Life
Gifting
Boris Johnson, the Telegraphsuggested last week, is understood to have a personal interest in rewilding, ‘recently gifting his father beavers…
Puzzle No. 630
White to play. Mista–Kloza, Poland 1955 (supposedly). Which move does White play to force a quick checkmate? Answers should be…
Dear Mary
Q. I have a delightful young goddaughter who, thanks to the virus, I have not seen since last year. Her…
Big Brother is listening – even at home
When Humza Yousaf, the SNP’s cabinet secretary for justice, announced that his new Hate Crime Bill would remove the ‘dwelling…
2483: In my soup
Unclued lights are defined by extra words in ten clues and are anagrams of ten of a kind. Elsewhere, ignore…
Aussie Life & Language
Tony Letford In a recent article in the Weekend Australian, Alison Broinowski refers to ‘America’s unjustified atom bombing of Japan’…
Real life
The cyclist pulled into our gateway, got off his bike and grabbed hold of the electric fencing. Installing game cameras,…
Alas
Boris Johnson looked unhappy, as well he might, standing at his indoor lectern last Saturday to announce the new lockdown:…
High life
New York Back when people used to read newspapers, they called it a ‘human interest’ story. Now it appears as…
Hyper deflation
In Competition No. 3173 you were invited to give a fresh twist to a well-known single line of poetry by…
Low life
Everything is happening so fast. First we were put under a night curfew. A few days later M. Macron announced…
Solution to 2479: Shielded
The unclued lights are heraldic terms. First prize J.P. Carrington, Denchworth, OxfordshireRunners-up David Shields, Merthyr Vale M.E. Bosence, Bournemouth Got…
2482: Perm all five
The unclued lights (one of two words) display a common feature, different in each case. Across 1 Fundamentalist group keeps…
The Queen’s Gambit – Accepted
‘It’s chess. We’re all prima donnas.’ You can hear it spoken with a wink in the Netflix miniseries The Queen’s…
Bass notes
It’s a good day to stab something and tear out its heart. Elaine Lorys is the only female master fishmonger…
Sit back and enjoy the spectacle ahead
‘At least there’s sport,’ said the woman in the supermarket queue. True enough, and in a welcome sop to an…
The Battle for Britain
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Singing the blues
A second lockdown won’t cause me much suffering. I don’t have a shop selling ‘non-essential’ goods (e.g. books) that will…
Puzzle no. 629
White to play and mate in 3. A puzzle featured in The Queen’s Gambit, apparently composed by W. Atkinson in…
Bridge
How many times have we had it hammered into us: ‘When dummy goes down, plan the play’? Well, if we…
Dear Mary
Q. Is there a tactful way to wind up a Zoom call when one of you has more time on…
Aussie Life
Simon Collins As soon as distance ceases once again to be a tyranny for Australians I will visit my elderly…
Solution to 2478: Namesakes
The lyrics of the perimetric I’M POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN and FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN were written by Sammy Lerner,…
Calculated risks
Classes of people at moderate risk from Covid-19. Addenda to current NHS guidelines. Those at risk from coronavirus now include…
Collapsing barricades
Geometry shmometry. The pirouette of a knight may be pleasing to the eye, but sometimes what I really crave is…
