A Shameless Hussy

3
K 10 4
A 10 3 2
K Q J 9 2
K 4 Q 9 7 5 2
Q 6 2 A J 9 8 7 5
K Q J 8 6 5 9 7
5 4 ------
A J 10 8 6
3
4 Contract: 6 clubs
A 10 8 7 6 3 Opening lead: K of diamonds

It'd be hard to conceive of a hand more inviting of a crossruff than this one. Indeed, if this hand were a woman, I call her a shameless hussy for displaying her wares so openly. You might start first with a simple count. You ruff four spades in dummy. Four winners in the short hand and six in the long add up to ten and you've got two side-suit aces for twelve. So you want to start right away, ruffing spades in the short trump hand. Is it that easy?
Well, just about. That's this hand now, not all crossruffs. Just take that opening lead, a spade to the ace, ruff a spade, ruff a diamond, ruff a spade, ruff a diamond, ruff a spade, ruff a diamond, ruff a spade and bingo. That's 9 tricks. You've now got a club and 3 hearts in dummy opposite a low heart and three trump, all high, in the south hand. Lose a heart and claim.
If you start ruffing diamonds rather than spades, you're going to wind up with two trump in dummy, opposite a low spade still to be ruffed. However, there would be no problem on this hand. Since you didn't get a trump opening lead, you can afford one round of trump. Overtake a club honor, ruff the last spade and claim, conceding a heart.
What did the field do? Well, two in slam didn't make it and about 4 in 5 clubs didn't find an overtrick. Here's what one declarer did: Take the ace of diamonds, draw trump in two rounds . . whoa! Now you can't make it. Had spades split 4-3, you could make it though the play was careless. But this hand shows that careless play isn't always wiped out with favorable breaks. Another, playing from the opposite side of the table, got the 9 of diamonds opening lead, and also took two rounds of trump. No good.
I would say there are three basic criteria for a good cross-ruffing hand, to wit:
(1) A distribution that allows it, i.e., a shortage in this hand opposite some length vs. a shortage in that hand opposite some length. (2) HIgh trump, not necessarily every single one, but high trump down to about the 8 or 7. You may be able to afford one overruff, perhaps one overruff and a trump lead. Indeed, missing the king, you may or may not be ruffing through it, giving the defense no chance for an overruff. (3) Your side-suit winners are easily cashable without danger. If you have a side suit that looks like this:
K J 8 5 4
Q 10 6

it would be largely or even totally lost in a crossruff, though the potential is great, and you'd probably want to think of drawing trump and exploiting that potential. You'd better look to hands where your side suit winners are aces and A K's. You can see that the above hand displays all the classic factors in a good crossruff.
You certainly have the distribution for it. You have trump all the way down to the 6, and only two trump under what the opponents hold. Since you can afford one trump lead -- but not two -- you can even eat up one of those small trump with a trump lead to dummy, at which point, you'd only need one diamond ruff with the three to assure yourself of enough high trump, provided you start with spades. Actually, if you don't get a trump lead, you can even go to the ace of spades and lead a low heart toward the king.
It doesn't "work", though you hardly need it, but it does assure that you won't be caught in the wrong hand now. If you have a side suit, you lead it and ruff. If not, you only have trump and can claim.