The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DAILY CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Meal
7 Near mist?
10 Old PCS 14 Syria’s most populous city 15 “Blessed __ the peacemakers” 16 Large number 17 Accepts a driver’s offer
18 Cell boundary 20 Quick kisses 22 Corvallis sch. 23 Windy City commuter org. 24 The ones here 26 Comedian Margaret 28 “Sweet Love” singer Anita 30 __ Lingus 31 Bangkok residents 33 Data units 34 “And there you have it!” 35 Suspend 36 Inouye Airport arrival gift
37 __ Lanka 38 Trisected 41 “You get the idea” abbr. 44 Religious woman 46 Glossary entry 47 Long, long __ 48 Remove one’s username from, on social media 50 Comedian Anne featured in Jerry Stiller’s memoir “Married to Laughter” 51 Aromatic tree 52 Areas that may be irritated by shirt tags
53 Sculling need 54 __ macchiato 56 K-12 support gp. 57 Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s country: Abbr. 59 Conductor Zubin 61 Devices for reproducing signatures 64 __ star
DOWN
67 Old PC screens 68 Narrow waterway 69 Get-up-and-go 70 Florida vacation destination 71 Stop on the road 72 __ tickets
1 “Yay, team!” 2 “Xanadu” gp. 3 “Peanuts” girl who calls Charlie Brown “Chuck” 4 Cathedral niches
5 Add interest 6 Honky-__ 7 Mom, dad, sibs, etc. 8 Cookies for breakfast? 9 Tiara twinklers 10 Syr. neighbor 11 Formal social events 12 Protégé 13 Takes an oath 19 Party device filled with liquid soap 21 Barely enough 24 Bar bills
25 Pick up
“I won’t say my partner is opinionated,” a club player told me, “but he dispenses advice by the bushel and takes it by the grain.”
He showed me today’s deal.
“I was South and opened 1NT. My partner used Stayman and raised my two spades to three. Naturally, I went on to game. West led the 10 of clubs, and when I saw dummy, I was appalled.”
East returned a club at Trick Two. Declarer ruffed in dummy, led a trump to his queen, returned a diamond to dummy’s king, finessed with the jack of trumps and cashed the ace.
“I next led the A-K and a third heart,” South said. “East won and led another club, forcing out my last trump, and after I took my good
27 British afternoon tradition, and what this puzzle’s four longest answers literally have? 29 “Yes,” on Talk Like a Pirate Day 32 “The Summer I Turned Pretty” novelist Jenny 39 Break a peace treaty, perhaps 40 Make a mistake 42 Pre-weekend shout 43 Center heart, West won the last two tricks.
“My partner said he made a winning bid. I think he’s nuts.”
North’s two-club bid wouldn’t have occurred to me, but South could make four spades. After his second trump finesse wins, he must play three rounds of hearts, not taking the ace of trumps. East has no winning return.
DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ AQJ7 ♥ AK53
◆ Q104 ♣ J 5. The dealer, at your right, opens three clubs. You double, and your partner bids three hearts. The opponents pass. What do you say?
ANSWER: Your double obliged your partner to act at the three level, hence you promised a hand worth at least 17 points. Since you have
45 Dubai’s fed. 48 Prepare to stay a couple nights, say 49 Inherent character 50 Informal greeting 55 Clueless
58 “The Americans” star Russell 60 “¿De dónde __?” 62 WWII spy org. 63 Word with Jose or Juan 65 Private aid prog. 66 OB-__: med. specialty no more than that (and your jack of clubs is a worthless point), pass. If partner had a promising hand, he could have jumped to four hearts.