Life
I’ve contributed greatly to animal welfare, via the casino
A rare British species, a womanising ex-foreign secretary, kissed and told about his brief affair with a yellow-eyed temptress last…
My life as nurse, chief cook and bottle washer for my mother
My fifth week confined to barracks as nurse, chief cook and bottle washer. I drive to the supermarket about twice…
Farmers get treated like terror suspects by the RSPCA
‘What do you mean, you have no ID?’ I asked the farmer, starting to feel dizzy with the mind-boggling convolution…
Why we need to support middle-ranking trainers
Owner Phil Simmonds from Rochdale was 17 when he first went racing, joining a friend’s stag party at Haydock Park.…
Bridge
The winter ‘season’ of terrific bridge competitions came to a close last weekend with the Lederer Trophy held at the…
Playing the blues
This Saturday (2 March) sees the annual varsity match between the teams of Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford are strengthened this…
no. 543
Black to play. This position is from Wagner–-Eckersley-Waites, Varsity Match, London 2008. How did Black make effective use of the…
Haikick
In Competition No. 3087 you were invited to submit haikicks. We already have short-form hybrids such as the clerihaiku (here’s…
2397: Obit V
We recently lost a fine 13, whose legacy includes 10 (two words) and 9 (two words), and four other unclued…
to 2394: Opening time
‘Never eat an oyster unless there’s an R in the month’ (Brewer). Eight unclued lights (in appropriate order) start with abbreviations…
We thought having four kids would be idyllic. What were we thinking?
You’d think the little buggers would be grateful. Caroline and I had just shelled out for our two middle children…
The Battle for Britain
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We put a man on the moon before wheels on suitcases. What else are we missing?
The Romans never invented the stirrup. It took 50 years after the invention of canned food for someone to invent…
Dear Mary: Plastic or wooden loo seats?
Q. Please advise on how I can move on from a social impasse. My best friend of 50 years claims…
Twenty years on, the Walbrook is still an enchantment
Early last century, an impoverished youth emerged from the East End. Able and hard-working, he discovered — as many had…
Where on earth does ‘kibosh’ come from?
‘What is a kibosh?’ asked a German medical friend of my husband’s, when the word cropped up. No one knew,…
I’m all for abolishing flying: first-class on a liner is far more fun
Gstaad It’s party time here. From the richest billionaires down to those impoverished souls with only a few million…
The strange people who keep a nightly vigil over my mother
To begin with it was mice. The house was overrun with them. She saw them out of the corner of…
From Swarfega to cleanse and polish: my long path to perfect skin
‘Is it for your daughter?’ said the sales assistant as I pointed to an expensive skincare product. She had glided…
Bridge
Is it my imagination, or are we bridge players far more aggressive than we were a decade ago? I don’t…
Rock solid
This year’s Gibraltar Masters saw some surprising results at the top, chiefly the victory by the young Russian, Vladimir Artemiev,…
no. 542
White to play. This position is taken from Galinsky–Gunina, Gibraltar 2019. How can White finish off in this complicated position?…
Writer’s block
In Competition No. 3086 you were invited to submit a poem about the difficulty of writing a poem. In…
2396: Reader…,
Unclued lights are a set of literary 40s. Their creator is hidden in the grid and should be shaded. Elsewhere,…
to 2393: Monster Mash-up
HORROR FILM (1D) ACTOR (15) BORIS (10) KARLOFF (26), né PRATT (21A) died on 2 February 1969. Most famous for…
