A couple of weeks ago two of the most prestigious events in the bridge nutter’s diary took place on the same weekend. The first was the mini-festival in Vilnius, impeccably and generously sponsored and organised by Erikas Vainikonis and his father, Vytas, in which my team played; the second was the Gold Cup semi-final and
Impelled by his engineer’s mindset, the former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik wrote a short essay to answer a simple question: ‘What is a combination?’ I like his succinct conclusion, which certainly captures the essence: ‘A combination is a forced variation with a sacrifice.’ Like the fizz in champagne, the sacrificial element is the sine
In Competition No. 3121 you were invited to submit a song entitled ‘50 Ways to Leave the White House’. While the brief steered you in the direction of Paul Simon’s 1975 hit (the inspiration for whose distinctive chorus was a rhyming game played with his infant son), I didn’t specify that you had to
The unclued lights (two of two words) be paired and are linked by an anagram of the four letters in the yellow squares. Brewer verifies the theme. Across 1 No stamp confused Pat. Could be him! (7) 6 Optical expert’s endless worry returning item for camera (7) 12 Gave notice of danger of now
The unclued lights are stations along the Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh train line, the pairs being 8/9 and 29/39. The title suggested a railway version of the ‘Road to the Isles’. First prize A.T. Lymer, Edinburgh Runners-up Brenda Widger, Bowdon, Cheshire; Jeffrey Frankland, Milnthorpe, Cumbria
Black to play. From Stepanov–Romanovsky, Lenin-grad 1926. Stepanov resigned two moves earlier, seeing that he would soon lose his queen. Romanovsky has just one winning move. Which one? Answers to ‘Chess’ at The Spectator by Tuesday 29 October or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out
