The Sunday Times February 6, 2022 27
NEWS REVIEW
CODEWORD
KENKEN
TETONOR
5 x 39 12 x 3 16 x 6 5 + 39
29 + 6 29 x 6 9 + 11 9 x 11
57 + 4 25 + 3 57 x 4 16 + 6
6 + 41 25 x 3 3 + 12 41 x 6
228 22
47 75 15 246
61 28
96 44
35 174 20 99
195 36
SUDOKU 1468
SUDOKU WARM-UP
KILLER SUDOKU
LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS
necessarily all different) on
each of their faces. I throw
the two dice and add the two
numbers that are showing on
the top faces. The probability
of a total of 2 is 1/64, the
probability of a total of 3 is
2/64 and so on. The
probabilities of the totals are
the same as for a pair of
standard octahedral dice
(each numbered 1 to 8).
Interestingly, however, the
highest number on the first
die is 11.
What are the eight
numbers (in ascending
order) on the second die?
Michael Fletcher
Wonky Dice
I have two octahedral (eight-
faced) dice. There are positive
whole numbers (not
TEASER 3098
Sally Brock
This was one of the most
exciting boards in the final of
the South African National
Pairs Championship.
NS vulnerable, Dealer West
I will present the auction as it
occurred, though it may need
a bit of explaining:
Our two diamond opening
shows a very weak hand (at
most 7 HCP) with a long major
(most likely only five cards at
this vulnerability and
position). North’s overcall was
obvious and my double asked
partner to pass if he had
spades. South, with just about
the best hand at the table, was
unsure what would be
forcing, so made the one bid
he knew would be: three
hearts. North rebid spades, I
showed my diamonds, and
South thought using
Blackwood might help. West
decided to test his opponents’
knowledge of their system
and South bid what he
CHESS
It is tradition in Wijk aan Zee for
the organisers to invite the
world’s brightest young talents
to their “B-Group”. The 2022
edition was dominated by
India’s latest superstar, Arjun
Erigaisi. The 18-year-old scored
eight wins and five draws to
secure a place among the elite
in next year’s A-Group.
Erigaisi’s opponents were
unable to deal with the
relentless volley of tactics
thrown at them.
White: Max Warmerdam
Black: Arjun Erigaisi
Tata Steel Challengers,
Wijk aan Zee 2022
Catalan Opening
1 c4 e6 2 g3 d5 3 Bg2 Nf6 4 Nf3
Be7 5 d4 0-0 6 0-0 dxc4 7 Qc2
b5 8 a4 b4 9 Nfd2 Nd5 10 Nxc4
c5 11 dxc5 Bxc5 12 e4 Nb6 13
Ncd2 N8d7 14 a5 The black
knight is trapped, but the tricks
are only just beginning. 14...Ba6
15 axb6 Rc8 Every move arrives
with a threat. 16 Rxa6? This
tempting sequence backfires. 16
Qd1 is safest, evacuating the c-
file. After 16...Qxb6 the position
remains sharp. 16...Bxf2+ 17
Kxf2 Rxc2 18 bxa7 White has
three minor pieces for a queen
and the a7-pawn appears
dangerous. Erigaisi has seen
further, however. 18...Nb6! The
knight keeps an eye on a8 while
the black queen prepares to
target the enemy monarch. 19
Kg1 Qc8 Simple yet brutal. The
queen creates a double-attack
against the a6-rook and c1-
bishop. 20 Rxb6 Qc5+ Another
double-attack ends White’s
resistance. 21 Kh1 Qxb6 22 Nf3
Qxa7 23 Bf4 Rxb2 24 Nbd2
Qa2 25 Rc1 Rd8 White resigns
The material deficit is too great.
In the final round Erigaisi
finished a promising endgame
with panache.
White: Marc’Andria Maurizzi
Black: Arjun Erigaisi
Tata Steel Challengers,
Wijk aan Zee 2022
Black’s e-pawn is one step away
from promotion. Erigaisi finds
a sophisticated way to block the
a5-bishop, the sole guardian of
the e1-square. 62...Rc3! 62...
Nc3+? would jeopardise the
win: 63 Bxc3+ Rxc3 64 Rd7+ Ke3
65 Re7+. White resigned since
63 Bxc3+ Nxc3+ gains time for
64...e1Q next move.
Spot the Move 1309:
White to play.
Dardha-Shuvalova, Wijk aan
Zee 2022. Can you find the
artistic winning blow for White?
Send your solution (first move only), to Sunday Times Spot the Move 1309,
The Sunday Times, PO Box 29, Colchester, Essex CO2 8GZ, or email to
[email protected]. The first correct answer drawn after next
Saturday wins a £20 Waterstones voucher. Open to 18+ UK & ROI residents only.
David Howell BRIDGE
♠ K Q J 10 8
♥ 9
♦ J 5 2
♣ A 8 7 4
N
W E
S
♠ 9 7 2
♥ 7 6 5 4 3 2
♦ 10 9 8 3
♣ –
♠ 5 3
♥ A J 10
♦ A K Q 7 6 4
♣ J 5
♠ A 6 4
♥ K Q 8
♦ –
♣ K Q 10 9 6 3 2
È((((((((È
>ÈÄÈÄÈÄÈÄ'
?]ÈÄÈÄÈÄÈ'
@ÈÄÈÄÈÄÈÄ'
IÅÄ41ÄÈÄÈ'
HÈÄÈ.ÈÄÈÄ'
=ÄÈÄÈÄÈÄÄ'
GÈÄÈÄ2ÄÈÄ'
FÄÈÄÈÄÈÄÈ'
DCB:;A<E
È((((((((È
>/-È4ÈÄÈ4'
?02ÄÈ,2Ä2'
@ÈpÈÄ)ÄÈÄ'
IÄÃÄ2Ä2ÄÈ'
HÅ424ÈÄÈÄ'
=4ÈÄÈ4Ã4È'
GÈÄÈÄÈ4Û4'
FÄÆÄÈÄÆÁÈ'
DCB:;A<E
West North East South
2 ♦ 2 ♠ Dble 3 ♥
Pass 3 ♠ 4 ♦ 4NT
5 ♦ Pass Pass 6 ♣
Pass 6 ♠ Pass Pass
Dble 7 ♣ Dble All Pass
thought he could make.
North went back to spades
and West made a Lightner
double, hoping for a club
lead, so North retreated to
clubs, hoping there might be
thirteen tricks on the wrong
lead. This time there was no
wrong lead, but West led a
heart anyway and that was
one down. Whew! A top score
for us.
Last week’s problem
West leads the diamond three.
Declarer plays low from
dummy and you, East win
your king. What now?
You can’t expect partner to
have any high cards. Your best
chance is to switch to the club
jack! Declarer will play an
honour and you watch
carefully for partner’s card. If
he plays a high card you can
play him for a doubleton, but
if he plays low, continue with
a low club when you are in
with the ace of trumps and
hope declarer plays you for
the ten.
Send your solution to: The Sunday
Times Teaser 3098, PO Box 29,
Colchester, Essex CO2 8GZ or email
[email protected].
The first two correct solutions opened
after next Saturday each win a £20
Waterstones voucher. Open to 18+ UK &
ROI residents only.
entropy, entry, eyot, henry, honey,
horny, hype, hyper, hyperon, hypo,
penny, pennywort, pennyworth, peony,
phoney, phony, poetry, pony, prey,
pyre, python, rhyton, ropey, ropy, ryot,
theory, thewy, they, thorny, toey, tony,
towery, towy, trey, trophy, troy,
twopenny, type, typo, tyre, tyro, whey,
worthy, wrythen, wynn, yore
MEPHISTO 3205
Across: 1 Crated, 5 Stedde, 10 Regolith, 11 Orang, 13 Marsh, 15 Terence, 16 Plied, 17 Prison,
18 Demissive, 19 Mercaptan, 24 Uptore, 26 Beare, 27 Row port, 29 Avail, 30 Clour, 31 Stomatic,
32 Ergate, 33 New-Age Down: 1 Croupy, 2 Agamid, 3 Tonk, 4 Distemperate, 5 Strepitation, 6 Elaeis,
7 Derns, 8 Discovert, 9 Ethene, 12 Gade, 14 Sleepover, 19 Murage, 20 Copita, 21 Abac, 22 Lakota,
23 Pearce, 25 Twang, 28 Flaw
WEATHER
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE JUMBO CROSSWORD 303
Across: 1 Plutocrats, 7 Fray Bentos, 12 Lusaka, 13 Nods off, 14 Rocket, 15 Esso Blue, 16 Napier’s bones,
17 Fraternal, 18 Syntax, 22 Scafell Pike, 24 Biathlon, 26 Arthur Lowe, 28 Goldie Hawn, 29 Analysis,
30 Parachutist, 32 Planar, 34 Dave Myers, 39 James Stewart, 40 Crediton, 41 Si King, 42 L-plates,
43 Avesta, 44 Flat season, 45 Sunglasses
Down: 2 Louis Armstrong, 3 Toad of Toad Hall, 4 Crawler, 5 Annie Hall, 6 Siding, 7 Foot passengers,
8 Alfred Nobel, 9 Barista, 10 Nachos, 11 O-level, 19 Miles per gallon, 20 The Hairy Bikers,
21 Hot-water bottle, 23 Euros, 25 Adieu, 27 Orson Welles, 31 Chances on, 33 Lasagne, 35 Eyeball,
36 Facial, 37 Heriot, 38 Otitis
POLYGON
Winners Crossword 4990 J Brown, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, N Browning, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, D Meechie, London E1, J Whitmarsh, Linton, Kent Mephisto
3203 M Lawlor, Middleton, Greater Manchester, R Bell, Helston, Cornwall, E Bundred, Liverpool, P Bush, Seaview, Isle of Wight, P Harrison, Blackpool, Lancashire Teaser 3095
C Archer, Beeston, Nottinghamshire, S Wood, Wolverhampton, West Midlands Chess 1306 S Foale, Farnham, Surrey Sudoku 1466 C Forde, Wallington, Greater London
Amsterdam 9C r
Athens 13 f
Auckland 23 th
Bangkok 34 f
Barcelona 15 s
Beijing 4 f
Belgrade 10 f
Berlin 6 r
Bogota 17 th
Boston -3 f
Brussels 9 r
Budapest 7 f
Buenos Aires 23 f
Cairo 19 f
Calgary 3 f
Cape Town 29 f
Caracas 23 th
Casablanca 20 f
Chicago -1 r
Dubai 21 s
Dublin 9 sh
Geneva 7 sh
Gibraltar 16 f
Guatemala 25 f
Helsinki 1 sn
Hong Kong 17 r
Istanbul 10 f
Jersey 11 sh
Johannesburg 23 th
La Paz 11 sh
Lagos 28 th
Lima 24 f
Lisbon 18 s
London 10C sh
Los Angeles 23 s
Madrid 13 s
Mexico City 22 f
Miami 25 th
Moscow -4 sl
Nairobi 24 th
New Delhi 22 s
New Orleans 14 s
New York -1 f
Oslo -0 f
Panama 31 th
Paris 11 r
Prague 6 r
Rio de Janeiro 31 th
Rome 15 f
San Francisco 16 f
Santiago 32 s
Seoul -1 s
Seychelles 28 s
Singapore 28 th
Stockholm 3 f
Sydney 23 sh
Tel Aviv 16 sh
Tenerife 18 f
Tokyo 7 f
Toronto -4 f
Trinidad 28 th
Tunis 18 f
Venice 11 f
Vienna 9 f
Warsaw 4 r
Washington DC 2 s
AROUND THE WORLD
Key c=cloud, dr=drizzle, ds=dust storm, f=fair, fg=fog, g=gales, h=hail,
m=mist, r=rain, sh=showers, sl=sleet, sn=snow, s=sun, th=thunder, w=windy
¬ Staying mainly dry with
sunny spells across Iberia and
the western Mediterranean
¬ Mainly dry across Italy
with sunny spells, but a few
isolated showers along the
west coast
¬ Dry across much of the
Balkans, including Greece
although a few showers in
Croatia later
¬ Windy with rain and
showers spreading into
France, the Low Countries,
Germany, Denmark, Poland
and the Alps, with snow over
higher ground
¬ Snow across the Baltic,
but drier in Ukraine and
southwestern Russia
¬ Mainly dry across
Scandinavia with snow
showers near the coast
of Norway and in eastern
EUROPE
THE WEEK AHEAD
Monday
Rain in the north
and west, sunny
spells in the south.
Max 13C
Tuesday
Dry in the south,
rain and showers
elsewhere.
Max 14C
Wednesday
Wintry showers in
the north, drier in
the southeast.
Max 13C
Thursday
Sunny spells in the
southeast, wintry
showers in the
north. Max 9C
Friday
Mostly dry, wintry
showers in the far
north and west.
Max 10C
Saturday
Rain spread in
from the north
and west.
Max 11C
SUN, STREET LIGHTS & MOON
NIGHT SKY
Aberdeen 07:57 16:47 07:55 09:54 23:56
Belfast 08:03 17:12 08:01 10:13 00:06(Mon)
Birmingham 07:40 17:02 07:38 09:59 23:45
Bristol 07:40 17:08 07:38 10:03 23:46
Cardiff 07:42 17:10 07:40 10:06 23:49
Cork 08:05 17:30 08:03 10:26 00:11(Mon)
Dublin 08:00 17:17 07:58 10:16 00:05(Mon)
Glasgow 08:01 17:01 07:59 10:04 00:02(Mon)
London 07:30 16:58 07:28 09:54 23:36
Manchester 07:44 17:01 07:43 10:00 23:49
Newcastle 07:47 16:53 07:45 09:55 23:49
Norwich 07:28 16:49 07:26 09:47 23:32
Plymouth 07:43 17:17 07:41 10:11 23:51
Sun
rises
Sun sets/
lights on
Lights
off
Moon
rises
Moon
sets
17
11 12
10
6
10
2
10
11
2
6
2
1
12
13
6
36
10
10
8
12
13
37
12
12
8
13
13
40
12
9
5
7
11
37
7
6
4
6
17
10
8
7
5
6
20
26
9
7
6
9
17
TODAY’S WEATHER
UK and Ireland forecast
A cloudy start with outbreaks of rain across southern England
and Wales, heavy in places. Rain will clear the southeast by
midday leaving sunny spells and blustery showers. Elsewhere,
there will be a mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers,
wintry in the north and across Scotland, perhaps with a few
rumbles of thunder in western Scotland. Gusty winds are
likely across much of the UK and Ireland
REGIONAL FORECASTS
London, SE England
Rain at first, sunny spells and blustery showers later. Gusty
westerly winds. Max 11C. Tonight, dry and frosty. Min -1C
Midlands, E England
Early rain clearing to sunshine and blustery showers. Strong
westerly winds. Max 9C. Tonight, dry and frosty. Min -2C
Channel Is, SW and Cent S England, S Wales
Cloudy with rain giving way to sunshine and showers. Strong
westerly winds. Max 12C. Tonight, dry and frosty. Min -1C
N Wales, NW England, Isle of Man
Sunny spells and blustery showers, wintry on high ground.
Strong westerly winds. Max 9C. Tonight, icy in places. Min -2C
Cent N and NE England
Sunny intervals and frequent wintry showers. Strong westerly
winds. Max 7C. Tonight, dry with frost and ice. Min -3C
Scotland
Wintry showers with snow over higher ground. Fresh westerly
winds. Max 7C. Tonight, dry and icy in places. Min -6C
N Ireland, Republic of Ireland
Frequent showers. Strong to gale force northwesterly winds.
Max 11C. Tonight, mainly dry, rain in the west later. Min -1C
11
11
8
3
3
6
8
45
37
40
36
rough
rough
rough
rough
TODAY’S SOLUTIONS
CONCISE CROSSWORD 1767
Across: 1 Canary, 5 Digit, 8 Sotto voce, 10 Hatful,
11 Bali, 12 Coincident, 14 Responsive, 16 Gale,
18 Yoicks, 20 Atrocious, 21 Regal, 22 Snitch
Down: 1 Chota, 2 Nitric, 3 Revisionist, 4 Idea,
6 Gaffer, 7 Telltale, 9 Chuck it down, 11 Betrayer,
13 Asking, 15 Egoist, 17 Laugh, 19 Kale
SPOT THE MOVE 1308
1 Rxd7! wins: 1...Nxd7 2 Be6. Black’s knight
is lost, and the d6-pawn will soon promote
TEASER 3097
£32
CROSSWORD 4992
Across: 1 Watching briefs, 10 Atrophy, 11 Faddish, 12 Isosceles, 13 Outdo, 14 Butt in, 15 Corundum,
18 Rock star, 20 Plates, 23 Pasty, 25 Coriander, 26 Adamant, 27 Viscous, 28 Nudist colonies
Down: 2 Airport, 3 Capuchins, 4 Idylls, 5 Gift shop, 6 Radio, 7 Evicted, 8 Schoolmistress,
9 Salisbury plain, 16 Ugly as sin, 17 Narcotic, 19 Custard, 21 Tadpole, 22 Travel, 24 Yeats
SUKO CELL BLOCKS
♠ K J 9 6 5 4
♥ A 7
♦ A 7
♣ 8 5 4
(^) N
W E
S
♠ 7 3
♥ 9 8 6 5
♦ J 9 6 3
♣ 10 6 3
♠ A 2
♥ Q J 10
♦ K 10 5 4 2
♣ A J 7
♠ Q 10 8
♥ K 4 3 2
♦ Q 8
♣ K Q 9 2
West North East South
1NT *
Pass 2 ♥ ** Pass 2 ♠
Pass 4 ♠ All Pass
- 12-14 ** transfer to spades
Jupiter is bright but low in the WSW as our
evening twilight dims. The Moon is in Pisces
tonight and, after moving through Aries, sits in
Taurus on Wednesday, lying between the
Pleiades and Taurus’s leading star, Aldebaran. It
then tracks above Orion into Gemini. The
brilliant Venus rises in the ESE by 5.30am and
stands 8° high in the SE at 6.30am. Alan Pickup
If my favourite
restaurant has
run out of
cash, can I still
order the fish?
Jeremy
Clarkson
and hand it over to me. That was the
natural order of things.
Not any more, and that’s a worry,
because here’s what I know. People who
roam the world buying businesses are
able to use private jets to do their
roaming because they always win. To
you, a contract is a legally binding thing.
To them, it’s a basis on which
negotiations can begin. These days,
when you do a deal with an American
operation, the contracts are often not
signed at all, because as soon as the ink
hits the paper, the lawyers can get to
work. And no one wants that.
Over the years I’ve done some
business stuff, and every single time I
vow that I’ll never do it again, because
I’m always out of my depth. I never
know what anyone is talking about until
someone comes round and tells me I’ve
got to hand over a quarter of a million
pounds. Then, when I look surprised,
they point to page 96 of the small print,
paragraph 4, subsection 2b, which
always says, “Blah blah blah you will
then hand over £250,000.”
It’s strange. When we go into a casino,
we know we’re going to be walking
home afterwards, and when we go to a
bookie’s, we know we aren’t going to be
passing Go and collecting £200 shortly
thereafter. But when we take a cash
injection to help our business expand,
we think we’ve won. When in fact
we’ve just set out on an often very
short Stella-fuelled walk to the nearest
railway arch.
So why don’t we all just take it steady
and build our businesses slowly and
carefully, making savings so that one day
we can open another butcher’s shop in
the next village, and then another? Why
don’t we all grow some patience?
In the meantime, let’s hope Jeremy
King can take back control of his
wonderful restaurant, so that one day he
can pass it on to me.
Cindy Crawford without that mole.
Pointless.
Further, and rather desperate,
investigations revealed that it was still
open for business because the
administration was somehow
technical. So, to try to understand
what that meant, I turned for the
first time in my life to the business
pages. And then to the most
businessy business pages of all.
The FT.
And I was at a loss. I recognised
that the words being used were
English, but I’d never seen them
written down in that order before.
There was talk of restructuring and of
unknown American institutions that
seemed to have limitless funds and of
private equity, and it all swam around
like alphabetti spaghetti in a Zambezi
whirlpool.
So I went to see poor old Jeremy King
— at the Wolseley, obviously — who
explained what was going on and how he
was due in court shortly. And, as he
patiently went through the issues, I
couldn’t help thinking that asking this
gentle man to immerse himself in this
weird world of finance was the same as
asking Ricky Gervais to do a sword fight
with someone from the Unsullied.
Because business talk to normal people
is like playing Wordle on mushrooms.
It’s a salutary lesson to us all, though,
because these days, whenever someone
starts a business, they will explain how
they plan to sell it long before they get
round to saying what it is the business
will actually make. If indeed it plans to
make anything at all.
When I was growing up, almost all
businesses were family affairs. You had
Smethurst and Sons, the coal merchant,
and Arkwright and Sons, the family
butcher, and my dad, the toymaker. It
never occurred to him that he should sell
his business, because one day he’d retire
I
don’t go to London much these
days, but whenever I do I’m always
bouncy with excitement. Because
at home, in Chuntsworthy, I have
a choice of two restaurants,
whereas in the capital there
are 17,999 to dismiss before I
settle on the Wolseley. Of
course I usually consider
trying that new fusion gaff
in Hackney, which merges
traditional Somalian goat paste
with Finnish chewing gum, but at
the last minute I almost always
decide to go instead to the Hungarian
jazz café with nude waitresses in
Clerkenwell. And then, on the way, I
can’t help myself. I lean forward and say
to the taxi driver, “Sorry, mate. Can we
go to the Wolseley?”
It doesn’t matter whether I’m going
on a date, or with the kids, or with Uma
Thurman and Nicholas Witchell — I
always go to the Wolseley. I went there
on Wednesday, and then, when I had to
meet someone for lunch on Thursday, I
went there again. And when I go, I
always decide I won’t have the haddock
Monte Carlo. So I study the menu for
several minutes before deciding I want
the haddock Monte Carlo.
There are many reasons I like this
restaurant so much. First, there’s always
someone in there I know and can ignore.
Then there’s the temperature, which is
always set at a level where it feels as if
there’s no temperature at all. Then
there’s the haddock Monte Carlo. And
then there’s the fact that I can always get
a table at 20 minutes’ notice because I
was a friend of AA Gill.
But the main reason I like the
Wolseley is the man who runs it. He’s
called Jeremy King, and he doesn’t walk
round making sure everything is all
right. He glides. It’s as if he’s wearing
hover shoes. And if you’ve booked on
the same night as an ex, or Piers Morgan,
Business talk to
normal people
is like playing
Wordle on
mushrooms
Dish of every day: the Wolseley’s haddock Monte Carlo
ALAMY
he’ll call to warn you. He is the greatest
restaurateur in the greatest restaurant in
the world.
So you can imagine my surprise, a
couple of weeks back, when I read that
the Wolseley had gone into
administration. “Noooooo!” I wailed,
while sinking to my knees and throwing
my head back in anguish. London
without the Wolseley would be like
Sydney without the opera house or
Cindy Cr
Pointles
Furth
investiga
opeo n fo
admi
tech
wh
firs
pap
bubbbbbbbbbbbb
Th
A
that
Engli
written
There w
unknow
seemed
private e
these
m always
Because
y, I have
s,
re
re I
f
at
garian
n
way, I
d and say
Can we
ALAMY