Life
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.…
Dear Mary
Q. I have moved from London to the centre of a historic market town, now becoming famous as a foodie…
Sharing Caring
The Ivy Chelsea Garden is a restaurant inside an Edwardian house disguised as a Tudor house on the King’s Road;…
High life
New York ‘Gimme a BLT on rye and hold da mayo’ is a great Noo Yawk sound. So is boid…
Passion
‘I long for spontaneous passion but I will never get it with my husband because I think he has Asperger…
Turtle
As if a turtle you have laid your eggs in a bowl of sand. Unlike the turtle you sit next…
Cricket’s glorious dead
He’s a tall man, Kevin Pietersen, and he casts a long shadow. It loomed large over the Long Room at…
The extraordinary Green manifesto
I’m disappointed that Ed Balls’s suggestion that the Office of Budget Responsibility should audit the parties’ manifestos was never taken…
The extraordinary Green manifesto
I’m disappointed that Ed Balls’s suggestion that the Office of Budget Responsibility should audit the parties’ manifestos was never taken…
No fairy tale ending
It all depends how you like your fairy tales. OK, so we would have loved the retiring Tony ‘AP’ McCoy,…
High life
Ah, spring! The spring of our frostbitten age. At the Polish Club in London, a wonderful place studded with portraits…
Low life
Spectator Life’s third birthday party was a glamorous affair. It had paps, pop stars and Pippa. One went in and…
Real life
After I phoned the Aviva call centre for the ten thousandth time, a girl called Adele had to sort it…
Long life
It’s April. It’s spring. The daffodils and the cowslips are in flower. The birds are chirping merrily. But where are…
Bridge
Bridge has always been a game of highs and lows, but what happened to Janet de Botton and her partner…
Polymath
I learn from The Problemist, the organ of the British Chess Problem Society, that the polymath Dr Jacob Bronowski also…
No. 357
Black to play. This is from Cochrane-Staunton, London 1842. How did Staunton exploit his menacing build up of pieces on…
Consequences
In Competition No. 2892 you were invited to submit an irregular quatrain in which you bring together two people from…
2206: Landslip
Four of the unclued lights (one of two words) and an unclued pair are of a kind, and can become…
To 2203: Peeping toms
The theme is CATS; the unclued Across lights are breeds of cats and unclued Down lights and TOPCAT (which had…
Miliband vs Millwall
I’ve been trying to think of a good football analogy to describe the battle between the two main parties as…
Battle for Britain
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Why plane crashes are getting weirder
In the late 1980s, the parks service in the United States were concerned about the deterioration of the stonework on…
