My teammate Thor Erik Hoftaniska is having a bit of a moment. He won last year’s (online) Gold Cup (on my team), hoovered up the Champion’s Cup playing for Norway in Slovakia, won the main pairs event in the Easter Guardian, and has just taken the gold medal for winning the Norwegian Premier League. Not
There is a video in which a small group of students amble about passing a basketball back and forth. The instruction at the start is to count how many times the players pass the basketball. Then comes the punchline – did you see the gorilla? Halfway through, a figure in a gorilla suit walks through
White to play. Reshevsky-Savon, Petropolis 1973. Reshevsky played the awful 1 Qxg6+, and resigned after 1…Bxg6. Many moves win, but which one forces mate in just three moves? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 9 May. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer picked. Please include a postal address. Last week’s
In Competition No. 3247, you were asked to submit the reflections of a well-known writer on a career path they might have taken. Most famous writers have had day jobs – Kurt Vonnegut sold Saabs, Harper Lee worked as an airline ticket agent, and Joseph Heller was a blacksmith’s apprentice. But what about those missed
The unclued lights, including one of two words, are of a kind, all confirmed in Chambers. A further example (4) must be deleted from the final grid, leaving blank squares. New words thus created are real words. Across 1 Get dry people keeping dry home (6) 11 Getting makeover helps, i.e., for freckle (7)
The four-letter word was BAND. Unclued lights suggest bandicoot (7A), bandh (11), banda (41), bandana (1D), bandoneon (3), bandook (7D), bandar (14), bandolero (19) and bandy (35). BAND (ending on 26) was to be shaded. Title: name of a BAND. First prize Tim Knox, London WC1 Runners-up Kathleen Durber, Stoke-on-Trent; Peter Chapman, South Perth, Western
