Life
The greatest wine I’ve ever drunk
The supermarket chains are not always blameworthy. Their missionary efforts have helped to ensure that wine drinking in Britain is…
Does the English language need a Norwegian lesson?
‘Ten Norwegian phrases that don’t exist in English but should,’ said the headline. So I had a little look, as…
Battle for Britain
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So there
Hikaru Nakamura has won the US Championship in convincing style with 8/11, ahead of Ray Robson and Wesley So. Things…
No. 359
Black to play. This position is a variation from Troff-Nakamura, US Championship 2015. How can Black conclude his kingside attack…
Verses on horses
In Competition No. 2894 you were invited to submit a paean to a famous racehorse. Thanks to David Pearn, who…
Your problems solved
Q. I socialise in Shropshire every weekend and regularly give dinners which end at 2 a.m., but it’s a different matter…
A taste of heaven on earth
The supermarket chains are not always blameworthy. Their missionary efforts have helped to ensure that wine drinking in Britain is…
High life
A recent column in the FT made me mad as hell. The writer, Simon Kuper, calls Vienna a backwater, which…
Non-existent phrases
‘Ten Norwegian phrases that don’t exist in English but should,’ said the headline. So I had a little look, as…
The hazards of being a good sport
Not a day passes when I don’t look on my father’s record with shock and awe. I’m not talking about…
The hazards of being a good sport
Not a day passes when I don’t look on my father’s record with shock and awe. I’m not talking about…
Let’s rethink the working week
Whenever I hear the phrase ‘hard-working families’ a little voice in my head asks ‘what about the lazier, chilled-out families?…
Wild life
Laikipia When I was a boy in Devon we had an orchard. On a string of autumns, as the fruit…
The lost talk of old Noo Yawk
New York ‘Gimme a BLT on rye and hold da mayo’ is a great Noo Yawk sound. So is boid…
A child in church! It’s a miracle!
To say that Oscar was warmly welcomed as he stepped through the massive oak door into a chilly House of…
I’m just not cut out to be a local activist
By and large, I’m not really sure the world is ready for me to join the steering committee of a…
The tortoises are alive! (And sitting on the duck’s eggs)
No sooner had I written last week’s column about the sad disappearance of the two tortoises in my care than…
Turtle
As if a turtle you have laid your eggs in a bowl of sand. Unlike the turtle you sit next…
AP McCoy’s last chance for a fairy-tale ending
It all depends how you like your fairy tales. OK, so we would have loved the retiring Tony ‘AP’ McCoy,…
Bridge
When I was growing up, the loudest, most explosive arguments erupted when my parents played bridge together. Not surprisingly, when…
Hit for six
The Hamilton Russell trophy for London clubs has been dominated in the past by the RAC. This year, though, they were…
No. 358
White to play. This is from Lee-Zakharov, Vrnjacka Banja 1963. Black has just captured on c3 and now 1 Qxc3…
On the record
In Competition No. 2893 you were invited to suggest suitable Desert Island Discs for a historical figure, living or dead.…
2207: An unusual angle
In six answers the wordplay ignores an item. These items (two of them identical) are not listed as specific 27…
