Life
Ramp up
My husband is fond of an old pub in Northumberland called the Red Lion, once a drovers’ inn, it says.…
2452: Comme on dit
The unclued lights (five of two words and one of three) should be paired to reveal four expressions verifiable in…
Eating Easter
Stop the clocks: Fortnum & Mason is still delivering hampers. I am not surprised, because this shop — or rather…
Dear Mary
Q. Caught in Switzerland as the ski resort shut down around my ears, and feeling like a walking health hazard,…
I’m recovering – but I glimpsed the cliff edge
So I’ve had the virus. Or rather, I think I have. Ordinary mortals can no longer get tested by the…
Wild life
Laikipia The sweetest sound to me now is the dawn chorus of birdsong at home on the farm. I lay…
to 2449: Stateless
The unclued lights, when preceded by a US state, form MISSISSIPPI 11, CALIFORNIA 22, VIRGINIA 27, HAWAII 37, RHODE ISLAND…
With added spice
In Competition No. 3142 you were invited to supply a review on TripAdvisor that has been spiced up with a…
Reading, thinking, drinking
Spring sense, caressing sunshine: last week, London enjoyed village cricket weather. Even in normal circumstances, the season would not have…
At home
My husband has special ‘throwing socks’. They are a rolled-up pair of woolly hiking socks. He does not hike. He…
The rocketing success of Zoom
Next time there is a highly deserved round of public applause for NHS workers, do add one additional clap for…
The turf
Asked, after his Imperial Aura’s impressive win in the Northern Trust Novices’ Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, if he…
The Battle for Britain
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Bridge
I’m finding it harder than I thought to concentrate while playing bridge online. And not just because my two children…
2451: Cretinous
Unclued lights are anagrams of ten of a kind. Elsewhere, ignore an accent. Across 9 A model cure fixed skin…
Dear Mary
Q. Mary, what percentage of cleaners’ normal wages should we pay them when they can’t come in for the foreseeable…
Healthy debate
One of the paradoxes of the coronavirus crisis is that the need for public scrutiny of government policy has never…
Real life
The spaniel curled up in her basket with one of my shoes, one of his socks and a packet of…
Puzzle no. 598
A variation from the game above. Although White is a pawn down, he can rustle up decisive counterplay with one…
Low life
With my signed and dated laissez-passer in my pocket, I trotted down to the village to see if I could…
High life
Look at it this way: we’re all doing Desert Island Discs nowadays, and unless you’ve got the bug, it’s a…
To 2448: Issues
The novels are A Modern Utopia (anagram of AORTAE IMPOUND 17/5), The Time Machine (HEATHEN/MIMETIC 22/27), Tono-Bungay (BATON/YOUNG 29/31) and…
Half measures
Would you slice a book in two? I learned of this peculiar practice in January, and I can’t fault its…
Low Life
This Provençal village clusters around the base of a cliff 300 feet high and a kilometre wide surmounted by two…
2447: No small matter solution
BIG, the solution at 21D, can be associated with the ten unclued lights. First prize Elizabeth Shorter, St Austell, CornwallRunners-up…
