FRANK STEWART BRIDGE

CONTINUOUS ERRORS

My friend the English professor is a stickler for word usage. He chastised me for writing that Unlucky Louie “continuously” makes errors. “‘Continuously’ means ‘unbroken,’” the prof said. “The proper word is ‘continually,’ meaning ‘over and over.’” When Louie was declarer at four hearts, West led a trump. Dummy played low, and East took the queen and returned a trump. When West won and led a third trump, Louie was doomed. He could discard the jack of spades and a diamond on dummy’s clubs but still had two diamond losers.

Mistakes

“Louie’s mistakes could comprise a whole library,” I said.

“‘Comprise’ means ‘embrace,’” the prof sighed. “The whole comprises its parts, not the other way around. Louie’s mistakes constitute a library.”

In any case, Louie lost a cold game. Since West won’t be leading a trump from the queen, Louie must play dummy’s king at Trick One. Then the defenders can’t remove dummy’s trumps, and Louie can ruff a diamond in dummy for his 10th trick.

Daily Question

You hold: ♠ AJ ♥ J 10 8 7 2 ♦ J 8 3 2♣ K Q. Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one heart and he bids one spade. What do you say?

Answer: Don’t bid notrump. Support partner’s first suit; bid three diamonds. Many pairs treat a jumppreference in opener’s minor as forcing, but if partner has a minimum and passes, you may not have a game. Note that he has at least four diamonds: He would open one diamond on a three-card suit only with 4-4-3-2 pattern.

South dealer

N-S vulnerable