Life
Culture shock?
In Competition 2829 you were invited to imagine what Philip Larkin might have made of the news that Hull has…
2144: Leonids
1D is the title of a work minus a word that is suggested by three further unclued lights. Other unclued…
to 2142: Wintry
Extra letters in clues give ‘wrapped in wild snow’, a quotation from a poem by ALEXANDER BLOK (10). Partially indicated…
Giving it all up
I’ve gone completely overboard with New Year’s Resolutions this year. I’ve sworn off three illicit substances — alcohol, chocolate and…
Dave
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Sir Viv and me
Sir Vivian Richards came to watch me play cricket the other day. That’s the sort of sentence you wait a…
Dear Mary
Q. We had our son’s fiancée and her family to stay recently. After dinner, expecting conversation, we were shocked to…
Meet the parents
Woolley Grange is a child-friendly country house hotel that seems, at first, entirely monstrous — a grey Tudor house in…
In store
How do you play the lottery? The National Lottery website has a handy guide. Step No. 1 is: ‘Go into…
Meet the parents
Woolley Grange is a child-friendly country house hotel that seems, at first, entirely monstrous — a grey Tudor house in…
Sir Viv and me
Sir Vivian Richards came to watch me play cricket the other day. That’s the sort of sentence you wait a…
Talking dirty
At Christmas a friend from CNN sent me the story of a US officer on a European train. Searching for…
High Life
Welcome, Mr 2014, if you turn out as good as Mr 2013 was, we’ll get along just fine. Throughout last…
Low life
I went from the first yoga session of the New Year to the pub. I felt ever so noble. The…
Real life
Just the three resolutions for me. I am keeping it simple. Number one: no more boyfriends. The definition of insanity…
Long life
The date of this issue of The Spectator is 4 January 2014, which also happens to be my 74th birthday.…
Bridge
What is the purpose of bidding? It’s how partners describe their hands to each other in order to reach the…
Vale Vishy
Viswanathan Anand, the 15th world champion, suffered a complete meltdown in his title defence against Magnus Carlsen towards the end…
No. 295
Black to play. This position is from Kramnik-Anand, Nice 2008. Both sides have dangerous-looking attacks. Can you spot Anand’s brilliant…
That was the year that was
In Competition 2828 you were invited to submit a retrospective verse commentary on 2013. Reasons to be cheerful are, apparently,…
2143: Revising geography
The unclued lights are broadly of a kind (33 differs from the others, though 33K would have been more appropriate,…
to 2141: Megacant
The unclued lights are examples of super slang listed on pp 7/8 in the Word Lover’s Miscellany section of Chambers…
Join my campaign to save the country
This is going to be the year I do my Flash Gordon routine and launch a campaign to save the…
Dave
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Luddites in the kitchen
I enjoy reading reviews of kitchen gadgetry. Clever new kitchen products are often under-appreciated. Many rituals around food preparation are…
