Christmas Conundrums

A couple of conundrums for Christmas. First a question I was asked was why snowmen always appear in Arsenal colours. Well, one obvious answer is that if they had Spurs colours, the white scarf would not contrast with the snow. On the other hand, the red of the Arsenal scarf is typical of Christmas. The holly berries and the robin are both red after all.

A colleague suggested that another reason is that Arsenal look good at Christmas but have melted away by the spring ... Whatever the reason, red and white does seem to be the snowman's traditional garb. And, while I remember, what is the word for a fear of chimneys?

Another conundrum was the following puzzle, which I gave to some on Christmas cards. You reach 6H after a poor auction. But the play's the thing. What is the only layout which allows you to make?

As some will have not seen it yet, I will wait until the 1st January to give the solution. It remains to wish all blog readers a Happy New Year.

And, as promised, the solution. The layout has to be exactly as follows:

West leads the jack of diamonds against 6H. You must cover with the king. East wins and returns a diamond (there is nothing better). South must win and draws trumps in three rounds, ending in dummy. Now he cashes the ace of clubs, then the queen and jack, and leads the remaining two hearts. West is squeezed in spades and diamonds. You need West to have exactly JT98 of diamonds so that the seven is a threat against him. You need East to have the stiff jack of spades for the squeeze to operate. If he has a singleton king you cannot make it.

Oh, and I nearly forgot, SANTACLAUSTROPHOBIA is the fear of chimneys.