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Lynda Finn Derives Nourishment from the Tears of her Vanquished Foes

1st Lynda Finn was tantalizingly close to her first undefeated session of the calendar year, but fell just short, going 4-1 +250. However, how short did she really fall if she still came in first place? Her round-one game was easily her best as she utterly buried Thomas Reinke under piles of points, winning 532-284. Among her three bingos in that one was a 122-point triple-triple of REALTERS. Not content with just beating one Reinke, Lynda went on to beat the other Reinke by a much closer score of 409-403, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything is possible if you just believe (and play plenty of bingos). Lynda had DODGERS, MARINES, and RIGHTIES in that one; Charles had IRATEST and BROOCHES. Having built up a large amount of momentum by knocking out the pair of Reinkes, a minor obstacle such as a two-on-one match did little to stop Lynda's rampage, as she took out both Gail Salm (397-351, playing FLAVIDS and TONSURED) and Mary Becker (383-366, playing CREATINE and UNTIDIER) in a set of low-scoring games. Sitting at 4-0 after three rounds, Lynda (unwisely?) elected to press her luck in the final game, and that was where her luck ran out, as she was defeated by Bryan Benwitz, 348-415.

2nd Bryan Benwitz averaged a session-best 445 per game as he finished with a 3-1 +142 record. Like Lynda, Bryan started his night strong by scoring 474, but unlike Lynda, his efforts did not earn him a victory, as his opponent Charles Reinke had scored 520 in the meantime. That losing score is tied for the highest this club season. He had a 110-point double-double of HEADWIND (also word of the week in case you were craving additional descriptors) to go along with the more staid PATINAS, but Charles' four-bingo barrage (JUNIPERS, GELATION, URODELE, and OUTSOLES) was too much to overcome. In round three, Bryan was given the chance at revenge and seized the opportunity, defeating Thomas Reinke 459-373. This time, Bryan was the one playing four bingos, finding LODGERS, MISTUNE, BORSTAL, and MARLINES. Thomas opened the game with RIPOSTE but saw his fortunes dip precipitously after that point. Bryan wrapped up his courageous comeback from an 0-1 start by defeating the theretofore-undefeated Lynda Finn.

3rd Gail Salm snuck into third place with a 3-2 +147 final record, her second appearance in the top three in three weeks. Her first game was actually two games at once (aren't you glad we aren't the type of club that makes people take byes?), against Mary Becker and Sue Goldstein. Gail did not shrink from the challenge and won both of them, a relatively close game against Sue Goldstein (356-312, with a bingo of AIRDATE) and a relatively un-close game against Mary Becker (471-311, getting DEFILES and HURTLING). She kept up the bingoing (NECKERS and FEATEST) in a 397-432 loss against Bryan Benwitz, indicating that Bryan needs a reminder in proper Scrabble etiquette: when you get out-bingoed, you're supposed to lose. Proper etiquette was followed when Gail then lost to Lynda Finn, as she had just one bingo of INERTIA to Lynda's two of FLAVIDS and TONSURED (let's just rub FLAVIDS in a bit more, shall we? FLAVIDS FLAVIDS FLAVIDS). Gail wrapped up her strong session with a tensely-fought 399-376 win over Helen Flores, who didn't bingo but got to observe as Gail laid down TENSEST and LORRIES.

The Title is the Hardest Part of These Writeups

1st Charles Reinke, as indicated by the "4-0 +482" next to his name in the stats, must have won all his games. I'll be doing a game-by-game analysis to see if that was really the case. He started off with a close-as-can-be 402-401 against Thomas. Thomas played NEURONAL and INTURNS, but Charles' late ATHEIST gave him just enough points to get the win. Things were not so close against Aaron in the second round, as he won 470-272. His double-double of PARODIES for 94 got him off to a quick start, then he added LEAFWORM and NODALITY. He hit a small bump in his perfect road against Richard, not because he lost or anything, but because he got his potential double-double QUERIDAS (n. a female sweetheart) blocked by Richard's SHIRTIER. QUERIDAS still was played, but for way fewer points. In the fourth round, he once again held one of the club's best players way under 300 points, beating Bryan 465-258. DRIPPER, REOPENED, and COHOSTS were his bingos, while Bryan didn't get any, actually, it's unclear whether he drew any good letters at all. With this loss, Bryan now has the same 36.2 winning percentage against both twins, which makes sort of sense, considering they're just two distinct manifestations of the same being.

2nd Gail Salm went 3-1 +54, coming in second place as the only three-and-oner on the night. She opened her night with a 326-434 loss to Dennis, her HORSIES (n. a cute little horse with cute little legs and ears and a tail (paraphrased)) and PADDIES not enough to overtake Dennis' OUTTAKE and STARVING. She opened her next game, against Thomas, with quick bingos of RIVETED and MORAINE, and used that advantage to secure an impressive 452-407 win. She has now one 4 of her last 9 against Thomas, a pretty record considering the outcomes of the previous 20 or so games with him. Against Helen in the next game, she won 383-344, showcasing her perfect knowledge of the RE- words by playing REBRAND (a word which was somehow only added in the last dictionary update), as well as her perfect knowledge of words containing JANITOR, with JANITOR. She continued her winning ways in the final round, against Dave, winning 428-350. Uncharacteristically for her, she played a phony, INPLANTS*, alongside two other real bingos. That is her second phony bingo of the year; maybe it is time to start being more watchful when she empties her rack onto the board.

3rd Richard Lauder went 2-1 +11, good for third because it looks like everyone went 2-2. He started off with a 433-354 win against Betty. His star play of that game was the triple-triple INDENTED through an already-existing DENT for 100-some points. Remember that the five-dollar triple-triple prize gets awarded whether the play was a bingo or not. Betty undid a lot of that damage with a 96-point FIBSTER, for her part. Richard's second-round match against Dennis turned out to be a barn-burner, with the final being 462-454 in Richard's favor. Dennis played LOMEINS, DEBITORS* (valid anagram DEORBITS, but if CREDITORS is good why not DEBITORS*?????), and UNVESTED, but Richard's triple-triple of TALISMAN for 140 was slightly too much to overcome. He lost in the third game against Charles, 382-458, then took his leave, citing the incredible amount of golf he had played that day.

Helen earned word-of-the-week for the second week in a row, with FLOWERET.

Who Came Up With The Overdraw Procedure Anyway?

1st Thomas Reinke extended his winning streak to 8 games, after losing 7 of his previous 8, with a 5-0 +579 night. He faced two in the first round, James and Aaron. Against James, in an attempt to win the "High T" prize, he bingoed four times with T's but failed to outdo Dave's 87-point NATTILY in another game. Against Aaron, he won 454-379, correctly passing up SHOOTED* to play SOOTHED, and also added WEAKSIDE (n. the side of a basketball court with fewer players). In the next game he faced Bryan and won 463-369, playing GENEROUS, GLIOMAS, and DENOTIVE. Bryan successfully played the only bingo with the pattern TRI?ERS as his opponent tried to figure out what the heck the blank was going to be (hint: it was an M [that was actually more of an "answer" than a "hint"]). For the third round he was paired against Charles, and he won a close one, 465-353. That may not sound like the score of a close game, but his outbingo of UPDOMING (n. the upward deformation of a rock mass into a dome shape, so no UPDOME* or UPDOMED*) on a closed board made the final score more lopsided than it perhaps should've been. Against Lynda in the final game, he won 401-362 despite having a blank rudely taken from him on an overdraw. In a bit of karmic justice, Lynda ended up with that blank, unplayed, on her final rack as Thomas went out. Actions have consequences.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +120 against the toughest field possible, good for second place. He started off with a 443-394 win against Lynda, highlighted by his fancy play of TOMATOEY. In case you're wondering, no, TOMATOEY does not compare. Neither does ONIONY. But CARROTY does. It is important that you know this. Facing Aaron in the second round, he won 430-342 with the bingos of BEGLOOMS, DYSTOCIA (n. difficult labor and delivery in childbirth), and AUDITORS. Aaron got down VENETIAN, but probably should have tried to bingo four or five more times. You already heard the sad tale about how he lost to Thomas, but you didn't hear about his two bingos that game, DINKIEST (talk about self-descriptive!) and RATOONER. Against Bryan in the last game, he drew both blanks on his opening rack, played AMBIENT, and then didn't bingo the whole rest of the game. He still won, 420-325, but those double-blank opening ranks are just so depressing. It's like the fun-ness of the game automatically goes down 50 percent.

3rd Lynda Finn came in third as she went 3-0 against people whose surnames aren't "Reinke". She played BEADIER and AUNTIES against Charles but lost 394-443 in the first round, but then got two wins against Dave and Dave in a two-on-one in the second round. Against Dave G, she won 441-406, letting him play the phony DEBLURS* as it let her respond with REWINDER. Versus Dave K, she countered his SEVERING with RETINTS and won 405-326. She then faced Aaron, who represented his lack of bingos in the game with a ":(" on his scoresheet. Lynda played STELLAR, TEREDOS (n. TEREDO, a bivalve mollusk, plural TEREDOS or TEREDINES), and ASCENDS to win 416-335. She fell to the second Reinke in the final round, 362-401, which might seem sad until you are informed of the fact that she STOLE a BLANK straight from her opponent's rack using some obscure loophole in the rules.

Helen won word-of-the-week with a monster 110-point ASHRAMS. She also won phony-of-the-week with PIROGIE*. PIROGIES is acceptable as a plural of PIROGI. As a reminder: PIROG PIROGI PIROGHI PEROGI PEROGY PEROGIE PIEROGI PYROHY. There will be a quiz on the material next Wednesday.