the times | Tuesday September 15 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 12 words, average;
17, good; 23, very good; 29, excellent
GLOBE
UIP
ENIGMA
AN
GRANGE
L
DEVOUR
BI
JOB S
NWK
CYNIC
G
1 Coronation Street 2 Abdication of Edward VIII
3 Field marshal 4 Maxim gun — invented by Hiram
Stevens Maxim 5 It takes care of its eggs or offspring by
holding them in its mouth for extended periods of time
6 Pakistan 7 Britt Ekland 8 Mark Twain 9 Cor-ten or
Corten steel 10 Harlan Coben 11 Central African
Republic — on March 29, 1959 12 A third-gender or
non-binary status 13 Ibeyi 14 Ernst Happel — in the
years 1970 and 1983 respectively 15 Estée Lauder
Squint (b) To move across
obliquely, as in cross-crossing
a hill
Squirage (c) A book containing
the list of county squires
Squalus (a) A shark
Kakuro 2740
Futoshiki 3781 Lexica 5482
Cell Blocks 3950 Set Square 2743 Lexica 5481
Suko 2969
Train Tracks 1121
Word watch
1 ... Qh4+! leads to a decisive
infiltration as 2 Nxh4 leads to
2 ... Bxh4+ 3 Rf2 (3 Kd1 Rxf1+)
3 ... Rxf2 4 Qxe5+ Kg8 and
mate will follow on f1. After
2 Ke2 Qg3, White’s cause is
hopeless, eg 3 Rdd2 Rxg2+
4 Bxg2 Qxg2+ 5 Kd3 Qxf3+
winning
Chess — Winning Move
1 Salt
2 Hard
3 Spring
4 Electoral
5 Rock’n’roll
Quintagram
Quiz
Easy 85; Medium 78; Harder 1,
Brain Trainer
Yesterday’s answers
ash, ashet, eth, hale, halt, haslet, hassle,
haste, hat, hate, hatless, heal, heat, hest,
lah, lash, lath, lathe, leash, sash, selah, sesh,
shale, she, shea, slash, stash, tash, the
times2 CrosswordNo 8384 Brain Trainer
AN
S
MEDIUM 27 + 2^5 TREBLE WER
IT
HALF OFF
IT
HHALF OFF
IT
x 3 DOUBLEE
IT
– (^37) – 57 x 4
AN
S
EASY WER
7 x^7 +^37 ÷^2 –^35
TREBLE
IT
DOUBLE
IT
x 3 ÷^2 + 1 3
A
N
S
HARDER WER
64
DOUBLE
IT
DOUBLE – 1532
IT
- 2 6 x 1 0 HHALF OFF– 52^0 ÷^5 +^2769
IT
Across
1 Greekmathematician( 10 )
9 Purifffied;cultured( 7 )
10 AAAustraliandog( 5 )
11 Cleaningagent( 4 )
12 Domesticassistant( 4 , 4 )
14 Subatomicparticle( 6 )
15 Subatomicparticle( 6 )
18 Settlledd,ddeciddedd(( 8 ))
20 Spoken;ofthemouth( 4 )
22 Stupidperson( 5 )
23 Frameffforclimbers( 7 )
24 Generalvote( 10 )
Down
2 Tugsharply( 4 )
3 Subatomicparticle( 6 )
4 Smallingeniousdevices( 8 )
5 Lineofmountains( 5 )
6 Noteofgoodstobuy( 8 , 4 )
7 Roadsidesafffetyfffence( 5 , 7 )
8 Romanticintrigue( 6 )
1113 Opinionresearcher( 8 )
16 Excitement;stimulate( 6 )
17 Subatomicparticle( 6 )
19 AAAudibleairintake( 5 )
21 Listofdishes( 4 )
SolutiontoCrossword 8383
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8
9 10
11 12
13
14 15 16
17
18 19 20
21
22 23
24
EUROPE GASES
S E L C R I C
COYPU LEARNER
A N MOO S A A
PLAZA SOPHISM
O R G E A B
LEDGER ABSEIL
O O F E L E
GRIDDLE DRUID
I N I LIE D E
SOPRANO VYING
T U R N I N G
SATAY ALIGNS
Cell Blocks No 3951
© PUZZLER MEDIA
Polygon Set Square No 2744
Please note, BODMAS does not apply
Killer Moderate No 7348 Solutions
Killer Tough No 7349
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).
Italy enjoyed huge success in the
Blue Team era of the 1970s. Then
there was a lull until Italy reigned
supreme again in the 1990s and
2000s. Only one player spanned
those two eras — Lorenzo Lauria.
Lauria is a streetfighter. A slight
man, now in his seventies, he’ll
fight for every trick. Show him a
chink in your armour and he’ll
pounce. I have always enjoyed
playing against him.
On today’s deal from the Italian
premier league, Lauria was playing
against his legendary Blue Team
partner and mentor Benito
Garozzo, now in his nineties. The
pupil was to give the master a
great display, both in the erudite
auction then in the play.
How should Lauria declare 6♦
on♠K lead?
Declarer will have wondered
why neither opponent bid spades,
missing nine cards as he was. East
would surely have ventured a
spade bid with six cards, so West
rated to have four spades in addi-
tion to (probably) six clubs for his
2 ♣bid (missing
y
♣AJ10). West
rated to have only three red cards,
most likely two hearts and one
diamond (which would be the
yy
queen only one time in four).
After winning the ace of spades,
at trick two declarer found the key
play of leading a diamond to the
jack, the apparently risky first-round
finesse necessary to preserve
dummy’s king of diamonds entry.
He then cashed the ace of diamonds
(West discarding) and crossed to the
ace-king-queen of hearts.
We st discarded on the third
heart but declarer could ruff a
fourth heart, cross to the king of
diamonds (drawing East’s queen)
and enjoy the fifth heart. Slam
made. [email protected]
Contract: 6 ♦, Opening Lead: ♠K
Dealer: North, Vulnerability: Neither
N
W E
S
1 ♥ Pass
1NT( 1 ) 2 ♣ Dbl( 2 ) Pass
3 ♣( 3 ) Pass 3NT( 4 ) Pass
4 ♦( 5 ) Pass 4♥( 6 ) Pass
5 ♣( 6 ) Pass 6 ♦( 7 ) End
(1) Playing Two-over-One (a Two-level
response is forcing to game), the 1NT
response shows up to 12 points.
(2) Card-showing ie more take-out than
penalties. Typically, North would have a
club fewer.
( 3 ) Judges he is too good merely to invite
game via a jump to 3♦.
(4) Apparently, the 3 ♣bid showed half a
club stopper (eg ♣Qxx), so North knows
♣J10x will provide a full stopper.
(5) By going via 3 ♣ to bid diamonds, South
is looking for a diamond slam. Typical opti-
mism from Lauria but North, Alfredo
Versace, has shown a good hand with some
diamond support, and that ♣A is massive.
(6) Ace-showing cue bids.
(7) Takes the plunge given the presence of the
ace of spades and the three decent diamonds
— not to mention the fine hearts. North will
have pictured South with something like
♠xxx, ♥x, ♦AQxxxx,♣Axx.
S(Lauria) W N(Versace) E
♠J 10862
♥J 1053
♦Q6 2
♣ 2
Teams ♠A 3
♥AKQ
♦K8 5
♣J 108
♠ 97
♥ 76
♦AJ
♣A 63
♠KQ 54
♥ 42
♦ 10
♣KQ 9754
Bridge Andrew Robson
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Sudoku 11,
Killer 7346
Sudoku 11,
Killer 7347
Sudoku 11,
Quick Cryptic 1700
KenKen 5059
Codeword 4067