Competition

Single-minded

26 February 2022 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3237, you were invited to submit a short story using words of only one syllable. This challenge…

Love is …

19 February 2022 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3236, you were invited to submit a poem that begins ‘Oh my love is like…’ . From…

A bit previous

12 February 2022 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3235, you were invited to invent a prequel to a well-known work of literature and supply an…

Time for a change

5 February 2022 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3234, you were invited to submit either a poem or a short story entitled ‘Covid’s metamorphoses’. Thanks…

Mr and misses

29 January 2022 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3233, you were invited to invent a new character for the Mr Men/Little Miss series by Roger…

Have I got news for you

22 January 2022 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3232, you were invited to retell a news story from the past year in sonnet form. An…

Vindalism

15 January 2022 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3231, you were invited to supply an example of pretentious wine writing. Space is tight and the…

Double issue

8 January 2022 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3230, you were invited to supply a double acrostic poem, the first and last letters of each…

Born again

18 December 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3229, you were invited to provide the story of the Nativity retold in the style of a…

Small-minded

11 December 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3228, you were invited to provide a well-known extract from adult literature rewritten for inclusion in an…

Mnemonic

4 December 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3227, you were invited to provide verses to help children remember the sequence of the last eight…

Show time

27 November 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3226, you were invited to rewrite, in pompous and prolix style, any well-known simple poem. The seed…

Night terrors

20 November 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3225, you were invited to provide a version of the Lord Chancellor’s ‘Nightmare Song’ from Iolanthe for…

Tourist misinformation

13 November 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3224, you were invited to submit snippets of misleading advice either for tourists visiting Britain or for…

Anyone for Dennis?

6 November 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3223, you were invited to supply an acrostic poem in which the first letter of each line,…

Group think

30 October 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3222, you were invited to supply a dystopian short story that incorporates as many collective nouns for…

One for the ode

23 October 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3221, you were invited to submit an ode on the Marble Arch Mound. The 25 metre-high artificial…

Chapter and verse

16 October 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3220, you were invited to supply a newly discovered short story by a well-known 19th- or 20th-century…

Follow the science

9 October 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3219, you were invited to supply clerihews on well-known scientists, past and present. The subject of the…

Cooking the books

2 October 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3218, you were invited to supply a recipe as it might have been written by the author…

In the soup

25 September 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3217, you were invited to supply a poem that begins or ends with the line ‘Why must…

Rock god

18 September 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3216, you were invited to retell a well-known biblical story in a secular style that would enhance…

TB or not TB

11 September 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3215, you were -invited to supply a poem about Geronimo the alpaca. The camelid’s fate was finally…

Face time

4 September 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3214, you were invited to choose a well-known painted portrait and let the subject speak for itself,…

Art nouveau

28 August 2021 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3213 you were invited to submit a villanelle whose first line is: ‘The art of [insert gerund…