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
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
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
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
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…


























