Blog

1st Thomas Reinke notched his second undefeated performance of the year with a 4-0 +444 record. He had an easy go of things in round one when he felled Richard Lauder 451-303, although that dreaded Collins confusion crept in when Thomas phonied with TUFOLIS* (good in CSW, but TUFOLI does not pluralize in NWL). Thomas also played the valid SIRENIAN in that game, while Richard added DETAILS for 90. More Collins confusion took place against Bryan Benwitz, as Thomas got away with TABOURIN* in a 453-398 win (his other bingos were ANSERINE and GONIDIA, the latter of which turned the phony TABOURIN* into the valid TABOURING). Thomas breathed a sigh of relief as he switched to the Collins dictionary in round three against Charles Reinke, a game which he won handily, 489-372, getting NAILSET, CEDULAS, and OPTIMUM vs. Charles' LUSTRINE and AGRIZED#. It was the battle of the undefeateds in round four as Thomas took on Lynda Finn, and, as you could have guessed by Thomas' position as first paragraph of this writeup, it was Thomas' win, 412-288.

2nd Lynda Finn went 4-1 +177, her second-straight 4-1 week. She started by holding the high-scoring Andy Bohnsack well under his yearly averaging, a stratagem which resulted in a 421-309 win despite Andy playing two bingos (HORNITO, CANDIES) to Lynda's one (ALIGNED). Lynda built on her nascent winning streak with a successful two-on-one outing against Dennis Lloyd (365-311) and Sara McLaughlin (417-346). Rewarded for her success with a crack at the titanic bingo-finding power of Bryan Benwitz, Lynda bravely went toe-to-toe (or bingo-to-bingo) with him, and emerged victorious in a close contest, 418-414. Lynda found PURLOINS and TANGIER against Bryan's DEFAMING and ENLISTEE. Sadly, Lynda's mojo ran out in the final game, and she was stifled by Thomas Reinke, 288-412.

3rd Andy Bohnsack went 3-2 +107, considerably improving on his recent 1-3 showing, but falling quite short of his 4-0 performance from two sessions ago. He also bingoed exactly twice in all five of his games, showcasing his remarkable consistency as an enthusiast of rack-clearing plays. A two-on-one set in the first round provided mixed results, as he suffered a hefty loss to Lynda Finn, 309-421, but also claimed a well-fought win against Sara McLaughlin, 409-390. Andy achieved anything but a mixed result in the second round against Charles Reinke, as he won comfortably, 501-395, despite being outclassed in the bingo column two to three (TIRELESS, TORNADIC vs. UNCREATE, BUTENES, TRENAIL). The up-and-down nature of Andy's night continued with a 399-486 loss to Richard Lauder, giving Richard five wins in their last six encounters. Beating Dennis Lloyd 402-295, with bingos of URBANEST and SARKIER, allowed Andy to end the night with a victory.

1st Bryan Benwitz went undefeated for the second straight week, finishing at 4-0 +532. He flattened Charles Reinke in the first round, 546-299, finding MATURERS, PASTINA, ISOLATE, and SPREADER. A subsequent match against another player suspiciously named Reinke also ended in victory for Bryan, 424-400, and again, Bryan came out ahead in the all-important "number if bingos" stat, playing three (RELEVES, ECOTOURS, YESSIREE), to Thomas one (PRALINES). The winning continued with a 432-340 victory over Lynda Finn, although Bryan's bingo output in that game (ASTERIA, MARLINS) was slightly less demoralizing for his opponent than his other games were. Bryan secured his perfect record by defeating Dennis Lloyd 486-317, finding BRAIZES, STRIVED, and PINNULE along the way.

2nd Lynda Finn went 4-1 +323 and made progress towards building up her yearly average with a 407 average game score. Despite letting a phony OUCHIES* get by her (OWIE and BOOBOO but no OUCHIE*), Lynda prevailed in her round-one match against Dennis Lloyd, 398-291. Round two saw Lynda awarded the privilege (punishment?) of playing two games at once, and it worked out quite well for her, as she defeated Sara McLaughlin 404-309 and Dora Kilburn 469-271. Lynda played TRAINED and the odd-looking HETMANS against Sara; DIRTIEST, SANDIER, and WONDERED were her bingos against Dora. A 340-432 loss to Bryan Benwitz put Lynda's plans of world domination on temporary pause, but those plans were fully revived with a 422-407 win over Charles Reinke in the final round. Lynda got down SCANDIAS and BRAILLED, while Charles had COUNTIES and ATTACKED.

1st Bryan Benwitz returned to his winning ways with a 4-0 +431 record. He saved his best for first as he torpedoed Dave Kinzer in round one, 564-373; SEEDING, SEAMIER, TELERAN, and a 149-point 3x3 of NOTIFIED were his bingos. His next game was a lot closer, squeaking by Charles Reinke with bingos of GEOIDAL and BISTABLE for a 416-411 win. Cruelly thrown back into the Reinke arena for round three, Bryan once again emerged victorious, with the final tally of 467-336 being quite decisive in Bryan's favor. Crafty finds of VORTEXES and ARTISTRY contribued to the pulverisation, while Thomas stemmed the bleading with the three-I INSIPID and the nine-letter TREADLERS. Bryan finished his clean sweep with a 457-353 win against Helen Flores, playing the odd-but-valid BEDIAPER in addition to MORTICES (Helen found GLORIES and ELISION).

2nd Charles Reinke's 2-2 +246 record was sufficient for second place, with only six players interrupting their spring break to play Scrabble; we assume everybody else was on a party bus en route to South Beach. Having no party-bus-related distractions, Charles won his first game against Thomas Reinke, utilizing his Collins knowledge to play STAIRED#, GANOINE#, and FOVEATED in a 463-362 win. A 411-416 loss to Bryan Benwitz in round two was immediately followed by an upset 355-423 loss to Helen Flores. Helen got down RINSERS, INVITEES, and EMENDER while ending a losing streak that had persisted for over a year, and was last seen piloting a plane over the Madison area trailing a message that reads "I beat a twin". Charles turned things around for the final game, soundly defeating Sara McLaughlin 555-337 with his own avalanche of bingos: ANGARIES, ENDNOTE, BLANKIE, and CISTERN (extended correctly to CISTERNA and then incorrectly to CISTERNAS* - CISTERNAE and CISTERNAL are the valid extensions).