Congratulations to my old pal Lou Hobhouse, who has just been appointed the new editor of the English Bridge Union magazine. I’ve known Lou for 20 years and can vouch for the fact that she’s as devoted to bridge as anyone I’ve ever met. She even played on her wedding night — she and her
The two great Soviet world champion Russians, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, have almost always taken divergent paths. Karpov was the golden boy of the Soviet establishment, while Kasparov was an early supporter of glasnost and perestroika. A détente occurred when Karpov visited Kasparov in prison after he was incarcerated by the Putin regime for
In Competition No. 2922 you were invited to invent new garments and provide definitions. Thanks to the reader who, inspired by the emergence of the ‘slanket’, the ‘cardi-gown’ and the ‘onesie’, suggested this excellent comp. It has been claimed that we have Sir Winston Churchill to thank for the onesie, which can be traced back
This week’s puzzle breaks away from the traditional thematic puzzle. Instead, here is an alphabetical jigsaw for solvers to tackle. Clues are presented in strict alphabetical order of their solutions which begin with the letters indicated from A through to Z. Solvers have to assign each solution to its correct place in the grid.
The unclued lights are CHEESES. First prize M. Taylor, Eskbank, Midlothian Runners-up D.G. Page, Orpington, Kent; Katherine Griffin, Winchester, Hants
White to play. This is from Kasparov-Karpov, London/Leningrad (Game 16). Kasparov saw this conclusion many moves in advance. White would be lost if he did not have one particular move. What is it? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 10 November or via email to victoria@-spectator.co.uk. The winner is the first correct answer
