the times | Monday August 10 2020 1GT 15
MindGames
© PUZZLER MEDIA
Divide the grid
into square or
rectangular
blocks, each
containing one
digit only. Every
block must
contain the
number of cells
indicated by the
digit inside it.
Enter each of
the numbers
from 1 to 9 in
the grid, so that
the six sums
work. We’ve
placed two
numbers to get
you started.
Each sum
should be
calculated left
to right or top
to bottom.
From these letters, make words of
three or more letters, always including
the central letter. Answers must be in
the Concise Oxford Dictionary, excluding
capitalised words, plurals, conjugated
verbs (past tense etc), adverbs ending
in LY, comparatives and superlatives.
How you rate 16 words, average;
22, good; 25, very good; 29, excellent
1 Lion 2 Dot Cotton 3 Cultivated tobacco (Nicotiana
tabacum) 4 Aspects of Love 5 .nl 6 New Guinea 7 The
Chronicles of Barsetshire 8 James Watt 9 Mistle thrush
(Turdus viscivorus) 10 Clubfoot or talipes 11 The
Transformers: The Movie 12 York Minster 13 Svante Paabo
14 The Seattle Kraken 15 Spanish fly (Lytta vesicatoria)
Gunite (a) A form of
concrete
Gerah (c) An ancient
Hebrew coin
Gault (b) A stiff clay soil
Kakuro 2714
Sudoku 11,
Killer 7290
Futoshiki 3755
Cell Blocks 3919 Set Square 2717
Suko 2938
Train Tracks 1091
Word watch
Quiz
Saturday’s answers
emit, enmity, feint, femininity, fine, finite,
finny, imine, infinite, infinity, innit, item,
mien, mine, mini, mint, minty, mite, nifty,
nine, ninety, nite, tein, time, tine, tinnie,
tinny, tiny, tiyin, yeti
times2 CrosswordNo 8353 Brain Trainer
A
N
S
MEDIUM 24 TREBLE WER
IT
DOUBLE x 4 + 27
IT
÷ (^9) + 14 ÷ 4 x 3
-^333 / 999
OF IT
AN
S
EASY 13 +^7 ÷^5 x^6 – 1^3 + 2^3 – 1^5 DOUBLE WER
IT
x 5 – 8 6
AN
S
HARDER WER
46 + 14 – 4^00
DOUBLE
IT
x 3 +^11 /^444 ÷ 6 x (^11) + 11
OF IT
- 390
Across
6 Coiffffffurefffasteners( 8 )
8 Dullpain( 4 )
9 Horse-draaawnsledge( 6 )
10 Acceptedstatement( 5 )
11 Emphatically( 12 )
12 Narrators( 12 )
15 Toadstools,etc( 5 )
16 Metallincommonsallt(( 6 ))
18 Cutdown;hill( 4 )
19 Create( 8 )
Down
1 Roald—,author( 4 )
2 Intelligence( 6 )
3 Portraaayingdarklyagainsta
brightbackground( 12 )
4 Evil-natured( 6 )
5 Chaoticstate( 8 )
7 Shocking( 12 )
11 Offfffficiallyvalidated( 8 )
1113 Causeongoing
annoyance( 6 )
14 Seniorleaders( 6 )
17 Oldffformoftooruntil( 4 )
SolutiontoCrossword 8352
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8
9 10
11
12 13 14
15 16 17
18 19
EXPAT ANTICS
T O U U M H
HORRIFIC ALOE
I T T L G O
OAF INDECENT
P O O U I M
INLAND STIGMA
A I O R H L
GOLGOTHA TUT
A O R M M R
FLOW MISPLACE
O E A L R A
PURITY EXERT
Cell Blocks No 3920
© PUZZLER MEDIA
Polygon Set Square No 2718
Please note, BODMAS does not apply
Killer Gentle No 7291 Solutions
Killer Tricky No 7292
As with standard Sudoku, fill the grid so that every column,
every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9. Each set
of cells joined by dotted lines must add up to the target number
in its top-left corner. Within each set of cells joined by dotted
lines, a digit cannot be repeated.
Need help with today’s puzzle? Call 0905 757 0143 to check the
answers. Calls cost £1 per minute plus your telephone company’s
network access charge. SP: Spoke, 0333 202 3390 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm).
Cluelines Stuck on Sudoku, Killer or KenKen? Call 0901 293
6263 before midnight to receive four clues for any of today’s
puzzles. Calls cost £1 plus your telephone company’s network
access charge. SP: Spoke, 0333 202 3390 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm).
For a quarter of a century, Luigi
Molinaro, owner of Luigi’s Italian
Delicatessen, has been striding
into the ARBC and wowing with
his brilliant card-play and imagi-
native bidding. He wins many of
our ladders — including the Luigi’s
Deli Ladder — so that his hamper
prize usually goes to the second-
placed finisher.
I loved Luigi’s declarer-play on
today’s deal from a Monday after-
noon duplicate (pre-virus). West
yy
led the ace of hearts and declarer
dropped the ten. West now contin-
ued with the king of hearts, and
Luigi dropped the queen.
If declarer had followed with
the eight and ten of hearts, East
would have ruffed the third heart
and switched to a spade, and
declarer would now no longer be
able to succeed. However, after
declarer had followed with the ten-
then-queen, at trick three West led
the jack of hearts, and East natu-
rally saw no reason to ruff.
West was unable to attack
spades from his side — switch to
the king, and declarer wins the ace
and can lead towards dummy’s
jack. In practice, West exited safely
with a club. It still appears declarer
must lose two spade tricks ....
However, declarer won the ace
of clubs (overtaking dummy’s jack)
and led the queen of diamonds.
West covered with the king, and
he won dummy’s ace. He ruffed a
diamond, crossed to the queen of
clubs (noting the 2-2 split) and
ruffed a third diamond, crucially
stripping West of diamonds.
At trick nine, declarer exited
with a low spade towards dummy’s
jack. West rose with the queen but
had no good play. A second spade
would promote dummy’s jack; a
fourth heart would allow declarer
to ruff in dummy and shed his
remaining spade from hand. Nine
tricks and doubled game made.
Thank you to Victor Silverstone
for divulging the details. Luigi is
much too modest and in any
event, he normally leaves as soon
as the last card is played to return
to his delicatessen.
[email protected]
Contract: 3 ♣ Dbled, Opening Lead:♥A
Dealer: South, Vulnerability: Neither
N
W E
S
1 ♣ 1 ♥ 2 ♦ Pass
3 ♣ Dbl(1) Pass Pass(2)
Pass
(1) Take-out, as partner has not bid. Probably
West should have more shape, something
like a 4♠ 6 ♥ 2 ♦ 1 ♣ shape. However, Luigi
so often bids on “tram tickets”, there is
always a great risk he is stealing.
(2) Without a single defensive trick, East
should really bid. Whether he chooses 3♥
or 3 ♠ is another matter — indeed perhaps
he should bid 3 ♦, not minding whether
partner interprets it as natural, or pick a
major. Doubtless East was also affected by
the Luigi factor — that he could be some-
what sub-standard for his bidding.
S(Luigi) W N E
♠ 9875
♥ 53
♦J 9754
♣ 53
Pairs ♠J 43
♥ 942
♦A108 6
♣KQJ
♠A 62
♥Q
♦Q
♣A10987 2
♠KQ 10
♥AKJ7 6
♦K3 2
♣ 64
Bridge Andrew Robson
G
BUL LET
NEA
CHECK
LE
REGION
PYH
LONEE
ESTY
DU
GROGGY
E
1 Mouse
2 Drive
3 Monitor
4 Speaker
5 Keyboard
Easy 104; Medium 66; Harder 46
1 Rxe7! wins as 1 ... Qxe
2 Qxa8+ leaves White a
piece ahead
MOTHBAL L FARM
E A E I B P I
SINEW ZEALOUS
S G I A C S T
ROLLERSKATER
S D D T L U
PARSEC DOZENS
R I R S B T
INCOMPARABLE
N O E U S E P
TITANIC INANE
E T T E C V L
ROAM PROSPECT
Lexica 5430
Lexica 5429
Chess — Winning Move
Quintagram
Brain Trainer
Quick Cryptic 1674
KenKen 5028
Codeword 4036
Square Routes
74
Tredoku 1642
H B P E R
S U I C U
I T T K A
F O R E S
B O A T S