[lamford]

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"A curious hand", observed the Owl, "East-West made 6♥ and 6♠ at most tables except this one I was watching where Walter the Walrus, West, had over 30 points. His tea arrived and the hot tea-pot touched his hand just as he was bidding 6♥ and he dropped his entire hand face-up". He continued, "ChCh, South, bid 7NT and found a very disappointing dummy, but one that was good enough, as there was no defence".

How did the play go? And I think that this is a unique layout, as swapping any West card or cards with East would mean the contract could not be made. And thanks to nige1 for encouraging me to try for a unique layout, as in my favourite book, The Ultimate Limits.

Edit: Amended in light of smerriman's excellent comment and nige1's contribution

This post has been edited by lamford: 2019-February-23, 04:22

[smerriman]

Very cool.

There isn't really an alternative to the play:

Spoiler

Have a club led, unblocking and cashing 5 clubs, throwing the ♦AKQ. Cash 4 diamonds, leaving West with two cards in each major. On the fifth diamond, East gets squeezed, having to come down to a singleton in a major, allowing West to throw both cards from the same major.

In terms of uniqueness, doesn't the same work if East has the ♣J and West leads low?

[lamford]

smerriman, on 2019-February-22, 13:51, said:

In terms of uniqueness, doesn't the same work if East has the ♣J and West leads low?

Yes, I think I need to look at the club pips again! I think I have fixed them so that the layout is now unique
.

[nige1]

Lamford writes ' "A curious hand", observed the Owl, "East-West made 6♥ and 6♠ at most tables except this one I was watching where Walter the Walrus, West's tea arrived and the hot tea-pot touched his hand just as he was bidding 6♥ and he dropped his entire hand face-up". He continued, "ChCh, South, bid 7NT and found a very disappointing dummy, but one that was good enough, as there was no defence".
How did the play go? And I think that this is a unique layout, as swapping any West card or cards with East would mean the contract could not be made. And thanks to nige1 for encouraging me to try for a unique layout, as in my favourite book, The Ultimate Limits.'

A pretty squeeze!
SMerriman points out that you can swap LHO's ♣J with any of RHO's ♣s.
And mandate a small ♣ lead.

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But a layout like that on the left might be unique

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[lamford]

nige1, on 2019-February-22, 16:38, said:

[/hv]

But a layout like that on the left might be unique

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Yes, interchanging the nine and jack of clubs is good. However, as a friend pointed out, it is also necessary to prevent West having a seven or eight-card major, as otherwise he is the only person guarding that suit. I have tried again with the original on that basis.

[lamford]

nige1, on 2019-February-23, 04:50, said:

How about this?

Yes, although the king and queen of clubs can be interchanged, which is a blemish. But having the majors both 4-6 is good. I will work on it.

[nige1]

I deleted the last effort by mistake.
How about this one?

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[nige1]

Repeating hexagon squeeze?


Please press Next to see how the play develops.

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[lamford]

nige1, on 2019-February-23, 15:48, said:

I deleted the last effort by mistake.
How about this one?

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I think the one above fails as West can be 7-1 in the majors, and then has to unguard the major that East unguards. If West is 0-8-4-1 or 8-0-4-1 on this layout, it cannot be made. But cannot West be 1-7-4-1 or 7-1-4-1. Don't we get the same squeeze?

[nige1]

Repeating hexagon squeeze.
(No frills version)
Please press Next to see how the play develops.

Paul asks "Can declarer make if LHO is 7141 say?"
I concede that the board 3 layout isn't unique because West can discard 6♠s.
But, IMO, boards 5 and 6 are unique layouts.

When declarer cashes 7 ♣s and 3♦s
RHO can guard both red suits.
Declarer can mandate 9 discards from LHO..
LHO must discard 4♦s but can then discard only 5 ♠s,
so LHO still guards ♠s.

i.e. The East-West layout on the left is unique.

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[thepossum]

Hi all

I may be stupid and I dont want to spoil people's fun but why would West lead a club against 7NTXX

If we are going to have contrived hands and squeezes wouldnt it be better if they were more realistic than this one?

Ive spent ages trying to work out what is so special about this. I think there are other better examples where any lead fails

regards P

PS I'm sure its some obscure rule with mandated plays/leads but it really is obscure and most of us have better things to do than spend time on this

[smerriman]

As per the story, West revealed his hand prior to the end of the auction, thus making all of his cards penalty cards, able to be selected at declarer's choice.

[lamford]

thepossum, on 2019-February-25, 17:35, said:

most of us have better things to do than spend time on this

Most do indeed contribute to other threads of a more practical value ... I don't think you would enjoy Right Through the Pack by Hart and Darvas, but I did.

[nige1]

thepossum, on 2019-February-25, 17:35, said:

Hi allI may be stupid and I dont want to spoil people's fun but why would West lead a club against 7NTXXIf we are going to have contrived hands and squeezes wouldnt it be better if they were more realistic than this one?Ive spent ages trying to work out what is so special about this. I think there are other better examples where any lead failsregards PPS I'm sure its some obscure rule with mandated plays/leads but it really is obscure and most of us have better things to do than spend time on this

Bridge and Chess are games. With justification, many non-players regard them as a waste of time. Chess and Bridge paper-problems appeal to even fewer people.

Years ago, my father and I would spend most of an enjoyable weekend trying to solve the double-dummy problems in Bridge Magazine. Hugh Darwen, with the help of deep-finesse, demonstrates that many of those early problems are flawed. (Nobody noticed when they were first published).

See Darwen's wonderful online continuation of Double-dummy Corner,

Richard Pavlicek's brilliant Bridge site also features difficult 'Fairy' Bridge problems. Admittedly, such problems are of limited direct practical application at the table although composing and solving them is an amusing intellectual challenge, which can alert you to unexpected and exciting possibilities.

[lamford]

nige1, on 2019-February-27, 11:06, said:

Bridge and Chess are games. With justification, many non-players regard them as a waste of time. Chess and Bridge paper-problems appeal to even fewer people.

I think the aim is to entertain. As P T Barnum, the founder of the circus, said: "The noblest art is that of making others happy"

And I believe I have a better version of "our" puzzle:

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As South seems to be thinking about the lead against 6NT, West shows East his hand, but South points out that he has not passed yet and bids 7NT. West has to lead the king of spades (the nine beats the contract) and the sixth club starts a progressive squeeze on East as before. The play to the first three tricks is also forced.

[nige1]

Lamford writes 'I think the aim is to entertain. As P T Barnum, the founder of the circus, said: "The noblest art is that of making others happy". And I believe I have a better version of "our" puzzle: As South seems to be thinking about the lead against 6NT, West shows East his hand, but South points out that he has not passed yet and bids 7NT. West has to lead the king of spades (the nine beats the contract) and the sixth club starts a progressive squeeze on East as before. The play to the first three tricks is also forced.'
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If East has singleton ♣K instead of singleton ♣J, can declarer still succeed on ♣J lead?

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[lamford]

nige1, on 2019-March-04, 05:43, said:

If East has singleton ♣K instead of singleton ♣J, can declarer still succeed on ♣J lead?

I will work on it some more!

[Vampyr]

thepossum, on 2019-February-25, 17:35, said:

PS I'm sure its some obscure rule with mandated plays/leads but it really is obscure and most of us have better things to do than spend time on this

The laws regarding penalty cards are far from obscure; penalty cards are one of the most common sources of rulings.

[cherdano]

Why don't you make the club suit AQ2 opposite T76543? That would need West to have KJ exactly.

[lamford]

I tried that and versions of it but Kx opposite Jx was a cook.
I think I have cracked it and will post later.