Life
What makes a champion jockey
Write a few books and you have to listen politely at parties as people who have never opened yours tell…
Bridge
August 2015 will be remembered as a landmark for World Bridge. There had long been talk among bridge players about…
Knight outriders
A good rule of thumb is to avoid sending off knights to excursions at the edge of the board, where…
no. 493
White to play. This position is from Capablanca-Fonaroff, New York 1918. Once again there is a knight on h6. What…
That lovin’ feeling
In Competition No. 3035 you were invited to provide a poem entitled ‘The Love Song of [insert name of a…
2346: The name of the game
The unclued entries (two hyphened) are all synonyms. Each of five clues contains a word that must be removed to…
to 2343: Rats!
The perimeter quote is by Nietzsche (taking the 1 in the top left corner as the first word). Other unclued lights…
Peter Rabbit ‘allergy bullying’? I’m allergic to all this constant outrage
I’m often surprised by what people are offended by. Like the makers of Peter Rabbit, the new animated feature from…
The Battle for Britain
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Reducing activities to their core misses the point
There may be a very simple evolutionary reason why water does not really taste of anything, as I learned from…
Dear Mary: How can we get our star friend along to dinner when he’s so busy?
Q. We want to invite a rather exceptional friend to dinner. He lives nearby but he has a top job…
I’m grateful for my grateful drinking friend
The phone rang. ‘You are the last person in the world I should be talking to’, proclaimed an old friend…
‘Sorted’ has always had connotations of menace
My heart leapt up on Newport station, an unusual place for that to happen, when I heard a recorded announcement:…
Taki: Where’s Norman Mailer when you need him?
Gstaad For some strange reason there have been no #MeToo complaints around these parts. Some locals have grumbled about yours…
Seeing Nelson in a new light
I picked up my grandson from his mother’s flat and noticed the change in him the second I clapped eyes…
My horse is a psychopath — and you’d better believe it
Why do people find it so hard to believe that a horse can be a psychopath? Not an obvious, screaming…
Cold Comfort Farm comes to Kenya
Laikipia I woke with the breath of a leopard a few feet from me as I lay in my bed.…
Bridge
The England ladies trials, two weekends ago, were as exciting as ever, but also rather heartbreaking for me and my…
Chess on the Rock
The Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian has won first prize of £25,000 in the important Tradewise Masters which has just finished…
no. 492
White to play. This position is from Wang Hao-Howell, Gibraltar 2018. What opportunity did White overlook? Answers to me at…
Occasional verse
In Competition No. 3034 you were invited to provide a poem written by a poet laureate present or past on…
Counterclaim
The first line of a 4 (two words) consists of 7A and the puzzle’s 3 41; the second line is…
to 2342: Decorative
The key terms are ART NOUVEAU (12) and JUGENDSTIL (19). One indicates 24 and 28D, and the other can be…
In today’s brave new world, fat is a high-tech issue
I have a confession to make: I’m a yo-yo dieter. For the past ten years, I’ve lost a bit of…
The Battle for Britain
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