Life
Alba
‘What, old monkey-face!’ said my husband with unnecessary lack of gallantry. He was referring to the 18th Duchess of Alba,…
Our Zoom seder
This week my son came home from school and asked me if it was true that the Jews killed Jesus.…
Dear Mary
Q. I have been working (from home) for a TV comedy production company for a year. My job is scouting…
The Battle for Britain
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Fortune favours the brave
If you wish to unsettle your opponents, first attack them and second, play the moves quickly. It’s far from easy…
Puzzle no. 647
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by B.P. Barnes, Skakbladet 1961. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk…
Beastly
In Competition No. 3192 you were invited to submit a short story that features an animal (or animals) taking revenge…
Low life
‘Alas, David can’t be here this afternoon,’ I told the French teacher as she let me into her light and…
Bridge
These days, most tournaments take place either on Bridge Base Online or Realbridge. I far prefer BBO for one reason:…
Real life
Watching a woman driving a dog past my house like a carthorse is just another ‘new normal’ of lockdown. This…
The turf
How Father Sean Breen would have loved this year’s Cheltenham Festival. The late parish priest at Ballymore Eustace, who owned…
to 2497: Scramble
Six of the unclued lights are RAF stations of WW2. First prize Kathleen Durber, Stoke-on-Trent Runners-up Alison Gillam, Knotty Green,…
High life
Chelsea/Gstaad Oh, to be in England! But let’s start at the beginning. I challenge any reader to claim they are…
2500: 50 x 50
Each solution contains one letter at least once, always omitted in the cryptic wordplay of each clue. This letter and…
Aussie Life
I’m back from Sydney and just coming out of my drunken stupor – a 12-hour bender at a resuscitated Qantas…
Aussie Language
The word ‘independent’ has been part of the English language since 1612. So how can anyone be confused about its…
It’s a dog eat dog world
I was walking with our one-year-old cavapoochon on the way back from the baker’s in Acton on Sunday morning when…
Dear Mary
Q. A dear friend of long-standing has a propensity to make friends of our friends — people she has first…
Low life
Applying for a French bank account is like trying for a permit to open a Christian bookshop in North Korea.…
Real life
The rope riders came down the driveway slowly, their horses veering this way and that, side to side, forwards a…
The Battle for Britain
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Vibrant
‘Think yourself lucky,’ said my husband when I told him about poor John Stuart Mill’s mother, who had nine children…
Haute cuisine for the homeless
A year of lockdowns has certainly passed slowly. But there are topics for thought. One disappointment has been the Church…
to 2496: Depart Paddington
The play was The Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare. The perimetric dramatis personae are MAMILLIUS, LEONTES, FLORIZEL, DORCAS, MOPSA, HERMIONE and…
High life
Gstaad I have never experienced such a long, continuous blizzard, and I’ve been coming here for 63 years. The ski…
