Life
Cringeworthy
In Competition 2805 you were invited to submit toe-curlingly bad analogies. Congratulations! You obliged with a stream of analogies glorious…
2121: Take care
The unclued lights, two of two words, are of a kind. Elsewhere, ignore an apostrophe. Across 1 We hear…
to 2118: Unreliable
Eight unclued lights are EXPERTS (24), whom — according to the words of LORD SALISBURY (9) supplied by superfluous and…
Old friends and new
A few years ago, I got the shock of my life when a girl I was sitting next to at…
Dave
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Murray’s mountain
There’s nothing we old folk like more than a chat about how poorly all our friends and acquaintances are. This…
dear mary your problems solved
Q. I have far too many friends to be able to invite them all to my forthcoming book launch. How…
The day of the pig
I write this column at the point of a pitchfork. A, normally so placid — ‘He’s so placid!’ people like…
Transparency
On 21 June 1785, James Woodforde was in Norwich and in the evening went to Bunns pleasure gardens, where ‘there…
The day of the pig
I write this column at the point of a pitchfork. A, normally so placid — ‘He’s so placid!’ people like…
Murray’s mountain
There’s nothing we old folk like more than a chat about how poorly all our friends and acquaintances are. This…
High life
The long lazy summer is upon us, and as I walk the Swiss hills below the mountain ranges my thoughts…
Low life
Sir Francis Drake died of dysentery while attacking the town of San Juan in Puerto Rico. He was buried at…
Real life
The sometime builder boyfriend spotted the Volvo on his way to a roofing job in Dorking. He rang me greatly…
Long life
I seem to have been steeped in opera lately. First there was Ariadne auf Naxos at Glyndebourne, then Peter Grimes…
Go, Johnny, go
Ginger Rogers, clever girl, did everything that Fred Astaire did — but she did it backwards. I am looking backwards…
Bridge
Zia Mahmood has never been the most punctual man — but I wonder whether he’ll ever be late for a…
Anand’s crisis
A disturbing pattern has emerged in the games of world champion Viswanathan Anand. As White in the Ruy Lopez he…
no. 273
Black to play. This position is from the game Nimzowitsch-Tarrasch, St Petersburg 1914. With both bishops trained on White’s king,…
Rhyme time
In Competition 2804 you were invited to supply a poem containing as many ingenious rhymes as possible. Ogden Nash, one…
2120: Urban – or what?
The unclued lights (one of two words) are of a specific kind. Ignore all accents. Across 1 H-E-X? (5)…
to 2117: Highlands and islands
The twenty-two lochs which did not fit into the grid are, in order of their appearance in the story: Ainort,…
Apple scrumping
Caroline and I were watching The Fall in our front room when the intruder entered our house. Not great timing…
Dave
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This year, I’m hiring graduates with thirds
Whenever I return to my old university, I am always struck by how incredibly focused, purposeful and studious everyone seems…
