Aaron Bader Loses a Game, but the Soothing Salve of First Place Will Heal Even the Direst of Wounds

1st Aaron Bader topped a group of five players with one loss thanks to his 4-1 +515 performance. Almost half of his final spread total came as a result of a 504-274 encounter with Sue Goldstein. Aaron played a trio of eight-letter words to secure his victory: SOLENOID, ARIDNESS, and ACTINIDE. A later game against Lynda Finn was marred by the unwelcome blight of phony words; Aaron erred with DONNART (only DONNERT, DONNERD, and DONNERED in our dictionary) while Lynda got away with RULINESS. It was Aaron's win, 489-363. Finally, as the hour grew late, Aaron unleashed his largest game of the evening when he defeated Bryan Benwitz 508-430. Bryan had three bingos of OBELISE, GIRDLER, and BEACHED, the last for 98 points, but was matched every step of the way by his opponent, who found PARRIED, PATNESS, and NEEDLES.

2nd Thomas Reinke averaged a club-leading 464 per game en route to a 4-1 +403 finish. He managed to extend his winning streak up to twelve in a row before encountering Peter Shmiedicke in round two, a classic example of an unstoppable force encountering an immovable object. The game ended heavily in Peter's favor, 515-406, thanks to Peter's four bingos of SEDUCING, MANROPES, RATTIER, and SIRVENTE. Thomas responded to that disappointing loss by drubbing Susan Vergeront 567-300. Just like his opponent had done the previous game, Thomas deployed a total of four bingos on his nemesis: ECHIDNAS, ROTARIES, FORECAST, and the new word REMOULDS (SMOULDER and MOULDERS were previously valid). The ultimate triumph, however, was attained when Thomas beat his brother Charles 452-431. Charles got down AUROREAN, MIGRATED, and the new BRIDIES, but Thomas's nice nine-letter find of GONOCYTES paired with a lesser find of EXOTICA carried him to victory.

3rd Charles Reinke ended up at 3-1 +280, frustratingly just one rung below his brother. Things started off smoothly, with a game against Gail Salm ending 525-320. Gail played ORACIES (the new anagram of SCORIAE); but Charles had ENTHRALS, PUMMELED, and SAUNTER for a decided advantage in BPFB (bonus points from bingos). Bryan Benwitz fared slightly better, but not better enough to walk away with the win, as Charles prevailed in their matchup 435-383 despite Bryan's tri-bingoed assault of REVOTING, BONESETS, and TONNERS. Charles had VEINULET and a word-of-the-week candidate, SYNKARYA (plural of SYNKARYON, a type of cell nucleus). Charles' third win was a somewhat low-scoring contest against Aaron Bader, 403-359.

Andy Bohnsack deservedly won Word of the Week with his ridiculous, unbelievable, and mind-boggling find of SOUNDSTAGE against Peter Schmiedicke, played to the word AGE which was already on the board. Unfortunately for fans of justice and proponents of meritocracy, Andy lost the game 423-436.

Lots of new bingos were played this week: REMOULDS (Thomas), DUALLIE (Charles), BRIDIES (Charles), ORACIES (Gail), SARNIES (Gail), and DISOWNER (Dave).

Experts
Aaron Bader4-1 +515
Thomas Reinke4-1 +403
Charles Reinke3-1 +280
Richard Lauder3-1 +156
Peter Schmiedicke3-1 +67
Lynda Finn2-2 +96
Bryan Benwitz2-2 +78
Helen Flores2-2 +23
Dave Gilligan2-2 -31
Andy Bohnsack2-2 -35
Susan Vergeront1-2 -253
Gail Salm1-3 -193
Barb Besadny1-3 -263
Sue Goldstein0-3 -495
Betty Hasselkus0-4 -348
Intermediates

 
NameWin% W   L  T  Avg  Opp Avg Bingos  Avg Phonies % v2
Experts
Thomas Reinke75.61555004413714472.18112.58
Charles Reinke73.21535604463714582.199211
Bryan Benwitz661135814133743171.84123.81
Andy Bohnsack661075514243843342.0592.712
Aaron Bader64.61045704323923332.07339.94
Dennis Lloyd59.522150381379481.3612.51
Lynda Finn55.4725803973862081.694.35
Richard Lauder51.4767203853752571.74228.69
Mark Kenas50292904424331332.294030.10
Helen Flores35.16612203503941410.7564.32
Intermediates
Sue Goldstein40.255821315344360.2625.60

Bingos
Thomas Reinke13SHORTIE KIRTLES INHUMES AREOLAS ECHIDNAS ROTARIES FORECAST REMOULDS HALOGENS WEARIED
PEATIER GONOCYTES EXOTICA
Aaron Bader12SOLENOID ARIDNESS ACTINIDE URETERS HARNESS RIVALLED REIMAGES ELECTION PARRIED PATNESS
NEEDLES donnart
Peter Schmiedicke11ENTRANTS AEROGEL HIRABLE SEDUCING MANROPES RATTIER SIRVENTE INTONES AERATION BILINEAR
SNOWIER
Bryan Benwitz11ELATION DISPORTS TANGELOS SORBENTS REVOTING BONESETS TONNERS SLANTED OBELISE GIRDLER
BEACHED
Charles Reinke10ENTHRALS PUMMELED SAUNTER VEINULET SYNKARYA ONENESS DUALLIE AUROREAN MIGRATED BRIDIES
Andy Bohnsack8INARABLE ANTIRUST GUARANI TAILLIKE TRISECT MINUETS ATELIER SOUNDSTAGE
Richard Lauder7SPHERIC READERS GARNETS TOUCHED ROOKIEST SHEARED STEWING
Lynda Finn7TAXITES UPSTATE DAWDLING OVARIES TINDERS RIDGIEST ruliness
Gail Salm7ORACIES SARNIES GIPSIED RETAINER DENTING RUMINATE WINDIER
Dave Gilligan6DEITIES BODEGAS DISOWNER STRINGER BRIDLES eluides
Helen Flores4NUMBERS FLUSHER TRAINEE TESTERS
Barb Besadny3UNRATED NASTIES EXERTION
Susan Vergeront2HARNESS NASTIES
Betty Hasselkus1NURSERY
3-Apr: Scrabble at Covenant Church10-Apr: Scrabble at Covenant Church17-Apr: Scrabble at Misty Mountain Games24-Apr: Scrabble at Covenant Church