Two very exciting tournaments drew to a close last week. The first was the Spingold, the main teams event in the Las Vegas Summer National, the final of which saw two top Norwegian pairs opposing each other. In the end the slight underdogs, Richard Schwartz’s team, prevailed over mighty Monaco. Closer to home, there’s no
The British Championship, which finished in Aberystwyth last week, has been shared by international master Jonathan Hawkins and the defending champion David Howell. Curiously, this is the first occasion on which a tie at the top has resulted in a shared title, rather than some sort of tie-break or play-off, as occurred with Hartston and
In Competition No. 2859 you were invited to submit an offputting party political broadcast by the Tories, Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens or Ukip. Basil Ransome-Davies wasn’t alone in revealing the ruthlessness that lurks beneath the tree-hugging veneer of the Greens. He gets an honourable mention, as does Adrian Fry, who recruited Jimmy Savile
Five clues consist of cryptic indications of partial answers; in each case, the indicated part must be treated thematically to create the full answer to be entered in the grid. Numbers in brackets refer to lengths of entries. Solvers need to 12 38 43 (a five-word phrase, in Chambers) in order to create each of
The seven 2×2 squares each used the letters STAR in order, and depicted the seven major stars that make up the GREAT BEAR (URSA MAJOR) in THE PLOUGH (aka the BIG DIPPER). First prize D.V. Jones, Llanfair, Caereinion, Powys Runners-up Barry Roe, Wigston, Leicester; M. Taylor, Eskbank, Midlothian
White to play. This is from Perez Ponsa–Frick, Tromso Olympiad 2014. How did White blast through? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 12 August or via email to victoria@-spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a hat, and each week I am
