Communications need to be severed

Gillian Flynn, whose first novel, Sharp Objects, won the 2007 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for the best thriller, wrote, “One should never marry a man who doesn’t own a decent set of scissors.” Would you have thought to put that near or at the top of your list of priorities for a future spouse? Still, it gives a big hint for today’s bridge thriller! South was in four hearts. West led the club ace, then shifted to the spade three. How should South have proceeded from there? On the second round of the auction, North anticipated that his side had a 5-3 spade fit and a 4-4 heart fit. He knew that usually a 4-4 fit plays better than a 5-3, so he jumped to four hearts. Here, though, four spades would have been an easy make, and the original declarer went down in four hearts. South won trick two with dummy’s spade king, then ran the heart queen. However, West took the trick and shifted to the diamond 10. East won with his ace and gave his partner a spade ruff to defeat the contract. Declarer should have realized that he had to stop West from attaining that ruff. There was one chance. After winning the second trick on the board, he had to lead the club queen and discard his singleton diamond. Then East could not have gotten on play to deliver the lethal ruff. This is called a scissors coup because declarer cuts the defenders’ communication line. Finally, to defeat the contract, West must lead his singleton at trick one.