Despite what I thought was a good showing in the regional heat, I didn’t make it to the final of the Independent‘s sudoku championship – the eventual winner was 27-year-old Becky Hewitt, last year’s winner Edward Billig having erred in the semi-final. (Reassuringly, the runner-up was a 16-year-old – we were disappointed by the lack of a teenage prodigy last year.)

My own number puzzling is on hiatus as I’ve stopped buying a newspaper in order to concentrate on reading books during my daily commute.

The competitive streak is still there, though, so I have a couple of auditions for TV shows in August. It’s been a few year’s since I was last on a quiz show so hopefully I’ll do well enough to get another go. Fingers crossed.