Life
Long life
Although I live in the country in Northamptonshire, I go to London often — almost once a week — and…
Bridge
The final match in the second division of Young Chelsea’s London Super League was as exciting as it gets. Two…
Vlad the Impaler
As I write, the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik is leading in the Norway tournament in Stavanger. The line-up is…
No. 318
White to play. This is a variation from Karjakin-Grischuk, Norway 2014. What key move allows White to deal with the…
Paxmanic
In Competition No. 2851 you were invited to mark Jeremy Paxman’s departure from Newsnight by supplying an extract from an…
I love Israel, so I’m allowed at least one bad joke about it
I expect all of us have said something we regret at one time or another, but not everyone does so…
Battle for Britain
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A new England
A revealing handwritten letter emerged at the weekend from the England scrum half Danny Care, who wasn’t playing in the…
Dear Mary
Q. I am the co-owner of a chocolate business which regularly receives requests for donations of goody bags and raffle…
The pall of the wild
Fera is in Gordon Ramsay’s old cave at Claridge’s. His red and yellow room, like a ripped-off arm, has been…
Ombre
My husband heard me in the kitchen exclaim: ‘What would I do without you?’ He curiously imagined I was referring…
The pall of the wild
Fera is in Gordon Ramsay’s old cave at Claridge’s. His red and yellow room, like a ripped-off arm, has been…
A new England
A revealing handwritten letter emerged at the weekend from the England scrum half Danny Care, who wasn’t playing in the…
Epsom delights
Watching the contestants parade at Epsom for this year’s Oaks, I remembered the great D. Wayne Lukas’s pronouncement on selecting…
High life
Last week in the Bagel, and then London here I come. As I write, hundreds of thousands of Jews are…
Low life
Then there was the time I took Sharon to the Pamplona bull run. She looked very fetching in the traditional…
Real life
‘What is this, please?’ I said to the estate agent, as he showed me into the building site he was…
Long life
Shirley Williams has a point when she says that Lord Rennard’s alleged harassment of four female Lib Dem colleagues was…
Bridge
Have you ever been told by an expert that a bid you’ve made is foolish, badly judged or plain wrong?…
On the brink
The last great tournament to have been completed before the outbreak of war in 1914 was St Petersburg, which saw…
No. 317
Black to play. This position is from Mieses-Alekhine, Mannheim 1914. Can you spot Black’s subtle winning move in this endgame?…
Proverbial
In Competition No. 2850 you were invited to invent proverbs that sound profound but have no meaning. This was an…
2165: Not far off
According to a quotation (in ODQ) by a person whose surname is an unclued light, an area of five letters…
to 2162: Stand in
Superfluous letters in definitions form the phrase HOLD THE FORT. Thematically created entries at 5, 10, 17, 19 and 38 are defined…
How I joined the 99 per cent
In The Wolf of Wall Street, there’s a poignant shot towards the end in which we see an FBI agent…
