Somewhere between 1 and 3 a.m., I turn off the lights but I can’t turn off my whirring brain. Cards float before me, doubled contracts torment me and unbid slams haunt me. My antidote to this is Desert Island Discs. I always hope for someone who unexpectedly plays bridge or has a bridge story, Omar
Twelve-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa scored a sensational result in the recent Isle of Man Masters. At the age of ten years and ten months, he achieved the extraordinary distinction of becoming the youngest official international master in the history of chess. The youngest ever grandmaster is last year’s world championship challenger Sergei Karjakin, who was elevated
In Competition No. 3019 you were invited to submit a limerick describing a feat worthy of inclusion in Guinness World Records. This assignment is a nod to my nine-year-old son, who is a big fan of astonishing facts. Every year, when he gets his mitts on the latest Guinness World Records, he follows me
Unclued lights suggest nine different words, each made up of the same five letters. These letters will appear in the completed grid in an alphabetically ordered sequence which must be shaded. Elsewhere, ignore an accent. Across 6 Young sailor turned cricketer (6, hyphened) 12 In the normal way all sections united in study (10,
The suggested title is Brideshead Revisited, HEEDS/RABID (6A/42) being an anagram of BRIDESHEAD. The six characters, all members of the Flyte family, are ALEXANDER (Lord Marchmain) (21D), TERESA (Lady Marchmain) (37), and their children, BRIDEY (17), SEBASTIAN (8), JULIA (33) and CORDELIA (19). FLYTE (diagonally from the eighth row) was to be shaded. First prize Daisy
White to play. This position is from the above game, Praggnanandhaa-Howell, chess.com Masters. What is the accurate move White needed to play here? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 17 October or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include
