Life
to 2481: Octet
The octet associated with CHERRY STONES (19) is: tinker (1A), tailor (40), soldier (20), sailor (15), rich man (6A), poor…
2484: Troubled
The unclued lights are of a kind. Across 9 Go in with force, showing initiative (10) 14 Cast is enormous,…
Wild life
Laikipia As the train pulled into Victoria my wife Claire, back home on the farm in Kenya, revealed that a…
Low life
At dawn, starving, I drove to a commercial laboratory in the town centre where five phials of blood were taken…
Lounge pants
At the Austrian embassy in Naples, a German diplomatist asked the great beauty Madame de Ventadour if she had been…
Dear Mary
Q. My son has moved his girlfriend into our fairly small house for the second lockdown. I am grateful for…
A bit previous
In Competition No. 3175 you were invited to submit a prequel to a well-known poem. C. Paul Evans’s opening to…
Farewell to four of the finest
So the Good Lord really wants to fill out his team: how else to interpret the passing in recent months…
Speed freaks
Writing in January, I described internet bullet chess, where the players have one minute for all their moves, as ‘popular,…
High life
New York Who was it that first coined the expression ‘It ain’t over until the fat lady sings’? The great…
Real life
The council has told me that what I saw was an ‘alleged bonfire’. When I described flames towering into the…
The Battle for Britain
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We need debate, not censorship
Earlier this week, the Labour party wrote to the government urging it to bring forward legislation so that social media…
Aussie Life & Language
Simon Collins A British newspaper once ran a TV ad extolling the virtues of journalistic objectivity. ‘Point of view’, which…
The Brick
I own a few chess books that could serve as a murder weapon, but none so hefty as Chess: 5334…
True to type
In Competition No. 3174 you were invited to write a poem in which each line begins with the letters A…
Johnson’s turnip bogle
At least in London, midwinter spring has not been entirely vanquished, and the trees are still a couple of strong…
Real life
Panic at the country feed store. Panic in the horse and pony aisle. I wonder to myself: could life ever…
Low life
We bums find ourselves sought after at this time of year to lend a hand with the olive harvest. So…
This week’s guest woke cartoonist is Sally Woke
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Solution to 2480: Warning
Ten symmetrically placed unclued lights are synonyms for the warning ‘WATCH OUT’. First prize Andy Wallace, Ash Green, CoventryRunners-upCaroline Arms,…
High life
New York Election night parties are usually dreadful affairs, with the idiot box blaring and hysterical listeners screaming out the…
The turf
First the company report. Readers who invested a tenner on the nose each time our Twelve to Follow for the…
The power of networks
In 1989 I answered my first mobile phone call on Oxford Street using a brick-sized Motorola borrowed from work. Several…
Bridge
It’s been a busy week of bridge. First came the Lady Milne, the women’s home internationals. As the host nation,…
