Life
Life is tough at the bottom of the equality heap
The incident I am about to recount I make no judgment about, other than that I believe it tells us…
Bridge
I spent last weekend glued to Bridge Base Online, watching the 16th European Champions Cup taking place in Latvia, and…
Alekhine’s anniversaries
Alexander Alekhine was one of the two world champions (the other being his fellow native Russian Mikhail Botvinnik) who won,…
no. 483
White to play. This position is from Alekhine-Supico, Blindfold Simultaneous, Lisbon 1941. Can you spot White’s remarkable finish, which is…
Brown studies
In Competition No. 3024 you were invited to submit a short story in the style of Dan Brown. This comp,…
2336: Irrelevant
Each of four unclued lights is the result of an action that may be described as 7 (hyphened), a definition…
to 2333: Unchangeable
Answers to clues in italics are SET IN STONE (38). Resulting entries at 1, 2, 14, 25 and 43 (in…
It’s a jungle in there, Stanley
Crikey Moses! Stanley Johnson has been cast as the token pensioner in the new series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me…
What we need is a Freedom of Uninformation Act
One dietary fad that never made sense to me was the campaign against the consumption of eggs. Now call me…
The Battle for Britain
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Mary solves your problems: My husband’s started working from home – and he’s driving me crazy
Q. My husband, who used to be away on business most of the time, now works from home and has…
Gender comes in fluid form
I have lost faith in British boyhood. In mixed schools, young males have failed to seize an opportunity that previous…
What two little words that combine virtue signalling and denunciation?
The inventor of the verse form known as the clerihew, Edmund Clerihew Bentley, had a way with this seemingly simple…
Why Harvey, Dustin and Brett did it
A dinner in honour of Arki Busson hosted by Michael Mailer in his brilliant Brooklyn flat on the banks of…
A lament for the best pub in Devon
We had a hyperbole competition, the taxi driver and I, over the climbing full moon, clearer and brighter than either…
Are my horses conspiring against me?
When it comes to horses, troubles come in multitudes. Multitudes of lame legs. Gracie, the hunter pony, kicked things off…
The founding father of bookmaking
Imagine Ryan Moore getting caught on the line by a rival’s late spurt at the end of a Newmarket race…
Bridge
The third and final weekend of England’s Premier League took place in Solihull and was a very jolly affair. All…
Master class
While researching some early games in the Bf4 version of the Queen’s Pawn openings favoured by world champion Magnus Carlsen,…
no. 482
White to play. This position is from Rasmussen-Nyback, Crete 2017. How can White win at once? Answers to me at…
Mixing it
In Competition No. 3023 you were invited to submit cringeworthy portmanteau words. The word portmanteau was first used in this…
2235: Chippy
The unclued lights (one of two words — ignore its accent) are of a kind. Across 1 I’m the…
to 2332: glad all over
The unclued lights are preceded by HAPPY to yield phrases listed in Brewer. First prize Tony Hankey, London W4Runners-up C.…
Another year, another tax leak – and the usual annual festival of hypocrisy
Stories about members of the establishment using offshore tax shelters — ooh er missus! — come along about once a…
The Battle for Britain
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