Life
Clichés
The most tired cliché in English, suggests Orin Hargraves, the American philologist, is at the end of the day. I’ve…
Real life
Last night, I had dinner at the M25 services. I don’t mean I stopped for a break mid-journey. I mean…
no. 464
Black to play. This is a position from Carlsen–Vachier–Lagrave, Paris blitz 2017. Carlsen was winning this game but has just…
Judgment of Paris
This year’s Grand Chess Tour started in Paris, continues in Leuven (Belgium) and will go on to St Louis and…
What Alice did next
In Competition No. 3004 you were invited to submit an extract from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Trumpland. As I was…
2316: Divine alteration
Seven clues contain a redundant word, each defining one unclued light. These seven unclued lights all undergo partial 1 across…
to 2313: Goldfish
Extra letters in clues gave SAM GOLDWYN, to whom are attributed I’LL GIVE YOU (5) A DEFINITE (8) MAYBE (1A),…
Dear Mary
Q. We have friends to stay each year in Scotland and it’s always a pleasure. Guests know there is signal…
A toast to the new Scottish dawn
‘Stands Scotland where it did?’ As the bottles circulated, we were able to answer Macduff’s question in much more optimistic…
High life
A major Greek ship owner, whose political knowledge matches his wealth and business acumen, explained to me what the Qatar…
The Battle for Britain
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Low life
I got up, made a pot of coffee and sat and read the paper. A churchgoing charity worker had stolen…
Romance liver
‘Ha, ha!’ said my husband, waving the Spectator letters page in the air. ‘Ha, ha, ha!’ He was overcome by…
Real life
Since moving to my dream home in the country a month ago, I’ve only had to fight a parking dispute,…
J.K. Rowling’s schizophrenic politics
On the face of it, there is nothing complicated about the politics of Harry Potter, who made his first appearance…
Wild life
Laikipia, Kenya During our evening walk on the farm, Claire kept looking around nervously instead of engaging in conversation.…
Why driverless showers are key to the housing crisis
Although it is commonly assumed that faster-than-sound passenger travel died with Concorde, this isn’t quite true: it overlooks the Caledonian…
Bridge
I’ve just returned from two weeks playing in the European Open Championships in Montecatini in Italy, and I’m so whacked…
Sporting life
Can chess and bridge be considered sports? According to a European Court of Justice judgment earlier this month, bridge is…
no. 463
White to play. This position is from Caruana–Carlsen, Paris 2017. Can you spot White’s winning coup? Answers to me at…
The turf
Back on the political beat with CNN for the general election, I was reminded how politics is now dominated by…
Bridge
The past two weeks have seen hundreds of passionate bridge players head for Montecatini in Italy for the 8th European…
Great Tigran’s heir
Tigran Petrosian is the great chess hero of Armenia. World champion from 1963-1969, his best games exhibit a profundity which…
no. 462
White to play. This position is a variation from Kramnik-Giri, Stavanger 2017. How can White exploit the terrible position of…
Political clerihew
In Competition No. 3003 you were invited to supply clerihews about contemporary politicians. In an enormous and excellent entry, popular…
