Puzzles & games

Bridge

Bridge | 22 January 2015

2015 got off to a rollicking start with TGR’s sixth Auction Pairs — chief rollickers being the Norwegians, whose unparalleled appetite for the sauce and disdain for sleep is matched only by the brilliance of their play. Leading the 70 pairs after the first day were Frank Svindal and Tom Johansen (bought in the auction

Chess

London Blitz

Britain’s leading grandmaster, Michael Adams, started well in the London Classic, with a beautiful win against the rising star Fabiano Caruana. After that, Adams ran out of steam, finishing in next to last place. Fortunately he made up for this with an excellent performance in the Blitz section, where he tied for first place and

Competition

Lines on law

In Competition No. 2881 you were invited to do as Carol Ann Duffy has done and provide an amusing poem about a piece of government legislation. The first line of her poem ‘22 Reasons for the Bedroom Tax’, ‘Because the badgers are moving the goalposts’, is, of course, a reference to environment secretary Owen Paterson’s

Crossword

2195: In question

Each clue contains a superfluous word. When these words are put in sequence according to alphabetical order of answers to clues, initial letters of thirty-three of them spell two 4D made famous by a certain person. Remaining words in the sequence form another of the 4D used by the person in question. The first of

Crossword solution

To 2192: Never again

Eight unclued lights were papal names used only once. Pope JOAN (30) was the fanciful ninth.   First prize Michael Grosvenor Myer, Haddenham, Cambridge   Runners-up Roderick Rhodes, Goldsborough, N. Yorks; Anne Manger, Penrith, Cumbria

Puzzles

No: 346

White to play. This position is a variation from Kramnik-Nakamura, London Classic Blitz 2014. How can White make a decisive material gain? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 27 January 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