The radio programme Just a Minute is a panel game which has been running for nearly 60 years, and was hosted by Nicolas Parsons for most of that time. The object of the game is for panelists to talk for sixty seconds on a given subject, "without hesitation, repetition or deviation". Our table would have breached the rules of that game more than once in a hand this week:
Woodberry Bridge Club
Wednesday, 2 April 2025
Just a MInute by Foxymoron
Thursday, 20 March 2025
Felo de Se by Foxymoron
When there was a death by suicide in the middle ages, it was classed as a felo de se, and the assumption was that it must have been a mental illness. The Interments (felo de se) Act 1882 allowed any person committing "criminal suicide" to be buried at any hour with the usual rites and removed some of the stigma from the suicide. Previously he or she had to be buried "silently" between 9 pm and midnight.
In bridge, the phrase was used by Victor Mollo in his menagerie series, for a suicide squeeze, in which one of the defenders cashes winners and squeezes his partner. The Hideous Hog always took great pleasure in forcing Papa and his partner to conduct a suicide squeeze. Such was the case on a hand at the Woodberry this week. In a slightly different way:
What is the best line? I think against most players you cash two rounds of spades, ending in South. Often one or both of the defenders will give count, and you can plan your play accordingly. But it will only be wrong to exit with a diamond if they are 6-2.
Thursday, 13 February 2025
Walking the Dog by Foxymoron
The expression "walking the dog" in bridge refers to the tactic of bidding less than a hand is worth but then adding one level each time the bidding comes round again. The hope is that the opponents will eventually double. The meaning "to trick the opponent" possibly comes from Gershwin's 1937 song Walking the Dog in the film Shall We Dance. Alternatively the words of Walking the Dog, the 1963 song by Rufus Thomas, could have created the meaning of deception.
Urban slang uses "walking the dog" as committing adultery, another deception, and it has also become used to mean visiting the bathroom. The Americans are fond of euphemisms and "going to see a man about a dog" is another of their contorted phrases for going to the bathroom. The song Walking the Dog is very American:
Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Math by Foxymoron
The Americans correctly shorten mathematics to "math", whereas the Brits and Australians use "maths". We are wrong of course as it is a collective noun, like sugar. We ask "How many sugars?" as short for "how many teaspoons of sugar?" but we would never ask at a supermarket "Where are the sugars, please?"
I have been asked how important math(s) is in bridge. Quite a bit, and discussions of the right percentage line is a common feature of bridge magazines. There is a book on Card Combinations, which shows the percentage chance of making x tricks with a particular suit holding. Most of the time, however, the whole hand comes into play as in a hand at the Woodberry last week.
Friday, 10 January 2025
Undercooked by Foxymoron
6NT is a great contract. If the diamonds are 3-2, you have 12 top tricks and thirteen if they don't lead a spade. And when they don't break you can lead towards the king of spades for your twelfth trick. You can, in theory, also pick up the diamonds if you finesse on the second round, but you should not. A cunning West might have dropped the jack from JTx when you get egg on your face. This phrase apparently arises from the 19th century theatre when sub-par actors were sometimes pelted with eggs. Our auction was certainly sub-par.
Friday, 3 January 2025
Double Fit by Foxymoron
The wildest hands usually occur when both sides have a double fit. It will usually be right to bid one more, but one has to be careful at matchpoints that one does not take this too far. On the following hand, from the most recent game, the top spot was achieved by those that went to the six level:
A merry monarch, scandalous and poor
I don't think merriness was the cause of these big swings. More misjudgement. With a double fit, each side should be bidding one more and 7Dx-3 by NS is par. EW have a double fit in the majors and NS in the minors. One or two NS pairs bought the contract at the six level in a minor, and EW have to find the diamond ruff or club ruff to get even 500 from this. 200 was the common result.
It is interesting to apply the "Law of Total Tricks" to this hand. That says that the total number of tricks for EW and NS in their longest suits should be 11+11 which is 22. Indeed EW can make 12 but only in spades and NS can make 10 by North in either minor. It is a good approximation but is often one out, particularly if the defence can take a ruff.
Some members had the following puzzle on a Xmas card (and also on Facebook):
Let us hope there are more double fits when the club reopens on 7th January.
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Leading Question by Foxymoron
A leading question is more frequently met in court, and we have heard "Objection" and "Overruled" in many a televised court case. I remember when I was buying my house asking if there was any leading in the roof. I thought that was a leading question but the solicitor did not. "Leading", like "sewer" and "wound" and many others, is a heteronym.
How do you play a double of 3NT? Well the first requirement is that you don't think they are going to make it. If the cards lie badly for declarer, then others may be there and doubling for one off, particularly when they are vulnerable, can be lucrative.
And the answer to "Threat perhaps perceived by Alice (6,3)" was MAD HATTER. The anagram indicator is in the solution and it is also "and lit"."