BRIDGE

Cy the Cynic’s former job is a mystery at my club. Cy won’t talk about it except to give gag answers to queries.

“Cy, did you conduct an orchestra?”

“Briefly, but I was disconcerted.”

“He wouldn’t have worked as a pie-taster in a pie factory,” Rose told me. “That’s how lazy he is.”

As declarer, Cy seizes on the first line of play he sees. At six hearts, he took the ace of spades, drew trumps ending in dummy and led a diamond to his queen. West took the ace, and East’s jack scored for down one.

After Cy draws trumps, he must try to get a count. He takes the king of spades, ruffs a spade in dummy, cashes the top clubs and ruffs a club. Cy then knows West had five spades for his overcall, three trumps and at least three clubs, so two diamonds at most. Moreover, West surely has the ace of diamonds for his bid.

So Cy leads a diamond to dummy’s king and plays low from his hand on the next diamond to make the slam.

Question: You hold: ♠ K8 2 ♥ KJ1062 ♦ Q72 ♣ A5. Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one heart and he bids one spade. What do you say?

Answer: Your best contract may be 3NT, but you need not rush into it. Partner’s hand is not well defined; he could hold a hand where five diamonds or four of a major suit is better, or where 3NT will succeed only if he is declarer. Bid two clubs, a forcing “fourth-suit” bid. Let him continue to describe his hand. South dealer Both sides vulnerable