DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

“Torquemada shouldn’t have burned the heretics,” a club player told me. “He should have made them play bridge with their wives.”

I knew my friend’s spouse was apt to be critical — not always justifiably. “What did you do wrong?” His wife, West, led a spade against 3NT, and he won and returned a spade to the king.

“She led the deuce next,” he said. “I threw a heart, and South won. He led a heart to dummy, a club to his king, a heart to dummy and a second club. I took my ace, South claimed and my wife put me to the inquisition. She said my ignorance was encyclopedic. I don’t even know what I was ignorant of.”

West’s deuce of spades (her lowest) suggested a possible entry in the low-ranking suit. On the third spade, East could beat 3NT by discarding the ace of clubs! South couldn’t set up the clubs without letting West get in.

Maybe the winning play was obvious to West, but few Easts would have thought of it — or would have had the courage to make it if they did. DAILY QUESTION You hold: ♠ 6 5 3 ♥ K J 10 ♦ A K 6 4 ♣ 7 3 2.Your partner opens one club, you respond one diamond and he bids one heart. What do you say?

ANSWER: One sees this type of problem in bridge magazine bidding contests: There is no good answer. A preference to clubs, a “fourthsuit” bid of one spade or a bid of 1NT would all receive expert support. I would raise to two hearts. The high- card strength compensates for the lack of a fourth heart. South dealer Both sides vulnerable