Judge — March 16, 1929 — page 30: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Fae You must call on Mrs. Newcomer. I'm sure she's Srom a lovely family. She's a wonder- ful hostess, my dear, and so particular—at her Bridge par- ties she always has brand new packs of Congress Playing Cards at every table.” a NEW! Congress Bridge Sets Two packs of Congress Playing Cards in harmonious designs, with four tallies and score pad to match one of the packs of cards. Use this complete ensemble for each table of Bridge and add new interest to your card parties and club meetings. Easy Lessons in Auction Bridge. 120 pages of instructions, rules, etc.,— 10¢ postpaid The U. S. Playing Card Co. Dept. J-10, Cincinnati, U.S. A. or Windsor, Canada Co-sponsors with Auction Bridge Magazine, 19 W. 44th St., New York, of of Bridge by Radio. S. PLAYING CARD CO. . Cincinnati, U.S.A., or Windsor, THE U Dept. J Canada. Please send the items checked Bridge by Radio Schedule free. Easy Lessons in Auction Bridge — 10c. Name Address City State BICYCLE CONGRESS PLAYING CARDS SDNEY @ LENZ S times, the National and Inte nt of Judye will most reme Mr. Lenz will welcome correspondence from Judge readers and will give advice oud answer questions related to Auction and Contract provided correspondents send stomped addressed envelopes for reply. The two series of Bridge Prob- lems that have been appearing in Jvvar for 52 weeks may not have succeeded in improving the stand- ard of the players, but certain social amenities, such as tramping the partner's aces and discarding perfectly good Kings and Queens have come to be regarded as quite the proper thing to do. Indeed, one solver wrote that, unless she could ditch at least two Aces, there was not much fun in working out a problem. The final problem of the series contained two treys of Clubs, one South hand and one in the Of course this was an error, either of the author, editor, printer or proof-reader, but in the actual play of the cards, it was wholly immaterial. Trans- posing one trey for a deuce could not possibly alter the play in this particular problem, Nevertheless, 96 per cent of the solutions submitted called attention to the inadvertence, mostly with facetiousness that was soul-trying. A comment that was really refreshing came from a solver who should be on the staff of Jupcr. He wrote: “I note you have one trey of Clubs in the East hand and another in the South. This is evidently an error, so I take the liberty of changing the one in the South hand to the Ace of Diamonds. * One nice lady was quite un- happy over this same faux pas. Her plaint read: “I hunted through my deck of cards four times, but could not find the trey of Clubs. At last I discovered it was already placed in another hand. You may not think this funny, but I do.” Yes, Ma‘am, I do, too. And I would cer have awarded you a prize if you only had not led a Diamond at the first trick—which was a flop. It was curious how many solv- ers positively refused to believe that these problems were to be 28 d- double-dummy—with all cards exposed. ‘They would force an unfortun East or West to play “third-hand high”, ifice a well-guarded King to the enemies’ lone » Oddiy enough, these errors rarely. « curred in’ the North or South play. I wonder why? On some of the simpler prob- lems there were several thousand and sac correct answers to a single prob- lem. ‘The prizes were awarded not only for correct play, but “the directness with which solu- tions are arrived at and the clarity with which they are stated”. Notwithstanding this quali tion, which appeared in every issuc, a number of re quired over twenty pages, closely written, to express themselves. “Dircetness” was a stumbling block that a number of good Bridge-players could not over- come. A Contestant would write: “South opens with the Jack of Diamonds, West plays the cight of Diamonds, North puts on the six of Diamonds and East wins the trick with the King of Dia- monds.”* With each hand holding but one Diamond apicce, why not “A Diamond is led and Thousands of letters were re ceived asking how the solutions should be worded. Evidently my published solu- tions did not give satisfaction. I was strongly tempted to state t one of my books contained all the problems that were in the New York Theatre Program C test, together with the prize-win- ning answers, but I feared the publishers might not like it. Now that I come to think of the third prize cach week m mention of this very thing with my publisher's name-—and every thing. comicbooks.com