Life
A vintner’s vocation
A delightful girl came to see me this morning. She is helping with the research for a biography of David…
Suicide
There was a marvellous man in Shakespeare’s day known as John Smyth the Sebaptist. ‘In an act so deeply shocking…
A vintner’s vocation
A delightful girl came to see me this morning. She is helping with the research for a biography of David…
S&M and B&Q
I never got beyond page 20 in Fifty Shades of Grey. No one got shot in the first chapter, and…
High life
Autumn in New York: they even wrote a song about it that was a great hit 60 years ago. Last…
Low life
My maternal grandmother (née Clarke) had six brothers, all keen poker players. All six volunteered to fight in the Great…
Real life
What is the point of the Dangerous Dogs Act when there is a man marauding with an illegal pit bull…
Long life
I always dread Hallowe’en. It may have originated in Europe as a Christian celebration for remembering the virtuous dead and…
Second best
The novelist Anita Brookner once declared that in real life hares always beat tortoises: ‘Every time. Look around you. And…
Bridge
Every obituary written about Tony Priday, who died recently aged 92, said what a class act he was. I would…
Winning hand
Tension has always existed between games of skill, such as chess or draughts, and games seemingly based on chance, like…
No. 338
White to play. This is from Hebden-Mannion, Isle of Man 2014. White’s next move completely destroyed the black position. What…
Two hander
In Competition No. 2871 you were invited to submit a dialogue in verse between man and God. The tone of…
2186: From the off
Unclued lights (two of two words and one doing double duty), singly or paired, reveal some that are to be…
To 2183: Group theory
Extra letters in clues plus 1A give ‘the separation of philosophers into sages and cranks’, an extract from a quotation…
A pivotal moment on a Portuguese beach
I’m writing this from Portugal, where I’m staying with my old friend Sean Langan. His family has owned a farm…
Battle for Britain
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Is Test cricket heading for its last innings?
Lions and weasels The Archers and Test cricket: words you rarely find in the same sentence and more’s the pity…
Dear Mary
Q. I am organising my 21st birthday party at our family house in Italy. It is a fantastic location, but…
Dining with death
Beast is next to Debenhams on Oxford Street and it is not conventionally beast-like; rather it is monetised and bespoke…
Anachronisms
I read C.J. Sansom’s novel Dissolution on the train recently with pleasure. For an historical novel narrated in the 1530s,…
Dining with death
Beast is next to Debenhams on Oxford Street and it is not conventionally beast-like; rather it is monetised and bespoke…
Is Test cricket heading for its last innings?
Lions and weasels The Archers and Test cricket: words you rarely find in the same sentence and more’s the pity…
Second best
The novelist Anita Brookner once declared that in real life hares always beat tortoises: ‘Every time. Look around you. And…
High life
I have always believed that the mission of most movies made after the Fred & Ginger era has been to…
