Life
High life
Gstaad A naked, very good-looking young man skied down the mountain evoking shrieks of laughter and admiration from the hundred…
Low life
Last week was the tenth anniversary of the last running of the English hare-coursing classic, the Waterloo Cup. I shan’t…
Real life
My request to see my medical notes has sparked all-out panic at the GP surgery. ‘What do you mean?’ said…
Long life
I went last week to see the justly praised production of Wagner’s The Mastersingers at English National Opera, and I…
Bridge
Bridge players never get bored of each other’s company for one simple reason: interesting hands are like juicy bits of…
Gnomic
The elite tournament at Zurich, which finished last week, has adopted a system for determining the ultimate trophy winner which…
No. 351
White to play. This position is from Nakamura-Karjakin, Zurich classic 2015. White’s knight seems trapped but he can rescue it…
Londoner’s Diary
In Competition No. 2886 you were invited to submit a Pepys’-eye view of modern life. Pepys’s candid and minutely observed…
2200
The unclued Down lights (individually or as a pair) are of a kind in short, as are the unclued Across…
To 2197: Missing
The unclued lights are some of the words highlighted in Chambers 2011 which were unfortunately omitted from the 2014 edition…
£67,000 is not enough for the brightest and the best
Last year, I had an exchange with Hugo Rifkind on Twitter in which I bet him dinner at Clarke’s that…
Battle for Britain
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Going the wrong way one step at a time
If I were to give you a budget to choose your perfect house, you would quickly have a clear idea…
Dear Mary
Q. I was not brought up in England and don’t appear in Who’s Who. This means that there is no…
A divided inheritance
When we consider poets who perished before their day, thoughts turn to the Romantics or the war victims: Burns, Keats,…
Robust
‘Heart of Oak are our ships, Jolly Tars are our men,’ shouted my husband unconvincingly. He has taken to doing…
A divided inheritance
When we consider poets who perished before their day, thoughts turn to the Romantics or the war victims: Burns, Keats,…
Going the wrong way one step at a time
If I were to give you a budget to choose your perfect house, you would quickly have a clear idea…
High life
I hate to start with a cliché, but Count Arnaud de Borchgrave d’Altena, who died in Washington DC last week,…
Low life
This hotel is brand new. One half is a university students’ hostel, the other an apartment hotel. Car parking is…
Real life
Never add up your insurance premiums. I just did and the annual cost of all of them came to more…
Long life
The gulf in understanding between the old and the young has widened with the news that the young are beginning…
The Bradstock mystery
Some mysteries will never be solved, like why planes and boats disappear in the Bermuda Triangle, cats always land on…
Bridge
Couples that play together stay together is not a mantra you hear too often in the bridge world. Indeed most…
Carlsen’s special brew
Magnus Carlsen has added another trophy to his cabinet by taking the honours at the Grenke tournament in Baden Baden,…
