Responding to 1 Diamond - Real Life

Here's a hand that came up today.

Partner opens the bidding 1♦.

You hold this hand:
♠T76
♥973
♦54
♣AQJ86

What is your bid?

Think about it.

What would you bid and what does that show?

Here you would like to tell Partner about that wonderful ♣ suit but bidding a new suit at the 2 level shows 10 or more HCP. You don't have that much.

You can't Pass -- you have more than 6 HCP. You need to bid.

Here the correct bid is 1NT. This does NOT show a balanced hand. It just shows about 6 to a bad 10 HCP, no four card major and no support for Partner's minor.

That is your bid.

P.S.

After you bid 1NT guess what Partner bids? 2♣! You can now Pass and you are safe in that ♣ suit after all!