C6 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAy, MARCH 5 , 2020
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)
♠ K 10 4
♥ K 4
♦ A Q 10 8 4
! 7 5 3
WEST
♠ Q J 9 6
♥ Q 9 8 6 5
♦ 7 2
! A J
EAST
♠ 7 3 2
♥ A 3 2
♦ 9 6 3
! 9 6 4 2
SOUTH
♠ A 8 5
♥ J 10 7
♦ K J 5
! K Q 10 8
The bidding:
S
ome people beg to differ;
Cy the Cynic insists on it.
When I watched today’s
deal at my club, Cy was
North and put his partner
in 3NT. (South’s 2NT bid
with no sure heart stopper
wouldn’t have been every-
one’s choice.) West led a
heart, and when dummy
played low, East took the ace
and returned a heart to the
king. Declarer then led a club
to his king, and West took
the ace and cashed three
more hearts. Down one.
“Unmakable,” South
shrugged. “I had only eight
tricks.”
“I beg to differ,” Cy
growled.
Was he right?
After South wins the sec-
ond trick, he loses nothing
by cashing five diamonds,
discarding a spade and a
club. West can safely pitch a
spade and the jack of clubs,
but since he happens to hold
the Q-J of spades, the last
diamond squeezes him. If
he throws a second spade,
declarer takes three spade
tricks and nine in all.
If instead West throws
a heart, South can safely
force out the ace of clubs.
The defense gets only three
hearts and a club.
DAILY QUESTION
You hold:
♠ A 8 5 ♥ J 10 7
♦ K J 5! K Q 10 8
You open one club, your
partner responds one spade,
you bid 1NT and he jumps
to three hearts. What do you
say?
ANSWER: Some players
would insist on 3NT since
they have the minor suits
stopped. The disciplined and
correct bid is three spades
to show three-card support
for partner’s first suit. That is
what he wants to hear. If he
has weak spades and semi-
balanced pattern, he can try
3NT himself.
N-S VULNERABLE
NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST
1 ♦ Pass 2 NT Pass
3 NT All Pass
Opening lead — ♥ 6
BRIDGE
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— Frank Stewart