QUICK CROSSWORD

Grahame, a Scot famous for “The Wind in the Willows,” wrote, “The strongest human instinct is to impart information; the second strongest is to resist it.”

A bridge defender must impart information to his partner; and partner must be receptive, not resistant. This deal will be easier for those who remember yesterday’s. How can East- West defeat three no- trump after West leads his fourth- highest heart?

South does not like to respond one no- trump with no major- suit stopper, but with nine points he cannot pass, and one no- trump feels better than two diamonds. North then assumed nine tricks in no- trump would be easier than 11 in diamonds. In this deal, though, to defeat five diamonds East would have to find a spade lead, and West would have to shift to a heart, which is easier said than done.

At trick one, South puts up dummy’s heart king, hoping West has the ace. However, East wins with the ace. Now declarer thinks he is down for sure, but the heart suit is blocked. East cashes the queen and jack, but then must find West’s entry card. How does East know whether to shift to spades or to clubs?

East does not know, but West does. At trick three, West must make a suitpreference signal. Here, he follows with the 10, his highest heart signaling for spades, the higherranking of the two key suits. Then East will lead the spade contract two.

Note that if East leads a club at trick four, South has nine winners via three clubs and six diamonds. Copyright United Feature Syndicate ( Asia Features) nine, and the will go down