Blog

1st Bryan Benwitz went a perfect 4-0 +424, making headway in the fight for the club championship as the club season dwindles down to its final few months. In round one, Bryan took on Helen Flores and used three bingos (DOTTILY, SIDLING, SAVORING) to take a 453-355 win. Bryan followed that up with a 447-294 win over Lynda Finn, showing no mercy whatsoever to an opponent compromised by a recent surgery. Things were a bit more closely-contested in a match against Charles Reinke, but Bryan pulled it out by a score of 409-406. Charles had PATRONLY to Bryan's ISOLABLE. Bryan was able to put on the cruise control for the last game as he secured his undefeated record with a 476-306 win against Andy Bohnsack, 476-306. Bryan had the nice find of DANAZOLS, in addition to EPICURE and a phony TRITOMES* (TRITONE and TRITOMA combined); Andy got down AIRLINER.

2nd Dennis Lloyd inverted the previous week's 1-3 record to finish 1-3 -80. He fought off Andy Bohnsack in the first game of the evening, escaping the fracas with a well-earned 477-449 win, thanks to finds of SCANTER, HAIRIEST, and the plausible DITTOES* (DITTOED is valid; DOTIEST is the word in DEIOSTT). Dennis' spread total took a dive in the next game as he was taken down by Charles Reinke, 338-486; TEASING was his only bingo (of note: TEASING is by far the preferred choice of Madison players when presented with the letters AEGINST, hitting the board 19 times; by contrast, EATINGS has only been played once). Dennis came back from that big loss to vanquish Lynda Finn, 384-374, getting OUTEARN to Lynda's DESTINES, and then wrapped things up with a 423-393 victory over the other Reinke, finding NESTLED and HARDIEST to snap a seven-game losing streak against Thomas.

3rd Charles Reinke finished 3-2 +266 with a club-leading thirteen bingos. Squaring off against Thomas Reinke in round one, a rematch from earlier battles for nutrients in the womb, Charles came out ahead 507-436, getting MYELINIC, ELOIGNED, and FAIBLES# to Thomas' VIREMENT#, CAESURAE, and SORDERS* (DORSERS was the word he was looking for). Charles continued to amass large quantities of bingos as the night went on, playing four of them (GOATIER, BEETLERS, ALIENISM, DEPAINTS) to beat Dennis Lloyd 486-338. A tough two-on-one match against Andy Bohnsack and Bryan Benwitz in the third round was a partial success, as Charles beat Andy 440-388 but lost to Bryan 406-409. That three-point loss to Bryan was painful, but even more painful was Charles' two-point loss to Mark Kenas in the final round, 467-469. Mark got word of the week honors with his nine-letter APPENDAGE, to go with TRAINING and BLISTER, while Charles had ANTIWEED, LAMEDHS, and BIFOCALS.

1st Charles Reinke got top honors for the second straight week, with his 3-1 +363 record and his rather intimidating per-game average of 496 (he broached the 500-point barrier in every game except the one he lost). Game one saw him take down Andy Bohnsack by a score of 513-417, hitting FOOTNOTE, EMEROID, and RADICATE to Andy's ESQUIRE and LARKING. Charles was brought back down to earth when he was smacked around by Mark Kenas, losing 362-502 despite bingos of RECLINER and LABROID (Mark had PICRATED and WISTERIA). Years of studying obscure bingos paid off handsomely for Charles in the third game, where he played BRUITED, LOCAVORE, THROSTLE, and MANGABEY in a 585-321 victory over Helen Flores. A MANGABEY (also spelled MANGABY) is a type of monkey, while a THROSTLE is a type of bird and a LOCAVORE is, I guess, also a sort of animal. Charles finished his strong performance with another 500 game, this one practically dripping with revenge as he got back at Mark, 522-379.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +222, getting back on track for a run at the club championship after a few weeks of 2-2 performances. His first game was a strong 450-363 triumph over Dennis Lloyd, with bingos of CAJOLED, ABRASION, and STERANE (Dennis supplied STATINS). For the second game, he was outbingoed 3-2 by Richard Lauder (IRONIES, LIAISED, ANTIQUER vs. DETRACTS, EXACTER) but still pulled it out, 452-404. Heartbreak was in store for the next game as Andy Bohnsack's late FACIALS resulted in a 412-422 loss for Bryan; happily, Bryan's shattered heart was partially reassembled with a 433-336 win against Dave Kinzer in the last game of the night.

3rd Richard Lauder finished at 3-1 +157, forty spread points ahead of Andy Bohnsack, who was also 3-1. All four of his games were over 400 points. He got a big win early, defeating the returning James Rollins 434-346 on the back of a 104-point MEMORIZE (James got down SPRINTER and STOUTEN). A 404-452 loss to Bryan was a setback, but it kept the 400-point streak alive, and was followed up by a 429-397 win against Steve Hartsman, where Richard found bingos of CODRIVEN and SETLINE. Victory was especially sweet against Helen Flores, as Richard had lost his previous three against her; this time, it was a 412-327 win for Richard, bolstered by finds of UNFILLED and HOLDERS.

Noteworthy was Mark Kenas' 591-370 win against Thomas Reinke, the ninth-highest-scoring game this year.

1st Charles Reinke notched first place by a margin of just sixteen spread points over a similarly-monikered foe, finishing 4-0 +429. His customary two-game Collins set against Mark Kenas went exactly according to plan (well, maybe not Mark's version of the plan), as Charles won both, 469-417 (playing CHARTERS, FOLATES, and DELETION) and 432-399 (playing CLOUDIER and LAETARES#). Mark did have the nice nine-letter SAGENITES# to ease the suffering in the second game. Charles got down three more bingos (HERNIAE, DERRISES, LAITANCE) while bulldozing Sara McLaughlin, 566-274. The relentless scoring assault slowed down for the final game, as Charles downed Bryan Benwitz in an atypically low-scoring game, 370-318, thus finishing 4-0 for the second time in three outings.

2nd Thomas Reinke fell just short of first place, going 4-0 +413 and averaging 477 points per game. The combined undefeatedness of the Reinkes might seem spectacular, but the feat was also achieved two weeks ago, so it's not spectacular at all, and might even be commonplace now. Thomas was thrown right into the proverbial fire for round one, facing off against Bryan Benwitz, where, despite the unceasing torment of proverbial flame, he prevailed 457-416. Bryan's sole bingo was BEEPING for 106, while Thomas had HEROICS, TANSIES, and DULLARDS. Seamlessly switching to Collins mode, Thomas beat Mark Kenas 453-325 on the back of FORSLOE# and STOVAINE#. Large amount of spread was accumulated in a 498-293 stomping of Andy Bohnsack, where Thomas monopolized the bingo output with OUTRAVES, BALDRICS, FEROCITY, and DEVISEE. Reinke domination was concluded with a high-scoring 498-459 bout against Mark Kenas, where each player had three bingos: ANEURINS, NAMASTE, and STEEVER# for Mark, RETIRAL#, AGATOID, and BACONERS# for Thomas.

3rd Andy Bohnsack finished 3-1 -56, proving that he can still win games even if he doesn't bingo a bazillion times (he only got four bingos total across his four games). He got a revenge win against Steve Hartsman after a loss the previous week, scoring 438 to Steve's 399 and getting down DISROOT (Steve had RINGTOSS). His game against David Kinzer was quite close, but Andy prevailed 375-366 despite Dave's word-of-the-week find of BUSHMEN. Words won't be wasted on Andy's spread-obliterating loss to Thomas Reinke, 293-498; instead, those words will be spent describing Andy's fourth-round 414-313 win over Helen Flores. Andy provided a lesson in the utility of high-probability seven-letter words, deploying AERIEST (probably 57) and ANEROID (probability 1), and also provided a lesson in the utility of reviewing high-probability eight-letter words, as he challenged Helen's valid SHOUTIER.