Thomas Reinke Unblinkingly Crushes Hopes, Dreams of Fellow Scrabble Players

1st Thomas Reinke applied some serious amounts of hurt to his four opponents, racking up large amount of spread in the process to finish 4-0 +509.  After ten straight losses at the hand of Charles Reinke, he finally beat his brother, prevailing 463-392.  INULASE was Thomas' contribution to the bingoing action; Charles played the high-probability ERINGOES (n. eringo, a medicinal herb, also ERYNGO) and LOGIEST.  The highest game score of the session also belonged to Thomas, who scored 528 (againt Lynda's 341) and played three bingos: RETITLE, STREAMS, and LAWINES (n. lawine, an avalanche, also LAUWINE). 

2nd Peter Schmiedicke scored a little less than his usual average (383 to his yearly average of 407), but it didn't matter as he ended up 4-1 +55.  He had only one 400-point game, but it came in a 96-point win versus Bryan Benwitz, 403-307.  Peter played GRASSES (something we don't see too much of this time of year) and Bryan played SNOWIEST (winner of Seasonally Appropriate Word of the Week).  The loss which marred his scoresheet was courtesy of Charles Reinke, who erased most of Peter's carefully-acquired spread with a 481-352 win.  Peter got $4 for high-S with PANDITS (n. pandit, a wise man in India), but Charles played TORULAE, EMACIATE, and the phony SHABBAT (SABBATH and SABBAT are good) to coast to victory. 

3rd Lynda "Finntastic" Finn went 3-1 +102, averaging 401 points per game.  She started off the night with a bang, roundly defeating Mary Becker 487-302.  Lynda greedily hogged the bingos in that game, all three of them attributable to her: STARING, THINNED, and AVERSION.  Added to the growing list of victims was Charles Reinke, who succumbed to the power of Lynda's lucky tile rack with a 346-382 loss.  Lynda had the double-double EARNINGS, plus enough high-scoring plays to easily outrun Charles' TOWLINES and INSOULED.

Betty Hasselkus was awarded Word of the Week for her find of SAWDUST.  While not an esoteric word, it certainly is a difficult find, since most of us would give up when faced with the dreaded WU tandem!  My first thought would be something like, "Blast my dratted luck!  Where can I play WUD?  Grumble grumble grumble."

June Scott Is a Bit More Forgiving Than That

1st June Scott finished at an even 2-2 with a not-so-even -166 cumulative.  Her bingo of FEARING did little to slow down Betty Hasselkus, who beat her 420-265 with the assistance of some POTIONS.  However, June went on to beat Sue Goldstein twice, including a high-scoring 375-351 match, to prevail in the Intermediate group.