Life
Have I misrepresented the builder boyfriend?
‘That’s not the builder boyfriend,’ said the luncheon guest as he eyed the builder boyfriend over the table. ‘Well then,…
The genius of Henry Cecil
There are people I know who regard racing as a cold-hearted business that exploits animals and achieves little besides putting…
Bridge
Jonathan Harris is a man of principle. He and his wife Jenny had each entered a team for the Venice…
Venit, vidit, vicit
India is quite possibly the birthplace of chess, with the four branches of the ancient Indian army, infantry, cavalry, chariots…
no. 551
White to play. This position is a variation from Vitiugov-Duda, Prague 2019. How does White exploit the greater activity of…
Praise be
In Competition No. 3095 you were invited to submit an elegy by a poet on another poet. The prompt…
2405: Satanic
Doc writes: welcome to Smurf as our third new compiler joining our team. One unclued light, the heart of which…
Solution to 2402: Test Pilots
BOYCOTT (24), GOWER (25), MAY (40), GRACE (2), STRAUSS (23), HAMMOND (27), CLOSE (34), and ROOT (36) have all held…
What would a Corbyn victory mean for me?
Until now, I haven’t been too worried about Jeremy Corbyn. True, he exceeded expectations two years ago, but that was…
The Battle for Britain
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Finding hope in poetry, politics – and white Burgundy
During the Middle Ages, some of the monastic halls which evolved into Oxbridge colleges allowed their younger inmates to indulge…
In defence of inaction: why it’s usually best to do nothing
I recently came across the Small Robot Company, a British agricultural robotics start-up. Their vision is that with smart, autonomous…
Did ‘haggis’ steal its name from thieving magpies?
Someone on The Kitchen Cabinet remarked that sambusa, as samosa is known in Somalia, came from Arabic. Perhaps it does,…
Dear Mary: how can I tell my chatty masseur to stop talking?
Q. Like many of his profession, Manolo, my most-proficient masseur, has the gift of the gab and maintains a garrulous…
The comedy and tragedy of Trump
New York On 21 April 1980, Rosie Ruiz won the fabled Boston Marathon in record time and looked as fresh…
A moral dilemma on my freebie holiday
We drove north and parked in the designated car park with a quarter of an hour to spare before the…
The truth is messy. Village gossip is even messier
An angry villager accosted me outside my house as I came through my front door. ‘You’re wrong about those horses,’…
Bridge
You’re probably familiar with the old bridge adage: ‘Never put down an 8-card suit in dummy’. If you’re lucky enough…
Carlsen the Great
I cannot conceal the feeling over the years of Magnus Carlsen’s leading position at the head of world chess, that…
no. 550
Black to play. This position is a variation from Navara-Carlsen, Shamkir 2019. What is Black’s only winning move? Answers to…
That way madness lies
In Competition No. 3094 you were invited to submit a ‘Sonnet Found in a Deserted Mad House’. G.K. Chesterton once…
2404: 1+2 = 3+4
The unclued lights (one of two words) share a feature, different in each case, and one is a past participle.…
to 2401: sign here please
The unclued lights are ACCENTS or DIACRITICAL SIGNS and any appearing on letters in the grid had to be ignored. First…
No mere mortal could possibly keep up with Game of Thrones
By the time you read this, James Delingpole and I will have made our first podcast in 596 days. That’s…
The Battle for Britain
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