Life
High Life
Gstaad Lenin Moreno is in trouble, despite his very unchristian first name. For any of you unfamiliar with the name,…
Low life
Last Tuesday a Mistral wind blowing across the Bay of Angels jerked the plane all over the shop as it…
Real life
Being told I am now both short-sighted and long-sighted feels like someone is playing a very bad joke on me.…
Wild life
Death and failure are more integral to farming than any other experience that I’ve witnessed in my life. Some things…
Bridge
The annual Icelandic bridge tournament, held in Reykjavik at the end of January, is one of the best on the…
Beasts of the board
The Dutch artist Theo Jansen has a unique speciality. His ‘Strandbeest’ (beach animals) are kinetic sculptures, which he likes to…
no. 591
White to play, Dubov–Artemiev, Wijk aan Zee 2020. White is pressing here, but Black seems to have everything covered. Which…
Just the job
In Competition No. 3135 you were invited to submit an application letter for a job at No. 10 from a fictional…
2444: Ones in the country
The unclued entries (three of two words, and two hyphened) share an origin Across 1 Put an end to…
to 2441: To and Fro
FRANCIS THOMPSON, born in PRESTON, wrote THE HOUND OF HEAVEN and a poem, AT LORD’S, remembering the run-stealers that flicker…
Even the Oscars parties have lost their shine
Reading about the Oscars this week, I couldn’t help thinking back to a time when they actually meant something. When…
The Battle for Britain
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Dear Mary
Q. I am having a drinks party to celebrate the publication of my latest book. I sent out invitations (to…
Eight lessons from the world of sport
What we have learned in the past few weeks: 1) Don’t play rugby in a howling gale, even though for…
Criminally good
The Yard is a defiantly themed restaurant in Hyatt’s new Great Scotland Yard Hotel, an Edwardian red-brick block which once…
At pace
In Arnold Bennett’s Tales of the Five Towns, a young dog called Ellis Carter takes a girl for a drive…
High life
I find myself detached from mainstream culture. It started with the demise of nightclubs like Annabel’s and the arrival of…
Low life
I’ve no interest in food. None. But for the three other journalists on our press trip, eating was a consuming…
Real life
The builder boyfriend fell off a roof. He didn’t tell me until he could no longer leave unexplained why he…
The turf
I was once at a racing dinner in York where a distinguished clergyman in attendance was invited to say grace.…
Bridge
As hosts of this year’s Lady Milne Trophy — the women’s home international series — England get to field two…
Meeting an idol
We had never met, but David Paravyan, from Russia, has been something of a personal idol since August 2018. My…
no. 590
Black to move, Paravyan vs McShane, Isle of Man 2019. Here I intended 49…Bxd1. What had Paravyan planned after that…
Cat call
In Competition No. 3134 you were invited to submit a poem featuring one of T.S. Eliot’s practical cats getting to…
2443: Middle of the road
The unclued lights are of a kind. Chambers does not include 17D. Across 4 New cabinet door which bears…
