Life
Dear Mary
Q. I am arranging the seating plan for my daughter’s wedding and have a problem with one of her guests…
Real Life
One of the many technological things I don’t understand is, how come I’m paying to watch television? I know why…
Low Life
On a hard chair next to the waiting-room door, I sat for an hour defusing thoughts of my own demise,…
Peasants’ revolt
The German word for pawn, ‘bauer’, can also be translated as peasant, or farmer. There are many spectacular games in…
Bridge
I love the French expression esprit de l’escalier (‘wit of the staircase’); it perfectly captures that moment of frustration when…
Behaviours
‘Somebody loves me,’ said my husband, waving a copy of The Spectator above his head as though pursued by wasps.…
Why the BBC licence fee makes sense
A consensus seems to be forming that the BBC licence fee is for the chop. In a digital age, the…
Solution to 2444: Ones in the country
The unclued answers are all words inChambers, having their origin in Indonesia (clued by wordplay in the title). First prize…
Instapoetry
In Competition No. 3138 you were invited to submit a poem entitled ‘Lines on a Young Lady’s Instagram’. Thanks to…
puzzle no. 594
Black to play. Puranik–Sjugirov, another spectacular game played at the Aeroflot Open. Puranik was perhaps counting on 1…Rc1 2 Qa3…
High Life
Gstaad It feels like a sepia-tinged melodrama, one directed by the great schlock master Sam Wood. Driving along the winding…
Low life
Joyce Marriott of Pyrton, Oxford, has written a letter to the Times on the subject of how a person’s imagination…
Real life
Nice of the NHS to send an advisory text about coronavirus, because I was wondering. Is it possible to have…
Bridge
Bridge experts are a lovely lot. They give their time freely and generously to encourage and teach students and bring…
Increment and excrement
The science-fiction writer Douglas Adams ridiculed our primitive species for considering digital watches to be ‘a pretty neat idea’. Digital…
no. 593
White to play, a variation from McShane–-Kamsky. In the game above, I was hoping to see 31…Qa5, as I had…
By George
In Competition No. 3137, to mark the 70th anniversary of George Orwell’s death, you were invited to submit a short…
2446: Spring time
Each clue defines the full solution to which the letter-count refers. However, the cryptic wordplay leads to the grid entry,…
to 2443: Middle of the road
Each unclued light is a genus name of a TREE (i.e. ‘middle of the road’ = (s)TREE(t)). Cornus was also allowed…
How far should we go to defend free speech?
This week sees the official launch of the Free Speech Union — an organisation that stands up for the speech…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Tyson Fury, the colossusweight star
Thankfully, Tyson Fury is as good at boxing as he is terrible at singing. But he really should pick on…
Dear Mary
Q. I adore doing jigsaws and these days there’s an added bonus — by posting my progress on Instagram I…
What waste!
Ugly Butterfly is a zero-waste restaurant and champagne bar on the King’s Road, Chelsea. The ‘champagne bar’ addition is so…
Elbow
Before the Covid-19 scare I never thought that one particular Spanish proverb would come in useful. It goes: ‘Los ojos…
