The Washington Post - 20.08.2019

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20 , 2019. 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

 K J 6 2

 10 9 5 4 2

 A K

 4 2

WEST

 9 7 5

 7

 J 9 3

 K J 9 7 5 3

EAST

 Q 10 4

 J 8 6

 10 8 6 5 4

 A 6

SOUTH (D)

 A 8 3

 A K Q 3

 Q 7 2

 Q 10 8

The bidding:

C

y the Cynic gave me a

ride to the club, and we

got behind a car that was

poking along. There was no

place to pass, and Cy, who

isn’t known for patience, fret-

ted and fumed. It didn’t help

when he got close enough

to the car ahead to read this

bumper sticker: “Excuse me

for driving so closely in front

of you.”

Cy’s impatience is mir-

rored in his dummy play: He

seizes on the first line he

sees. When he was declarer

at four hearts in a penny

game, the defense led three

rounds of clubs, and Cy

promptly ruffed the third with

dummy’s 10 of trumps.

East overruffed and exited

with a diamond. The Cynic

drew trumps, but when he

tried a spade to dummy’s

jack, East had the queen.

Down one.

Impulsivity was Cy’s down-

fall. On the third club, he

must discard a spade from

dummy. Later, he throws

another spade on his queen

of diamonds, losing three

tricks in all. Cy’s play would

have been defensible at

matchpoint duplicate, but for

money, he should have pro-

tected his game.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold:

 K J 6 2  10 9 5 4 2

 A K  4 2

Your partner opens one

club, you respond one heart

and he bids one spade. The

opponents pass. What do

you say?

ANSWER: Certain hands

with 11 high-card points

might be worth only an invita-

tional raise to three spades,

but my judgment would tell

me to bid four spades with

this hand. The trump support

is good, and since partner’s

hand is likely to be short in

hearts, the play may go quite

well.

N-S VULNERABLE

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1 NT Pass 2  Pass

2  Pass 4  All Pass

Opening lead —  7

BRIDGE

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— Frank Stewart