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Richard Lauder Goes Undefeated* (Note Asterisk)

1st Richard Lauder succeeded in not losing any of his games, but this remarkable feat must be denoted, just like Barry Bonds' home run record, with an asterisk, for Richard only played three out of four possible games. His 3-0 +140 record nonetheless was enough for first place given the absence of any 4-0 performances, and his three bingos per game led all players. A first-round match against Lynda Finn resulted in Lynda's only loss of the evening as Richard got down AXSEEDS, ENTERICS, and OVERSPEND (through PE) to attain a 407-365 victory. He then pulled out his "bag of tricks" (read: bag of phonies) to take down Mary Becker by a score of 408-366. ENTITLED was his single valid bingo in the game; PALTROON (valid anagram: PORTOLAN; probably thinking of POLTROON) and AGENISE (either that or AGEWISE; handwriting unclear) were his phonies. To clinch his undefeated night, Richard first had to get past Charles Reinke, a task which was readily accomplished with a final score of 435-379, thanks to timely bingos of DONATED, DRAWLING, and OILIEST.

2nd Thomas Reinke finished at 3-1 +319, the highest spread of three 3-1 finishers. His first game, a 309-430 loss against Bryan Benwitz, could have been taken as an ill omen, but Thomas rebounded from that setback to win his next three, nearly scoring 500 in all of them (missing the cutoff with a 498 against Dennis Lloyd). Dave Gilligan was the first victim of Thomas' 500-scoring ways; their game ended rather lopsidedly at 533-320. Dave got away with the phony LURIDEST (LUCIDEST is new to the dictionary; STUDLIER and DILUTERS are the real words in those letters), while Thomas contributed YEELINS, ZAIDEHS, and LINTIER to his extensive list of bingos. Thomas' next 500 game was just that, a round 500 to Peter Schmiedicke's 388. Again, Thomas played three bingos (ETERNISE, VIADUCT, and LUTANIST), but this time, his opponent got two, and they were both valid: AURORAE (almost looks like an exchangeable rack until you see the bingo!) and COLLEGE.

3rd Bryan Benwitz fell fourteen spread points short of second place with his 3-1 +305 record. His 565-249 trouncing of Helen Flores was his fourth 300+ winning margin this year. It was also his seventh four-bingo game (CONGEST, UNLOADER, ERASION, INWALLED) in the same time period. Peter Schmiedicke fared somewhat better, "only" losing to Bryan by a score of 380-453. Peter played PRERADIO and GOATEES, while Bryan got just one bingo of SANITIES, but Bryan's 81-point play of ZOUK, plus a bevy of other scoring plays, allowed him to snag victory from his opponent's greedy grip. Going into the fourth game with an undefeated record, the tables were utterly turned, and Bryan got a taste of his own bitter medicine, losing to Lynda Finn 538-333. Bryan's onliest bingo was ONLIEST; meanwhile, Lynda had a double-double of INSOLATE (82), CARVINGS on a triple word (90), and a triple-triple of ENTREATS (133). Lynda's triple-triple wasn't the first one played that night; Aaron Bader's COERCION for 122 holds that honor, found through the second C out of an EINOO?? rack.

Charles' ORDUROUS was chosen as word of the week.

There's a New Sheriff in Town

1st Thomas Reinke cobbled together a perfect 5-0 night, a night sweetened by the fact that he had overtaken his brother at the top of the yearly standings. After somehow overcoming two opponents at the same time in Dave and Gail while playing no phonies, he brought out a timely fake against Peter,  with DISHABLE*, to earn the win. It turns out that Aaron had played that word (which doesn't mean what you think it means) against Mark a while back in a Collins game, so while it wasn't a total fabrication on Thomas' part, it remains a glaring indictment on his word knowledge. Seriously glaring. Really, really glaring. I don't know how we'll ever be able to trust him after this. Feeling a combination of shame and embarrassment, he went phony-less the rest of the night. He beat Charles 433-386 in round three, and then opened with a bingo-bango-bongo of LORDING, GREEDILY, and DRENCHER against Richard in the final round. Richard made it close with CATIONS and STABILE, but Thomas ended up pulling away with an avalanche of high-scoring non-bingos to secure his undefeated session.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +174 to come in second place, coincidentally the same place he now resides in the yearly standings. He opened with a 418-350 win against Dennis, playing ENFRAMED and RIBOSOME. He then ended Betty's 1-game winning streak against him, winning 458-338 with the aid of SEINERS and RANKLERS* (n. one that rankles, except not really, because it's not a word and thus has no reasonable definition). Against Thomas, he must not have realized that the top spot on the standings was at stake; otherwise, he definitely would have played more than one bingo, right? Someone needs to work on their situational awareness. Charles did end up winning his final game against Peter, but it was too late; he is now doomed to an eternal fate of coming in second to his brother.

3rd Gail Salm came in third at 3-1 +114. She recovered from an opening loss against Thomas to win three straight, the first against Dave, 377-340. Of note: she played STONIER in that game, and then played it again in her 419-338 win over Bryan. If she had played it for a third time on the night, I think we would have had to make a prize for that occurrence and then award it to her. As it stood, she had to be content with a decisive 455-389 win versus Lynda.

Richard played the word of the week, DIURESIS for 122 points. As it was a triple-triple, and it won the high-D prize, he was awarded 9 green-gray rectangles for that play alone.

Barb Besadny Besads her opponents

1st Barb Besadny went 3-0 +144, her first undefeated evening since 2014 and her first top-place finish since 2012. She won her opening game versus Sue easily, 382-289, scoring at will without the help of any bingos. She did manage to get one down in her 347-313 against Dave, SOOTIEST, to complement her opponent's BILLIOUS* (BILIOUS is the correct spelling). Those turned out to be the only bingos in any of the games she played, as both she and Helen went bingoless in Barb's 342-325 win. Remember folks: bingos are fun, but they aren't the be-all and end-all of Scrabble success. A steady diet of 25 or 30 point plays can often be just as good. Until your opponent bingos 4 times in a row and you're stuck staring at CFIIIVV. (quick quiz: find the bingo in that rack)

2nd Lynda Finn came in second with a 3-1 record and a huge +543 spread. Her night got off to a shaky start, as even though she scored 412 with two bingos, ELOIGNER and ANIMATES Susan topped that by scoring 461 with three rack-clearers, EXTERNAL, DARTING, and SUPPOSE. What was that I said about bingos not being a big deal? Forget about all that. I lied. The proof is in the pudding: after Susan's three bingos, Lynda's opponents combined for a measly one bingo the rest of the night, while she herself played 8: PEWTERS, UNGLUED (not to be confused with UNGULED), and DEGASSED (at first glance adj. possessing or displaying paintings by Edgar Degas, actually v. to remove gas from) against Betty, MISHIRED* and SCOPING against David, and RENNASE, MELTONS, and EMPIRES against Thomas. Lynda's shocking 513-294 demolition of Thomas makes it two wins in a row for her; there should probably be a prize if she can get the streak up to 5.

3rd Thomas Reinke unleashed raging bingo fury in his first three games before crashing hard in the final, ending up at 3-1 +500. 13 bingos were played against the trio of Richard, Dennis, and Charles, leading to a ludicrous average score of 565 in those games. Most of the bingos were not very notable; he did, however play BULLSEYE, a common word which for some reason was only included in the most recent dictionary update. Thomas' score of 294 in the final round sent his average plummeting below 500 for the night and the resulting 200 point loss sent him to third place. A good job indeed by Lynda: she had 400 spread points to make up, and she did it!

Andy played the word of the week BIGFEET, which is a somewhat odd plural of BIGFOOT (n. an influential person). The answer to the CFIIIVV rack is VIVIFIC (adj. imparting spirit or vivacity). Even if you were to find it during a game, good luck fitting it on the board!