Up, up and away

“Wendy says I spout off enough hot air to start a company that offers balloon rides,” Cy the Cynic grumbled to me in the club lounge.

“I wouldn’t go into that business,” Unlucky Louie advised him. “It would never get off the ground.”

“So you and Wendy are still having issues on defense,” I sighed.

Cy, a shameless chauvinist, and Wendy, our resident feminist, are constant adversaries even when they cut as partners in our penny Chicago game. When the two were today’s East-West, Wendy led her singleton spade against four hearts, and Cy took the ten, king and ace. Wendy discarded the eight and deuce of clubs, so the Cynic next led the jack of clubs.

That defense came to grief. Declarer put up the ace, cashed the A-K of diamonds, led a trump to dummy’s eight, ruffed a diamond, led a trump to the ten and ruffed a diamond high. He got back to dummy with the queen of trumps, pitched his losing club on the good fifth diamond and

claimed. Making four.

“Thanks very much, partner,” Wendy bit out. “Shift to a trump at the fourth trick, and you kill a vital entry to dummy. Declarer can’t set up and cash the long diamond.”

“When you signaled high in clubs, I relaxed,” Cy said. “I naturally assumed you had the ace.”

All he got from Wendy was a pitying look.

There was enough hot air to go around. Cy should have found the trump shift at Trick Three; if Wendy had the ace of clubs, she would have ruffed the third spade to cash it. But Wendy could have saved her partner by ruffing the third spade anyway to lead a trump.