Puzzles & games

Bridge

Bridge | 14 November 2020

It’s been a busy week of bridge. First came the Lady Milne, the women’s home internationals. As the host nation, England had two teams; my partner Qian Li and I qualified for the second. I’ve played in the Lady Milne quite a few times before, and it felt strange and slightly unreal to be doing

Chess

The Brick

I own a few chess books that could serve as a murder weapon, but none so hefty as Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games. Nicknamed ‘The Brick’ by its fans, its thousand-odd pages forgo instructional text in favour of an escalating procession of puzzles, mostly mates in 1, 2 or 3 moves. These illustrate the

Chess puzzle

No. 630

White to play. Mista–Kloza, Poland 1955 (supposedly). Which move does White play to force a quick checkmate? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Tuesday 17 November. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last

Competition

Crossword

2483: In my soup

Unclued lights are defined by extra words in ten clues and are anagrams of ten of a kind. Elsewhere, ignore an apostrophe. Across 9 Medic with hate for compound medication (4)12 Leper snubbed lethargic Arab (5)13 Mark is very into Islay’s liquor (5)14 A software user acquiring flash technology (5)16 Rugged harrier names ruthless smuggler

Crossword solution

2480: Warning – solution

Ten symmetrically placed unclued lights are synonyms for the warning ‘WATCH OUT’. First prize Andy Wallace, Ash Green, CoventryRunners-up Caroline Arms, Ithaca, New York; Stephen Smith, Messing, Essex