, most lie…
Language
Here it is! I have finally found one word that will describe the Liberal party in its present state— ‘agathokakological’.…
What is possible
There are lessons in chess that cannot be learned from a book. One lands, from time to time, in a…
Solution to 2549: Obscurity
PALE FIRE is a novel by Vladimir NABOKOV (18). Synonyms of words in the novel’s title are 7, 15A, and…
Chess puzzle
Black to play. Sukandar-Niemann, Reykjavik Open 2022. In this preposterous position, Black found a quick forced mate. What did he…
French connection
In Competition No. 3245, you were asked to take a passage from a classic of French literature and recast it…
2552: 😀
Eight unclued entries comprise four pairs whose thematic ordering is provided by 3, 31, 37 and 41. Across 1…
The Battle for Britain
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We love you Rangers, we do
Normal families spend the Easter holidays by the seaside or in the Mediterranean. But not the Youngs. My three boys…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. Financially successful friends have kindly invited my husband and me to stay for a week in France. Our problem…
Real life
When the vet had finished giving my horses their annual flu boosters, she reminded me the vaccination regime had changed.…
Salmagundi
‘It makes me hungry,’ said my husband when I mentioned the word salmagundi. That is his reaction to many words.…
Into the labyrinth
I am never bored with Harrods, only disgusted, and it is disgust of the most animated and exciting kind. It…
Low life
I was walking across a fallow field to the pub with my two grandsons. ‘What’s this?’ said my 11-year-old Oscar,…
Bridge
It seems ironic that while many bridge players are fighting to ‘Keep Bridge Alive’, raising money to encourage and teach…
What English cricket needs now
You couldn’t ask for a more amiable man than Rob Key to run English cricket: affable, shrewd and universally liked,…
High life
New York Our own Douglas Murray is the canary in the Bagel coal mine as of late. The left controls…
Aussie life
Is the woke tide finally starting to turn? One aspect of the mainstream media’s coverage of the Ukraine crisis might…
Language
The word ‘fatigue’ has been part of the English language since at least 1693. It comes from a French source…
