Forewarned was forearmed

The 4-0 spade split threatened to wreck today’s 7 ♠ , kindly sent in by Simon Stocken of Yorkshire. However, West’s Lightner Double of 7♦ told declarer he held no spades. Forewarned was forearmed.

Declarer saw a ray of hope. He would need to reduce his trump length to the same as East’s and finish in dummy at trick 12, holding ♠ Q10 over East’s ♠ J8. Perfect timing would be required and he would need to find East with three diamonds — not so unlikely given West’s exotic bidding.

Declarer ruffed a minor, East discarding a heart, and for the first time (trick nine) led over to a top spade (any earlier and he would have gone down). He ruffed a minor, crossed to the other top spade and, oh joy, held ♠Q10 over East’s ♠J8. Thirteen tricks and grand slam made.

I find it extraordinary that to make 7♠, you have to delay leading a spade to dummy until trick nine. The subtle reason for this is you need to use dummy’s diamond entries before the spade entries, otherwise East can discard a diamond as you ruff the third club (in the trump-shortening process) and ruff a diamond. Would declarer have made 7♠ if West had kept his trap shut? No chance. Then there’d have been no story.