turn up trumps

Idioms  

1. End well, succeed, as in Some brief courtships and hasty marriages turn up trumps. This expression alludes to card games in which trump cards are superior to cards of other suits. [Late 1700s]

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Example Sentences

But the difficulty with manipulating reality and civil lists thus is that scenarios can turn bad as well as turn up trumps.

From The Guardian • Aug. 25, 2012

King Edward, who looked remarkably like Clement Freud, was an unexpected smash hit, the cheering implication being that you-know-who may turn up trumps.

From The Guardian • Mar. 24, 2010

"I don't think it was, I assure you," the boy said earnestly; "this thing really is going to turn up trumps."

From The Arbiter A Novel by Bell, Florence Eveleen Eleanore Olliffe, Lady

I’m trying still, though, to get a key made, and it may turn up trumps.

From Blind Policy by Fenn, George Manville

Of course my idea of a secret marriage was at the best only a plausible hypothesis; and I hardly dared to hug myself with the hope that it might turn up trumps.

From Birds of Prey by Braddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)