Lynda Fails To Live Up To "Finnisher" Nickname

1st Lynda Finn won her first three games decisively, then feigned tiredness to avoid the frightening prospect of a loss, ending up at 3-0 +335, good for first paragraph privileges. She and Mary both played a bingo apiece in their opening-round match, HUNTERS for Lynda and ALIENATE for Mary, but somehow Lynda found enough points in other places to win, 430-322. In the second round, she faced David who, brimming with confidence after beating Thomas, came face to face with a bingo cannon. Lynda played four bingos: DINKIER, ANIMALS, OUTFACES, and GLORIOUS (how appropriate) in that 438-316 victory. Her bingoing continued in a 458-343 win against Bryan, with BONKERS, HOARDING, and ATONERS (n. one that atones, I didn't even have to look that one up). Bryan played ASSUAGE as his sole rack-clearer, which isn't as funny-looking as ASSWAGE. With a final bingo ratio of 8 for Lynda and 2 for her opponents, I'd say that outbingoing your opponent is a good strategy for winning games.

2nd Bryan Benwitz came in second place with a 3-1 +181 record. He opened things up with yet another win over Charles, 478-345. Bryan has now won (palindrome alert!) four out of the last five in the head-to-head matchup. For those interested, he is holding a "How to beat Charles" class next Wednesday. Tickets are 50 dollars, limited availability. Don't miss your chance to learn from the master! After his usual destruction of Charles, he turned his attention to Aaron, who he beat 411-350. Bryan is now 1 for his last 1 against Aaron, another impressive feat! Bryan's "win every game" strategy took a hit against Lynda, as he faced an insurmountable amount of bingos, but he recovered against Gail, 443-341. He only got down one bingo that game, but it was a nice one, ENTENTES (n. an agreement between nations).

3rd Charles Reinke lost his first game but didn't go home right away, sticking around for three more games of Scrabble and winning them all, finishing at 3-1 +119. He lost, predictably, to Bryan in the first round, and as an act of vengeance defeated Dave in the next round 510-303. He got away with the phony PYRESIS* in that one, trying to form a noun out of the adjective PYRETIC. Try PYREXIA next time, dude. Charles had to use all the tricks in his book to overcome Richard's FOREPAST for 98 in the third round, eventually prevailing 391-368. His night concluded with a familiar matchup against Thomas, except this time they weren't battling for first. Charles took control of the game early with VAUNTIE and STYMIED, and Thomas couldn't make up the difference in time, losing 463-485, the highest losing score of the year so far.

Gail played the word-of-the-week, QUINTICS. A QUINTIC is a type of mathematical function, and reading the wikipedia page for it is hurting my brain. Not recommended.