BRIDGE MASTERCLASS CRYPTIC CROSSWORD
West ♠ 86 ♥ AKQJ976 ♦ 2 ♣ 10 8 6
East
No 17,338 ♠ AQJ 5 ♥ 5 ♦ K98654 ♣ A7
HOW do you play West in 4♥ after North leads ♣K? THIS is a nice easy contract for play-planning, because you can count nine top tricks, and the tenth trick can come either from a successful spade finesse or with North holding ♦A. So, what is the problem?
You only have one entry to your hand to test these options and, if the first one fails, you are ‘fixed’. It won’t help to duck the lead, because North will keep you locked in dummy, and you should be given no chance to ruff your losing club. The solution will generally present itself when you ponder long enough. You have a doubleton spade in hand — so you don’t need a finesse after all. Simply give up a trick straight away by playing ♠Q from dummy at Trick Two, and you have your tenth trick established.
The other hands are: North ♠x-x-x, ♥10-x-x, ♦J-x-x and ♣K-Q-J-x; and South ♠K-10-x-x, ♥x-x, ♦A-Q-10 and ♣ x-x-x-x.
ACROSS
1 Bob rather upset without right towelled garment (8) 5 Sides of store amid terrible cold having doors barred? (6) 9 Sunlit ground fringing Italian river not marred by development? (8) 10 Artist inspired by flowerless plant in boggy area (6) 12 Firm with a large
mined commodity (4) 13 Damon with Murray, say, one traipsing higher land? (10) 15 Fancy manor with equipment in chilly Sweden has weeds (4,9) 19 Noted film tainting sport
when broadcast (13) 23 One choosing items to publish traces typo needing revision (4,6) 25 Mark group behind
bishop (4) 28 Place to go facing Edward is subject to depredation? (6) 29 Learner with a volatile
temper in Welsh town (8) 30 Narrow length of carpet for candidate for a post (6) 31 Example of batting
posture at the crease? (8)
DOWN 1 Energetic young male going
round furnace at intervals (6) 2 Tale’s concocted for
inventor Nikola (5) 3 Bird with black plumage in
stream initially ignored (4) 4 Live with dotty character in
unusually glum EU state (7) 6 Spanish city associated
with a woman (5) 7 A thing to set off explosive
activity in a saloon? (5,4) 8 Treat suspiciously inspector with swagger about latest of crimes (8) 11 Damaging allegation almost
certain about Lima (4) 14 A series showing southern
English river (4) 15 Prevent fool detaining a
politician over day (5,4) 16 Regular characters in
Bangkok in the past (3) 17 Endless ingrained dirt?
That’s bleak (4) 18 Criticism over clerk removing
jacket, a punctilious sort (8) 20 Stake in job (4) 21 Writer Rose gets to stay
after end of August (7) 22 Go without fuel? (6) 24 Subject matter in article
on Middle East (5) 26 Reveal line on public
school (3,2) 27 Show aggressive behaviour
in projecting piece of land (4)