DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

Cy the Cynic distrusts long-winded politicians — supporters of “wordy causes.” But Cy will defend a losing line of play at length.

At four spades, Cy took the ace of clubs and cashed the A-Q of trumps. He next took the A-K of diamonds and led dummy’s jack, and East correctly covered. The Cynic ruffed, but West overruffed, and the defense cashed two hearts and a club.

Cy was down one, but he did defend his line of play with well chosen words.

“Generally speaking,” Unlucky Louie observed, “Cy is exactly that.”

Cy should make four spades. He can take only the ace of trumps, then cash the A-K of diamonds and lead the jack. If East covered, Cy could ruff with the queen, lead a trump to the king and pitch a club on a good diamond, losing a trump and two hearts.

If instead East played low on the third diamond, Cy would discard his club loser. He would be safe for 10 tricks whatever happened next.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠K 7 4 ♥ 5 3 ◆ A K J9 2 ♣ 6 4 3. Your partner opens one heart, you bid two diamonds, he rebids two hearts and you try 2NT. Partner then bids three clubs. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner seems to have six hearts and four clubs, though he could have a 5-5 hand. His values are minimum, as his two-heart rebid suggested. Bid three hearts. If you had more values in partner’s suits, you might try four hearts, but you must not bid 3NT.