HOROSCOPE

By Horoscope.com

Wednessday, February 8, 2023

ARIES — Unfortunately, Aries, this may be a period of conflict and tension in your family life, especially where siblings are concerned. Don’t you think it’s time to deal with these problems once and for all?

It would be nice to build a new relationship with them. It might be painful, but it’s up to you to take the first step.

TAURUS — You now seem to be able to do everything you want to do, Taurus. Things are going well as you reap the rewards of important past decisions you made. The obstacles that tended to get in your way are history now. Your family is happy and healthy. Your success is encouraging you to make plans for the future.

GEMINI — You need to be more spontaneous, Gemini, and stop trying to organize other people’s lives. You will see that it isn’t so hard to just let things happen. The unexpected also has a special charm. You’re a slave to routine. You need to take a big bite out of life and put your trust in chance for a while.

CANCER — You’re a hard worker, Cancer, and you expect the same from the people around you. Today you may want to take a look at your personal and work relationships.

Demanding person that you are, you may be concerned about the quality of your friendships. Don’t be afraid to separate good from bad.

LEO — Watch for any errors in orientation or strategic mistakes, Leo. You may be having some communication problems with almost everyone today. You feel like whatever you say falls on deaf ears and that no one really wants to listen to you. Don’t get frustrated. Relax and see it with humor. Just be an observer for one day and see what happens.

VIRGO — At the moment, there’s a great deal of electricity in the air, especially in your life at home. Ignore those people who try to provoke you. Don’t get involved in conflicts that could degenerate into fights. Go somewhere to be alone. Reenergize by really listening to your desires, feelings, and instincts.

LIBRA — If people say that

Sudoku

you’re stubborn when you’re just determined, let them talk, Libra, and do what you need to do. However, when you think you’re being determined but you’re actually being obstinate, you may want to listen to the people around you. They don’t tell you to calm down because they’re jealous of you but because they care about you.

SCORPIO — It’s time to face up to certain things about yourself that you may have denied for some time, Scorpio. You have only yourself to answer to, so relax. You aren’t the first one to have to deal with old issues that probably aren’t as shameful as you think. You don’t have to be proud of them. You can’t keep hiding them from yourself.

SAGITTARIUS — It scares you when life seems like it’s slipping through your fingers and you can’t slow it down. But it isn’t life that’s playing tricks on you. You aren’t seeing things as clearly as you should be. You feel a little left out, but don’t worry. You’re just out of energy. Try and think of this empty feeling inside as a kind of purification or a much-needed break from everything.

CAPRICORN — When you were younger, your humanity and generosity seemed limitless. You felt very involved in the world and what was going wrong with it. Today you may remember these great dreams. It may be time to make some of those dreams come true. It would be especially beneficial to you if you could somehow connect this to the work you do for a living.

AQUARIUS — You’ve always been sensitive to the pain of an unhappy childhood, Aquarius. Today you can no longer stand the thought of all those children living in misery, victims of war or other atrocities. And this becomes especially painful when you take a look at the happy children full of joy around you.

PISCES — You may feel like you need to work for a cause or political party, Pisces. The period you’re in right now is bringing you closer to social issues or humanitarian causes and pushing you to think about what you can do for people less fortunate. You can help develop a new strategy as far as human relations are concerned.

Daily Bridge

By FRANK STEWART

Tribune Content Agency

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

I was sitting in the club lounge with my friend the English professor when a player bragged about making today’s slam.

“My play was masterful,” he crowed. “I discarded a spade on dummy’s ace of diamonds — and another spade on the jack. West won and led a third diamond to the ten, and I threw the queen of spades. I took the ace of spades and got to dummy with trumps to ruff two spades. Dummy’s last spade was good, and I pitched my queen of clubs.

“If I rely on the spades for three tricks, I go down. Those are the true facts, and I claim that anyone else would have won less tricks.”

FALSE FACTS

“His play was better than his English,” the prof said. ‘Masterful’ means domineering; he meant ‘masterly.’ There are no false facts, and ‘claim’ is no substitute for ‘assert.’ ‘Fewer’ was correct, not ‘less.’” “I hate to hear someone flout his play,” I said.

“You’re hopeless,” the prof sighed. “‘Flout’ means to treat with contempt. The word you want is ‘flaunt,’ a boastful display.”

QUESTION You hold:

Codeword Puzzle

You open

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

one diamond, your partner bids one spade, you raise to two spades and he next bids 2NT. What do you say?

ANSWER: Your hand is too weak in high cards to accept an invitation to game. Bid three diamonds, suggesting a minimum, unbalanced hand with long diamonds and only three-card spade support. This sequence shows an advantage of raising spades directly; now you can sign off. South dealer E-W vulnerable