The Washington Post - 13.03.2020

friday, march 13 , 2020. the washington post EZRE C5

BREWSTER ROCKIT: SPACE GUY! TIM RICKARD

CURTIS RAY BILLINGSLEY

SHERMAN’S LAGOON JIM TOOMEY

RED AND ROVER BRIAN BASSET

FRANK AND ERNEST TOM THAVES

RHYMES WITH ORANGE HILARY PRICE

LIO MARK TATULLI

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE CHRIS BROWNE

BLONDIE DEAN YOUNG & JOHN MARSHALL

MIKE DU JOUR MIKE LESTER

AGNES TONY COCHRAN

WUMO MIKAEL WULFF & ANDERS MORGENTHALER

MARK TRAIL JAMES ALLEN

MOTHER GOOSE & GRIMM MIKE PETERS

BALDO HECTOR CANTU & CARLOS CASTELLANOS

SALLY FORTH FRANCESCO MARCIULIANO & JIM KEEFE

CLASSIC PEANUTS CHARLES SCHULZ

CLASSIC DOONESBURY GARRY TRUDEAU PICKLES BRIAN CRANE

SUDOKU

NORTH

♠ Q 10 8

♥ J 6 3

♦ K 10 6 2

♣ K 6 2

WEST

♠ 6

♥ 9 8 7 4

♦ A 7 3

♣ Q J 10 9 4

EAST

♠ K J 9

♥ Q 10 5 2

♦ Q 5

♣ A 8 7 3

SOUTH (D)

♠ A 7 5 4 3 2

♥ A K

♦ J 9 8 4

♣ 5

The bidding:

W

hen I watched today’s

deal at my club, North

was the dreaded Grapefruit.

He owns and operates a sour

disposition and berates his

partners mercilessly.

After North-South halted

at two spades, South ruffed

the second club and led the

ace and a low trump. West

threw a heart, and East took

his jack and king and forced

South to ruff a third club.

Declarer next let the nine

of diamonds ride. East won

and led his last club, forcing

out South’s last trump, and

when West took the ace of

diamonds, he cashed a club.

Down one.

“Sorry, partner,” Grapefruit

snarled. “I should have

tabled a better dummy. If

gas were brains, you couldn’t

drive two laps around a

Cheerio.”

“Every card was wrong,”

South growled.

Grapefruit told the kibitz-

ers that South would ask

for a price check at a dollar

store.

South can afford two

trump losers, two diamonds

and a club. He can’t afford

to lose trump control. After

he takes the ace of trumps,

he must start the diamonds.

The contract is safe.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold:

♠ A 7 5 4 3 2 ♥ A K

♦ J 9 8 4 ♣ 5

Your partner opens one

heart, you respond one

spade and he raises to three

spades. The opponents pass.

What do you say?

ANSWER: An average

jump-raise for your partner

such as K J 8 6, Q J 10 7 6,

A, A 7 6 will make a grand

slam all but a laydown. To

use Blackwood might not tell

you what you need to know.

Cue-bid four hearts. Partner

should treat that bid as a try

for slam, not as natural and

discouraging.

BOTH SIDES VULNERABLE

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1 ♠ Pass 2 ♠ All Pass

Opening lead — ♣ Q

BRIDGE

©2020, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

— Frank Stewart

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