Mark and I played ten games over Christmas, plus an additional game in a friendly round-robin tournament. I won eight, lost two and tied one.
Here is the report about our ten games:
01 I played second and opened with the phony SULLIER (78)*. That rack only makes one 8LW through an O, ROUILLES. I also played PHONeRS (72). Mark played TImIDER (78) as a smart outplay along the top row to hook UNIS. I held the rack AEGNORY and missed ORANGEY. 433-342
02 I played ARGINASE (70), ANCONES (73) and STATIOn (67). Mark played MOUsIER (73) and DEFORMS (86). With the opening rack of CDEEEIV I missed the pretty obvious DECEIVE, opting to play VICED (30) instead. 442-420
03 I played NEWSIER (80) and UNPLAIT (67) and Mark played LENTILs (72) and EDItION (65). 388-401
04 I played STREAKeD (84), TERRIES (74) and found the vowel-dump AIGUIlLE (59) through the G, holding AEIILU? 441-309
05 Going second, I opened with the phony DOTLESS (76)*. I also played dEIFIES (71). Mark played StIRRED (69). 449-340
06 I had the first move yet with the opening rack of AEIOOOU I couldn’t do much, so exchanged all seven. I played ALARmED (64). I held the rack BEHOPSU and missed the flashy low-probability play of PHOEBUS, which would have fit. I played OUPHES instead. 363-326
07 I played STRIDES (75) and STEAMINg (60). Mark played OUTsEEN (78). One of my racks was AEHKORV and I jokily arranged it to make OVERHAK. I discovered after the game that that rack only made one 8LW, through a C, and I know that a C was available at the time. I vaguely recall HAVOCKER, which would have played for 78. Another low-probability miss. 373-373
08 I played WRiStIER (80). 403-282
09 I took a chance with PIGEOnED (72) £ and also played ASCRIBES (86). I held the rack DEEEKNW and immediately saw WEEKEND. I hoped I’d get a chance to play it as Mark was going first. However he played a 4LW that didn’t enable me to get it down. With a rack as clunky as DEEEKNW I never even considered making any 8LW, and much to my disappointment I discovered that I could have easily played that rack through Mark’s A to make WEAKENED. Sheesh! The word WEEKEND even sounds like WEAKENED, and thus is almost spelled the same. 431-260
10 I went out in a bingo blast in our last game, playing five: I opened with HABITED (84), then on my second move I played ENATION (71) and on my third move I played FAULTIER (65). I also played ABULiAS (71) and TOWErED (89). 533-355
On December 29 Lilla Sinanan hosted a five-game round-robin at her home. Lilla moved back down east last year and Mark and I visited her over the summer. She is developing a Halifax Scrabble Club and two new players joined us, and Lisa Kessler flew in from Charlottetown.
01 I played second and my first move was WEaRIER (91). I held the rack AEILNPR and neither of its anagrams played, so I looked for 8LW. I saw possibilities, but no openings, yet completely ignored the open A that would have enabled me to play AIRPLANE. 448-255 Charlotte
02 Lisa took the lead with her bingo INTERNAL (68, holding LANTERN, and hard to find IMO from the I-). I played rESULTED (68) and SUNdIAL (68). 417-315
03 Mark dealt me my sole defeat. He played the questionable REENSURE (70)* which I held, as it seemed logical since I knew REINSURE was acceptable. I had never seen REENSURE before, though, so regardless of the logic I wanted to challenge it. I let it go because the final E enabled me to play JEEP for 63. Mark had a flashy DOmiNOES (61) which sealed his win. 343-352
04 I played hANDOUT (77) and SisTERS (78). I held the rack DENTVY? and was disappointed I couldn’t play DuVETYN or the only two possible 8LW with that rack, DuVETYNE or DuVETYNS. 423-327 Lilla
05 I played SENDABLE (89), SeNILItY (80) and the flashy 9LW GIGANTISM (69) through -AN-. 512-201 John
