Duck Season Opener

The September 7 meeting of Puzzlers Anonymous marked the opening of Duck Season!

Alas, not for the hunting of waterfowl but for Professor Freebid’s annual seminar on ducking plays.
Attendance has waned over the years, many would say at the same rate as the Professor’s marbles.
“Timothy!” called out the Professor. “Come join me. I have a ducking good puzzle for you.”

[Timothy sat down at the Professor’s table to see a diagram scribbled on a napkin.]

“I was East, playing with Marlon. On Board 1 we sat quietly, as Bonnie and Grover bid to six hearts.
They play a crazy system (forcing club and relays) so every bid was artificial, except of course the last.”

“So where are their hands?” asked Timothy. “Even Bonnie and Clyde would need some cards to shoot at.”

“Ah, but that’s the puzzle! Marlon led the queen of clubs, and we beat the slam.
Afterward I noticed Grover could have made six hearts by ducking Marlon’s lead.”

“Wouldn’t that be a holdup, not a duck?” asked Timothy, “but I suppose the terms are interchangeable.”

“Not!” chided the Professor. “That’s like comparing arithmetic and calculus.
A holdup has no quantal dependence, while a duck deflects bosons on a hyperbolic plane.
Anyone can execute a successful holdup, but a winning duck requires spatial foresight.”

“Whatever,” Timothy sighed. “I certainly understand the ‘spatial’ part, as almost everything you say is from outer space.”

Matchpoints	?		West	North	East	South
None vul	?		Marlon	Bonnie	Professor	Grover
	?			1	Pass	2
	?		Pass	2	Pass	2
Q J 7 6		9 8	Pass	2	Pass	3
5		Q 8 7 6	Pass	3	Pass	3
J 10 9 6		Q 8 7	Pass	3	Pass	3 NT
Q J 10 5		9 8 7 6	Pass	6	All Pass
	?
	?		Grover was down 1
Lead: Q	?
6 South	?

“Impertinence won’t help you!” warned the Professor.
“I will tell you there are no voids, except between your ears.
Now shut the duck up, and try to solve the puzzle.”

Construct a South hand where ducking the Q lead is necessary to make 6 .

Multiple solutions exist. A further goal (contest tiebreaker) is for the South hand to be as strong as possible.
Before reading further, challenge yourself, or make your best guess:

Which of these South hands was the winner? 

A. A-K-4-3 A-4-3 A-K-5-4 4-3 B. A-K-4-3 A-4-3 5-4-3-2 4-3 C. A-5-4-3 A-4-3 A-5-4-3 A-4 D. A-5-4-3 A-4-3 5-4-3-2 4-3

Quit

Top Duck Season Opener

Charles Blair Wins

*There was no multiple choice, so solvers had to construct the hands from scratch.

Congratulations to Charles Blair, who was first to submit a solution. Charles is a brilliant solver, not only of bridge puzzles but of traditional problems in play and defense, and it’s hard to find a leaderboard around here without his name on it. Charles is my most prolific participant, going back over 20 years, as well as a regular correspondent who poses puzzles of his own. Previous wins include Have Cards, Will Double, Let Your Heart Be Light, Mission: Implausible, Two-Way Finesses, World Series of Bridge and The Piranha Strike Back.

All solutions were perfect, so ranking is by date-time of entry.

Winner List

Rank	Name	Location	South Sum
1	Charles Blair	Illinois	132
2	Tina Denlee	Quebec	132
3	Dan Gheorghiu	British Columbia	132

Puzzle 8S41 Main

Top Duck Season Opener

Solution

The main obstacle of this puzzle, and probably why I had so few entries, is the tiebreaking condition to make the South hand as strong as possible. Curiously, there is no solution where South has more than two of the outstanding high cards ( A-K-10 A-K-J-10-9 A-K A-K) so any attempt to bulk up the South hand was a dead end. Two aces and the 11 best ‘deuces’ was the best you could do to produce the optimal solution below:

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

While it’s hardly obvious, ducking the first trick is essential, not only to rectify the count for a later squeeze but to keep both spade entries intact (West cannot lead spades). Suppose West shifts to a trump (best) and East covers the jack to remove an entry to your hand. Draw a second trump, cash both top diamonds and the A to reach this position:

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

Next lead the K and ruff it to reach your hand. Ruff a diamond to isolate the diamond protection to West, then finish drawing trumps to squeeze West. Either your 5 or dummy’s 10 will become good.

As usual our Canadian temptress was right on the mark, with better stories than mine:

Tina Denlee: Bosons being of antimatter, to find the solution you must try to fail the tiebreaker, because the right cards have negative mass. South must have the A or K for no trump loser; also the A or K, else the 10 is won by an antimatter finesse. Fill the rest with low cards, and the answer pops out.

Duck soup

Charles Blair: I revoked at the club last week! Thank you for restoring my self-confidence.

Professor Freebid: The State revoked my drivers license last week, so I designed a self-driving vehicle powered by bosonic fusion. Production is already underway. If a cop stops me now, I can tell him to duck off, or this car will blow your ass to bits.

Puzzle 8S41 Main

Top Duck Season Opener

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