The Sunday Times April 24, 2022 29NEWS REVIEW
CODEWORDKENKENTETONOR8x42+8019+310x10
4x249+209x204+824 + 4 80 x 2 10 + 10 9 x 9
4x529+919x352+422 10096 29 180 1232 8220 81208 18 57 5628 160SUDOKU 1479SUDOKU WARM-UPKILLER SUDOKULAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS
You own the following set: 3,
8, 17, 19 and 35. For example,
if a hole is 31 yards long, you
can reach it in three strokes,
with two forward hits of the
17 and a backward hit of the 3.
In the next competition, you
are only allowed to use three
clubs, and the course consistsof three holes whose lengths
are 101, 151 and 197 yards. In
order to get round the course
in the fewest possible strokes,
you must make a wise choice
of clubs.
Which three clubs (in
ascending order) should
you choose, and what willColin Vout
Hole Numbers
In theoretical golf, you have a
set of “clubs” each of which
hits a ball an exact number of
yards forwards or backwards.TEASER 3109
Sally Brock
In my opinion the hardest
part of bridge is defence. It is
more difficult than declarer
play because you can’t see all
your side’s assets. The hardest
part of defence is the opening
lead — because then you can’t
see any of your opponents’
assets. More often than not I
don’t find the right opening
lead or the right defence, so
it is particularly pleasing
when I do!What would you lead from
that West hand on the
sequence given? Have you
made your choice? This was
the full deal:
NS vulnerable, Dealer NorthI would always prefer to lead
“through” dummy’s strength
rather than “around” to
declarer’s, so I chose a low
spade and declarer made her
first mistake when she played
low from the dummy. PartnerCHESS
Each passing day brings a new
story of chess players fleeing
from the devastation in
Ukraine. It has also emerged
that several grandmasters have
left Russia as part of a protest at
their country’s role in the war.
Having escaped Ukraine
with his family, Semen Mitusov
has found refuge in Norway.
The 16-year-old FIDE master
performed well at the Fagernes
International, defeating two
grandmasters.
White: Erik Blomqvist
Black: Semen Mitusov
Fagernes Chess
International, 2022
Réti Opening
1 Nf3 d5 2 g3 c6 3 Bg2 Bg4 4
0-0 Nd7 5 h3 Bh5 6 d3 Ngf6 7
c4 e6 8 cxd5 exd5 9 e4 Be7 10
Nc3 0-0 11 g4 dxe4 12 dxe4
Bg6 13 Nd4 Bb4 14 Nf5 Re8 15
Qc2 Nc5 16 Rd1 Qc7 17 Rd4
Bxc3 18 Qxc3 Ne6 19 Rc4 Rad8A typical Réti scenario has
arisen. White’s bishop pair and
kingside majority promise
long-term strategic supremacy.
Meanwhile Black’s pieces are
all fully mobilised, meaning he
must hope for dynamic play.
20 e5? Too ambitious. Whiteunderestimates the danger. 20
Bh6 was an option, angling for
20...gxh6 21 Qxf6. Instead 20...
Nf4 maintains the balance.
20...Rd1+ 21 Kh2 Red8 22 f4
R8d3 Every move arrives with
a threat, accelerating Black’s
attacking momentum. 23 Qb4
Nxg4+! The shelter around
White’s king is destroyed. 24
hxg4 Bxf5 25 gxf5 a5! Great
full-board awareness. The white
queen suddenly lacks squares.
26 Qd6 Desperation. 26 Qa4 is
no better: 26...b5 27 Qxb5 Qd8!
Black’s dual ideas of 28...Qh4+
and 28...cxb5 decide the game.
26...Rxd6 27 exd6 Qd8 28
Bh3 28 fxe6 Qh4+ 29 Bh3 Qf2+
30 Bg2 Rg1 leads to mate. 28...
Qh4 29 Be3 Rxa1 30 fxe6 Rh1+
White resigns After 31 Kxh1
Qxh3+ 32 Kg1 Qxe3+ everything
falls with check: 33 Kh1 Qe1+ 34
Kg2 Qe2+ 35 Kg3 Qxc4.
Spot the Move 1320:
White to play.Sasikiran-Hillarp Persson,
Fagernes 2022. Indian GMs
Sasikiran and Chopra shared
first prize at the Fagernes
International. In this wild
position Black is down on
material but some ominous
threats persist against the white
king. Can you find White’s only
winning move?
Send your solution (first move only), to Sunday Times Spot the Move 1320,
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
♠ A 10 5 3
♥ 10 8 7
♦ K 9 2
♣ 10 8 4West North East South
1 ♠ Pass 2 ♣ *
Pass 2 ♦ Pass 2NT
Pass 3 ♦ Pass 3NT
All Pass
* natural and game-forcing((((((((Ä
ÄÛÄ14Û/ÛÈ
?02pÄÛ202È
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DCB:;A<E
Ä((((((((Ä
>ÄÛ4ÛÄÛÄ.È
?ÛÄÛÄÛÇÛÄÈ
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GIÛIÛÄÛÄÛÈ
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DCB:;A<E♠ K Q 9 8 2
♥ 4
♦ A J 10 8 5 3
♣ 5(^) N
W E
S
♠ A 10 5 3
♥ 10 8 7
♦ K 9 2
♣ 10 8 4
♠ J 6
♥ A 9 6 5 2
♦ Q 7
♣ J 9 3 2
♠ 7 4
♥ K Q J 3
♦ 6 4
♣ A K Q 7 6
It costs a packet
to watch the
telly these days
— but it’s still
cheaper than
going to the pub
Jeremy
Clarkson
the individual hole scores
be (in order)?
Send your solution to: The Sunday
Times Teaser 3109, 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.
won her jack and switched to
a low heart. Declarer won the
king and tried a diamond,
winning my king with her ace
and playing a second diamond.
Partner won her queen and
played a second heart.
Declarer won and tried a spade
but I went in with the ace and
played another heart. Partner
won, cleared hearts and,
when she got in with the jack
of clubs, had a master heart to
cash. Declarer was two down
and we had a complete top.
Last week’s problem
North leads the D6. Plan the
play.
Is it more likely that North
has Q-J-8-6-4 or Q-10-9-6-4? He
is more likely to have led the
ten from the latter in my view,
so the odds favour putting in
the diamond ten.
There are just three tickets
remaining for the Times+
“Bridge for beginners” six-
week online course which
commences on May 6. For full
details and to book visit:
mytimesplus.co.uk/courses.
♠ K J 7 5 4
♥ 4
♦ Q J 8 6 4
♣ 7 2
(^) N
W E
S
♠ 3
♥ A 8 6 5
♦ K 7 5
♣ A J 9 4 3
♠ Q 10 9 6 2
♥ Q 10
♦ A 10 3 2
♣ K Q
♠ A 8
♥ K J 9 7 3 2
♦ 9
♣ 10 8 6 5
West North East South
2 ♥
Pass Pass 2 ♠ Pass
3NT All Pass
across, alloy, also, arco, carol, cloy,
coal, coaly, cola, collar, coly, coral,
corral, cosy, cross, lasso, local, lorry,
lory, loss, lossy, loyal, oracy, oral, orca,
orra, oscar, rallycross, roar, roll, rosary,
rosy, royal, saros, scroll, soar, soca,
sola, solar, sora, sorry, soya
MEPHISTO 3216
Across: 1 Tin, 4 Curtailer, 11 Enerve, 12 En ami, 13 Star trap, 14 Cadeau, 15 Tauric, 17 Uniter,
19 Presenteeism, 20 Festschrifts, 25 Enmesh, 27 Luckie, 28 Imbrue, 29 Serenade, 30 Untie,
31 Ending, 32 Stand easy, 33 Lah Down: 1 Teacupful, 2 Incan, 3 Nerdiest, 4 Cruets, 5 Return crease,
6 That’s the idea, 7 Aerate, 8 In tune, 9 E-mails, 10 Rip, 16 Camsheugh, 18 Fife rail, 21 Eluent,
22 Take-in, 23 Spined, 24 Imbody, 26 Sunna, 29 Sus
WEATHER
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE JUMBO CROSSWORD 314
Across: 1 Aurora, 4 Class act, 9 Sprue, 13 Hit a brick wall, 14 Staines, 15 Stirrups, 16 Aristotelian,
18 St George’s Channel, 20 Blur, 22 Gestalt, 24 Hand signals, 27 On each side, 28 Poster boys,
29 Line Islands, 31 Albania, 33 Iamb, 34 The rest is silence, 38 Vera Brittain, 40 Swiftlet, 43 Naivety,
44 The Governator, 45 SERPS, 46 Lodestar, 47 Velcro
Down: 1 Athos, 2 Rotting, 3 Roberto Mancini, 5 Luke, 6 Sea urchin, 7 Allison, 8 Tasso, 9 SpaceX,
10 Runcible spoon, 11 Elsinore, 12 Tim Pigott-Smith, 17 Asphodel, 18 Signor, 19 Eight Days a Week,
21 Harry Belafonte, 23 Sheila Mercier, 25 Snow slip, 26 Escape, 30 Nastiness, 32 Silvanus,
35 Rotated, 36 Nilotic, 37 Abbess, 39 Idyll, 41 Torso, 42 Goya
POLYGON
Winners Crossword 5001 J Day, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, P Brown, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, K Cranley, Southborough, Kent, M Maher, Collingtree,
Northamptonshire Mephisto 3214 J Dover, Histon, Cambridgeshire, C Cheeseman, Rowlands Castle, Hampshire, J Doran, Birmingham, W Frost, Bradford, Devon, B Smith,
Brighton, East Sussex Teaser 3106 RA England, London W3, S Wood, Wolverhampton Chess 1317 B Bennion, Derby Sudoku 1477 A Hallas, Lound, Nottinghamshire
Amsterdam 17C f
Athens 24 s
Auckland 20 sh
Bangkok 37 s
Barcelona 19 f
Beijing 31 f
Belgrade 25 th
Berlin 18 f
Bogota 17 sh
Boston 10 f
Brussels 20 f
Budapest 20 sh
Buenos Aires 26 f
Cairo 34 s
Calgary 14 f
Cape Town 18 f
Caracas 25 th
Casablanca 21 s
Chicago 24 th
Dubai 32 s
Dublin 14 s
Geneva 13 sh
Gibraltar 19 f
Guatemala 28 th
Helsinki 9 sh
Hong Kong 26 s
Istanbul 23 s
Jersey 16 f
Johannesburg 22 f
La Paz 15 sh
Lagos 29 th
Lima 23 f
Lisbon 18 sh
London 18C f
Los Angeles 29 s
Madrid 12 f
Mexico City 26 th
Miami 27 th
Moscow 10 r
Nairobi 23 th
New Delhi 42 s
New Orleans 30 f
New York 16 f
Oslo 13 s
Panama 29 th
Paris 18 f
Prague 11 r
Rio de Janeiro 27 th
Rome 20 th
San Francisco 16 f
Santiago 24 sh
Seoul 23 sh
Seychelles 29 th
Singapore 30 th
Stockholm 12 f
Sydney 20 sh
Tel Aviv 23 f
Tenerife 18 f
Tokyo 18 sh
Toronto 17 f
Trinidad 30 th
Tunis 26 s
Venice 17 sh
Vienna 22 sh
Warsaw 16 sh
Washington DC 28 th
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
¬ A chance of showers in
Portugal and northern Spain
while southern Spain and the
Balearics stay dry and sunny
¬ Showery rain in northern
Italy and parts of Sardinia
but drier and sunnier across
southern Italy and Sicily
¬ A few showers over the
Balkans but mostly dry with
sunny spells across Greece
and Bulgaria
¬ Spells of showery rain over
France, Corsica, Germany,
the Low Countries, the
Alps and the rest of central
Europe, although some
northern areas will stay dry
¬ Showery rain over much
of eastern Europe, although
central Ukraine, Moldova and
western Romania will be dry
¬ Mostly dry with sunny
spells across Scandinavia
EUROPE
THE WEEK AHEAD
Monday
A risk of showers,
especially in the
south.
Max 16C
Tuesday
Further showers,
most likely in the
northeast and over
Ireland. Max 16C
Wednesday
A few showers
possible but
mostly dry and
bright. Max 16C
Thursday
Showers possible
in the northwest,
drier elsewhere.
Max 17C
Friday
Mostly dry and
bright but still with
a risk of showers.
Max 16C
Saturday
Showers possible
and perhaps rainy
in the northwest.
Max 14C
SUN, STREET LIGHTS & MOON
NIGHT SKY
Aberdeen 05:36 20:36 05:33 04:43 11:56
Belfast 06:00 20:43 05:57 04:41 12:28
Birmingham 05:50 20:21 05:48 04:13 12:23
Bristol 05:55 20:21 05:53 04:10 12:31
Cardiff 05:57 20:23 05:55 04:13 12:33
Cork 06:17 20:46 06:15 04:37 12:53
Dublin 06:05 20:41 06:02 04:35 12:37
Glasgow 05:49 20:40 05:47 04:42 12:14
London 05:45 20:11 05:43 04:00 12:20
Manchester 05:48 20:25 05:46 04:20 12:19
Newcastle 05:41 20:27 05:39 04:26 12:08
Norwich 05:36 20:08 05:34 04:00 12:08
Plymouth 06:04 20:24 06:02 04:11 12:42
Sun
rises
Sun sets/
lights on
Lights
off
Moon
rises
Moon
sets
19
13 21
19
14
16
8
23
22
25
22
16
2
18
21
14
21
14
13
12
11
14
14
15
14
13
12
18
3
16
14
15
12
19
7
16
15
15
13
22
7
16
15
13
13
24
1
14
13
14
11
25
TODAY’S WEATHER
UK and Ireland forecast
A few showers are possible in southwestern England as well
as the chance of an isolated shower in the far south of Wales
and Ireland. Elsewhere most places will be dry with patchy
cloud and plenty of sunny spells, although thicker cloud in
the northeast may lead to the odd spot of drizzle. It will be a
breezy day for many areas in moderate to fresh northeasterly
winds, easterly over Ireland and lighter in northern Scotland
REGIONAL FORECASTS
London, SE England
Mostly dry with patchy cloud and sunshine. Light to moderate
northeasterly winds. Max 18C. Tonight, turning cloudy. Min 4C
Midlands, E England
Staying dry with plenty of sunshine. Moderate to fresh
northeasterly winds. Max 17C. Tonight, turning cloudy. Min 3C
Channel Is, SW and Cent S England, S Wales
A chance of showers, as well as sunny spells. Light to fresh
northeasterly winds. Max 18C. Tonight, cloudy spells. Min 2C
N Wales, NW England, Isle of Man
Largely dry with long sunny spells. Moderate to strong
northeasterly winds. Max 16C. Tonight, clear at times. Min 0C
Cent N and NE England
Cloudier later but mostly dry and sunny. Moderate to fresh
northeasterly winds. Max 14C. Tonight, spots of rain. Min 2C
Scotland
Cloudy in the northeast, sunny in the southwest. Light to fresh
northeasterly winds. Max 15C. Tonight, light showers. Min -1C
N Ireland, Republic of Ireland
The odd isolated shower but mostly dry and sunny. Moderate
easterly winds. Max 17C. Tonight, mostly dry and clear. Min 0C
18
18
15
11
15
14
15
22
17
13
25
moderate
moderate
moderate
moderate
TODAY’S SOLUTIONS
CONCISE CROSSWORD 1778
Across: 1 Vainglorious, 7 Window, 8 Exile, 9 Camp,
10 Tincture, 11 Upshot, 13 Gotcha, 16 Subpoena,
18 Nose, 20 Moral, 21 Hiatus, 22 Otherworldly
Down: 1 Voila, 2 In-depth, 3 Go with the flow,
4 Oceanographer, 5 Idiot, 6 Unearth, 9 Cru,
12 Plummet, 14 Tankard, 15 Age, 17 Purge, 19 Study
SPOT THE MOVE 1319
1...Qf7+! draws: 2 Qxf7 stalemate
TEASER 3108
311
CROSSWORD 5003
Across: 1 Blah, 4 Parliament, 9 Tower of London, 10 Decode, 11 Sheraton, 12 Farewell, 14 Fleshy,
15 Estate, 17 Partners, 19 Messager, 21 Battle, 23 Demonstration, 24 Imprisoned, 25 Gash
Down: 2 Lithe, 3 How come, 4 Persevere, 5 Refusal, 6 In one, 7 Mediate, 8 None other, 13 Amsterdam,
14 Firebrand, 16 Assumer, 17 Puritan, 18 Nothing, 20 Gents, 22 Lines
SUKO CELL BLOCKS
The elusive innermost planet Mercury stands 8°
high in the WNW one hour after sunset and sinks
to set another hour later. It moves from 6° below
the Pleiades tonight to pass 1.5° (three Moon
breadths) left of the cluster next Saturday.
Brilliant Venus is very low in the E just before
dawn. Jupiter, fainter, lies 5° to its left tomorrow
and draws closer during the week. Alan Pickup
their operators are currently busy, and
no one will ditch the BBC, because if you
do that, you have to go to prison. But
Netflix seems to be in a spot of bother.
After a price rise last week and an
announcement that fewer people
will be allowed to view material using
another person’s account, its share
price dropped by 25 per cent. I have
no understanding of the stock
market but that seems to be quite a
big hit.
What, then, can be done? Well, the
programme providers appear to have
two choices. They can cut their shows’
budgets and then keep on cutting them
until we are all back where we started,
watching fuzzy policemen in Ford
Zodiacs and people winning speedboats.
Or they can spend more to try to make
themselves uncuttable by being more
brilliant than anyone else.
There is, however, a third way. They
can carry on as normal and we, the
viewers, can simply cough up, because
even if you’ve gone for the full
smorgasbord of services and you now
have Comedy Central +1 and Mubi in
your list of options, you’re still only
talking about £37.50 a week. Which
works out, for a family of four, at £9.37
each. For 30 or 40 hours of top-class
entertainment. And where else are you
going to get that much for less?
In the pub? Do me a favour. If four of
us go to my local for a few drinks, we are
not getting out of there with much
change from a ton. At the cinema? Not
if you factor in the cost of getting there
and parking and spending £200 on a
pound of chocolate raisins. Even books
are more expensive. Prostitutes
definitely are.
So if you want to save money in the
coming months, forget the companies
that provide you with entertainment,
and turn your heating off. Or maybe sell
a child.
be on Apple TV+. And then Richard
Hammond makes a new show, which is
on something called Discovery+, and
that’s more, and I’m sorry, mate, I like
you a lot, but I’m not forking out 50 quid
a year so that you can tell me the
whereabouts of Britain’s heaviest paving
stone. I’ll just give you a call and ask.
I watched a show called The
Restaurant last year. It’s set in postwar
Sweden, so I admit it doesn’t sound like
much fun. But it was very enjoyable —
right up until the moment I was told that
if I wanted to continue watching I’d have
to fork out for another streaming
service. I can’t remember which one,
which is annoying, because that means I
can’t cancel it.
Small wonder, then, as the cost of
living goes berserk, that many people
are starting to say, “Hang on. Do we
really need all these different services?”
Obviously, no one will ditch Amazon,
because the output is so very good, and
no one will ditch BT Sport, because all
How television used to
be: Jim Bowen on Bullseye
with the speedboat prize
A
couple of weeks ago, I was at
the mighty Bernabéu
stadium watching Chelsea
play Real Madrid. It was a
fantastic game of football, as
good as I’ve ever seen, and
suddenly it occurred to me
that, back at home, Lisa
might not have tuned in. So I
sent her a text. “Are you
watching this!!!!!!?” it said.
She wasn’t, but having spotted the
blizzard of exclamation marks, she felt
that maybe she should be. And having
found which of the 57 remotes would
turn on the television, she was
presented with a kaleidoscope of
options and lists; things we’d been
watching, things that we’d recorded,
things that are on now, and so on. But
eventually she found the Chelsea-Madrid
game and settled back to watch it.
Afterwards, she called to say she was
sorry about the result. I pointed out that
despite being knocked out, we actually
won the match 3-2. “No you didn’t,” she
said. “You lost 3-1.” It took a while to
understand the source of the confusion.
She’d actually watched a recording of
the first leg, held in London the week
before.
Today, with so many channels and so
many options, this is an easy mistake to
make. Especially when most people
watch TV while not really concentrating,
because they’re looking at pictures of
other people’s dogs on Instagram. Lisa
usually watches by popping in to the
room every 15 minutes to ask me what’s
going on.
Watching TV used to be so easy. You’d
turn it on and then after a few minutes of
banging the side of the set, you’d get a
blurry black-and-white picture of a
policeman in a Ford Zodiac. Or you
could get out of your chair and switch
channels so that you could watch
someone winning a speedboat.
Now, though, everything has become
so unbelievably complicated. If I want to
turn on my set, I have to fire up the amp
and then wait exactly three seconds
before turning on the Sky box. If I’m a
moment too late, or early, I have to
unplug the entire system at the wall and
set it all up from scratch.
Worse, when I’m told that the
Saturday afternoon football match is not
on TV, I usually shrug my shoulders and
go for a walk instead. But if there’s a
foetus in the house, it immediately
breaks out its laptop, goes fully Rick
Wakeman with the keyboard and we
then somehow get the match on the
screen. Usually with some hysterical
Arabic commentary.
Then, of course, the foetus goes home
and to make the television work
properly again, I have to call out an
engineer.
And then there’s the expense of
modern-day television entertainment.
You’re forced to pay £4.50 a month to
watch the BBC. Or £13.25 if you have a
colour set. If, however, you want a
service that talks about something other
than transgender issues, you’ve got to
get Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and
Disney+, which together cost about the
same as the licence fee. Then, if you like
football, you’ll need a Sky Sports
package, which is about £40 a month,
and BT Sports, which is
another £25.
So that’s a total of more
than £100 a month. And
then someone at a
dinner party tells
you about a great
new comedy
called Ted Lasso.
Which turns out to
No one
will
ditch
the BBC,
because
if you
do, you
go to
prison
f more
h. And
a
o
sed to
n Bullseye
i
about £40 a month,
hich is
o
ITV/SHUTTERSTOCK