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.
