Mark and I competed in the Niagara Falls International Open over the Victoria Day weekend. We stayed at the Rex Motel, about a twenty-minute walk from the Niagara Falls Convention Centre. I had just entered our room when Mark came in to tell me that he recognized two Scrabble players who had also arrived. I looked out the window and saw Robin Pollock Daniel and Michael Fagen. I went out to greet them and we arranged to go out for dinner at Zappi’s. Jason Keller also joined us. I was happy that David Gremaud was playing in this tournament. He is a good friend yet I don’t see him often. We went out to dinner with him on Saturday night at Passage to India. Who should come in after us but John David and Abdul Khan, who had joined us for dinner there a year ago. On Sunday night Mark and I ate at Shelby’s Legendary Shawarma, based on Robin’s recommendation. Later that night we walked to the Falls and enjoyed the fireworks and lights. I don’t usually go to the Falls at night and it was still crowded. With the beautiful weather I didn’t need a jacket at all yet when right next to the Falls the misty conditions imitate rain so I was glad I brought a thin coat. The precipitation is absent when you move away from the Falls.
I have included my bingo count for each round as well as any notes. My bingos are listed first, separated from my opponents’ by a virgule. My score is listed first followed by my opponent during that round.
01 PlAGUIER (70) £ / HETAIRAS (86) 348-422 Michael Fagen
I had wanted to play EqUIPAGE across a DWS to the final E yet Michael blocked it. He didn’t exactly ruin the spot because he did give me an -E so that I was still able to play it, but it wouldn’t have scored as high. His play also employed an -R so if I could find a bingo ending in that letter I could still use the DWS row. I knew both PLAGUEY and PLAGUY, but neither word inflects in the NWL lexicon. Michael never even held me on the play so I was surprised to rediscover that the word did not compare. We each had bingo-like scores when Michael extended FLY to FLYOVeRS to the centre right TWS for 60 and I played BeJESUS through the e for 52.
02 SALLIERS (62) / GASSIER (74) ENTOILs (72) RaTIONED (82) 338-463 David Engelhardt
03 FOReSAW (82) ADENITIS (72) CHUTING (97) / REPENTeR (80) 437-355 Skyler Lutz
I played first and my rack was AFORSW? I realized after the fact that I should have played FARrOWS as the opening move. Since FOReSAW slotted the R on the star, Skyler was able to play REPENTeR to the bottom TWS. I confused CAID QAID with CADI KADI QADI and played KAID £ which he immediately challenged off. I had set up a play to go out with BARD and neutralized the clock. Skyler held me on the play, after which I then restarted his clock. He objected to this, believing that on an outplay the clock remains neutralized. We called over the director who ruled that, outplay or not, a call of hold restarts that player’s clock. It puzzled me that Skyler would be so certain to challenge off KAID yet had to ponder over, at length, the status of BARD, which as an outplay was a free challenge anyway.
04 QUIEtED (77) TAILErS (78) / BARONESS (64) 425-374 Dan Stock
Dan also had a bingo score for JOYED (64). I lost a challenge of FILK, which I had never seen before and I think I would have by now, since it is a three-to-make-four both ways. An open M on the centre right TWS gave me the beautiful opportunity to play TALEySIM (80) but he blocked it. However I was able to play TAILErS instead, stacking it so that I made five 2LW in the process.
05 SAVINgS (86) RENTALS (67) SEROTINE (59) / none 417-333 Gregg Bigourdin
06 GITANOS (94) / wEARING (72) WaHINES (118) BASINED (69) 373-515 Froilan Mendoza
Immediately after Froilan’s whopper DWS-DWS WaHINES I snapped back with a whopper of my own, stacking GITANOS underneath it, with the G under the a, making six 2LW. I had a nice play where I created two new words, extending COULD to COULDA when I played YAJE from the top right TWS down for 54.
07 I had a bye win during this round when Libero Paolella did not show up. The directors brought Judy Cole from division two to even up the division over the next two days. In the meantime all the players who were scheduled to play Libero on day one were awarded bye wins and +50 spread points.
08 LADDIEST (66) WEsTERN (95) / EMIRATES (83) UNROOFEd (70) 433-395 Christopher Sykes
After my embarrassing loss to Chris last year where I let two of his phony bingos go, I was going to be more confident this time and challenge anything off that I found questionable. Last night Mark and I played two games in our hotel and I got away with TADDLES*. I was not confusing it with TATTLES and believed it to be a legitimate word. Those letters do form a valid anagram however, STADDLE. I checked my rack after that game and discovered what TADDLES builds through, and refamiliarized myself with LADDIEST. I was able to play it against Chris. If I hadn’t checked my TADDLES rack last night I would have hemmed and hawed a bit over the validity of LADDIEST, but still would have played it for sure. My WEsTERN nicely hooked onto the end of HORIZON, which I had played earlier for 38. Chris did try a phony, FOURGONE (where either the G or the N was a blank) which looked ridiculous so I challenged it off.
09 tOXINES (152) REAGINIC (65) / PEASCOAT (63)* FEMInISt (78) 431-365 Hank Hees
I had the first move and my rack was NORUUUZ and exchanged tiles. So did Hank, and then we did so again. Hank played his first bingo such that the T ended above the centre bottom TWS. I did not like PEASCOAT one bit, but, holding the rack EINOSX? I came to the decision not even to hold him on it, since my comeback play was going to be huge. Before he even made his play I found INbOXES and considered playing it right away, but decided to take a bit more time to see if I could slot the X on the DLS. It did not take me any more than a few seconds to find tOXINES. The only 7LW in that rack were in fact INbOXES and tOXINES. I believe that Hank was confusing his first bingo with PEASCOD. Hank played FEMInISt to my t in tOXINES.
10 GRADuATE (63) FINALES (71) / cONURES (73) 394-408 Robin Pollock Daniel
11 BASTILE (76) GUARAnIS (70) NEUTRINO (59) / MASSIESt (74) REFUELED (78) TUNICLE (74) 467-474 Agnes Kramer
A bingo-buster and high-scoring game for sure. After Agnes played her third bingo, which created -ET and left the left TWS lane open, I was able to play VORTEX / VET (78) with the X on the DLS.
12 BEANIES (79) GASSIER (69) / INcURRED (60) 350-396 Yaacov Barak
Now this was a game I threw away. I had the lead 174-81 after three turns yet ended up fishing away an abundance of vowels, only to get more vowels back. All the while Yaacov was scoring big each turn, and he didn’t even play his bingo until his second-last move. I should have kept on making big plays to build on my lead instead of fishing off vowels for successive scores of under ten points.
13 SPRAYiNG (76) BIrCHEN (105) / REALTORS (68) 436-334 Deen Herrgott
I had the first move and my rack was PRRRSUW and exchanged tiles, keeping RS. I played my first bingo on my next turn. It ended above a DWS and it was a race to pick an S to make SPRAYiNGS. Neither Deen nor I had any doubt about the validity of SPRAYiNGS, as one hears it in the context of doing yardwork, but it turns out that SPRAYiNGS is Collins-only.
14 TIDEWAYs (80) / RETAILED (63) ORIENTAL (72) 390-391 Matt Canik
My final rack was ISSUVW? and Matt had BGGOPQR. I had to plan the endgame to come from behind and win, knowing that I had twenty points coming to me from Matt’s unplayable Q. I took too long to think about it as I was under time pressure and risked going overtime, however, in the hindsight of a post mortem where time was not an issue, Matt showed me an easy out-in-two that would have won the game for me even if I had gone overtime and lost ten points. I was so hung up on a play that made LWeIS for 33, yet I couldn’t figure out a way to play off my SUV (really, just playing off the V anywhere was impossible if I had made LWeIS). I made VIRUS through an open R instead, scoring 16. I spent far too much time looking at making a V play instead of a VW play. Matt explained that if I had made VRoUW through the R instead for 20, I would have been left with ISS and a much more lucrative final play to win, even if I went over. At one time I had the rack EFNOTZ? which makes no 7LW but one killer of an 8LW: FuZzTONE, which ranks 28894 out of 31736.
15 none / STORMILY (73) FOVEOlAE (65) ITERATE (73) 353-396 Matt Canik
I also played JUSt for 62. Through a disconnected E and C I was able to dump GGPU to score 30 for EGGCUP, which Matt held for a while, then challenged unsuccessfully.
16 GRINDeRS (74) / MILLInER (70) ANISOLE (71) 399-414 Jackson Smylie
I was happy to get down the new wacky 5LW WAGYU for 29. I had an unplayable ATONIES yet noted the only bingo lane was to play those tiles through a disconnected L and D, with three spaces separating them. As it turns out, INSOLATED fits, but there were only three spaces above the L.
17 none / bRUSKER (72) 271-404 Gregg Bigourdin
I got totally wiped in this game, where I “only” drew JQ? while Gregg got SSSSXZ?
18 AIRIEST (65) dECIDING (74) MALTOSE (66) / POTSIES (73) 503-307 Linda Oliva
I also scored 66 for ADZ / ZENS and won a challenge when Linda challenged ZENS, which is new to the lexicon as a noun. After my second bingo my rack was EMOOTUV, which makes OUTMOVE, yet I had nowhere to play it. I was so lucky to get rid of all four of the clunkiest letters when I made VOdOU for 18. I was able to play MALTOSE on my next turn.
19 DEBATES (89) / TOLuOLe (65) ALIENIST (62) 390-378 David Gremaud
My first game against Dave and I was outrunning him with a bingo lead but he plowed back with high-scoring final plays. It all came down to the endgame and my strategy to go out in two.
20 SERDABS (83) ACHILlEA (89) / FAERIES (77) 461-331 Judy Cole
I was pleased to get down those oddball bingos. The more obvious of the former (BRASSED) also fit, but it would have exposed the B on the top TWS row. I do not recall if the equally odd HELIACAl would have fit, yet if it did, would not have stretched to a TWS. I played ACHILlEA from the first A, which was on the centre right TWS and I stretched it to the lower right TWS. Judy challenged it unsuccessfully.
21 TONTiNe (62) OUTHEARD (76) LITERAL (76) / SHARPIE (69) MEISTER (93) 442-444 Hank Hees
I had the opening play and my first rack was NNOTT?? The only other 7LW are aNNaTTO and cONTeNT. I had to think out the endgame for many minutes–I am glad I had about fourteen minutes left–and settled on a play that made three words, one of which was front-hooking LITERAL with an A-. It was a hail Mary play which I was sure Hank would challenge off, but he left it. I believe he left ALITERAL* because he thought it was acceptable. He made his outplay immediately–he was under no time pressure–so maybe he realized in those few seconds after I ended my play and before he himself had played that he would win the game by 2 when he went out. There was no way possible for me to block his outplay, so I knew what to expect at the end.
22 AnTILIFE (83) DUSTERS (77) / EAtERIES (74) 426-285 Carl Madden
One of my racks in this game was DFNNSUY, so I played FUNNY. I then chose AEEEE to go along with my DS. My rack after DUSTERS was the horrid IINOORR, so I played IRON for 14.
37 for me / 34 for my opponents
Since I had a bye I was awarded a free win, so my record was 11-11 +344.