"What three words does a woman most want to hear?" Cy the Cynic, a shameless chauvinist, asked Wendy, my club's feminist.

"That should be obvious, even to you," Wendy said.

"Sure," said the Cynic. "They're 'I'll clean up.'"

I think "Well done, partner" may run a close third. In today's deal, Cy led the jack of spades against 3NT, and Wendy, East, pondered. To take the ace and return a spade looked obvious, but South's bid of 2NT had shown 10 or 11 points; Cy couldn't have spades headed by the K-J-10.

FINESSES

Wendy saw that even if South lacked the king of hearts, he might run the hearts with finesses. If he had the queen of clubs (likely), he had nine tricks when he got in.

So Wendy looked to the diamonds. The defense couldn't take four diamonds unless Cy had the queen, so Wendy led a low diamond at Trick Two. Cy won and returned a diamond for down one.

"Did Cy say anything after your fine defense?" I asked Wendy.

"Three words," she sighed. "'Your deal, partner.'"

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: S 5 H A Q J 9 3 D 10 8 6 3 C A K 3. Your partner opens one club, you bid one heart and he rebids two clubs. What do you say?

ANSWER: If your partner has a suitable minimum hand, you can make six clubs. He might hold J 7 3, K 6, A Q, Q J 9 8 6 2. One option is to jump to four clubs, forcing. If he next cue-bid four diamonds, you could bid six clubs. Another is to bid two diamonds, then support the clubs, describing a good hand with a singleton spade.