FRANCIS THOMPSON, born in PRESTON, wrote THE HOUND OF HEAVEN and a poem, AT LORD’S, remembering the run-stealers that flicker to and fro, and his HORNBY and his BARLOW LONG AGO. First prize D. Rosendorff, Coogee, NSW, AustraliaRunners-up Peter Hampton, Wimborne, Dorset; Margaret Shiels, Edinburgh
In Competition No. 3135 you were invited to submit an application letter for a job at No. 10 from a fictional character of your choice. This challenge was inspired by the PM’s chief special adviser Dominic Cummings’s suggestion, in a recruitment ad, that the ideal candidate for one of the positions on offer might resemble ‘weirdos from William Gibson novels like that girl hired by Bigend as a brand “diviner” who feels sick at the sight of Tommy Hilfiger’. The parade of hopeful candidates included George Smiley, Gregor Samsa, Bertie Wooster and Toad of Toad Hall, all of whom were pipped to the post by the winners below who
A few months ago, The Spectator became the fastest-growing current affairs magazine not just in Britain but in Europe. Magazine industry figures are out today and we’re delighted to announce that in the second half of last year, each issue of The Spectator sold 83,020 copies, up 8.9 per cent on the year. This is an average for the six months: the figure now is significantly higher. In April, we’ll become the first magazine in the history of publishing to print a 10,000th issue: we’ll do so with sales at an all-time high. What’s driving our success? We have the best writers – Rod Liddle, Matthew Parris and Charles Moore,
The unclued lights can be linked with GOLDEN, at 30D, which had to be highlighted. The trio is GOLDEN EYE OINTMENT (30/40/43). First prize Mike Conway, Grantham, Lincolnshire Runners-up Jack Shonfield, Child Okeford, Dorset; Angus Ross, Old Portsmouth, Hants
To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. Join us in the Spectator boardroom on Friday 28 February for the next in this year’s series of Spectator Winemaker Lunches with Alex Schulz, fifth generation owner and head winemaker of Turkey Flat Vineyards, the cult winery of the Barossa Valley, Australia. First planted with Shiraz in 1847, Turkey Flat Vineyards is one of the oldest producers in Australia, famed not only for the remarkable quality of their sustainably-farmed Rhône-style wines but also their downright accessibility. Over a fine, four course cold lunch provided by Forman & Field, Alex will present and discuss a number of wines including the Turkey Flat White,
So that’s January done and dusted. Phew! I don’t know about you, but the wretched water wagon — to which I clung by my fingernails as always – is but a grim memory and I’m raring to go.jonath Happily, my abstinence proved to Mrs Ray that I’m not a complete dipso; my liver had a rest and, thanks to my patent diet of homemade lentil soup followed by Green & Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate (other fine chocolate is available), I’ve lost 12lb since New Year’s Eve. Don’t laugh, it works. The soup is a doddle to make and gives me lunch for the week. Simply soften some chopped onion and
Sad to say, the length of time you’ve been playing bridge is no indication of how good you are. Indeed, you can play with gusto every day of your life, but if you never venture outside your same circle, or take lessons or read books, then — to put it bluntly — you probably have no idea how bad you are. I recently read an amusing article about this by the Scottish novelist Alexander McCall Smith, author of the hugely popular No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. He and his wife love bridge, and some years ago took a cruise which offered classes. His wife, a ‘much stronger player’, chose
Cars, computers and cadavers: taking them apart is normally reserved for experts and the pathologically curious. In his new book, The Moves that Matter, Jonathan Rowson takes a scalpel to the game of chess itself, and finds abundant meaning in its cultural, psychological and metaphorical aspects. Or as he puts it: ‘Chess is just a game in the way that the heart is just a muscle.’ It’s ambitious stuff, but we’re in good hands. Dr Rowson is a three-time British champion (2004-2006), writer, philosopher and co-founder of Perspectiva, a research institute that examines the relationship between complex global challenges and the inner lives of human beings. The Moves that
28 2, born in 36, is best known for 10 41 (four words). He also produced a 19, 11 (two words; ignore the apostrophe), remembering his 1D and his 43 30 25A. Across 1 Suite has horrible gaps (8) 5 Covering article in material for publication (6) 12 One held on sofa perhaps right to express feelings (6) 13 Venetian horseman returning to one moves rapidly (8) 16 Dry up round mark, a greasy one (5) 17 Gripped section of cameo (7, two words) 18 Horrify, having closed contract (7) 20 Lawsuits’ powerful ammunition (8, hyphened) 26 Thrown here unprepared, go off it angrily (7, two words) 29 Point
Rowson-Yermolinsky, World Open 2002. This position arose after a tactical skirmish. White has only one good way to meet the threat to the rook, which had to be seen well in advance. What is it? Answers should be sent to ‘Chess’ at The Spectator by Tuesday 28 February 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 a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Qg8+! Bf7 2 Qc8+ Ke7 3 Qd8+ Ke6 4 Qd6# Last week’s winner Tim Leeney, Hartfield, East Sussex
In Competition No. 3132 you were invited to submit an extract from one of the following books: Noah Gets Naked: Bible Stories They Didn’t Teach You at Sunday School; Ending the War on Artisan Cheese; The Joy of Waterboiling; Versailles: The View from Sweden. These genuine titles have all been contenders for the annual Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year, an award invented in 1978 by Bruce Robinson and Trevor Bounford to relieve the tedium of the Frankfurt Book Fair. The Joy of Waterboiling — a German-language guide to cooking meals in a kettle — scooped the gong in 2018 and was top choice with competitors
To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. Join us in the Spectator boardroom on Friday 14 February for the next in this year’s series of Spectator Winemaker Lunches with Nicole Rolet, owner of Chêne Bleu, the boutique estate in the southern Rhône celebrated for its organic, biodynamic ‘couture’ wines which Decanter Magazine declared to be ‘exceptional’. Chêne Bleu – described by the Wall Street Journal as ‘The world’s first super Rhône’, lies is a dramatically isolated position high in the Dentelles de Montmirail above Gigondas and Séguret and has deliberately opted out of the appellation contrôlée system, allowing them to make the wines that they feel best reflect the
The Journey of the Magi (38A and 39A), by T.S. Eliot, was based on an earlier sermon by Lancelot Andrewes, which is the source of the perimeter’s version of the quotation (starting ‘in the East’, down the right-hand column). His name appears in anagram form at 43D and 12D; and T.S. Eliot similarly at 47D —all three anagrams had to be highlighted. The magi’s gifts are shown in 8D and 28D. The Winners The first prize of £100, three prizes of £25 and six further prizes of The Penguin Book Quiz by James Walton go to the following. The first four winners will each also receive a bottle of champagne. First prize
The unclued lights (as four pairs and a singleton which includes an abbreviation and apostrophe) are of a kind. 36 is an acronym and 10 includes an accent. Solvers should highlight a further themed title of two words hidden separately in the final grid. Across 1 Sheriff’s officer’s wild spat during argument (8) 12 Land on tree; mother has pronounced dead first (10, two words) 13 English work about wing flap (6) 14 24 change of heart for this bishop (7) 15 Girl in The Crown that’s on her knees (8) 18 Pair paid the bill on both legs? (9, hyphened) 19 Former PM presenter with sound of whirling
In Competition No. 3131 you were invited to submit a poem beginning ‘Yes. I remember…’ This challenge was suggested by a reader who was very taken with Adrian Bailey’s poem ‘First Love’, a riff on Edward Thomas’s much-loved ‘Adlestrop’, published recently in this magazine. The winners, in an entry that provided a bracing blast of new year nostalgia, earn £25 each. Yes, I remember Germolene — the densely-pink tinned-salmon hue, its smell, round tin, unwonted gloss like warm and antiseptic glue. It soothed each graze from roller skates. Those tumbles from the playground swings? — anaesthetised. It smelt of care, did Germolene. And other things. One of the family: its
Sanguineti–Najdorf, Mar del Plata 1956. White to move. White played 1 Kd8?, to threaten 2 Qe7#. Black resigned, overlooking 1…Rxg4 to prepare Ke6-f5. White should have chosen a queen check instead. Which one? Answers by Tuesday 21 January to ‘Chess’ at The Spectator or victoria@-spectator.co.uk. 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 week’s solution 1 Rxh7+! Kxh7 2 Qh5+ Kg8 3 Ne7 mate. Last week’s winner Gareth Davies, Newport
As backhanded Christmas gifts go, a copy of 12 Rules for Life, must be up there with wrinkle cream or a nose-hair trimmer. One generous soul decided that Jordan Peterson’s bracing self-help book, published two years ago, was just the tonic I need to improve my life and character. Who knows what advice to take, when feedback from the game of life is so wickedly fuzzy? Most decisions are inconsequential, and some which look good will come back to haunt you. But in the game of kings, results are unambiguous: win, lose or draw, and then you get reincarnated. So in the spirit of January resolutions, this is how those
2019 was a big year for Alex Hydes. HUGE in fact. He won, almost consecutively, three major international titles and several lesser ones. On top of that he and Ben Handley-Pritchard have just qualified to play for England in the Europeans in June. No wonder he’s in such demand. I have just returned from Edinburgh where we played the first weekend of the Camrose and Alex was billeted in to take the place of Espen Erichsen who is in Oz. Scoring up with him is a real pleasure! We finished the weekend 24 VPs ahead of 2nd (Ireland) — a perfect start for the second weekend coming up next month.
Q. This autumn I will be studying in Paris. A friend from Italy will also be studying there and she wants us to share a flat. She is amazing and I worship her but, the problem is that I need to be alone first thing in the morning — and she wants to talk. The truth, ridiculous or not, is that if I can’t have my mental privacy at this time, I am much less productive. Although she knows how I feel, whenever we have stayed the night under the same roof, the moment I put a foot out of bed she somehow knows and comes into my room talking.
