Life
Low life
Can it be that the one single agreeable thing about getting old is that one loses one’s pot paranoia? No.…
Real Life
Everything is a journey now, especially if it involves failure. The X Factor rejects, people having disasters as they build…
Long life
Back home from a week in Italy, I almost feel that I haven’t left. For I go almost at once…
Bridge
‘Yikes! I’ve been Grosvenored!’ This is a wail you will hear from time to time when a Declarer has been…
Song of Norway
Magnus Carlsen has become the 16th world chess champion, taking the title with three wins, seven draws and no losses,…
No. 294
White to play. This position is a variation from Anand-Carlsen, Chennai (Game 9). White is on the verge of delivering…
Picture this
In Competition 2825 you were invited to supply a poem for a well-known painting of your choice. The poet and…
2141: Megacant
The unclued lights (all but two of two words) are of a kind, listed in Chambers 2011. Elsewhere, ignore one…
to 2138: Hundred centimes
The unclued Across lights are words abbreviated by C (= 100) and the unclued Down lights are abbreviated by c…
The path not taken
Damn and blast. I was quite keen on becoming the Conservative candidate for Hammersmith, but the timing isn’t going to…
Dave
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England learn their lesson
My friend Miles was bowling in a festival of wandering cricket clubs in Oxford the other day. First wicket down…
Dear Mary
Q. My egregious mother-in-law turns 80 this December. She is not short of a bob but for one of my…
The restaurant lobby
One Canada Square was the original glass house in east London’s Gotham City, a thrilling tower with a flashing pyramid…
Reverend
‘Here,’ said my husband, chucking a folded-back copy of the Daily Telegraph to me, ‘this’ll interest you.’ For once he…
The restaurant lobby
One Canada Square was the original glass house in east London’s Gotham City, a thrilling tower with a flashing pyramid…
England learn their lesson
My friend Miles was bowling in a festival of wandering cricket clubs in Oxford the other day. First wicket down…
High life
You know you’re old when people start writing kindly about you. Especially when they are colleagues. First Jeremy Clarke, now…
Low life
The beer garden at the back of the pub was empty, save one woman sitting alone at a table contemplating…
Real life
The builder boyfriend and I have had a terrible row. In the heat of the moment, I said something truly…
Long life
It’s filthy wet weather in Tuscany, so I’m lying on my bed in the afternoon reading through the Italian newspapers.…
Twelve to Follow
Women truly are different. Recovering in a spare bedroom from the wonders of a hip replacement (don’t ever jump on…
Bridge
Everyone over a certain age can remember the sense of shock that comes when policemen start looking like mere boys.…
Bifurcation
As predicted last week, the samurai standoff between Anand and Carlsen was swiftly shattered. After quiet draws in games one…
No. 293
Black to play. This is a variation from Anand-Carlsen; World Championship (Game 4), Chennai 2013. Anand avoided this position, although he…
