Life
Wild life
Kenya Highlands I’ve just descended Mount Kenya with Eve, my 13-year-old daughter, and her class of school leavers from Pembroke…
Bridge
The recent Open European Championship was won by Israel — but right up to the end, Monaco and England were…
Final flame
I am very sorry to report the death of International Master Andrew Whiteley, a friend of mine for half a…
No. 323
Black to play. This is from Litsberger-Whiteley, Harrachov 1967. This position also emanated from the Dragon Variation. What was Black’s…
Soccer lesson
In Competition No. 2856 you were invited to recruit a well-known author of your choice to give Phil Neville a…
2171: 31 Across
Seven identical two-by-two squares in the completed grid must be highlighted to depict the unclued entries, each of two words.…
to 2168: History exam
Initial letters of superfluous words in clues give nightingale, quail and cuckoo, specimens of AVIFAUNA (5) represented by FLUTE (43),…
Cameron was right to move Gove
I tried to reach Michael Gove on Tuesday shortly after the news broke that he’d been moved to the Whips’…
Battle for Britain
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How good laws change our ways
What would happen, I wonder, were we to rescind the smoking ban as Nigel Farage wants? My guess is not…
Dear Mary
Q. My former cleaner has now retired and lives nearby. I visit her with clockwork regularity and always enjoy seeing…
A toast to all bottles
Where two or three British males are gathered together, the agenda often includes a glass or two. One thing can…
Toe-rag
‘I am glad to say that I have never seen a toe-rag,’ said my husband, assuming, as unconvincingly as one…
A toast to all bottles
Where two or three British males are gathered together, the agenda often includes a glass or two. One thing can…
How good laws change our ways
What would happen, I wonder, were we to rescind the smoking ban as Nigel Farage wants? My guess is not…
Wild life
Kenya Highlands I’ve just descended Mount Kenya with Eve, my 13-year-old daughter, and her class of school leavers from Pembroke…
High life
Island of Rhodes When I’m on the water, I feel I was born to it. Yachting has always been a…
Low life
Tap tap tap at the door. I opened my eyes. ‘Check-out 10.30,’ said a neutral or possibly slightly hostile female…
Real life
‘I have a feeling,’ said my father, ‘that this evening is not going to go well.’ We were sitting in…
Long life
One problem from which I am confident I don’t suffer is paedophilia. I have always liked picking up babies and…
Fit as a filly
Fretful horses who waste their energies — and often their racing potential — ceaselessly pacing their stable dormitories are known…
Bridge
The European Team Championships drew to a close last week and the most successful country overall was …England! The doughty…
Attack
This was the watchword of Grandmaster Dragoljub Velimirovic, one of the leading players of the former Yugoslavia. I first encountered…
No. 322
White to play. This position is from Velimirovic-Gipslis, Havana 1971. How did White conclude? Answers to me at The Spectator…
Dead-end job
In Competition No. 2855 you were invited to compose an elegy for an endangered profession. Estate agents, travel agents, publishers,…
