Dave Gilligan Finds that Phonies are Just as Good as Regular Bingos if Nobody's Going to Challenge You

1st Dave Gilligan went 3-0 +141 for his first-ever undefeated night of Scrabble.  He also averaged 393 points per game, over forty points better than his yearly average.  His improving word knowledge must have had a serious indimidation effect on his opponents; out of the four bingos he played, three of them were phony.  In his 415-390 defeat of Richard Lauder, Dave played his only valid bingo, FEINTED, while also playing the phony ANODISE (later pluralized by Dave for another 60 points).  Richard, despite his own uncomfortably-high phony percentage, managed not to get swept up in the phonying phrenzy, playing the perfectly acceptable MOANERS.  In the course of Dave's victory over Betty Hasselkus, 387-334, Dave played the oddly-familiar phony MEANISH.  It is familiar because Richard Lauder played the same phony two weeks ago.  The valid word in those letters is HAEMINS.

2nd Thomas Reinke finished 3-1, with his obscene +591 spread easily putting him on top of three other players with the same record.  Recent returnee Gail Salm was not shown any mercy in her first game back, with Thomas emerging victorious, 556-298 on the back of his three bingos: COENURI (n. COENURUS, a tapeworm larva), PORTIERE, and ISOLINE.  Three bingos were again in order against Betty Hasselkus, with ROARING, ATTAINS, and SONNETS propelling Thomas unhindered to a 560-285 win.  For wins that weren't blowouts, one simply has to look to Thomas' battle against twin Charles; that game ended with a tame 67-point victory for Thomas, 425-358.  The lesser twin played IMPOSTER; the greater twin got down HYMENIAL (the HYMENIUM is a tissue layer in fungi) and ARSENATE.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke went 3-1 +319, placing him ahead of Bryan Benwitz and Richard Lauder for third place.  His application of smack upon Bryan was the largest contributor to Peter's spread; that game ended with the lopsided score of 418-225.  Peter held a monopoly on bingos in that contest, playing three (PINBONES, DIESTER, MOURNER) to Bryan's zero.  In less high-scoring news, Peter attained his lowest winning score ever when he beat Thomas Reinke 310-301.  Peter's TARSIER was the only bingo played, a far cry from the roughly four a game that are played when those two players meet.  Richard Lauder was the sole impediment to Peter's quest for perfection, with the former squeaking out a win, 405-395.

June Scott Takes Intermediates in Convincing Fashion

1st June Scott went 2-1 with a paradoxic spread of -74.  Her highest scoring game was a bingoless 334-262 affair versus Harwinder Dowd.  Despite having beaten Sue Goldstein in the first game of the night, the rematch didn't go as well, with Sue scoring a personal-best 462 (to June's 264).