[campboy]

aguahombre, on 2011-December-22, 11:05, said:

In my world "meantime" would be in the middle..after questions started and before answers were completed. I never knew meantime to be before something.

Meantime can be before something when it indicates between two things. OP said that LHO leads, RHO starts asking and in the meantime (i.e., in between) dummy has moved the card.

It can't in this context mean in the middle of the second thing, since it ("starts asking") is not a continuous action. During the asking would actually be after the previous action mentioned.

[bluejak]

mycroft, on 2011-December-21, 13:22, said:

But it's inconceivable that declarer called for the low diamond, so ...

No, it is not. Players do irrational things from time to time, often being unable to explain even to themselves why they did it. Think about revoking: you could argue that it is inconceivable a player would revoke - but they do.



In general this sort of decision is one the TD just has to make after considering and weighing all the evidence. I would just advise TDs to make their own minds up after listening carefully [including, as Grattan Endicott once remarked, listening to what is not said] but not by following any particular rules. So I would not automatically rule against declarer because it is 3 to 1, nor would I rule for declarer because the play is irrational.

[c_corgi]

It is not clear from the OP that playing the 9 is irrational. If there is nowhere else to look for the 12th trick, declarer may have to judge whether LHO has underled the Ace or the Jack-Ten.