Bryan Benwitz: "Fear the Beard"

1st Following in the proud tradition of great bearded sportsmen like Brian Wilson and James Harden, Bryan Benwitz used the power contained within his facial hair to go 3-1 +325 and seize first place. It was no coincidence that in his first game, matched up against a beardless Susan, that he came out on top, 454-327. Nor was it pure chance that, when faced with Thomas' inferior goatee, he was victorious again, 437-337, aided by a bingo-bango-bongo of ADVECTS, NUTTERS, and PALINODE. The pattern continued in the third game, where Charles' five o'clock shadow was overcome by Bryan, 454-348. Bryan's opener of HISTORY (not to be confused with HERSTORY) was, sadly, not extended to PREHISTORY, though both combatants had the opportunity. A chance for an undefeated night was foiled by Gail, 404-412, proving that playing with the spirit of the beard, as Gail did, is sometimes just as good as possessing the genuine article.

2nd Charles Reinke encountered a "murderer's row" of opponents and managed to cobble together a 3-1 +205 record, a result befitting the club's win-percentage and average score leader. A normally explosive matchup between him and Aaron ended in Charles' favor, 394-297, with only two bingos being played, UDOMETER (n. a rain gauge) and KAOLINES. The bingo count was more impressive in his next contest against Andy, with Charles playing 4 to Andy's 2 in a 467-376 win. As mentioned above, his game with Bryan did not end well for him, but he made up for it by defeating his doppelgänger Thomas in the final game, 482-358. His play of SQUIRREL in that game would win a hypothetical "cutest word of the week" prize, unless you think CANINES are cuter.

3rd Gail Salm calmly won her final 3 games to come in 3rd place, 3-1 +140. Her night got off to a bad (although how could any night be bad when it's spent playing Scrabble? Am I right?) start, with her losing to Sue 343-366 despite a nice find of UNTONED (adj. lacking muscular definition). Things picked up for her starting in the second game, a 428-340 win over Helen, a win that featured the double-Y word-of-the-week-winning ENTRYWAY. An impressive play for someone who, and I quote, "normally hates Y's!". In the third game of the night, victory was earned against Barb, 420-353, with her ENSUITE and TENNERS (n. a ten dollar bill, FIVER is also good) besting Barb's ROADIES (new anagram RADIOES). As previously stated, she managed to squeak by the then-undefeated Bryan, her play of SPINDLER (n. one who spindles, how helpful) drawing a challenge in a deciding moment of the game.

A bunch of new words were played this week: STINGES (Charles), UNTONED (Gail), ENSUITE (Gail), DUDETTES (Thomas), TOUPIES (Thomas).