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Thomas Reinke Unblinkingly Crushes Hopes, Dreams of Fellow Scrabble Players

1st Thomas Reinke applied some serious amounts of hurt to his four opponents, racking up large amount of spread in the process to finish 4-0 +509.  After ten straight losses at the hand of Charles Reinke, he finally beat his brother, prevailing 463-392.  INULASE was Thomas' contribution to the bingoing action; Charles played the high-probability ERINGOES (n. eringo, a medicinal herb, also ERYNGO) and LOGIEST.  The highest game score of the session also belonged to Thomas, who scored 528 (againt Lynda's 341) and played three bingos: RETITLE, STREAMS, and LAWINES (n. lawine, an avalanche, also LAUWINE). 

2nd Peter Schmiedicke scored a little less than his usual average (383 to his yearly average of 407), but it didn't matter as he ended up 4-1 +55.  He had only one 400-point game, but it came in a 96-point win versus Bryan Benwitz, 403-307.  Peter played GRASSES (something we don't see too much of this time of year) and Bryan played SNOWIEST (winner of Seasonally Appropriate Word of the Week).  The loss which marred his scoresheet was courtesy of Charles Reinke, who erased most of Peter's carefully-acquired spread with a 481-352 win.  Peter got $4 for high-S with PANDITS (n. pandit, a wise man in India), but Charles played TORULAE, EMACIATE, and the phony SHABBAT (SABBATH and SABBAT are good) to coast to victory. 

3rd Lynda "Finntastic" Finn went 3-1 +102, averaging 401 points per game.  She started off the night with a bang, roundly defeating Mary Becker 487-302.  Lynda greedily hogged the bingos in that game, all three of them attributable to her: STARING, THINNED, and AVERSION.  Added to the growing list of victims was Charles Reinke, who succumbed to the power of Lynda's lucky tile rack with a 346-382 loss.  Lynda had the double-double EARNINGS, plus enough high-scoring plays to easily outrun Charles' TOWLINES and INSOULED.

Betty Hasselkus was awarded Word of the Week for her find of SAWDUST.  While not an esoteric word, it certainly is a difficult find, since most of us would give up when faced with the dreaded WU tandem!  My first thought would be something like, "Blast my dratted luck!  Where can I play WUD?  Grumble grumble grumble."

June Scott Is a Bit More Forgiving Than That

1st June Scott finished at an even 2-2 with a not-so-even -166 cumulative.  Her bingo of FEARING did little to slow down Betty Hasselkus, who beat her 420-265 with the assistance of some POTIONS.  However, June went on to beat Sue Goldstein twice, including a high-scoring 375-351 match, to prevail in the Intermediate group.

Four people showed up to play on the east side.  Peter dominated with a 2-0 +317 record while averaging 463 points and three bingos per game.

Richard Lauder Cannot Be Stopped, Halted, or Otherwise Impeded

1st Richard Lauder went 4-0 with a miniscule +90 spread to keep his winning streak unbroken at 16.  A coup might be in order, as this sort of Scrabble domination is the very definition of tyranny!  Richard and Charles Reinke played a very low-scoring game, with Richard of course prevailing 329-320, but that was not his closest game; he beat Mary Becker by the score of 391-389.  Even worse, the game was originally scored as a win for Mary, before a recount found a four-point error.  Truly, the recount is the ficklest of beasts.  In that game, Richard played two of his seven total bingos with RAILERS and DETESTS, while Mary found FOUNDING (get it?  a joke!  sorta...)

2nd Lynda Finn finished at 4-1 +387, but despite her strong record, she did not get a chance to derail Richard's winning streak.  Lynda scored above 400 in all of her wins, with her loss being to Thomas Reinke 372-402.  Exacting some revenge upon the Reinke clan, she handily took down Charles Reinke 414-330, playing RERAISE and SNOOTED to Charles' RAINOUTS.  A learning opportunity arose when Lynda played the phony KELPIEST in the course of beating Barb Besadny 434-408; STEPLIKE and SPIKELET (n. a type of flower cluster) are the two valid words in that set of letters.

3rd Susan Vergeront rolled to a 3-0 start before having to face the juggernaut himself, with a 3-1 +216 final record indicating how that last match went.  However, Susan did fit quite nicely into the role of "Giant Killer", defeating Thomas Reinke 379-366 after thirteen straight losses against him!  Thomas played EMBROILS, but such a paltry bingo showing was not enough to counter Susan's dual-bingo assault of REKNOTS and AIRIEST.  She also taught a lesson in Scrabble dominance to pupil Betty Hasselkus, with the dust clearing to reveal a 417-287 victory for the former.

Thomas played the Word of the Week, ARABESKS, while defeating Betty 431-397.  The same as an arabesque, an arabesk is an inlaid pattern of interlacing floral designs.  Kudos also to Chris Vergeront, who had the only 500-point game of the night, a whopping 563 against Barb Besadny.  That is his second-highest club game ever, and his third ever game with four bingos: GOITRES, FLOATIER, INSTROKE, and ANSATED (adj. ANSATE, having a handle).

Sue Goldstein Squeaks Out First in Intermediates

1st Sue Goldstein went 1-2 -77, snatching first place despite a record that featured more X's in the loss column than in the win column.  She beat June Scott 321-283 for a much-needed victory.