Bridge
Martin Hoffman is a hero. Now in his eighties, he can still analyse a hand faster than most people can…
Business/Music etc
Thanks, but no, thanks. Don’t even bother thinking about complaints that the big end of town should have done more…
Vikings on board
Mark Hall, curator of the Perth Museum, has recently drawn attention to the proliferation of board games in Viking burials.…
No. 420
White to play. This position is from Olafsson-Tal, Moscow 1971. How did White finish off? Answers to me at The…
Head-counting the Christians
Is it just me, or is there something distinctly uncertain about atheist advertising campaigns? I mean they lack nothing in…
2272: Holiday time
In eight clues, cryptic -indications omit reference to parts of answers; these parts must be highlighted, to reveal two words.…
Diary
I have just one week in London, exchanging the harsh Perth winter for the UK’s summer evenings. I am surprised…
to 2269: Humiliation
Answers to clues in italics are Clockwise (16), mondial (25), smugly (26), mushroomed (15) and pantable (32), each of which…
Letters
Costume drama Sir: Could I remind Michael Buhagiar (23 July) that the great conflict in Jane Austen’s greatest novel is…
The turf
Sometimes the labels people give themselves are more than mere braggadocio. Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali if you must) really was…
The Fairfax follies and the wider damage done
The Roy Morgan newspaper readership figures for the 12 months up to June were released on Thursday. You wouldn’t have…
The unholy war over the census
A Christian, a Muslim, an atheist and a Jedi walk into a bar. If it’s Tuesday, 9 August, they order…
Skye
Glamour. It’s Marcello Mastroianni drinking negronis on the Via Veneto; it’s Audrey Hepburn, George Clooney, Sinatra on the Vegas Strip…
Vikings on board
Mark Hall, curator of the Perth Museum, has recently drawn attention to the proliferation of board games in Viking burials.…
No. 420
White to play. This position is from Olafsson-Tal, Moscow 1971. How did White finish off? Answers to me at The…
May day
In Competition No. 2959 you were invited to submit a poem on a political theme entitled ‘May day’. There was…
Dear Mary
Q. David and Samantha Cameron, their family and two armed policemen have moved to the house opposite us. Do you…
West End churls
Piccadilly is ill-served by cafés, unless you consider House of Caviar a cafe. There is a Caffè Nero by St…
Saving refugee lives
How should a country deal with refugees? This week the British government received an important legal vindication of its approach:…
High life
Gstaad What is it with these baldies? I turned on the television last week and watched as the identical…
Long life
Japanese housewives are so convinced of the value of office work that they get angry if their husbands come home…
Long life
Japanese housewives are so convinced of the value of office work that they get angry if their husbands come home…
Low life
After the death by boredom of the slow traffic jam, the agricultural-show field was an assault on the senses. The…
Low life
After the death by boredom of the slow traffic jam, the agricultural-show field was an assault on the senses. The…
