Barb Besadny Besads her opponents

1st Barb Besadny went 3-0 +144, her first undefeated evening since 2014 and her first top-place finish since 2012. She won her opening game versus Sue easily, 382-289, scoring at will without the help of any bingos. She did manage to get one down in her 347-313 against Dave, SOOTIEST, to complement her opponent's BILLIOUS* (BILIOUS is the correct spelling). Those turned out to be the only bingos in any of the games she played, as both she and Helen went bingoless in Barb's 342-325 win. Remember folks: bingos are fun, but they aren't the be-all and end-all of Scrabble success. A steady diet of 25 or 30 point plays can often be just as good. Until your opponent bingos 4 times in a row and you're stuck staring at CFIIIVV. (quick quiz: find the bingo in that rack)

2nd Lynda Finn came in second with a 3-1 record and a huge +543 spread. Her night got off to a shaky start, as even though she scored 412 with two bingos, ELOIGNER and ANIMATES Susan topped that by scoring 461 with three rack-clearers, EXTERNAL, DARTING, and SUPPOSE. What was that I said about bingos not being a big deal? Forget about all that. I lied. The proof is in the pudding: after Susan's three bingos, Lynda's opponents combined for a measly one bingo the rest of the night, while she herself played 8: PEWTERS, UNGLUED (not to be confused with UNGULED), and DEGASSED (at first glance adj. possessing or displaying paintings by Edgar Degas, actually v. to remove gas from) against Betty, MISHIRED* and SCOPING against David, and RENNASE, MELTONS, and EMPIRES against Thomas. Lynda's shocking 513-294 demolition of Thomas makes it two wins in a row for her; there should probably be a prize if she can get the streak up to 5.

3rd Thomas Reinke unleashed raging bingo fury in his first three games before crashing hard in the final, ending up at 3-1 +500. 13 bingos were played against the trio of Richard, Dennis, and Charles, leading to a ludicrous average score of 565 in those games. Most of the bingos were not very notable; he did, however play BULLSEYE, a common word which for some reason was only included in the most recent dictionary update. Thomas' score of 294 in the final round sent his average plummeting below 500 for the night and the resulting 200 point loss sent him to third place. A good job indeed by Lynda: she had 400 spread points to make up, and she did it!

Andy played the word of the week BIGFEET, which is a somewhat odd plural of BIGFOOT (n. an influential person). The answer to the CFIIIVV rack is VIVIFIC (adj. imparting spirit or vivacity). Even if you were to find it during a game, good luck fitting it on the board!