Susanna Clarke

You’re probably going to think I’ve made up this week’s hand. It’s one of those problems you read about in quiz books which rarely occur at the table — and, even when they do, almost nobody spots the dazzlingly imaginative solution till it’s too late. Anyway, this is a real hand, played years ago during a game of rubber bridge. But I can’t name the player who made it: he has expressly forbidden me from doing so as he doesn’t want to sound as if he’s been boasting. I know — it’s almost unheard of: a modest expert in a field of trumpet-blowing egomaniacs (remember Bob Hamman’s quip that you should never ask a top player who he thinks is the best in the world, only the second best).