Life
Hot cross buns
What makes a hot cross bun a hot cross bun? Is it in the bun: the spice, the dried fruit…
Puzzle no. 698
White to play. A variation from Esipenko-Nakamura, Fide Grand Prix Berlin 2022. Which move would allow White to force a…
Solution to 2548: Poem VII
The poem is ‘Rondeau’ by Leigh Hunt. Its first three words as quoted in ODQ are ‘JENNY KISSED ME’ (diagonally…
2551: Madness
Unclued lights (including two of two words) suggest nine words (all in Chambers) starting with the same four-letter word that…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. A great friend is in a terrible state regarding a cat foisted on her by a close relation. She…
My crowning achievement
It’s fairly commonplace for people to wonder what, if anything, they’ll be remembered for. I’m going to be 59 later…
Real life
The bank was having Transgender Visibility Day when I popped in to deposit some cash.The stressed-looking customers, meanwhile, seemed mostly…
Low life
After north Cornwall I came to the Test Valley, I think. That is what it says on the council vans…
Worse verse
In Competition No. 3244, you were invited to submit a poem to mark St George’s Day that rivals in awfulness…
High life
The only good news, after the massacres in Ukraine, is that so many ugly behemoth super-yachts have been seized and…
The Battle for Britain
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The turf
How wonderful after three years to have the crowds back to enjoy the glorious concoction of skill, bravery, razzmatazz and…
Heart’s content
According to Pliny the Elder, Scipio Aemilianus was the first man to shave daily. The origin of the name Boeing…
Nakamura’s place
Wesley So won the final Fide Grand Prix, which was held in Berlin earlier this month. But it was Hikaru…
Aesopian
To evade algorithms that hunt down forbidden words, users of platforms like TikTok employ cryptic synonyms. So deadbecomes unalive, and…
Bridge
I went cycling in the Pyrenees with my teenagers last week. Every time we stopped for a break, out came…
Wild Geese of wine
The Irish rarely understate their achievements. Yet there is one exception. Over the centuries, the links between Catholic Ireland and…
Aussie life
April is the cruellest month for anybody who despairs at the state of contemporary humour. Where are the Ealing comedies…
Language
The expression ‘to walk back’ has exploded over the news recently. We have been told by the news media that…
The truly disadvantaged group in Britain
I’m not sure what to think about the BBC’s announcement that it wants a quarter of its staff to be…
The Battle for Britain
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Pep and Klopp, kings of England
It’s a game for the ages all right, City againstLiverpool on Sunday as the Premier League moves to its most…
Puzzle no. 697
White to play. Duda-Anton Guijarro, Charity Cup, March 2022. Black’s last move, 21…Qe7-b4 was an unforced error. Which move did…
2550: Shorties
The unclued lights and eight clued without thematic definition are of a kind, expressly confirmed in a section of Chambers.…
Lost and found
In Competition No. 3243, you were invited to submit a poem about the recent discovery of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance.…
