Across

1 Who drives market (6)

8 Name an Australian cyclist and politician, Sir Hubert ... (8)

9 To solicit, is to do what (6) 10 Name a type of steroid (8) 11 To assimilate mentally, is to do what (6)

12 What are units of energy (4)

13 Name a marble (5)

16 To have freed from anxiety, is to have done what (5) 19 What is a standard, model, or pattern (4) livestock child’s to playing 21 Name the unit of electric current (6)

22 What might we hoodlum (8)

23 Name the world’s second largest continent (6)

24 To be heckling, is to be doing what (8)

25 When something follows in order, what does it do (6) call a

Down

2 Name a mounted chair (7) 3 To be acting with uncontrolled force, is to be what (7) 4 To turn round as on an axis, is to do what (6)

5 To be wordy, is to be what (7)

6 When one engages someone for work, one does what (7)

7 Which term implies that something has been passed into law (7)

13 Name a univalve marine mollusc (7)

14 To be seized with a sudden fear, is to be what (7) 15 To qualify, is to do what (7) 17 When one is eager, one does what (7)

18 What is otalgia as (7)

20 To handle, is to do what (6) known WHAT’S THE RUSH Neither vulnerable. North deals. Opening lead: Ten of

West knew that North held the ace of diamonds from the auction. He reasoned that declarer would not risk going down at trick one on a diamond finesse if there were another line of play available. South could have ducked this lead around to his queen, but who would have done that? A diamond was the only lead to trouble the contract.

Dummy’s ace of diamonds won the first trick and South led a heart to his queen and cashed the ace of hearts. Had the trumps split 2-2, South would have claimed, cashing the high spades in his hand before crossing to dummy with the king of hearts to cash the rest of the spades. As it was, declarer led a heart to the king, drawing the last trump, then led a spade to his king, and overtook the queen of spades with dummy’s ace. The horrible spade split defeated the contract.

Declarer was extremely unlucky, but also lazy. After the king of hearts, South should have crossed back to his hand with the king of spades and cashed all of his hearts, followed by the ace of clubs. In the four-card ending, West would not have been able to keep all four of his remaining spades and the king of diamonds. South would have had his 13 tricks.

It’s a good idea to run your long suit before committing to a crucial play. You never know what might happen.