Life
Georgics
George Osborne is a supporter of chess. During the award ceremony at 11 Downing St for last year’s London Candidates’…
no. 301
White to play. This position is from Carlsen-Caruana, Zurich 2014. White’s pin against the black rook and the passed pawn…
Hard-boiled Blyton
In Competition 2834 you were invited to submit an extract from a classic of children’s literature rewritten in the style…
2149: Super!
Each of the unclued lights (one of two words and one of three) can be preceded by the same word…
Solution to 2146: 4 ÷ 4 = 8
One 4-letter word is to be placed in the middle of another to yield an 8-letter solution: 6 ÷ 19…
I’m failing as a parent, and that’s OK
Two new books have been published recently on the thorny issue of social mobility, one optimistic, suggesting various things parents…
Battle for Britain
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A mystery in the middle lane
I am convinced that when I took my driving test in 1983 I was asked by the examiner, ‘What lane…
Dear Mary
Q. Over New Year I stayed with a man who combines being a generous and exciting host with a punctilious…
Spirits of Bruegel
The ostensible subject matter is misleading, as is any conflation with his lesser relatives’ wassailing peasants and roistering village squares.…
Mistakes
I enjoy Poetry Please, but was shouting mildly at the wireless the other day when a northern woman poet was…
Spirits of Bruegel
The ostensible subject matter is misleading, as is any conflation with his lesser relatives’ wassailing peasants and roistering village squares.…
Wild life
Laikipia ‘I am old and cannot work again,’ said Celestino. ‘But you are 46 and we have many years to…
A mystery in the middle lane
I am convinced that when I took my driving test in 1983 I was asked by the examiner, ‘What lane…
High life
Gstaad A heavy snowfall diverted 40-odd private jets from landing in Saanen airport, thus the one per cent of the…
Low life
My first ride in a stretch Hummer. I haven’t lived, I now realise. The prodigious, ridiculous thing, tricked out in…
Real life
Seeing a poodle on the London Underground wearing a red vest with the words ‘Diabetes Medical Dog’ has given me…
Long life
Here in the valley of the River Tove in south Northamptonshire my chickens are laying copiously, my ducks are quacking…
Women’s ways
Liverpool manager Bill Shankly was once challenged with the story that for their wedding anniversary treat he had taken his…
Bridge
January ended for me with the annual Icelandic Bridge Festival in Reykjavik. There may be a better tournament but I…
Lions’ den
Daniel Johnson, the distinguished editor of Standpoint magazine, can be bracketed with Tim Congdon and Dominic Lawson, as having had…
No. 300
White to play. This is from Johnson-Finch, Marlow 1974. White is building up a strong attack on the kingside and…
Dear diary
In Competition 2833 you were invited to submit an extract from the adolescent diary of a well-known public figure, living…
2148: Eighth of February
Unclued lights (including two of two words and an accent to be ignored) can be expressed in such a way…
to 2145: Two in a row
Each pair consists of two in a ‘row’ in a variety of meanings. PURL (14) & PLAIN (25) (line of…
