Bridge Simple Tuesday “Experience has

taught me many things,” Cy the Cynic told me in the club lounge. “Never applaud a eulogy, no matter how heartfelt it was. If you run two errands, one to the bank and one to drop off a firearm, drop off the firearm first. If you’re prone to impulse buying, stick to shoes and avoid tattoos. And never bet with Ed.”

Ed, my club’s expert, regularly takes Cy’s money in penny games. “What was the bet?” I asked the Cynic. Cy was today’s South, playing at four hearts, and Ed led the queen of spades as West. Cy won and led the jack of clubs. East took his ace and returned a spade, but Cy won, led a diamond to dummy and pitched his last spade and a diamond on the K-Q of clubs. He next led a trump and lost a trump plus a diamond to the king, making four.

“Duck the jack of clubs,” Cy told East. “You lose your ace, but I lose two discards on the K-Q and come up a trick short.” “Two-dollar bet,” Ed said. “I’ll declare, you defend.”

The Cynic unwisely took the bet. Ed won the first spade and led the jack of clubs, which held. He next led trumps, and Cy took the ace and led the jack of spades. Ed won and cashed four more trumps. Cy saved his ten of spades, K-J-8 of diamonds and a club. Ed then exited with a spade, and Cy was sunk. He could lead a club, setting up a club winner in dummy, or lead from his king of diamonds. No other defense would succeed. Incidentally, if South starts the trumps at Trick Two, West prevails by winning and leading the king of diamonds.

West dealer

N-S vulnerable

The numbers in

the black cells are clues. Numbers above the slash are across clues, numbers below the slash are down clues. The goal is to enter digits 1-9 in the white cells to add up to the number clues. You cannot enter any digit more than once when adding up a clue.

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