Mark and I played 61 games while we were in South America, 39 of them while on our cruise. I won 44, Mark won fifteen, and we tied two. This will likely be the longest Scrabble report I have ever posted, longer than any after a Nationals tournament.
In game 51 I had the chance to play one of the rarest 8LW naturally, but chickened out of it. I am still kicking myself for not even trying it, just for bragging rights. I saw it…then decided against it. That word will probably come up again after another one hundred thousand games. Sigh.
I recorded the locations where we played our games, and I will introduce each set accordingly:
Buenos Aires:
01 I played VERGLaS (92) and Mark played ROaDIES (71). There were eleven A’s on the board. I held the repetitive rack HIIIMMT which I arranged to form the rather violent HIT MIMI. Turns out the shortest steal for HIIIMMT is four letters, ACCP, to make aMpHIMIcTIc. 355-315
02 Playing first in even-numbered games, I opened with OVERBUY (88). That rack only plays through an S to make an 8LW, and there is an anagram pair: OVERBUYS and OVERBUSY. I also played TrINDLED (86), TAWNIES (96) and IRONIZED (70). Mark played GRiNDERS (62). 553-262
Montevideo:
03 I played the game’s only bingos, STeNTOR (67) and BITTEREr (72). 404-327
We played game three in the lobby of our hotel, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mark’s lost suitcase. At 10:50 p.m. an Uber driver pulled up and dropped off Mark’s suitcase, which had been misdirected to Colonia. Read all about Mark’s lost suitcase here.
04 I played OAKIEST (67) and ZONAGES (79)*. My second bingo rack only plays through an I to make an 8LW, the rather obvious AGONIZES. Mark played sINGLED (77). His first win. 372-388
05 Mark played first and opened with DENSiTY (78). He also played sIDINGS (68) as his penultimate move. I played GISARME (82). I went out first, and earned six points from Mark’s rack to achieve our first tie. 378-378
Buenos Aires:
06 I played MONSTERA (64). Mark played second and his first move was the flashy JUMPIEST (90). He also played TorNADO (75). JUMPIEST is not as low-probability as I would have thought, falling at 22619 out of 31736. 391-395
07 I played TaNNEST (76), OrBITTED (90)* and RESTIVE (78). I was doubtful about ORBITTED, as the spelling with two T’s didn’t look right, but as a DWS-DWS it was too lucrative not to chance it. I was burdened with consonants and one of my racks was FHLPST? The only 8LW it makes are FLeSHPoT and SHoPLiFT. I also held FHLSTT? which makes FLaTTiSH and TweLFTHS. I recorded one of my racks, which I thought might have an interesting steal. I held AEKLOOW, which needs DMN to make mOOnWALKEd. After my third bingo I emptied the bag and the last three tiles were DDD. Mark played CURRIES (82). 471-340
Start of cruise:
08 I drew AEEIIOU as my first rack. I exchanged all seven. I played LAGENDs (82), LATERANS (75)* and RATTONS (70). I missed a triple-triple with my first bingo rack. With an E already on the board in sixth position, I could have played DANEGELd or DANEGELt. I have phonied in these last two games and am, quite frankly, not happy about it. I know very well that LATERANS anagrams to ASTERNAL, and after I played it I saw it, and thus knew it was phony. I had played LATERANS because it fit so beautifully, so I get tainted points for style. Mark however out-styled me with his flashier and legit bingo LIFELIKe (95). 466-357
09 My only bingo was NATTERS (72). Mark exchanged as his first move, but got down two bingos: FAErIES (65) and MINGLEs (76). Another tie, 362-362
10 I played ZANIEST (91) and Mark played NOsIEST (76). One of my racks was EEOQTUU and the shortest steal is ARRS to make TErraQUEOUs. 401-359
11 I played the game’s only bingos, SATRaPS (77) and ONERIER (70). 381-329
12 I played MIKRoNs (76) and also got 82 for JIAOS and 60 in a setup to make FINDS / SNAW. I was overburdened with R’s at the beginning of this game. My first rack was AEILRUU, so I played LUAU (8), keeping EIR. I drew four tiles: RRR? so my new rack was EIRRRR? My second move was ERR (5) where I played just RR. In my replacement draw I picked R? giving me EIRRR?? I noted that there was an open N yet did not see any of the three possible 8LW: fuRRINER, INfERReR or oRNERIeR. INfERReR would have been the easiest to find, but the two blanks coupled with three R’s, and the inconvenience of dealing with an abundance of R’s again, didn’t inspire me to look for anything. My third play was, again, ERR (10) and then I chose KMN and bingoed with MIKRoNs. 414-372
The shortest steals for EIRRRR? are REfRIgeRatoR and supERcaRRIeR.
13 I played GREETErS (64) and LUNARIaN (74). Mark got 65 for TIZ. 420-316
14 I opened with HEPARiN (80) and also got down OUTRIdE (62). Mark got 56 for ZAG. Mark got all four S’s in this game. 433-384
15 Mark opened with ZETAS (48) and I used his S to play VOLOST (13), getting rid of a V and asynergic O’s. I was pleased to find the flashy MYRIApOD (76) and also got down aVENGED (86). Mark played COSIEST (84). Mark got all four S’s in this game, too. 410-328
16 I opened the game with AvAILED (68) and also played OPTIONAL (78) and FLASHEd (93). My draw after OPTIONAL was the horrid DNORUUU, yet played UNROUND (10) on my next turn. The shortest steal for DNORUUU is qUaDRUmaNOUs. In the past three games I only picked one S, however this game marked the sixth in a row where I picked both blanks. 490-252
17 Mark played the only bingos in this game: TEAsING (76) and ARrIVED (74). 306-368
18 I played ULTERIoR (66) and APTERIA (72). My rack on my fourth turn was AAEGNNO and I played GOANNA (12), keeping an E, yet on my replacement draw I picked EEEENO. I see that AAEGNNO makes only one 8LW, NEOPAGAN. I held the rack AINPQTU and saw PIQUANT, but there was noplace to play it. Mark played fOGLESS (87). 468-335
After Stanley, Falkland Islands:
19 I played CONFUsE (85), HEmIOLIA (62) and ABIDERS (87). I played my second bingo from the H-, holding the vowel-heavy rack AEIILO? I thought that my second bingo was already a plural, and challenged HeMIOLIAS unsuccessfully when Mark added an -S to it. I definitely knew what word I was confusing HEMIOLIA with: HORDEOLA (which is already plural) as I thought my bingo had something to do with the eye. HEMIOLIA is a musical term; HORDEOLA are swellings of the eyelid. I held the rack EIIRSTX and formed it to spell RIXIEST. I see that it makes only one 8LW, SEXTARII. 437-321
20 I played INFARES (80) and CRINITE (67). Mark played BISTROs (85) and REVEALS (79). Mark’s final score was 382. My score before I bingoed out was 284. Thus 284 + 67 for CRINITE = 351. I got twice the value of Mark’s last rack–DHILNQT–which is 40 points + 351 = 391. I did not dream I would win this game 391-382.
21 I played LEGIONEd (74) £ and Mark played SLINGERS (62) and UNhOOKS (76). My first bingo anagrams to the legit ELOIGNEd. My mind was elsewhere as I missed all three 7LW with the rack EEEGIL?: ELEGIEs, ELEGIsE and ELEGIzE. And when I did eventually play a bingo, I played a £ word. Mark found the only 7LW with his second bingo rack, good job. Good thing he was able to play that 7LW, because KNOOSU?? makes no 8LW. 369-412
22 I played PISsOIR (77) and MaNDRIL (76). 437-284
23 Going second, my first move was VANTAgE (75). I also played ANGUINES (68)*. Mark played EArNERS (72). 392-319
24 I played dEBUTED (82) and SONSIER (71). Mark played IRONiZE (80). 395-407
25 Mark played RATTERs (67) which I challenged unsuccessfully. This was the only game we did not finish because Mark had to leave to play in one of the cruise’s table tennis tournaments. After fourteen turns for Mark and thirteen turns for me, Mark was far ahead at 356 to my 219. We are counting it as a win for him.
26 I played TYRAmINE (83) and Mark played ElECTOR (73). I missed the common bingo in ADEELIS = AEDILES. 316-337
27 Very interesting start to this game as the first four moves were exchanges. As this was an odd-numbered game I held the power to end it if Mark decided to exchange, or otherwise score zero, on his third turn. Had he done so, I definitely would have ended the game on the sixth consecutive score of zero as my rack was EINRST? so my final score would have been −6. Mark did play to open the game on his third turn. I responded with aNESTRI (83) and later got down CROCEIN (72) and FEASIBLy (78). I loathe getting O’s and one of my racks was DIOOOT? That rack makes no 7LW yet there are two 8LW: OcTOpOID and ODOnTOId, the former of which would have played. 441-315
After Ushuaia:
28 I played RETInOL (69), ENSNARED (63) and SICKENS (94). In spite of me winning this game by a good spread, I missed so many 7LW. I recorded three racks and missed them all: AABDESU = AUBADES (the only one of the three that I can excuse myself for missing simply because it’s so oddball, although I knew it); ADEOPST = PODESTA; and unbelievably AEENNST = NEATENS. 450-304
29 I played IGNITES (75) and SALINEs (91). Mark opened the game with ORAtION (64). At the end of the game my clock read 00:32 and Mark was down to the limit at 00:00. One second overtime and he loses by 8, but he won by 2. 344-346
30 I played HOMIEST (76) and Mark played EMPEROR (88) and dAWNINg (87). Mark alternated the second and third vowels of his second bingo, going back and forth a few times but fortunately settled on the correct spelling. 337-453
31 I played GROUPIE (67) and BASSETtS (60). Since I played my second bingo through the A that was on the centre right star, I missed a much better play with ASBESToS or ASBESTuS, both scoring 80. Holding only one vowel and three S’s I never even considered finding a bingo that began with the A. Mark played DEFLaTER (72). 341-337
32 I played TiELESS (81) and got 60 for IXORA. My rack after TiELESS was the horrid AAAAOOR. One of my racks was EEKNSTT which makes no 7LW or 8LW yet the shortest steal is puNKETTES. Mark played DENuDING (80). 433-332
33 I played VIROIDs (74) and got 77 for SQUAD. My rack after VIROIDs was AEIIIOT, another PBCR (post-bingo crap rack). At one time I held the rack ADEORST which makes two 7LW yet the only bingo lane available was to build through an R. I didn’t even look for ROADSTER, which would have stretched to the TWS. 432-271
After Punta Arenas:
34 No bingos in this game, but I did score 72 for QUARTZ. A situation arose where I could score big and block the board if I could play a word that began with a V leading to a K that was already on the board. I had a tough time thinking of anything other than VOLK, but there are only two more, of any length: VIDEODISK and VIEWBOOK. 341-332
35 I played IOLITES (69), SOLDiER (80) and ENTRAIN (72). Mark played first and had no trouble at all finding NEATENS (66). (See my notes for game #28.) In spite of that solitary bingo, Mark pulled out the win. 442-446
36 I played LaSANGE (76)* and NONMEAT (85). I knew immediately after I played my first bingo that it was wrong; I intended to play LaSAGNE (and I know how to spell LASAGNA). This wasn’t a case of mistakenly transposing tiles; I was thinking too hard trying to phoneticize the ɲ and wanting to slot the G on the DLS. 404-357
37 Mark opened with JNANA (40) and I played through his A to make UNSTEADY (72). I also played BISNAGAS (64) and cANOOdLE (62), three oddball bingos if I do say so. Mark played ELEcTION (68). During this game I rear-hooked JACKS with a -Y to make JACKSY, forgetting that JACKSY £ was Collins. Mark held me on it but let it go. 423-364
38 One bingo each: my second-last play EnSUITE (70) and Mark’s COOlERS (65). 367-356
39 I played GROANERS (63) and Mark played REVIsION (80). One of my racks was AAANQSU which to my surprise builds through an S to make SASANQUA. 404-345
40 I played LINGUAE (64) and Mark played REINJURE (84). 383-378
41 No bingos in this game, even scoring lower than game #34. 338-316
42 I played MEDIATES (94), SENARII (72) and got 68 for ARROZ. Mark played PAdDIEs (72) and got 56 for QUIVER. 536-364
43 Going second, I opened with MAGIsTER (61). I later played TORSADE (79) and DENTILS (79). Mark scored pretty high in spite of playing no bingos. 442-393
44 I opened the game with ACONITE (74) with the C on the DLS, although I was mighty tempted to play it for 70, slotting the A to the right of the centre left TWS. The C would inhibit overlaps which would possibly leave the TWS space open, waiting to be front-hooked with a T- for TACONITE. I decided against this as I feared it might backfire as I know I have told Mark before about this word and its front T-hook. I also played EXAMINED (122) as a DWS-DWS and got down DREARIES (61). 504-275
45 Mark exchanged as his opening move and I started off with RERENTS (66). I also played iNHERING (63) and AlTERIOR (68)*. I honestly thought that ALTERIOR was a word! Had I found its anagram, RETAILOR, first, then I would have known that it had no anagrams. Mark bingoed on his second play with SEDATION (60). 453-345
Last night on cruise:
46 I played SoLICIT (80) and Mark played GRAVeST (92). In this game I picked seven O’s and seven I’s. 425-398
Back in Buenos Aires:
47 I played INTERLAP (83) and REDREAm (74). Mark played RESTAGE (79). 432-402
48 I opened the game with SPANNED (76) and later played ATROPiN (72). I held the rack AEIJNV? and missed JAVElIN. 420-274
49 I played TALCOUS (70) and SPAEING (73). I held the rack ENRRSUY and missed NURSERY. Mark played REmOVAlS (60). 380-331
50 I played REpOINT (86) and Mark played SpLICED (73). There were four P’s on the board. 338-382
In Buenos Aires EZE airport waiting for our flight to Brasília:
51 I played TROLlIED (64) and INJUREd (77). I held the rack CILMSTY and saw the possibilty of playing MYSTICAL but there wasn’t an available A. Another Y was on the board, provided I found an 8LW that ended in -Y. I considered MYSTICLY for a very long time, but thought that it was spelled MYSTICALLY. I was crestfallen when I found out that MYSTICLY is acceptable. Had I played it, it would have been the second-rarest-occurring 8LW I recall playing, falling at 30697 out of 31736 8LW. The least probable word I have played is still ALBIZziA, which, since the latest lexicon update, now ranks 30802 out of 31736. Second rarest is BUHLWORK, which I played naturally (through the O) at 29995. In third place is BECAPPED, also played naturally, at 28759. BaRRATrY falls at 28657. I chose to play MYSTIC instead. 398-292
In Brasília:
52 I played REGALES (76). Mark, playing second, opened with TOADIES (77). He also played SQuATTER (70) and ZeBU (72). 378-411
53 I played URBANISe (70). One of my racks was EMMNNUU and the shortest steal for all that triplicate duplication is UNiMMUNizEd. Mark played ENTAILED (65) and CANARieS (66) (through my e in URBANISe). 382-361
54 I played CITaTED (70)* and ROUTINES (77). I held the rack EGHNORS and arranged it to spell HONGERS, but could not see the legit bingo GORHENS. I recorded what letters were available to play through and missed the 8LW through a C: GROSCHEN. 393-330
55 Mark played the only bingo in this game: SPIDerS (68). 370-277
56 I opened the game with ScOOTED (68) and got 104 for ASHAMES £. Prior to my Collins second bingo, my racks were AAAMNSS then AAEMRSS. The former builds through another M to make MAMASANS. I missed AMASSER in the latter. ASHAMES builds through only a G to make GAMASHES. Mark played sCREWED (89). 409-376
57 I played RELATED (74) and CLOTTIER (62) £. CLOTTY is in the NWL lexicon but doesn’t inflect. Mark played MESSIESt (86) and VIDEOINg (67). 335-415
Last night in Brasília:
58 I opened the game with three bingos in a row: ANERGIC (76), THrEATEN (61) then NUTSIEST (66). I also played OXIDIsE (81) and got 56 for JUROR. The rack I had to make JUROR was EIJORU? and while getting 56 for it + 81 on my next turn for OXIDIsE for a total of 137 points was nice (and strategically the better sequence of events), I must admit, that had I seen the 7LW in that rack, bOUJIER, I would have played it for dazzling flash points. 507-311
59 I played DARTING (75) and sTEARIN (86). Mark played PLASTER (76). 391-359
In Miami airport waiting for our flight to Toronto:
60 I played DISmAYED (89) and BOTANIZE (90). Mark played LOUSIEST (82) and SENTRIEs (74). 419-420
61 We each opened with a bingo. Mark played first with EDITION (68) and I responded with TINWARES (63). Mark later got down ENTWiST (87) and I played VALIDATE (78) and got 67 for HEX. 385-437