It is Confirmed: Thomas Reinke is a Hyper-Intelligent Alien Shapeshifter

1st Thomas Reinke, with a dominating 4-0 +653 performance, has reached the fabled "10 wins in a row mark", strengthening the theory that he might be an extraterrestrial sent to our planet in order to beat us at Scrabble.  His lowest score in that ten-game run is 433; what more evidence is necessary?  "Thomas" got off to a strong start by manhandling Aaron Bader 498-323, starting a trend that would prevail through his next two games by playing four bingos: OUTRACE, SNOOZIER, FALCONER, and GURNEYS.  That game was closely-contested compared to a Thomas-Richard matchup that ended 583-227 in favor of the twin.  His four bingos were ACYLOIN, LORGNON, SUGARED, and MIDSOLES.  To cap off his run of four-bingo games, Thomas defeated Peter Schmiedicke 460-345 while playing OUTPREENS, DERISION, SHAIRDS, and REASCENT.  Both Peter and Richard were held bingoless, while Aaron was restricted to just one bingo.  With his strong showing, Thomas is now averaging 457 on the year.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +331, a more sedate performance than that of his brother's, suggesting that Charles is in fact merely a human and not an otherworldly being.  Against Leslie Seltzer, Charles pulled out the words MARTINET and TARSIER (n. a very cute monkey-type thing whose most noteworthy feature is having eyes larger than its brain) to win 403-330.  His big score would come against Lynda Finn, 527-323.  Lynda's TRAINING came up well short of Charles' BECURSED, ADENITIS, and PAYOLAS (n. a secret payment for favors).  Charles seemed primed for an undefeated evening, but was turned away by his own brother, 456-449.  Thomas played ORANGES and AMANDINE (which sounds like the recipe for a vile dish), while Charles seemed to have an "A" fixation, playing ACERBER (adj. ACERB, sour), AIRINESS, and AVIATES.

3rd Bryan Benwitz finished 3-1 +179, a welcome return to the top three after a monthlong absence.  Bryan only got one bingo in the course of his 509-302 win over Dave Gilligan, but he made it count, scoring 176 points for his triple-triple PRECITED.  His winning margin would go from "comfortable" to "anxiety-inducing" when he narrowly defeated Aaron Bader 404-397.  Both combatants had two bingos make it onto the board: SAVARIN and CLAIMED for Bryan, ACINOSE and EPIGONUS (n. an inferior imitator) for Aaron.  Leslie Seltzer was the perpetrator responsible for the lone loss on Bryan's scorecard, winning that fight 434-364.  Bryan was limited to just NOONTIDE for 70 points; Leslie had KETONES (80) and ERUPTING (78).

Aaron Bader had the highest game of the evening, scoring 631 against Dave Gilligan.  The 167-point triple-triple of REGIMENS certainly had a part in that huge score.

Barb Besadny Unleashes her "Inner Barb" to Good Results

1st Barb Besadny was a perfect 3-0 +135 despite not playing a bingo in any of her games.  She toughed out some defense-themed contest against June Scott (304-252) and Sue Goldstein (318-273) for two of her wins before turning on the jets and defeating Susan Vergeront 412-374.

2nd Susan Vergeront went 2-1 +81 for a second-place finish.  She was not above playing phonies to get her way, using the plausible SHIRTED (so plausible that it was not indicated as phony on her sheet!) to defeat Sue Goldstein 357-302.  DITHERS is the valid word in those letters, although SHIRTED will be added in the next dictionary update, which will be (hopefully) sometime in early 2015.  Against Barb Besadny, Susan played three (valid) bingos of RELIVING, REDIALS, and STRAINS, but even three bingos weren't enough to secure a win; she lost 374-412.