SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 , 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
♠ 10 6 5
♥ K 6
♦ A 8 4 3
♣ Q 9 6 3
WEST
♠ Q 7 2
♥ 8 7 4
♦ J 9 6 2
♣ K 7 4
EAST
♠ A 9 8 4 3
♥ 10 9 5 3
♦ K 7
♣ 5 2
SOUTH (D)
♠ K J
♥ A Q J 2
♦ Q 10 5
♣ A J 10 8
The bidding:
Y
ou’re today’s East, and
North-South reach 3NT.
South’s 2NT invites game,
and since North has nine
points — a maximum single
raise — he accepts. He bids
the nine-trick notrump game,
not the 11-trick club game.
West leads the deuce of
diamonds, dummy plays
low and your king wins. To
return your partner’s lead is
tempting, but South surely
has something in diamonds
to bid 2NT, and since West’s
lead suggests only four dia-
monds, a diamond return
may not set up enough
defensive tricks.
Say you brave partner’s
wrath by shifting to a low
spade: jack, queen, five.
When he returns the seven,
play low to keep communi-
cation. You hope he has an
entry plus a third spade.
Sure enough, South has
only eight tricks. When he
loses a club finesse to the
king, West leads his last
spade, and you win and run
your suit.
South could — maybe
should — make 3NT by win-
ning the first trick and finess-
ing in clubs. Taking advan-
tage of your opponents’ mis-
guesses is part of winning.
DAILY QUESTION
You hold:
♠ K J ♥ A Q J 2
♦ Q 10 5 ♣ A J 10 8
You open one club (your
range for a 1NT opening is
15 to 17 points), and your
partner bids one spade. The
opponents pass. What do
you say?
ANSWER: Bid 2NT, promis-
ing 18 to maybe 20 points
with balanced pattern. A
bid of two hearts would be
an error. Though that bid
would be a “reverse” and
would show substantial extra
strength, it would suggest
a more distributional hand:
longer clubs than hearts.
N-S VULNERABLE
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1 ♣ Pass 2 ♣ Pass
2 NT Pass 3 NT All Pass
Opening lead — ♦ 2
BRIDGE
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— Frank Stewart