The Mighty Deuce

This puzzle was inspired by my bridge partner and fellow puzzle maven, Jim Munday.

I mention this because Mr. Munday is dedicated to Sue, and he may sue me as well — not that I worry about losing. Current litigation even disputes my rights to “Munday, Munday… so good to me,” but I swear it’s original, “bah-da… bah-da-da-da… can’t trust that day!”

Jim is also the owner of two cats, but to trust anyone harboring a cat warrants a brain scan.

“Every other day of the week is fine, yeah…” but on a Munday? Better make that a cat scan.

Meanwhile, back to bridge. In an article by Jim Munday, North-South reach 4 on the following deal. Children may be reading, so I’ll spare you the auction. Suffice it to say it was hardly mundane but certainly mundayne.

4 South	10 7 6 5		Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
	9 6 4		1. W	A	4	3	5
	A J 8 4		2. W	K	6	2	7
	Q 10		3. W	Q	9	?
Q J		2
A K Q J 10		3 2
K 7 6		10 9 3 2
J 7 6		K 9 8 4 3 2
	A K 9 8 4 3
	8 7 5
	Q 5
	A 5

West begins by cashing two top hearts as East high-lows to show a doubleton. On the third heart, East has a choice of deuce discards in three suits, but only the 2 allows the contract to be set. Yes, any club but the king would do, but we’re talking deuces here. If you need a refresher, think Munday from Mississippi. Now that you have a better understanding of deuces, East parts with the correct one, and West exits safely with a trump. Declarer has no successful path to a 10th trick.

Discarding the 2 would allow declarer an easy make by establishing dummy’s fourth diamond.

Discarding the 2, better known as ruffing, may seem innocuous; but East just spent his one safe exit. His only hope would be to lead the 10 or 9; queen, king, ace; but declarer now can establish a diamond trick by running the 8 on the third round.

What about other North-South layouts? Is a club discard by East always adequate? Obviously, a diamond discard could never be necessary, but what about the 2? Now it’s your turn to be a Munday morning quarterback:

Construct a South hand where East must ruff the third heart to defeat 4 .

Multiple solutions exist. As a further goal (contest tiebreaker) try to make the South hand as weak as possible.

1. Before reading further, can you pick the winning South hand? 

A. A-K-10-9-8-7 6-5-4 J-5-4 A B. A-K-10-9-8-7 6-5-4 J-4 A-5 C. A-K-10-9-8 6-5-4 A-4 Q-10-5 D. A-K-10-9-8 6-5-4 J-4 Q-10-5

Quit

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Nicholas Greer Wins

Congratulations to Nicholas Greer, who was first to submit the perfect solution. Nicholas is a regular participant, almost always ranked in the top echelon, winning Doubled in Spades back in 2016, and recently The Ides of March Squeeze, where he had the unique distinction of being the only successful solver.

Ranking is by the lowest South rank sum, with ties broken by date-time of entry.

Winner List

Rank	Name	Location	South Sum
1	Nicholas Greer	England	110
2	Dan Gheorghiu	British Columbia	110
3	Duncan Bell	England	110
4	Gordon Ho	Hong Kong	110
5	Samuel Pahk	Massachusetts	110
6	Charles Blair	Illinois	111

Puzzle 8N99 Main

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Solution

Five of the six solvers found the optimal solution (South sum 110) where East must ruff his partner’s good heart to beat 4 . First let’s see how declarer can succeed against routine defense:

4 South	6 5 4 3		Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
	9 8 7		1. W	A	7	3	4
	A Q 8		2. W	K	8	2	5
	Q 10 5		3. W	Q	9	2?	6
Q J		2	4. W	Q	3	2	A
A K Q J 10		3 2	5. S	K	J	4	3
K 7 6		10 9 3 2	6. S	10	10	5	4
J 7 6		K 9 8 4 3 2	7. S	9	J	6	2
	A K 10 9 8 7		8. S	A	6	5	8
	6 5 4			continued below…
	J 5 4
	A

Suppose East pitches a club at Trick 3. West’s only safe exit is a trump. Declarer cashes all but one trump and the A to reach:

win 5	—		Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
	—		9. S	4	6	Q	3
	A Q 8		10. N	Q!	K	7	7
	Q 10		11. S	8	?
—		—		West is squeezed
—		—
K 7 6		10 9 3
J 7		K 9
	8 7
	—
	J 5 4
South leads	—

Declarer finesses the Q then leads the Q (covered and ruffed) to make West the sole protector of clubs. Then the last spade squeezes West in the minor suits.

Nicholas Greer: If West is left on lead at trick four and exits safely with a spade, South can unblock the A and transfer club control to West, then run trumps for a minor-suit squeeze.

Au contraire

If East ruffs the Q at Trick 3 and returns the 10 (or nine), declarer lacks the entries for the transfer squeeze described above. Instead this hopeless ending is reached:

win 5	—		Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
	—		9. S	A	6	5	8
	A 8		10. S	8	7	10	9
	Q 10 5		11. S	7	J	Q	K
—		—	12. S	J	K	A	3
—		—		Declarer fails
K 7		9 3
J 7 6		K 9 8
	8 7
	—
	J 5
South leads	A

Nicholas Greer: The defense needs to attack the diamond entries to North before the A is unblocked, and the only way to do this without surrendering a trick to East is to ruff Trick 3 and lead a top diamond.

Samuel Pahk: East must ruff Trick 3 and returns a high diamond, knocking out a key entry to dummy and preventing any squeeze.

Gordon Ho: A diamond must be led from the correct side to attack dummy’s entry.

Charles Blair: This puzzle piqued my curiosity, but I’ll be surprised if I’ve found the optimal solution.

Last meows

Charles Blair: My energy for bridge seems to be burning out.

You’re not alone. The dismal participation in this contest makes me wonder:
Will bridge hit the tar pits before I do?

Mabel Pavlicek Jr: I just want to meow my thanks to the Munday cats, Charlie and Jackson, for inspiring my adoption. Unfortunately my keeper forces me to play his stupid bidding system, which is so confusing. One day I opened one spade and he takes me to the vet to be spayed. Grrr!

Puzzle 8N99 Main

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Acknowledgments to “Papa” John Phillips (1935-2001)
and a gold Zero Tolerance medal to Sue Munday
© 2021 Richard Pavlicek