Life
That lovin’ feeling
In Competition No. 3035 you were invited to provide a poem entitled ‘The Love Song of [insert name of a…
2346: The name of the game
The unclued entries (two hyphened) are all synonyms. Each of five clues contains a word that must be removed to…
to 2343: Rats!
The perimeter quote is by Nietzsche (taking the 1 in the top left corner as the first word). Other unclued lights…
Peter Rabbit ‘allergy bullying’? I’m allergic to all this constant outrage
I’m often surprised by what people are offended by. Like the makers of Peter Rabbit, the new animated feature from…
The Battle for Britain
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Reducing activities to their core misses the point
There may be a very simple evolutionary reason why water does not really taste of anything, as I learned from…
Dear Mary: How can we get our star friend along to dinner when he’s so busy?
Q. We want to invite a rather exceptional friend to dinner. He lives nearby but he has a top job…
I’m grateful for my grateful drinking friend
The phone rang. ‘You are the last person in the world I should be talking to’, proclaimed an old friend…
‘Sorted’ has always had connotations of menace
My heart leapt up on Newport station, an unusual place for that to happen, when I heard a recorded announcement:…
Taki: Where’s Norman Mailer when you need him?
Gstaad For some strange reason there have been no #MeToo complaints around these parts. Some locals have grumbled about yours…
Seeing Nelson in a new light
I picked up my grandson from his mother’s flat and noticed the change in him the second I clapped eyes…
My horse is a psychopath — and you’d better believe it
Why do people find it so hard to believe that a horse can be a psychopath? Not an obvious, screaming…
Cold Comfort Farm comes to Kenya
Laikipia I woke with the breath of a leopard a few feet from me as I lay in my bed.…
Bridge
The England ladies trials, two weekends ago, were as exciting as ever, but also rather heartbreaking for me and my…
Chess on the Rock
The Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian has won first prize of £25,000 in the important Tradewise Masters which has just finished…
no. 492
White to play. This position is from Wang Hao-Howell, Gibraltar 2018. What opportunity did White overlook? Answers to me at…
Occasional verse
In Competition No. 3034 you were invited to provide a poem written by a poet laureate present or past on…
Counterclaim
The first line of a 4 (two words) consists of 7A and the puzzle’s 3 41; the second line is…
to 2342: Decorative
The key terms are ART NOUVEAU (12) and JUGENDSTIL (19). One indicates 24 and 28D, and the other can be…
In today’s brave new world, fat is a high-tech issue
I have a confession to make: I’m a yo-yo dieter. For the past ten years, I’ve lost a bit of…
The Battle for Britain
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This Six Nations could be anyone’s – and it couldn’t be more exciting
‘It’s never easy going to Rome,’ observed Anthony Watson after the traditional mauling of a hard-working but outgunned Italian side…
Dear Mary: What do you do when your secretary accuses you of not making a pass?
Q. I am at the age where parts of the body start to go wrong, and I have a minor…
A new addition to north London’s underwhelming restaurants: Café Hampstead reviewed
Café Hampstead is a new café in — big reveal! — Hampstead, the gaudiest of the old villages on the…
Jejune
A range of book reviewers’ clichés was held up to mockery 60 years ago, in a letter by Jocelyn Brooke…
