Worshipping the sun
We are only just beginning to understand our neighbourhood star, its mysterious corona and its effect on our weather, according to Lucie Green’s thrilling 15 Million Degrees
Neighbours and strangers
Despite her alias, Margaret Forster’s heroine finds it difficult to rebuild her life after serving ten years in prison
Sins of omission
Kadare writes hauntingly about loss and omission— the girl never met, the book never written, the love never found
Following the followers
Tom Bissell goes in search of the tombs of the Apostles — but finds that their legends soon run into the sand
Sins of the fathers
Damian Thompson admires a Chilean film about paedophile priests which, unlike Spotlight, dares to explore social and psychological complexities
The counterfeiters
Martin Gayford does a roundup of photography shows including Performing for the Camera at Tate Modern, Paul Strand at the V&A and Avedon Warhol at Gagosian Gallery
Nuclear waste
Plus: a play about the Easter Rising that reveals popular support for the Dublin rebellion was patchy at best
Slow burn
This courtroom drama is understated and patient, and the acting deliciously naturalistic - and it’s available to watch online so there’s no excuse
Carry on Don
But the production has energy. And full marks to the company’s Iphigenie en Tauride – for daring
Good cop, bad cop
Plus: The A Word, BBC1’s impressive replacement for Happy Valley, is both tactful and not remotely soppy about the difficulties of autism
Born again
Plus: Radio 4 on the joy of rockpools - and how to get a foot on to the property ladder (if you’re a crab)
Bridge
Bridge players are a superstitious bunch. And I don’t just mean the steps they take to prepare for matches —…
Tal story
With the proliferation of modern opening theory and advances in knowledge of the game, I wonder sometimes if the kind…
No. 401
White to play. This is from Karjakin-Nakamura, Fidé Candidates, Moscow 2016. Hikaru -Nakamura has just implemented an ingenious combination to…
Seuss talk
In Competition No. 2940 you were invited to supply Dr Seuss’s take on the US presidential race. Given his taste…
2253: Your starter for ten
One ‘unclued’ light, as the title suggests, can be paired (on one occasion twice) with each of the other unclued…
To 2250: Knavish
The unclued lights can be preceded by JACK. First prize Margaret Lusk, Preston, Lancs Runners-up P.D.H. Riddell, London SE23;…
Why I’d like to be a more dangerous dad
Maybe it’s because of my childhood. I came home aged ten and disturbed burglars but I lived to tell the tale
