Life
Eastern promise
The Batumi Olympiad ended as a great success for the teams from China, which captured the gold medals in both…
no. 527
White to play. This is from Pace-Aguilar, Batumi Olympiad 2018. How did White finish off crisply? Answers to me at…
Favouritism
In Competition No. 3069 you were invited to provide a spoof version of the song ‘My Favourite Things’ for the…
2380: Dedover
All the unclued Across lights are of a kind, as are all the unclued Down ones. They can be paired…
to 2377: Service book
The twelve unclued lights can be arranged into the sequence yielding phrases from ‘First’ to ‘Twelfth’. First 21, Second 24,…
Shouldn’t the police be chasing down theft and assault, not thought crime?
West Yorkshire Police hit the headlines twice this week. First we learned that the fourth-largest force in England and Wales…
The Battle for Britain
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A non-stop flight to Perth showed me that better beats bigger
A few weeks ago I flew to Sydney to speak at a conference. The first leg was on the new…
My long gossipy letters to an old friend get just a few words in response
Q. An old friend shares aesthetic sensibilities and tastes in people. Hence we have sustained a highly enjoyable correspondence over…
Disloyal toast: this is the worst cabinet vintage ever
Drink and democracy have one important point in common: an ambivalent relationship with discord. They can mitigate it. They can…
To avoid knowing the distasteful origin of ‘scumbag’, look away now
President Vladimir Putin of Russia remarked of Sergei Skripal, whom his agents tried to kill, ‘He’s simply a scumbag.’ Scumbag…
If Jeremy Corbyn gets in, then I’m out
To London for much too brief a visit: a marriage, lunch with Commodore Tim Hoare, and a look-see for a…
The English-Scottish gender divide
Once the house move was completed, Catriona’s oldest and best Scottish friends, two of them, came to stay for a…
I am a prisoner of Norton AntiVirus
Two and a half hours after my tech guy began trying to uninstall Norton, he had purple smoke coming out…
I saw my future in the entrails of a butchered sheep
Laikipia, Kenya The Turkana cowhands are on Facebook and they spend a lot of time on their cell phones,…
Bridge
I’ve just arrived in Orlando, where the 15th World Bridge Series is taking place. I’m here for the second event…
Role model
World champion Magnus Carlsen is not competing in the Batumi Olympiad (of which more next week). Doubtless he is conserving…
no. 526
White to play. This position is from Giron-Altaya, Batumi Olympiad 2018. Can you spot White’s classic winning combination? Answers to…
Back-to-front sonnet
In Competition No. 3068 you were invited to provide a sonnet in reverse, using as your model Rupert Brooke’s ‘Sonnet…
2379: Shocking
Eight headwords in Chambers consist of the same word. Unclued lights (including two trios and one doing double duty) give…
to 2376: Somewhere XI
On 15 September, Costa Rica, bordered by PANAMA (31) and NICARAGUA (5), and whose capital is SAN JOSÉ (40/10), celebrated…
Alexa, who is Toby Young?
My oldest friend Sean Langan came to lunch last Sunday and, rather disappointingly, he seemed more interested in playing with…
The Battle for Britain
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Teamwork? It’s not the American way, even in the Ryder cup
For a nation which gave us a brilliant TV show called Band of Brothers, the Americans find it hard to…
Dear Mary: what do you say to neighbours who find you in your nightdress?
Q. I recently gave a jolly dinner for eight friends (some old, some rather famous), all home cooking, ending with…
