Life
High life
Serifos There’s no high life here, only family life, so I’ve been hitting the books about great Greeks of…
Low life
‘There’s no need to wipe down your tray table,’ screeched Heidi, chief steward of the ‘amazing team you have looking…
Real life
We have beans, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, butternut squash, plums and strawberries growing in our garden. I dug up and replanted…
2470: Express route
The unclued lights from 1 Down to 44 are of a kind with 4 overrunning a barline into 22. Ignore…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Puzzle No. 617
Black to play. Efimov–Bronstein, Kiev 1941. Normally White seeks glory in the King’s Gambit, but here Bronstein scored a lightning…
Bridge
I am frankly repulsed by the latest cheats, exposed after the online invitational Alt and OCBL tournaments. When F2F bridge…
Dear Mary
Q. On my way to Devon recently I stopped for lunch with an impeccably mannered friend. He produced first crab…
Overthink
Sometimes when I ask my stertorous husband in his armchair whether he is asleep, he replies with a start: ‘Just…
I’m helping lockdown sceptics find love
I started a dating site last Sunday. Not words I ever thought I’d write, but I’ve become a kind of…
Test of character
You are, shall we say, a famous commentator, one of a tiny elite in the British media. You are paid…
Great Dane
Snaps + Rye is a Nordic-themed restaurant and delicatessen on the Golborne Road, at the shabby and thrilling edges of…
Solution to 2467: Girl Talk
The unclued lights, 3/34, 12/31, 26/1A/33, 35/9, 39 and 18 PEAKE (an anagram of the red highlighted letters), are six…
Bout-rimés
In Competition No. 3161 you were invited to supply a sonnet with certain rhyme words to be used in a…
The King’s Gambit
Does Bear Grylls play chess? If he does, I’m sure he would favour the King’s Gambit. As chess openings go,…
Aussie Life
Two friends of mine are being harassed by the government. Both men have criticised the more lurid aspects of LGBTQ+…
The fight to defend academic freedom
About 18 months ago, I attended a debate at Policy Exchange, the think tank founded by Nick Boles, Francis Maude…
A taste of the continent
Is it safe to visit the continent? On the one hand, abroad is likely to be less crowded this August…
Dear Mary
Q. We invited two friends to supper in London. As they came in they said they should order their taxi…
Living with
T.S. Eliot adopted a method of criticism that I am not aware of any other writer using: he imagined what…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Believing the hype
People often tell me I have a strange way of looking at the world. Obviously, it doesn’t seem strange to…
High life
Island of Serifos Let’s get one thing straight: island life is not for me. Island life off a boat, jawohl,…
Real life
The whole of Surrey and south-west London seem to have gone abroad on holiday so I’ve got my sanity back.…
Low life
Provence-Alpes-Côte D’Azur Until January the foreign correspondent lived in a late-18th-century house with a vineyard, olive grove and vegetable garden…
