By Phillip AlderRobert Altman, a film director and screen-

writer who died in 2006, said, "To play it safeis not to play." He obviously was not a bridgeplayer.

How should South play as safely as possiblein this three-no-trump contract? West leads hisfourth-highest heart and East puts up the jack.

North's three-diamond rebid guarantees atleast a six-card suit and promises a good 14 toa so-so 17 high-card points. (Note that six dia-monds is only slightly worse than a finesse. Itneeds West to have the trump king, but fails ifhe has four or five diamonds.)

The original declarer grabbed the first trickwith his heart king and ran the diamond 10.East happily won with his king and returnedthe heart two (his original fourth-highest) andWest took four tricks in the suit for down one.

South, as defeated declarers are wont to do,grumbled about bad luck. But this gave Northhis opportunity. "You know from the first trickthat West has the ace-10 of hearts hoveringover your queen-nine. If East had the ace, hewould have played it, third hand high. And ifEast had the jack and 10, he would have put upthe 10, the lower of equal cards when playingthird hand high. To keep East off the lead, playa club to dummy's king and run the spade 10. Itloses and West shifts to a diamond, but youwith dummy's ace, play a spade to your ace,lead a club to dummy's ace, and play a spade to

your nine. You take three spades, one heart, onediamond and four clubs. Your chances are 77.6percent, much better than the 50-50 diamondfinesse."

Copyright 2011, United Feature Syndicate

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Your way isno better or worse; it just is. As long as itworks for you, it works -- period. Try not tocompare yourself to others in any way for thenext 48 hours. Focus instead on your ownscene.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You willbring your very best efforts to the table.You’ll do what you can in the moment, andwhen the moment is gone, you’ll say, “Well, Idid what I could.” And you’ll be right.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). There’s a timeyou have only a dim recollection of, and ifyou think hard, you’ll remember it even less.Such a time will only be remembered whenyou relax and enjoy yourself.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You’ll put on agood face for your friends. Is that really you?An internal struggle rages on, a battlebetween who you think you should be andwho you essentially are.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Your mood: con-tent. There is nothing to need or want, andthat’s a good feeling. Tomorrow your ambi-tion kicks in anew, so enjoy the presentpeaceful mental state.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You would loveto witness a mystical happening. As imagina-tive and open-minded as you are, you wouldhandle such a breach of the agreed-upon real-ity quite well. Hold on to hope, and such anevent could happen today.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Your steadyapproach to domestic matters makes yourhome a place of peace and tranquility. Thestability you provide is a gift and is more nec-essary than you know.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). A project willdemand much of you. You will win the prizefor “the most stamina.” You will keep goinguntil there is no one else left standing, andyou’ll continue for many hours beyond thatpoint.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Thoughyou’ve tried to be economical in your deal-ings, you now realize there is a degree ofwaste that must happen in order for you tocreate your new reality.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Monkeysand birds preen constantly. Goats like you arenot as worried about appearances, thoughyou’ll do something extra in this departmentnow -- like get a haircut or take an extra-longbath.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Who will doyour bidding? When you are willing and able,you usually do it yourself. Once in a while,it’s nice to know you can trust someone elseto do it for you.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). The one whofinishes first is not the winner. The winnerwill be determined by some other criteriamore subtle and strange -- for instance, theone who involves the most senses while lis-tening.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (June 15). In thepast, you might have deemed a circumstanceas “unfair” and written it off as simply theway the world works. This year will be differ-ent. You’ll organize your world the way youwant it and turn the fortunes in your favor.Your keen mind, practical ideas and networkof connections make it all possible. Capricornand Cancer people adore you. Your luckynumbers are: 5, 48, 32, 11 and 6.

DUSTIN

BORN L

OSE

RBC

BEETL

E B

AIL

EY

BABY

BLU

ESHAGAR

ZIT

S

“HOROSCOPES by HOLIDAY”

BLO

NDIE

MARVIN

DIL

BERT

FRANK &

EARNES

T

BRIDGE

MODERATELY CONFUSED FAMILY CIRCUS

DENNIS THE MENACE

GRIN AND BEAR IT BIZARRO

GASOLI

NE A

LLEY

MUTTS

(Answers tomorrow)MOUND SCARF CANCEL OYSTERYesterday’s Jumbles:

Answer: He wasn’t going to win the tennis match dueto his — MANY FAULTS

Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, assuggested by the above cartoon.

THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAMEby David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

Unscramble these four Jumbles,one letter to each square,to form four ordinary words.

NOUIN

SUGNT

STOEDS

EEPPOL

©2011 Tribune Media Services, Inc.All Rights Reserved.

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Word of the Day:

Cipher Solution: “You’re a grand old flag ... the emblem of the land I love. /The home of the free and the brave.” - George M. Cohan

Enid News & Eagle Wednesday, June 15, 2011 ■ Page B5

Celebrity Cipher: Today’s clue: S equals F

“O CEB’H PUH CEXB EB BEMECN UDKU SEJ CEOBP

XZWHURUJ UDKU HZUN CE. HE UWAZ ZOK EXB.”

- DOHHDU JOAZWJC

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orison (noun) –a prayer