Bridge Logic Puzzle

   by Dennis Ryan

Five local experts (all of whom are entirely fictional and bear no relationship to any actual bridge players, living or dead,) have volunteered their services for the Little Deuce Coup Bridge Club’s annual charity pro-am individual.  They are, in random order:

    "Wolfman" Bobby

    "Wrothful" Al

    "Whooping" Crane

    "Moll" Walker

    "Dozin" Deas

Each expert is a national champion in a different event. These events are, in random order:

    Knockout Teams

    Swiss Teams

    Open Pairs

    Mixed Pairs

    Individual

During the event, each of these five experts played board 11 with one of the following five novices (all of whom are similarly fictional and bear no relationship to any actual players, living or dead.)  In random order, these novices are: 

    Carlotta Bottoms

    Misty Claire

    Ima Palooka

    Howie Muckwell

    Ira Voke 

The event format was an individual “Over the Rainbow” movement in which each expert was stationary in the North seat at tables 1 through 5. The novice players moved around in the other seats, playing sometimes as the experts' opponents and sometimes as their partners. This was board 11:

Dealer South
None vulnerable

North  	♠ KQ2
           	♥ 43
           	♦ AQ
            	♣ A97542

South  	♠ AJ10653
           	♥ K752
          	♦ 4
          	♣ K3         

At every table, the contract was 6S by South. Later, when comparing scores, the novices discovered that only one of them had made the slam.

At every table, the opening lead by West was the ♣J, won by South with the ♣K, all following. At every table, South then cashed the ♠A at trick two, all following. After the first two tricks:

    Carlotta Bottoms led the ♦4 at trick 3.

    Misty Claire led a trump to dummy’s ♠Q at trick 3 and cashed the trump ♠K at trick 4.

    Ima Palooka led a trump to dummy's ♠K at trick 3 and cashed the ♦A at trick 4.

    Howie Muckwell led a trump to dummy's ♠K at trick 3 and cashed the ♣A at trick 4.

    Ira Voke cashed the ♠J at trick 3 (which held the trick because he had played the ♠K underneath the ♠A at trick 2) and led the ♦4 at trick 4.  

After reading the following clues, can you match each expert with his/her novice partner on board 11, identify the event in which the expert is a national champion, and identify the table number where the expert sat?

Clues:

   1.  The novice who made 6S played with an expert who was neither the Knockout Teams champion nor the Swiss Teams champion.

   2.  “Whooping” Crane is not the Open Pairs champion.

   3.  “Moll” Walker sat at a lower-numbered table than Ira Voke, but the Knockout Teams champion sat at a higher-numbered table than both of them. 

   4.  “Wrothful” Al did not play with the novice who made 6S on board 11. 

   5.  “Wolfman” Bobby sat at a lower-numbered table than Howie Muckwell, who sat at a lower-numbered table than the Individual champion (who did not sit at table 5.)

   6.  Ima Palooka did not play with the Knockout Teams champion. 

   7.  “Moll” Walker did not play with Howie Muckwell on board 11. 

   8.  Misty Claire sat at a higher-numbered table than “Dozin” Deas, but at a lower-numbered table than the Open Pairs champion. 

Less experienced logic puzzle solvers may find the following diagram helpful in solving this puzzle. Cross off all the possibilities you can eliminate, and identify clearly all information that becomes certain as you learn it.

Answer will be published in the December issue.