Life
High life
Gstaad Chekhovian boredom ruled supreme, but the loss of my luggage brought instant relief. Anger beats boredom by a mile,…
Bridge
It’s so much easier to play bridge well when luck is on your side. You’ve just doubled your opponents and…
Pig in the middle
It’s the Portuguese piglet you feel really sorry for. The diminutive (ready cooked) porker — a festive delicacy all over…
2488: Clueless
The unclued lights (one of two words), when paired, have something in common. Across 5 Fly eggs not at all…
Punishment stocks
Welcome to the sunlit uplands which, for me, contain small plastic tubs of stock, which is just the opening to…
Dear Mary
Your problems solved
Segment
In the aisle of Tesco I stood like one thunderstruck. It was not the print of a man’s naked foot…
A dog is not just for lockdown
The Dogs Trust charity received 114 calls on 27 and 28 December from people wanting to offload their puppies. No,…
Puzzle No. 635
Mastrovasilis–Marechal, Cappelle la Grande 2011. Black is a whole rook up, so his last move 34… Nd5-e7, angling for an…
The Battle for Britain
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Solution to 2486: Ghost Companions
Unclued lights are nicknames of works by Beethoven, born 250 years ago. The title referred to the Ghost piano trio,…
Cautionary tales
In Competition No. 3180 you were invited to submit a Belloc-esque cautionary tale featuring a high-profile public figure. Cautionary Tales…
Antiques Roadshow
It is one of life’s comforts to see a forgotten trinket being dusted off and appreciated afresh. So in chess,…
Low life
Although I was ten minutes early, Vernon was there ahead of me, framed in the ancient chapel doorway, chatting up…
Real life
Our battle with the EU has given me an insight into the parking disputes outside my house. Or is it…
The turf
Hearing that the Queen has both a real and an official birthday, a small boy asked the obvious question: ‘Does…
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.…
