THERE ARE TIMES WHEN IT IS RIGHT

Gerard Manley Hopkins was a highly regarded 19th-century poet, but none of his poems was published during his lifetime. These two lines from “That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire” have some relevance to today’s deal: “This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, patch, matchwood, immortal diamond / Is immortal diamond.”

In the auction, South’s three diamonds was a help-suit gametry, announcing game-invitational values and asking for assistance in diamonds. North, with a maximum hand, three good trumps and the beneficial diamond king, was quick to jump to game.

The defense started with a heart to the ace and a heart to declarer’s king. (Yes, East should have switched to a club.) South cashed his spade ace, played a spade to dummy’s queen, ruffed the heart jack in hand, took his diamond ace, led a diamond to dummy’s king and continued with another diamond.

East correctly deduced that if South held the diamond jack, he would have played a diamond to the king and a diamond toward his hand, planning to take the finesse. So as not to kill his partner’s immortal diamond jack,

East discarded the club four.

Now, though, West was endplayed. If he opened up clubs, South would score his king. If West returned a heart, declarer would ruff with dummy’s spade queen and sluff a club from his hand. Either way, the contract was home.

East should have killed his partner’s jack — no joke — by ruffing the third diamond. Then he could have switched to a club to defeat the contract.