Stuck in the wrong hand

Reports are that when a red cruise ship collided with a blue cruise ship, the passengers were marooned. That may be just a rumor, but today’s declarer certainly had trouble at his 3NT; he was marooned in the wrong hand at a crucial moment. North-South reached the best contract, but only after some groping. South meant his jump to 2NT as invitational to game. North wasn’t sure whether his own rebid of three clubs was forcing or an attempt to sign off. South wasn’t sure either, but when he continued with three spades, suggesting solid spade stoppers, North bid 3NT and hoped for the best. (Regular partnerships should discuss as many auctions as possible and agree on what they mean. World-class partnerships discuss their methods for hundreds of hours.) West led a spade, and South saw nine tricks: two spades, two hearts and at least five clubs. He took the king of spades, cashed the ace of clubs and led a club to dummy’s jack. East took the queen and carefully did not return a spade, which would have revived South’s second spade trick; East shifted to a heart. South won in dummy and ran the clubs, but when he led a diamond next, East won and led another heart. The defense won the rest for down one. South got marooned on a desert island, otherwise known as dummy. To get unmarooned, he can lead his four of clubs to dummy’s jack at Trick Two. East takes the queen and leads a heart, but South can come to his ace of clubs, cash his second high spade and return to dummy with a high heart to run the clubs for nine tricks.