DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

Cy the Cynic says that when a man presents his wife with a bouquet of flowers for no reason, there’s a reason.

In today’s deal, West led a club against four spades, and the contract looked unbeatable. Say East takes two clubs and leads a heart. Declarer wins, cashes the ace of spades, leads a diamond to dummy and returns a spade to his 10: a safety play. If West could win, the defense would get only one trump.

East saw that coming. He won the first club with the ace and led ... the deuce of diamonds!

South knew there must be a reason for that odd play: Clearly, East had led a singleton. If West got in, he would give East a diamond ruff.

So South abandoned the safety play. He took the A-K of trumps, relying on a 3-2 break. When West discarded, South took the ace of hearts, led a diamond to dummy, threw a club on the king of hearts and tried to cash two more diamonds to pitch his last club. East ruffed the third diamond and took his king of clubs. Down one.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ QJ62 ♥ J743

◆ 92 ♣A K 6. The dealer, at your left, opens three diamonds. Your partner doubles, and the next player passes. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner has a hand worth at least 17 points with support for the unbid suits. You should have a game, but you must find your best trump suit. Cue-bid four diamonds to let him pick a suit.