Life
to 2374: Watch your step
The unclued lights are DANCES. First prize K.J. Williams, Kings Worthy, Winchester. Runners-up Bridget Workman, Purley;C.S.G Elengorn, Enfield. Got something…
It’s as I suspected – my defects can’t be cured
I’ve just finished making a one-hour documentary about character for Radio 4 that’s due to be broadcast on Saturday at…
The battle for Britain
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Is there a limit to what the human body can do?
Has the world gone mad? There’s Beauden Barrett, the world’s best stand-off, and rugby player of the year seemingly by…
Dear Mary: Our insufferable children are rounding on our eightysomething neighbour
Q. A neighbour, a wonderful old friend in his late eighties, is a marvellous raconteur. As a family we have…
It is essentially a crap Le Gavroche, and that is not an insult: Roux at Parliament Square reviewed
Politicians are having a terrible time of late, along with the rest of us — it’s not much fun watching…
Why ‘whiter than white’shouldn’t get you suspended
A detective superintendent has been placed on ‘restricted duties’ while the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigates a complaint that…
My faux pas at the Duke of Beaufort’s bash
A letter from a reader in South Africa mentions that the writer’s father insisted a white dinner jacket was permissible…
Back from the brink
The long table was set out under four beautifully pollarded plane trees festooned with coloured lanterns and red balloons. Twenty…
I was hounded by a canine sex pest
A big part of my problem is that I don’t understand why people do the things they do. I was…
Always trying: Britain’s most successful – and argumentative – trainer
An American trainer was once asked to name the greatest quality of the legendary jockey Willie Shoemaker. He replied: ‘The…
Bridge
I think my regular reader(s) would agree that I have been rather low-key about my bridge abilities of late. Defence…
Caruana chronicles
In the run-up to the Carlsen-Caruana World Championship match set for London in November, I will be previewing their prospects.…
no. 523
Black to play. This position is from Potkin-Caruana, Dagomys 2010. How did Caruana finish off with a flourish? Answers to…
All’s well that ends well
In Competition No. 3065 you were invited to supply a happy ending for a well-known play, poem or novel. …
2376: Somewhere XI
On 15 September somewhere bordered by 31 and 5, and whose capital is 40/10 (ignore an accent), celebrates its 43…
to 2373: Susurrus
The theme was The Wind in the Willows (suggested by the title). RATTY defined 9, 13 and 22; MOLE defined 7,…
Dr Toby’s booze advice: the better the wine, the less bad it is for you
I don’t hold out much hope for Drink Free Days, a new campaign launched by Public Health England and the…
The Battle for Britain
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Silicon Valley’s weird ideas on how to improve human life
Which is more diverse: London or Devon? That’s not a trick question. London is much more diverse than Devon. But…
Dear Mary: I had £300 stolen while at a friend’s house. Should I tell them?
Q. Following a small dinner last night in a private house, I got home to find £300 missing from my…
My host’s reciprocity was almost embarrassingly generous
Peace came dropping slow. I have never regarded west Flanders as part of la France profonde, but here we were,…
The origin and nature of teacakes
The Sunday Telegraph has been running a correspondence on the origin and nature of teacakes. One reader averred that in…
The joy of a Greek summer
Some jerk know-nothing writes in an unreadable American newspaper that Greece is back — Athens, actually. He would, he’s an…
For the love of gin
I’d missed the train, and the next was due in 45 minutes, so I popped into the nearby salon for…
