The Washington Post - 22.02.2020

saturday, february 22 , 2020. the washington post EZ RE 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 (D)

♠ Q 8 4

♥ J 9 3

♦ A K 5

♣ K J 7 6

WEST

♠ K 9 5

♥ K 6

♦ Q 8 7 4

♣ 10 9 8 2

EAST

♠ J 10 6 3 2

♥ 5

♦ J 10 9

♣ A Q 5 3

SOUTH

♠ A 7

♥ A Q 10 8 7 4 2

♦ 6 3 2

♣ 4

The bidding:

“S

imple Saturday” col-

umns are meant to

help aspiring players improve

technique and develop logical

thinking.

As declarer at a suit

contract, count your los-

ers. Sometimes the job of

attending to a loser must be

handled quickly.

Against four hearts, West

leads the 10 of clubs: jack,

queen. East shifts to the jack

of diamonds. South has four

possible losers. He can’t

help losing a club, a spade

and (as it happens) a trump.

His best chance to avoid a

diamond loser is to get a

discard on dummy’s queen

of spades.

South must try for that dis-

card early. If he finesses in

trumps at Tr ick Three, losing,

West will lead another dia-

mond, setting up a diamond

trick while he has the king

of spades. Instead, South

immediately leads the ace

and a low spade.

West takes the king and

leads another diamond, but

South wins and discards his

last diamond on the queen

of spades. Then he can lead

trumps. If East had the king

of spades, South would hope

the trump finesse won.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold:

♠ J 10 6 3 2 ♥ 5

♦ J 10 9 ♣ A Q 5 3

Your partner opens one

heart, you bid one spade and

he rebids two hearts. What

do you say?

ANSWER: To rebid the

spades or try notrump may

be tempting, but your only

correct action is a pass. Your

partner has minimum val-

ues with six or more hearts,

and you are going nowhere

(except down if you keep bid-

ding). When the deal is a mis-

fit and you lack the high-card

strength to make up for your

lack of a fit, stay low.

NEITHER SIDE VULNERABLE

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1 ♣ Pass 1 ♥ Pass

1 NT Pass 4 ♥ All Pass

Opening lead — ♣ 10

BRIDGE

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— Frank Stewart