DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

“Here’s a riddle for you,” Cy the Cynic said. “How many mystery writers does it take to screw in a light bulb?”

“I don’t have a clue, so to speak.”

“Two,” the Cynic said. “One to screw it in, one to give it an unexpected twist at the end.”

The play at today’s grand slam may look predictable, but it didn’t turn out that way. South won the first club with the ace and saw no problem if he won five tricks in diamonds or four in hearts. Many players would have taken the A-K of diamonds, and when East had J-6-5-2 and West had the hearts stopped, the slam would fail.

South took nothing for granted. He led a diamond to the ace, then took three hearts, two more clubs and the A-K of spades, watching the fall of the cards. South then had a complete count: West had held six clubs, four hearts, two spades ... and one diamond.

So South led a diamond from dummy to his nine. He took the king and went to the queen of spades to win Trick 13 with the queen of diamonds.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ KQ4 ♥ AQ2 ◆ A Q1083 ♣ A J. You are the dealer. What is your opening call?

ANSWER: If your partnership range for a 2NT opening bid is 21 or 22 high-card points, you can reasonably open 2NT. But many pairs use a range of 20 or 21 points; they would open two clubs and bid 2NT next. Even if you employ a 21 or 22 range, you could upgrade this hand and open two clubs.