The Washington Post - USA (2020-08-01)

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