“Beware The Ides of March” recalls the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. — for most people.
Not for this writer. Archives of the Pavlicus Academia de Pons denote March 15 as the date a student first trumped his own winner, albeit 42 years later in 2 B.C. Countless repetitions occurred over the millennia, as graduates drew great satisfaction from winning a trick twice. Was this a premonition? Stay tuned!
Enough ancient history. Let’s examine the ruffout squeeze, a resource more common than most people realize. Declarer has threats in two suits, either of which can be established if a defender lets go a necessary guard. Consider this ending:
Declarer needs the rest, but a crossruff falls short. Hail to the squeeze! When South leads the A, West has no answer: A heart pitch allows North’s suit to be set up, while a diamond brings life to the K. Declarer simply ruffs out the suit West shortens.
All well and good, but anyone can do that. Ruffout squeezes are a dime a dozen. You were not brought to this page for something ordinary. Academy graduates look for the bizarre, which brings me to the puzzle:
Construct an ending where the squeeze card ( A) must be ruffed only if West discards a heart.
Being an extremely difficult puzzle, I will show you the winning solution except the North-South hands.Fill in North-South using only these cards: 4-2 7-4-3 5-2 A. (For a void suit enter a hyphen)
Quit
Congratulations to Nicholas Greer, a regular solver with two previous wins and many high placings, also appreciated for his useful comments that have made my writeups easier. His keen solution to this puzzle, beating mine in the tiebreaker, may even have earned Nicholas the “Saint” moniker I’ve jovially used.
Darn! There go my Letterman points, as I’m quashed to a Top One List:
The premise of this puzzle, the need to ruff a winning squeeze card, logically might seem impossible. After all, if you can afford to ruff a winner, why would you need a squeeze? Well, as seasoned players eventually discover, card play at bridge is not dressed in black and white; the shortest distance between declarer and dummy is not always a straight line. My uncle Cedric discovered this over 75 years ago with The Un-Finesse as a prelude to a squeeze.
Before showing the winning entry, let’s look at an attempt that didn’t quite make it:
South leads the A and West is squeezed. If he pitches a diamond, North pitches a heart, then Q and a ruff leaves North high. If West pitches a heart, declarer ruffs the good club, then the 9 lead picks up the suit. Sounds convincing but…
Declarer can ruff the club regardless of West’s pitch, so the duality requirement is missing. In fact, even the A is unnecessary; swap the A and 2, and simply ruffing the losing club squeezes West in an ordinary way.
Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, for a squeeze you may never have seen before. I thought my construction was neat, but it was a five-card ending. Our winner did it in only four with this gem:
Nicholas Greer: Declarer has four top tricks but cannot cash them because of entries and East’s trump. On the A, West is squeezed, resolving the problem. If West discards a heart, ruff in dummy and lead winning hearts, discarding the 2 and waiting to overruff East. If West discards a diamond, [South must keep the lead to] draw the last trump and cash diamonds.
Render unto Nicholas the things that are Richard’s…
Technically, this ending is a third kind of entry-shifting or seesaw squeeze. The first kind occurs when a high trump is led with the option of overtaking in the opposite hand depending on the victim’s discard.
The second kind* occurs without trumps when the victim is squeezed on the next-to-last free-suit winner, after which declarer follows high or low in the opposite hand to provide the entry where needed later. This extremely rare ending was the topic of Seesaw Recall in 2014. More common (but still rare) is the related strip squeeze.
The third kind, optionally ruffing the squeeze card, had eluded me until its discovery inspired this contest.
And so ends another Star Wars Trilogy.
Thanks to all who participated in this recent series of puzzles, especially the regulars, most of whom go back many years. Perhaps the Ides of March should be a warning for me not to seek the limit of a function approaching zero. Therefore, it’s time to take a break. I’m not ready for the tar pits just yet, so my puzzle whim will probably recur down the road.
Meanwhile, practice safe bridge.
© 2021 Richard Pavlicek
by Richard Pavlicek by Richard Pavlicek