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Thomas Reinke, Havoc-Wreaker

1st Thomas Reinke made short work of every opponent he faced, finishing a perfect 4-0 with a sizable +609 spread. He downed Gail Salm 475-335 thanks to a trio of high-probability sevens: AUNTIES, DIOXANE, and POETISE. Gail also got down a high-probably seven of her own, RETOTAL. A game against Peter Schmiedicke was somewhat closer, but still a solid win for Thomas, 420-341. In that one, both players had two bingos: FRONTAL and PONGIEST for Peter, THRONED and YPERITE for Thomas. Most of Thomas' damage was done in his game against Barb Besadny, which he dominated utterly from start to finish, 579-227. That one saw Thomas lay down four bingos, two of which scored over ninety points: NECTARY (97), SUBTILE (92), JIHADIS (86), and EARPHONE (66).

2nd Lynda Finn took the "defense first" route to the top three, finishing 3-1 +275 while allowing only 315 points per game for her opponents. This new strategy was exemplified in a 394-288 victory over Dennis Lloyd. Dennis got down FINESSE a decent score, but otherwise failed to gain any momentum at all; Lynda's INCENTS may have had something to do with that. Another one-bingo-apiece battle was fought against Susan Vergeront, with Lynda again winning in convincing fashion, 433-322. Some more high-probability bingos were played; Susan had AUSTERE, with Lynda contributing NEATEST. Her loss was a low-scoring match against Barb Besadny which ended 333-319 and was lost despite Lynda having played the only bingo on the board, SOOTIER.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +213, and, like his brother, scored above 400 in all of his games. Speaking of his brother, Thomas was the one responsible for Charles' sole loss; their game ended with a final score of 444-406. Thomas bingoed out with ANESTRI to steal the win, having played BARTERED and MODELERS earlier in the contest. Meanwhile, Charles had "just" two bingos of SHOVELS and HAVENED. He fared better against Aaron Bader in a game which he won 494-410, playing the double-double PARTIZAN (same as a PARTISAN) for 114 points as well as the lower-scoring LOWLIFE for 80 (unfortunately never extended to LOWLIFER). Aaron found bingos of RETITLE and PETITES in the losing effort. A 457-324 triumph over Peter Schmiedicke featured yet more high-probability bingos, with Peter getting down FORESIDE and TONEMES to Charles' IMAGOES and NITROSO.

There were a few new bingos to report on this week: JIHADIS (Thomas, also word of the week), LAIRAGE (Bryan), and PONGIEST (Peter).

Dave Gilligan is Not to be Stopped

1st Dave Gilligan shocked the Scrabble world by going 4-0 +440 and eclipsing his yearly average by some seventy points, averaging 417 per game. Meanwhile, he held his opponents to a stingy 307, proving once again that strong offensive game + strong defensive game = plentiful wins. Dave started his enchanted evening by trouncing Sue Goldstein, 484-315, playing the plausible DEAFENER as well as a perfectly-valid TREATING. A matchup against Andy Bohnsack didn't quite reach "trouncing" territory, but Dave still earned a solid win, 369-300, playing MESSAGES to Andy's NUTRIENT. To secure his undefeated record, Dave was paired with the similarly-undefeated Charles Reinke in the last round; after much bingoing on Dave's part (LINEATE, UNDERPAY, and ERASION), and no bingoing on the part of Charles, Dave emerged victorious, 407-313.

2nd Aaron Bader finished up at 3-1 +299 for second place. He used up most of his luck in the first game (because luck is a finite resource which can be depleted) when he roughed up Bryan Benwitz, 544-377. Bryan got down DEBONER and ENACTORS to make the score respectable, but he truly had little chance against Aaron's quad-bingo onslaught of UPRATED, ANSWERS, AUTOMEN, and word-of-the-week CYLICES (plural of CYLIX). Andy Bohnsack fared little better, falling 385-456 to the Aaronator. Andy found the only word in EEIORTT? (answer at the bottom), as well as RELEASER, but again, Aaron outbingoed his opponent with INFERIOR, STOPING, and ACCRETE. Aaron's third win was a 397-271 victory over Richard Lauder, with his UBIETIES and LAMINAE outscoring Richard's BONEFISH.

3rd Charles Reinke also went 3-1, but fell slightly short of second place with a +272 cumulative. He made progress in evening up the lifetime series against his brother when he rudely hogged all the good tiles in a 533-322 victory. Thomas had the double-Z GRIZZLES, but Charles had four bingos in response: LEANEST, UNDERLIE, INFERIOR, and INSECTAN. Aaron Bader didn't face such lopsided tile distribution, but still had to place a checkmark in the loss column when Charles downed him 473-408. Aaron had OGREISM and AIRSIDE, with Charles getting BANTENG, CREASES, and ROTATIVE. A rundown of Charles' singular loss against Dave can be found above.

New bingos this week were AIRSIDE (Aaron) and UNTONED (Helen).

Charles Reinke Does Charles Reinke Things

1st Charles Reinke averaged 462 points per game en route to a 4-0 +581 record. He got revenge on Bryan Benwitz, who had defeated him in their previous two matchups, by scoring a decisive victory, 441-313. Bryan played MOURNERS, but Charles' pair of high-scoring bingos (STIPELS for 85, ADVISER for 92) was simply too much firepower. Less firepower was on display against Dave Gilligan, as only one bingo was played between the two players (Charles' RAISINY), but it was still a landslide win for Charles, 467-230. Charles neatly concluded his undefeated night with a 506-377 triumph over Peter Schmiedicke. Despite the large score disparity, the final bingo count in that game was tied at two apiece: SCANNER and RETIEING for Peter, UPTOWNS and RAMEKINS for Charles.

2nd Andy Bohnsack played just three rounds, but thanks to a 2-v-1 game in the first round, he got in a full slate of four games, going 3-1 +312. That two-on-one matchup proved fruitful for Andy, as he emerged from the fray with a 2-0 +327 record. A 414-342 win over Helen Flores was pretty good, but a 492-237 drubbing of Barb Besadny was even better. The latter saw Andy play a trio of eights: CRUSTING, REGAINER, and INWEAVES. His third win came against Thomas Reinke, who succumbed to the Bonestorm, 479-407. Thomas had a nice find of MULETEER (n. a person who drives mules), but Andy got down LUMBERED (which he later tried, and failed, to extend to PLUMBERED), BEASTIE, and FORGIVEN. A 346-433 encounter against the other twin was Andy's only loss of the evening.

3rd Dave Gilligan built on his success last week with a 3-1 -50 outing this week. He is now the winner of five of his last six. Peter Schmiedicke has now lost two in a row to Dave, the most recent being a 439-360 affair that saw Dave get three bingos: DAFFIER, MOTHIEST, and word-of-the-week PREBENDS. A PREBEND is a benefice held by a prebendary; it does not mean "to bend beforehand." Meanwhile, Peter could "only" muster THIAMINE in his losing effort. Later in the night, Dave notched a second upset win when he took down Thomas Reinke 389-383. Dave again outbingoed his opponent, playing HALOIDS and HEALERS to Thomas' NEOLITHS. The aforementioned loss against Charles Reinke pushed Dave's spread into the negatives, but, thankfully for Dave, there were no other 3-1s to challenge the third place spot!

The only new word played this week was Gail's GROVIER.