The Washington Post - USA (2020-07-28)

C6 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, JULY 28 , 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

♠ Q 10 9 5 2

♥ 9 4

♦ A K 6

♣ 5 3 2

WEST

♠ 6 3

♥ K 10 6 5

♦ J 10 9 8 3

♣ K 6

EAST

♠ 7

♥ J 8 7 3 2

♦ Q 7 5

♣ 10 9 8 7

SOUTH (D)

♠ A K J 8 4

♥ A Q

♦ 4 2

♣ A Q J 4

The bidding:

M

ajor League Baseball

keeps careful records.

Players have their errors

noted every day. (If I were

making $12 million a year, I

could stand that much scru-

tiny.) But most bridge-table

errors go unrecorded.

At six spades, South

took the ace of diamonds,

drew trumps and led a club

to finesse with his jack.

West took the king and led

another diamond to dummy.

Declarer then cashed the

A-Q of clubs. When West

discarded, South ruffed his

last club in dummy and tried

a heart to his queen. Alas,

down one.

If you were the official

scorer, would you give South

an error?

South missed an extra

chance. He can take the A-K

of diamonds, ruff dummy’s

last diamond and cash

the ace of clubs. He draws

trumps and leads a club from

dummy to his jack. When

West wins, he is end-played;

he must concede a ruff-sluff

or lead a heart from his king.

If East had the king of

clubs, South would still be

safe. He could lead a third

club toward his queen, set-

ting up a heart discard in

dummy.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold:

♠ 7 ♥ J 8 7 3 2

♦ Q 7 5 ♣ 10 9 8 7

Both sides vulnerable. The

dealer, at your left, opens

one club, your partner bids

one heart and the next play-

er passes. What do you say?

ANSWER: Bid three hearts.

A jump-raise of a simple

overcall is weak and preemp-

tive. With game interest, you

could cue-bid two clubs. At

favorable vulnerability, you

might jump to four hearts,

but adverse vulnerability sug-

gests discretion.

N-S VULNERABLE

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1 ♠ Pass 3 ♠ Pass

4 ♣ Pass 4 ♦ Pass

4 ♥ Pass 4 ♠ Pass

6 ♠ All Pass

Opening lead — ♦ J

BRIDGE

©2020, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

— Frank Stewart