What does ‘play a blinder’ mean? Is it a popular phrase?

I came across the phrase ‘played a blinder’ in the following paragraph of the New York Times’ December 12 article, titled “British Euro Farce,” dealing with British Prime Minister David Cameron’s veto of EU treaty reform in December.

Marx observed that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. Having a British prime minister say he’ll only go along with Germany saving the euro if City of London banks get an exemption from a financial transactions tax, while a Tory M.P. parties with Nazi lookalikes, and another Tory boasts of Cameron having “played a blinder,” is about as farcical as it gets.

As I am unfamiliar with the phrase, ‘played a blinder,’ I checked its meaning on Google, and found that only the Free Dictionary comes up with a definition:

to perform with a lot of skill, especially when you are playing sport, as an example: He's played a blinder in every game so far this season.

Apparently it indicates performing the play skillfully and successfully. Can I apply this definition to the above sentence as it is?

Does it mean many Tories believe that Cameron vetoed the EU treaty reform successfully 'with a lot of skill’? Why is “played a blinder” in quotes?

Is ‘play a blinder’ a popular idiom, not only in sports but in all other domains, in both UK and US?

Solution 1:

Play a blinder is British slang for play exceptionally well, successfully execute a cunning plan, etc.

All instances shown on that link are UK usage - set the corpus to American, and there are none at all. Here's a 1959 instance of a blinder being used to describe a staggeringly high bill.

It dates from at least the early 60s. A blinder is normally something blindingly good, dazzling, startling, etc. - but sometimes it's just as exceptional, only bad.

Solution 2:

"Played a blinder" is certainly a UK sports idiom for brilliant performance and so metaphorically in other areas. It is not clear whether it is the spectators or the opponents who are being blinded by the brilliance.

The ealiest version I can easily find is from The Spectator in January 1957 talking about a Welsh rugby player.

Solution 3:

This idiom was used regularly at Birmingham City Football matches in the 60's and 70's when I was a young supporter. If a player was quick witted enough to outwit his opponent or have an exceptionally good game then "Trevor Francis" played an absolute blinder! The origin probably goes back to the local Small Heath (where Birmingham City are based) gang Peaky Blinders and the way they "played" and indeed were "played" by rivals and law enforcement agencies