Life
Ghosts of Christmas pissed
I feel like a prisoner, making daily marks on the cell wall to chart the approach of freedom. But will…
Robust
‘Why do they keep saying they need Brazilians?’ asked my husband, coming up for air from a hazy mixture of…
Meal kits have changed my life
Ford’s Kumar Galhotra once remarked that carmaking is 100,000 rational decisions in search of one emotional decision. You spend five…
Dear Mary
Q. For many years my boss gave each member of his small team a very generous Christmas gift voucher from…
A shed of one’s own
I’ve moved out of my home. No, Caroline and I haven’t broken up. It’s just that we’re having the house…
The Battle for Britain
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to 2482: Perm all five
The unclued lights each contain all five vowels once only, but in different orders. First prize Dr Stephen Clarkson, Hadleigh,…
To the city
In Competition No. 3176 you were invited to write a poem to a city. This challenge was inspired by both…
Puzzle no. 632
White to play and win. E. Pogosjants, Shakhmaty v SSSR 1976. Promoting the a-pawn allows Black a perpetual check. Which…
Low life
I regained consciousness on a trolley in a recovery ward. A masked porter wheeled me from there back to my…
Real life
Pretty Man was a plump white pony in the forefront of a sad picture. The photograph showed the seizure by…
Bridge
Each November, Paula Leslie organises the Young Chelsea Women’s Teams — a fantastic event, attracting many of Europe’s best players…
Kiwi Life / Language
Amy Brooke Once you have paid the Danegeld… We seem to have ingrained in us a sense of fair play,…
Me, myself and Thai
Lockdown is hurting everyone except the chickens. I have bought them a conservatory because Philippa, a Light Sussex, looks like…
Puzzle no. 631
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by Sam Loyd, 1857. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by…
Bridge
The rubber bridge world has lost one of its best and most flamboyant players; David Herman was an emaciated, elegant…
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,…
