HOROSCOPE

Horoscope.com

Thursday, February 23, 2023

ARIES — You may feel insecure about your appearance today, Aries. This can be a vicious cycle to get into. The result is almost always negative. Rather than pick yourself apart, consider finding ways to accept your looks.

Whether it’s your weight or age or anything else, if you can’t accept yourself, you will always find something wrong no matter how many changes you make.

TAURUS — Jealousy might rear its head today, Taurus. The key to it all is to understand where and why you feel insecure. If you’re jealous of a mate, what’s going on in the relationship? Is trust an issue? If this comes up at work, is it because you don’t feel recognized for your contributions? Examine the cause of jealousy. It’s almost always a symptom of a deeper problem.

GEMINI — Does a love partner appear to be moody today, Gemini? One moment your friend may be enthusiastic and optimistic about the future, and the next moment overcome with gloom. Don’t let this get to you, and certainly don’t get overly upset with your partner. Listen rather than talk, and be patient. Tomorrow your friend’s moods should be back to normal.

CANCER — Are you working two jobs, Cancer? Today one could demand a lot of you, probably at the expense of the other. You tend to be very conscientious and responsible, so this might bother you, but don’t let it get to you. The day may come when the situation is reversed.

LEO — Your natural urge to innovate may seem to have vanished today, Leo. You may not feel like doing anything outside of routine tasks that you can do automatically. You’re suffering from low biorhythms, so don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’re turning into a lazy bum. Relax today, and tomorrow you will be your usual energetic, inventive self.

VIRGO — The urge to stay in and rearrange your furniture might hit you today, Virgo. You may want to clean out the shelves in your kitchen, add some new knickknacks, or rearrange your books into specific classifications. This may be a lot of work, but it will also be a lot of fun. Get other members of the

By FRANK STEWART

Tribune Content Agency

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Cy the Cynic says that health insurance is like one of those hospital gowns: You only think you’re covered.

Cy was declarer at today’s four hearts. West led the queen of clubs, and East played the deuce. Cy took the ace and cashed the A-Q of trumps. When West discarded, Cy couldn’t draw the missing trump; he needed dummy’s king as an entry to a diamond trick. So Cy next led the ace and ten of diamonds.

Unfortunately for the Cynic, West won and led a third diamond, and East ruffed dummy’s queen. Cy pitched his spade loser, but he still lost two clubs. Down one.

Not Obvious

It’s not obvious, but Cy could take out insurance by leading the ten of diamonds at Trick Four. West wins and leads another club, and East takes the king.

Then East can lead the jack of trumps to dislodge dummy’s entry, but Cy can unblock his ace of diamonds, force out West’s jack of clubs, win West’s spade shift and reach dummy with the nine of clubs to pitch his spade loser on the queen of diamonds.

You hold:

Your partner opens one spade, you bid two hearts, household to help and turn it into a party.

LIBRA — Are you expecting an important communication, perhaps business related, Libra? If it comes today, it will probably come late. If you feel you must sit around and wait for it, find something else to do in the meantime or you will drive yourself crazy. If it doesn’t arrive by the end of the day, resign yourself to waiting. Don’t panic. It will come soon enough.

SCORPIO — A check you’ve been expecting to receive by mail will probably be delayed, Scorpio. It’s nothing to worry about. Chances are it got hung up at the post office and will arrive soon. Don’t waste your time worrying needlessly. If you feel it necessary, make contingency plans for getting by.

SAGITTARIUS — You may not be your usual cheery self today, Sagittarius. Gloom may have come over you. You may doubt everything that happens in your life. No matter how promising a career, romance, or money matter seems, you think the worst. Treat yourself today. Get a massage, relax in a hot tub, and rub and soak out those doubting spirits.

CAPRICORN — Happy memories of a beloved grandparent may float to the surface today, Capricorn, and you may wonder why. Something or someone you’ve encountered in the past few days may have reminded you of this person. It’s nice and it isn’t an accident. What personality trait of yours does your grandparent call to mind?

AQUARIUS — A meeting may take place today that you don’t want to attend, Aquarius. It could be long and boring, but you should still make the effort to listen. Colleagues will want to discuss the issues with you afterward, and you might learn something in spite of the boredom. Think of it this way - it’s only an hour or so.

PISCES — A project could be successfully completed today, Pisces. Discussions may already be taking place about the next one, but you aren’t inclined to think about that, at least not right away. You will want to bask in your accomplishment and relax for a while. No one can blame you for that, so don’t worry if you don’t go to brainstorming sessions.

INSTRUCTIONS

Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every 3-by-3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9. that means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box. Sudoku puzzles appear on the Diversions page Monday through Saturday.

Crossword Puzzle

Answers to previous CODEWORD

How to play Codeword

Codeword is a fun game with simple rules, and a great way to test your knowledge of the English language. Every number in the codeword grid is ‘code’ for a letter of the alphabet. Thus, the number 2 may correspond to the letter L, for instance. All puzzles come with a few letters to start. Your first move should be to enter these letters in the puzzle grid. If the letter S is in the box at the bottom of the page underneath the number 2, your first move should be to find all cells numbered 2 in the grid and enter the letter S. Cross the letter S off the list at the bottom of the grid. Remember that at the end you should have a different letter of the alphabet in each of the numbered boxes 1- 26, and a word in English in each of the horizontal and vertical runs on the codeword grid.

Puzzle

he rebids two spades and you try three clubs. Partner then bids three diamonds. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner seems to have six spades, four diamonds and minimum opening values. (He might have had a diamond holding such as A-x-x.) Bid 4NT, planning to bid 5NT next to confirm holding all four aces. You hope partner will bid a grand slam if he has adequate winners.