Richard Lauder Cannot Be Stopped, Halted, or Otherwise Impeded

1st Richard Lauder went 4-0 with a miniscule +90 spread to keep his winning streak unbroken at 16.  A coup might be in order, as this sort of Scrabble domination is the very definition of tyranny!  Richard and Charles Reinke played a very low-scoring game, with Richard of course prevailing 329-320, but that was not his closest game; he beat Mary Becker by the score of 391-389.  Even worse, the game was originally scored as a win for Mary, before a recount found a four-point error.  Truly, the recount is the ficklest of beasts.  In that game, Richard played two of his seven total bingos with RAILERS and DETESTS, while Mary found FOUNDING (get it?  a joke!  sorta...)

2nd Lynda Finn finished at 4-1 +387, but despite her strong record, she did not get a chance to derail Richard's winning streak.  Lynda scored above 400 in all of her wins, with her loss being to Thomas Reinke 372-402.  Exacting some revenge upon the Reinke clan, she handily took down Charles Reinke 414-330, playing RERAISE and SNOOTED to Charles' RAINOUTS.  A learning opportunity arose when Lynda played the phony KELPIEST in the course of beating Barb Besadny 434-408; STEPLIKE and SPIKELET (n. a type of flower cluster) are the two valid words in that set of letters.

3rd Susan Vergeront rolled to a 3-0 start before having to face the juggernaut himself, with a 3-1 +216 final record indicating how that last match went.  However, Susan did fit quite nicely into the role of "Giant Killer", defeating Thomas Reinke 379-366 after thirteen straight losses against him!  Thomas played EMBROILS, but such a paltry bingo showing was not enough to counter Susan's dual-bingo assault of REKNOTS and AIRIEST.  She also taught a lesson in Scrabble dominance to pupil Betty Hasselkus, with the dust clearing to reveal a 417-287 victory for the former.

Thomas played the Word of the Week, ARABESKS, while defeating Betty 431-397.  The same as an arabesque, an arabesk is an inlaid pattern of interlacing floral designs.  Kudos also to Chris Vergeront, who had the only 500-point game of the night, a whopping 563 against Barb Besadny.  That is his second-highest club game ever, and his third ever game with four bingos: GOITRES, FLOATIER, INSTROKE, and ANSATED (adj. ANSATE, having a handle).

Sue Goldstein Squeaks Out First in Intermediates

1st Sue Goldstein went 1-2 -77, snatching first place despite a record that featured more X's in the loss column than in the win column.  She beat June Scott 321-283 for a much-needed victory.