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Malone Paul

Not happy with the Times today. I think 11A is a poor clue, and I thought a "winning" position was one from which one should win, rather already won.

Jigjag, I've just noticed your earlier reply, about the Arf/Alf clue. It's a pretty poor clue, the more I look at it, the less I like it!

I haven't looked at today's Times puzzle. I'm off to do that now.

Jigjag, Malone

Jigjag, I see 11ac will torture Malone again with our old friend 'appeal'. Perhaps the solution reflects the Times wishing to claim some street cred.

As a chess player I think checkmate can be winning as well as won. However, the Czech mate pun is very stale and much beloved by tabloid headline writers. Chess rarely makes the news pages unless there's something bad going on like cheating or a love life scandal (cue Czech mate).

spam post @ 20.50 reported

More of complaint than a pedants' entry, but yet again I've done a recipe that specified "4cm of fresh ginger". But how thick was the ginger he was thinking of?

Chrise

I get irritated with...... "a tablespoon of curry powder". Is it level, heaped or what?

Paul

Yes I read recently that a grandmaster had been banned from some tournaments for cheating, but why not all tournaments?

jigjag
The better cookbooks have an introductory section in which they say things like "all spoon measurements are level" or somesuch.
With a curry, it wouldn't make a lot of difference anyway!

jigjag re chess cheating

Technically that cheating grandmaster was banned only from tournaments under the auspices of the World Chess Federation (FIDE - Federation Internationale d'Echecs). He subsequently entered a non-FIDE tournament under a new name and played a couple of rounds. However, he was rumbled and is so 'persona non grata' that he was excluded. He was the one photographed in a toilet cubicle consulting a chess analysis app on his phone.

Now that competitive chess has to be nearly all online, cheating is a real problem, though the various chess platforms are very good at detecting it. I have played 28,000 blitz games online since 2001 (5 minutes each for all your moves) and if the odd opponent has cheated, it doesn't bother me - there is nothing at stake except your online rating. Bridge cheats online have been named and shamed too - unbelievable to me when there is usually no money in either game online, especially for amateurs. They have managed to run pro tournaments with players constantly visible on webcams.

I like the clue writing competitions here because they are not susceptible to cheating.

chrise

Yes my curries taste the same whatever I put in. I dont use cookery books though. Just follow the odd recipe from a paper or magazine, and they are usually unhelpful on quantities , paricularly when it is in grammes.

Paul

28,000 games - wow

A neighbours son plays in childrens tournaments online and there is cheating in those - unbelievable. I suppose in clue writing comps, one could have an idea that has unknowingly been used before. This would not be cheating though I suppose there might be allegations.

I liked your clue the other week for "Use"