Life
Language notes
Word-of-the-year of the Year It’s that time of year once again – the season when dictionaries announce their choice for…
The Battle for Britain
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High life
New York Here we go again, the annual holiest of holies is upon us, although to this oldie last Christmas…
Dear Mary
From Joanna Lumley Q. We receive a huge number of Christmas cards every year. When I take them all down…
A brief history of luck
One of the staples of crime drama is the ‘cold-case squad’. This allows programme-makers to add period detail to the…
Word of the year
In 2015 smombie became the Youth Word of the Year in Germany. In January 2016 a survey found that 92…
A toast to Lebanon
I was thinking about tragedy. Could one use the term ‘chronically tragic’? My first instinct is against. Tragedy is the…
Unhampered pleasure
There is straw inside the Fortnum & Mason Christmas Treat Hamper (£100). As the straw drifts through the house, it…
Empty seats and silver linings
The best thing about sport in 2020 was that any happened at all. And how good much of it was.…
Christmas quiz
Set by Christopher Howse. Illustrated by Castro
Chance of a lifetime
As I gaze at my four children on Christmas morning, clambering on to the bed with their stockings, I will…
Wild life
Laikipia I was drinking in the fresh air on the high earth wall of my farm dam last week, when…
Christmas Crossword – Spectator Christmas party
At the Spectator Christmas PARTY(90) the TREE (42D) has a FAIRY (22), a STAR (78) and TINSEL strewn around (41,…
Low life
Every few years I’ve picked up one or other of Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time series…
Real life
Bring back the men having sex in the undergrowth. This was the thought that occurred to me and my friend…
Solution to 2485: Triplets
Each of the unclued lights includes the same letter three times in succession. First prize Tom Rollinson, Borehamwood, Herts Runners-up…
A puzzling dozen
This Christmas, government guidance says that board games are out and quizzes are in. Thus, 12 questions for Christmas. Answers…
Bridge
Goodbye 2020 and don’t come back. Worst part for bridge players? All the matches and tournaments have been moved online,…
Singular sonnet
In Competition No. 3179 you were invited to submit a Christmas hit single rewritten as a sonnet. This seasonal challenge…
Puzzle no. 634
White to play and mate in five moves. Composed by Kohtz & Kockelkorn, 1875. Be careful — four moves isn’t…
The turf
Greville Starkey’s great victories as a jockey included the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Star Appeal at 119-1. In…
Aussie Life / Language
Simon Collins Contrary to popular belief, the largest and deadliest constrictors do not kill with speed and ferocity. Rather, having…
The turf
Who owns Altior? I ask because of the brouhaha over Nicky Henderson’s late withdrawal of his stable star, winner of…
2487: Birthday boys II
December 12th was the birthday of two famous men. Unclued lights (including one of five words, one of two words…
What the Dickens
In Competition No. 3178 you were invited to submit an extract from a Dickensian novel based around the name of…
