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Charles Reinke Scores a Lot of Points, Plays a Lot of Bingos, Subsequently Wins a Lot of Games

1st At 4-0 +573, Charles Reinke proved to be utterly unstoppable, averaging 505 points and three bingos per game.  He gave Peter Schmiedicke his only loss, winning 555-376 while playing four bingos: GRAPLIN, SMASHED, LITOTES, and SPACEMEN.  Peter's OUTBREED (defined as breeding among unrelated stock, not "to surpass in breeding"), while scoring an impressive 94 points, was not nearly enough.  His closest game was a 458-410 victory over Mark Kenas wherein he played the triple-triple TERNIONS for 131 points as well as the uncommon LEHAYIM (also spelled LECHAYIM, it's a Jewish toast, not the bread kind though).

2nd Peter Schmiedicke went 3-1 +459, unbelievably scoring above 500 in all three of his wins: 531-350 against Richard Lauder, 524-299 against Susan Vergeront, and 521-289 against Chris Vergeront.  That last game's spread of 232 was his largest of the night, and it was also the game in which he played the most bingos, four of them: ANETHOLE, ORDNANCE, REPORTED, and DARTLES.

3rd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 with a relatively modest +162 cumulative.  The regularly recurring Reinke-Reinke matchup resulted in Thomas' only loss, 387-470, but that defeat was offset by his 500-370 conquest of Chris Vergeront.  Both players had two bingos in the game (RURALITE and INERTIAE for Thomas, OVARIOLE and GAMINES for Chris).  Thomas also walked away with the "most intimidating phony" award when he played the fancy-sounding GLYCASE against Mary Becker.  The phony word's origins appear to be in the words GLYCANS (a carbohydrate) and GLUCOSE (a sugar).  For his efforts he get to endure the ridicule of his brother for a week.

Harwinder Dowd Maintains Stranglehold on Intermediates

1st Harwinder Dowd went 2-1 -35.  She was rewarded for her good play the past few weeks by being matched up against Mark Kenas in the first round.  She lost that game 305-451, but won her next two to make up for it.  She got one bingo in each game: SENIORS, HOISTER, and REFUNDER.

2nd June Scott finished 1-2 -136.  She scored a healthy 395 in her second matchup against Sue Goldstein, who scored 347.

Mark Kenas got word of the week when he played ENCEINTE, a noun meaning either "an encircling fortification" or "pregnant".  Close runner-up was his play of TOREUTIC (adj. pertaining to artistic metalworking). 

Peter beat everyone he played. He was bingo king with 11, had the highest average of 450 and played two of the three challenged bingos of the evening SEEDMAN and RURALITY (Renato's play of SINOPIA was also challenged).

Andy Bohnsack Escapes With One Loss, First Place In Experts

1st Out of four players with just one loss, Andy was the best of them, with four wins and a healthy +364 spread.  In his matchup versus Peter Schmiedicke, a predictable five bingos ended up on the board, but four of them were Andy's (INGOTED, GUILTIER, OUTBRAVE, and ENDMOST), giving him a big 547-353 win. Andy was also bingo king with an obscene total of 14 rack-clearing plays.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +222 and was the player to hand Andy his only loss, winning their first-round contest in convincing fashion, 496-411.  He bingoed with MANITOS, RATLINS, and SEMIDOME in that game, giving him the interesting distinction of playing more M's than there are M's in the tilebag.  His sole loss came against his brother Thomas, a heartbreaking 451-457 affair in which he played SUNDECK and VERDANT.

3nd Thomas Reinke finished 3-1 +118.  He won two games where his opponents scored over 450: the previously-mentioned 457-451 win vs bro Charles, and a more comfortable 507-453 victory against Lynda Finn where finds like SPRINGAL and ATHENEUM made the difference.  His stroll along the path of undefeated-ness came to a dead stop when he ran against the considerable obstruction of Andy Bohnsack's bingo-finding ability in the last game.  He scored an uncharacteristically low 333 to Andy's 435.

Harwinder Dowd Again Tops In Intermediates

1st Harwinder Dowd finished a perfect 3-0 +185.  She did not limit her victories to the intermediate group, beating club director Richard Lauder in a 300-276 upset.  Showing no mercy whatsoever, Harwinder also held her opponents to a brutal 273 average for the night.

2nd Sue Goldstein ended up 1-3 -293.  Her win was against longtime sparring partner June Scott, 326-310.

Bingo Observations:

Thomas Reinke played INSHEATH, which is notable for just being the common SATINE stem plus two H's.  INSHEATH also takes an E to make INSHEATHE.

Thomas' SPRINGAL, meaning a young man, can be extended with a D to make SPRINGALD.  A springald is a medieval artillery device.

Peter Schmiedicke got down the word of the week, ALLELUIA, which is a praise song and takes an S.  Presumably it is related etymologically to the much-less-likely-to-ever-be-played-in-my-or-anyone-else's-lifetime HALLELUJAH. 

Harwinder played the believable phony EASINGS, which is good in the British scrabble dictionary.  Meanwhile, Lynda Finn played two valid -INGS bingos, COOKINGS and KEEPINGS (the latter of which looking so ridiculous as to draw a challenge).

Andy Bohnsack played TROPINES, which Charles Reinke extended with an A to make ATROPINES.

Charles was faced with the valid word MIMEOED on his rack, but saw an S in the right spot to make SEMIDOME.  A semidome is a half-dome, and it takes both a D and an S.