It was good to see eight and a half tables at the Woodberry Weekend in Eastbourne, excellently organised by Shelley Shieff. Non-members are encouraged to join these events and the Allworth Salver, the main event of the weekend, was won by Tim Pelling and Naomi Cohen, occasional visitors to the Woodberry. We hope they will come more often.
Woodberry Bridge Club
Tuesday 29 October 2024
Eastbourne by Foxymoron
Thursday 17 October 2024
Yarborough by Foxymoron
The term Yarborough originated from whist. The Earl of Yarborough, believed to be in 1874, offered the odds of 1,000 to 1 against someone being dealt a hand in whist with no card above a nine. The true odds are 1828 to 1, so he was taking a rake of over 40%, not bad if you can afford the odd hit.
The North Lincolnshire village of Yarborough has a long history, with evidence of human occupation dating back to the Iron Age. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Earburg", meaning "eagle fortification". The crest above is spectacular.
There was a difficult quiz question once. What links the chemical element Niobium with the weakest possible bridge hand? I don't expect this to detain you too long. Answer next blog. Post "solved" in the comments.
I picked up a Yarborough last week at the Woodberry and was surprised to become declarer.
Monday 16 September 2024
Second Lady by Foxymoron
The crossword clue "First Lady" refers to an obvious girl's name. And I am sure that "Riddle is backed by First Lady (5)" will not detain you long. First Lady is often used, particularly in the US, for the wife of the president or leader and one hopes that it will be "First Gentleman" for the first time later this year. Second Lady and Second Gentleman seem to be almost exclusively US terms for the spouse of the vice-president.
Woodberry members Eve Brenner and Martin Baker had an excellent result in the London Mixed Pairs yesterday and Eve nearly lived up to her name as the "first lady" but had to be content with second place. As they say in backgammon, "Second place is no disgrace".
Wednesday 4 September 2024
By George by Foxymoron
1790 was a momentous year in US politics as it featured the first State of the Union address by George Washington in January and they were busy passing the Patent Act and the Copyright Act by the end of that year. The original hand-written speech is in the George Washington Presidential Library:
And I was surprised that "icing on the cake" as an idiom is relatively modern. The earliest known use is:
There are sins and there are sins, but the sins I speak of are the chocolate icing on the cake of life - The Sin of Pat Muldoon” - John McLiamin, 1957
Wednesday 21 August 2024
The Uppercut by Foxymoron
It is interesting that "uppercut" gets two dictionary definitions. One is from boxing, as in the iconic uppercut that made Mike Tyson the youngest ever World Heavyweight Champion. The other is from bridge, and here there is a slight error. One dictionary states:
Uppercut Bridge. a play of a higher trump than necessary knowing it can be overtrumped by an opponent but that if overtrumped, one or more trump winners in the hand of one's partner will be established.
I think that the first part could be curtailed to read "a play of a trump, knowing it can be overtrumped ..." as occurred on the following hand.
We missed the boat here. East opened 1NT (11-14) and South bid 2D, the popular multi-Landy showing a six-card major. I decided to invite with 2NT, rather than force to game with 3H. North passed and East bid 3C, forced. Now I bid 3H as West, invitational with six hearts, but my partner had seen me play them before and put down the dummy. Most reached 4H.Missing the boat is sea-slang and seemingly first appeared in Florence Marryat, Captain's Norton's Diary, serialized in Belgravia (May 1870). It is now figuratively used for any missed opportunity.
Thursday 1 August 2024
Cover Story by Foxymoron
I liked a recent crossword clue which is simple but pleasant: Cover Story (5). I will leave you to post your solution in comments, and will only say if it is right or wrong.
There was a story in the pub that Graham Horscroft needed to cover the second heart on the following hand. It is interesting to analyse if he should have done so:
We are glad to find among the leading Vanites, at least one man, whose conscience will not permit him to ‘go the whole hog’ in pulling the wool over the people’s eyes
Thursday 25 July 2024
One over the Eight by Foxymoron
The earliest instance of the above phrase, meaning having too much to drink, I can find is the following, in a Surrey weekly on Friday 15th August 1919:
“ONE OVER THE EIGHT.”—At the Reigate Bench, on Monday, Frederick Powell, of Providence-terrace, London-road, Reigate, was charged with being drunk and disorderly on Saturday night.—P.C. Kimber proved the case.—Prisoner told the Court that he met an old uncle and had one or two drinks. He added “I suppose I got one over the eight, and I suppose I became a little quarrelsome.”—Fined 5s.
It appears to derive from military slang. One over the eight is nine of course. Which reminds me "why is six wary of seven?" Because seven ate nine, of course. But back to bridge. The nine capturing the eight was the theme of this hand from the EBU summer SIMs.