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Dave Gilligan is Not to be Stopped

1st Dave Gilligan shocked the Scrabble world by going 4-0 +440 and eclipsing his yearly average by some seventy points, averaging 417 per game. Meanwhile, he held his opponents to a stingy 307, proving once again that strong offensive game + strong defensive game = plentiful wins. Dave started his enchanted evening by trouncing Sue Goldstein, 484-315, playing the plausible DEAFENER as well as a perfectly-valid TREATING. A matchup against Andy Bohnsack didn't quite reach "trouncing" territory, but Dave still earned a solid win, 369-300, playing MESSAGES to Andy's NUTRIENT. To secure his undefeated record, Dave was paired with the similarly-undefeated Charles Reinke in the last round; after much bingoing on Dave's part (LINEATE, UNDERPAY, and ERASION), and no bingoing on the part of Charles, Dave emerged victorious, 407-313.

2nd Aaron Bader finished up at 3-1 +299 for second place. He used up most of his luck in the first game (because luck is a finite resource which can be depleted) when he roughed up Bryan Benwitz, 544-377. Bryan got down DEBONER and ENACTORS to make the score respectable, but he truly had little chance against Aaron's quad-bingo onslaught of UPRATED, ANSWERS, AUTOMEN, and word-of-the-week CYLICES (plural of CYLIX). Andy Bohnsack fared little better, falling 385-456 to the Aaronator. Andy found the only word in EEIORTT? (answer at the bottom), as well as RELEASER, but again, Aaron outbingoed his opponent with INFERIOR, STOPING, and ACCRETE. Aaron's third win was a 397-271 victory over Richard Lauder, with his UBIETIES and LAMINAE outscoring Richard's BONEFISH.

3rd Charles Reinke also went 3-1, but fell slightly short of second place with a +272 cumulative. He made progress in evening up the lifetime series against his brother when he rudely hogged all the good tiles in a 533-322 victory. Thomas had the double-Z GRIZZLES, but Charles had four bingos in response: LEANEST, UNDERLIE, INFERIOR, and INSECTAN. Aaron Bader didn't face such lopsided tile distribution, but still had to place a checkmark in the loss column when Charles downed him 473-408. Aaron had OGREISM and AIRSIDE, with Charles getting BANTENG, CREASES, and ROTATIVE. A rundown of Charles' singular loss against Dave can be found above.

New bingos this week were AIRSIDE (Aaron) and UNTONED (Helen).

Charles Reinke Does Charles Reinke Things

1st Charles Reinke averaged 462 points per game en route to a 4-0 +581 record. He got revenge on Bryan Benwitz, who had defeated him in their previous two matchups, by scoring a decisive victory, 441-313. Bryan played MOURNERS, but Charles' pair of high-scoring bingos (STIPELS for 85, ADVISER for 92) was simply too much firepower. Less firepower was on display against Dave Gilligan, as only one bingo was played between the two players (Charles' RAISINY), but it was still a landslide win for Charles, 467-230. Charles neatly concluded his undefeated night with a 506-377 triumph over Peter Schmiedicke. Despite the large score disparity, the final bingo count in that game was tied at two apiece: SCANNER and RETIEING for Peter, UPTOWNS and RAMEKINS for Charles.

2nd Andy Bohnsack played just three rounds, but thanks to a 2-v-1 game in the first round, he got in a full slate of four games, going 3-1 +312. That two-on-one matchup proved fruitful for Andy, as he emerged from the fray with a 2-0 +327 record. A 414-342 win over Helen Flores was pretty good, but a 492-237 drubbing of Barb Besadny was even better. The latter saw Andy play a trio of eights: CRUSTING, REGAINER, and INWEAVES. His third win came against Thomas Reinke, who succumbed to the Bonestorm, 479-407. Thomas had a nice find of MULETEER (n. a person who drives mules), but Andy got down LUMBERED (which he later tried, and failed, to extend to PLUMBERED), BEASTIE, and FORGIVEN. A 346-433 encounter against the other twin was Andy's only loss of the evening.

3rd Dave Gilligan built on his success last week with a 3-1 -50 outing this week. He is now the winner of five of his last six. Peter Schmiedicke has now lost two in a row to Dave, the most recent being a 439-360 affair that saw Dave get three bingos: DAFFIER, MOTHIEST, and word-of-the-week PREBENDS. A PREBEND is a benefice held by a prebendary; it does not mean "to bend beforehand." Meanwhile, Peter could "only" muster THIAMINE in his losing effort. Later in the night, Dave notched a second upset win when he took down Thomas Reinke 389-383. Dave again outbingoed his opponent, playing HALOIDS and HEALERS to Thomas' NEOLITHS. The aforementioned loss against Charles Reinke pushed Dave's spread into the negatives, but, thankfully for Dave, there were no other 3-1s to challenge the third place spot!

The only new word played this week was Gail's GROVIER.

Bryan Benwitz Has Sworn Off Losing, Perhaps Forever

1st Bryan Benwitz enjoyed a night free from the agony of loss, going 4-0 +436. His big game came against Mary Becker, who he defeated roundly by a score of 506-290. Bryan unleashed four bingos in his winning effort: PICRITES, INGRAIN, OBTUSER, and ENMESHED. Charles Reinke fared somewhat better, but not much, as Bryan handed him his only loss, 471-339. This time around, Bryan had just three bingos (SPOOKED, STOURIE, and PANNERS), but it was easily enough to overcome Charles' singular bingo of LEASHED. The experience and knowledge gained from beating one Reinke was then applied towards beating the other Reinke, and it worked, with Bryan besting Thomas in a close game, 388-385. In contrast to Bryan's other games, there was not much bingoing going on in this one, with each player having just one to their name: LEADERS for Bryan, SOLANDER for Thomas.

2nd Sue Goldstein bested her yearly average by fifty points, averaging 366 points per game while finishing 3-0 +266. She started off by introducing new player Adrienne Kiser to the ways of the world via a 361-276 win. She then reintroduced those same concepts to Susan Vergeront, playing a 72-point bingo of FASTING as part of a solid 344-282 victory. The best was saved for last, however, as she defeated the returning June Scott by a landslide, 377-258.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +261, with only first-place finisher Bryan Benwitz able to disrupt his winning ways. The rest of his games were higher-scoring affairs, the lowest of them being a 447-366 victory over Lynda Finn. Lynda had SHORTIA for 95 points, but three lower-scoring bingos are preferable to one high-scoring bingo; Charles had TENSION, DIPLOMAT, and ETERNITY to ensure the win. Similarly, against Betty Hasselkus, Charles' bingos of PHILTRE (v. to put under the spell of a love potion) and GREAVED more than countered Betty's SOUREST, and he won 488-337. To end the evening on a high note, Charles took down Gail Salm 470-309. Gail had NUTSIER, but a pair of hefty bingos (COZENAGE for 86, PERCIDS for 99) swung the pendulum far to Charles' side.

Dave Gilligan's IFFINESS was chosen as word of the week, narrowly beating Mary Becker's ALPACAS. We had a good amount of new bingos played: ANODISE (Bryan), PERCIDS (Charles), SHERWANI (Aaron), and ANTHROS (Peter). We also welcomed a new player, Adrienne Kiser, to the club. She got her first taste of Scrabble success by defeating Barb Besadny 320-317 thanks to a bingo of JELLIES.