The Telltale Traveller

The solution

by Paul Lamford, London, England, UK

The clues were:

1. North-South made twelve or thirteen tricks in spades at every table except for the one at which East-West made twelve tricks in spades.
2. North-South reached Six Hearts by North and exchanged hands before West had passed.
3. West now bid Six Spades and was entitled to treat all 26 of the opponents' cards as penalty cards.
4. West instructs North and South which card to play at their turn.
5. At no stage did South contribute a higher spade than his partner to any trick.

These were the four hands:

	AJ85 AKQJ109432 -- --
Q6 -- J109 98765432		93 8765 8765432 --
	K10742 -- AKQ AKQJ10

North leads the 2, and East plays three rounds of s, South and West discarding s. Now East cashes five rounds of s, North and South discarding, ruffed with the 4, 6 and 5 of s, , North discards, ruffed with the 3 and 2 of s, ruffed with the 10, Q and J of s, ruffed with the 8, 9 and 7 of s, and the last trick is won by North's ace of s from South's king!

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Editor's note:

• If you want to comment on this article, why not write direct to Paul Lamford?
• He will be pleased to hear from you!
• Paul gave this puzzle to me one night in London when I was flying to Poland the next day.
• I rang him from Warsaw next evening with the correct solution!

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