Life
Long life
Of the nine chickens I used to keep here in Northamptonshire only one survived the summer, and it was the…
Bridge
Unlike poker, there’s not much money to be made from bridge tournaments (consider yourself lucky if you win £40 in…
Sinking the field
Fabiano Caruana has dominated the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis in a way that almost defies belief. The Italo-American grandmaster,…
No. 331
White to play. This is from Caruana–Nakamura, Sinquefield Cup, St Louis 2014. Caruana could have registered an even greater performance…
Hidden benefits
In Competition No. 2864 you were invited to submit an imaginary feature from a newspaper’s health pages extolling the benefits…
2179: Cos
The unclued lights are of a specific kind. Additionally each is a legitimate inflected headword in Chambers. Elsewhere, ignore one…
to 2176: ,
The unclued lights are BUTTERFLIES (as is the ‘comma’ in the title). The pairs are 7/34A, 13/24, 33/6 and 35/25.…
If the Welsh secede next, blame me
Oh dear. I think I may have inadvertently contributed to the dissolution of Great Britain. I’m not claiming sole responsibility.…
Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
The pound sterling doesn’t buy happiness
My second favourite religious joke is an old Jewish joke (which I read in the Harvard Review, so I assume…
Dear Mary
Q. My problem is that an older friend, with whom I enjoy lengthy telephone chats, becomes furious when my call…
Three sisterhoods
The Honourable Society of Odd Bottles has been mentioned in this column before. I can report that the membership is…
Knee-jerk
A little joke by Paddy, Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, turned upon something to be shunned. Conservative ministers, he said, had…
Three sisterhoods
The Honourable Society of Odd Bottles has been mentioned in this column before. I can report that the membership is…
The pound sterling doesn’t buy happiness
My second favourite religious joke is an old Jewish joke (which I read in the Harvard Review, so I assume…
High life
Back in the very early Sixties there was an uninhabited islet off the west coast of Greece by the name…
Low life
When I was 32, tired at last, for the moment anyway, of seizing the day, I stopped drinking and gave…
Real life
Incredible as it seems to me now, there was a time when a wolf whistle was annoying. A man would…
Long life
I have been, on and off, a lifelong smoker; but I gave up in January 2009 on the day of…
Wonder Wall
One of the greatest parliamentary sketch-writers of all time, Norman Shrapnel, made a point of never socialising with the politicians…
Bridge
One person who lets out a whoop of delight when I am on holiday is my saintly partner, Artur Malinowski.…
Gifted and talented
Despite occasional evidence to the contrary, I have persisted in the belief that the ability to play chess well indicates…
No. 330
White to play. This position is from Polgar-Bareev, Moscow 1996. Neither king is entirely happy and in such situations having…
Rhyme time
In Competition No. 2863 you were invited to recast a well-known nursery rhyme in the style of a well-known author.…
2178: Saint and playwright
The unclued lights are connected by 33/23. One pair of unclued lights gives one context, in which two further pairs…
