Proverbial wisdom?
In Competition 2817 you were asked to provide a poem, in the manner of Harry Graham’s Perverted Proverbs, questioning the…
2133: FM
All except four clues contain a superfluous word each. Initial letters of these words spell the titles of four 29D…
To 2130: Elusive
Extra letters in clues give the assertion by HOUSMAN (31) that ‘I could no more define poetry than a terrier…
Miliband’s empty outrage
I’m writing this from the Conservative party conference in Manchester, but it’s Ed Miliband I want to discuss. In particular,…
Who’s really down under?
This weekend is the final round of the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship, the best tournament outside the World Cup and…
Dear Mary
Q. Towards the end of last year, I began three months of treatment for a knee replacement. During one consultation…
Is this really a pub?
The Wild Rabbit is a pub in the Cotswolds, that small corner of Britain full of evil grinning cottages; if…
Bare ruined choirs
I am shocked to find that William Empson, famous for his technique of close reading, was no good at reading…
Triumph in Jakarta
Walking into the gilt opulence of the ‘Credentials Room’ of the Istana Merdeka palace in Jakarta, our new Prime Minister…
Meet the latest Aussie who gets under our skin
The brash and combative Oracle skipper has become the focal point of New Zealand’s collective anxieties
In praise of Ming
At the end of this affectionate memoir of Sir Robert and Dame Pattie Menzies, Heather Henderson recognises some might see…
Brown study
With the unrelenting march of time, I have been giving a lot of thought to what I want to do…
Diary
I have been spending the week in Rome, having breakfast and dinner most days with Pope Francis I. Literally. How…
Australian notes
At Julia Gillard’s triumphal rallies, her ecstatic audiences applauded the idea that her valour in standing up to misogyny will…
Letters
Sam’s Abbott, not Anton’s Sir: Sam Roggeveen’s article (‘Abbott is not a neocon,’ 28 September) is a useful analysis of…
Pearl appeal
‘Women spend more money on their ears in pearl earrings than on any other part of their person.’ So said…
Comfort in melancholy
Geoff Nicholson is the Maharajah of Melancholy. The quality was there in his novels, it was there in his non-fiction…
Is this really a pub?
The Wild Rabbit is a pub in the Cotswolds, that small corner of Britain full of evil grinning cottages; if…
Who’s really down under?
This weekend is the final round of the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship, the best tournament outside the World Cup and…
Pearl appeal
‘Women spend more money on their ears in pearl earrings than on any other part of their person.’ So said…
Don Q lite
Superstar Carlos Acosta makes little or no reference to Don Quixote’s established history in his programme note about the genesis…
