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Aaron Bader Doesn't Miss Mark All That Much

1st Aaron Bader proved that he can seamelssly jump between our "normal" dictionary and the "weird" British dictionary by going 3-1 +380. One of his few slipups was playing the Collins-only STEMLET during a rout of Bryan Benwitz that ended with a final score of 483-349. Aaron's three other bingos were all valid: ANDIRON, PAESANI, and HOUNDED. Bryan, meanwhile, was held uncharacteristically bingoless. Aaron achieved the same feat against Peter Schmiedicke in another rout, 473-311. This time, Aaron limited himself to only real words, those being MONERANS, DENTURE, and PRATIES. The lucky streak could not continue forever, though, as Aaron found that Charles Reinke was not willing to sit and watch all the good tiles drawn out of the bag by his opponent. Their matchup ended at 418-435 in Charles' favor, with Charles' sole bingo of CADASTER (also CADASTRE) overcoming Aaron's FURIOSO and SENTINEL.

2nd Andy Bohnsack fell only 24 points short of first place with his 3-1 +356 record. The night did not start off well for Andy as he was downed by Gail Salm, 452-399. Gail was able to stifle the effect of Andy's find of OOCYTES (anagram: COYOTES) with three bingos her own: STRIPER, INCITERS, and "Appropriate Word of the Week" WINNERS. After that setback, Andy found the rest of his games to be smooth sailing. He used dubious tactics to defeat Barb Besadny, playing the phony INTERLIE along with his valid play of SNEERED on his way to a 512-302 clock-cleaning. Meanwhile, no shady plays were attempted as Andy won a clean bout against Thomas Reinke, 446-359. Thomas watched with envy as Andy played a trio of bingos: INCENSED, HURLIES, and  TOILETED.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +283 to beat out two other players who had 3-1 records. Missing out on "highest score of the evening" by one point, Charles romped over Susan Vergeront, 511-307. Susan got down ASTERIA (the third time she's played that word!), but Charles one-upped her with LENITED and SNOUTING. The bingo spigot ceased to run when Charles matched up against Dave Gilligan, but even getting out-bingoed 0-2 (Dave had SHOWMAN and OVEREATS), Charles eked out the victory, 430-343. Thomas Reinke AKA "The Good-Looking One" was once again the disruptor of Charles' perfect night; the fraternal fistfight concluded with a 401-376 final. Charles did outdo his brother from a bingo perspective, playing SPINULAE and LEARIER to Thomas' INTERBED, but his efforts were for nought.

Both Peter Schmiedicke and Gail Salm also went 3-1. Peter played the word of the week with ZOOPHILE.

Sue Goldstein The Only Undefeated

1st Sue Goldstein averaged 343 per game, well above her yearly average, on her way to an undefeated 3-0 +211 bulldozing through the Intermediate group. Her one bingo came against Steve Busalacchi, RESOLING for 62 points. Sue only won that game by 59, 370-311, so the bingo's appearance on her rack was definitely appreciated. Most of Sue's spread came against the returning Michael Siebers, whom she beat 363-214.

2nd Steve Busalacchi finished 2-1 +128 and averaged an expert-level 377 per game. He took down June Scott 388-346 in what is June's highest-scoring loss this year. Taking the momentum from that game and transferring it to his next, Steve got down two bingos (TEENIEST and NOSIEST) en route to a 433-288 victory over Michael Siebers.

New words played this week were PRATIES (Aaron), EGOTIZES (Peter), and STOVING (Bryan).

Thomas Reinke Doesn't Even Like Losing

1st Thomas Reinke averaged 461 points per game and laid down eleven bingos, going 4-0 +451 and ensuring that his insatiable appetite for victory would not remain unsated. He showed no mercy against Gail Salm in a 472-344 win that saw him play ARMOURS and OPERATE. Things would only get worse for Thomas' opponents as his next two games featured yet more anger in the form of points scored on a Scrabble board. Charles Reinke could only watch as his brother smothered him with three bingos (PALIEST, BASILECT, and ROUTEING) for a 496-341 final score. Also reduced to a mere spectator was Helen Flores, who lost 464-333. She had to endure watching Thomas lay down four bingos (NEGATION, OUTFIRE, GENETTES, and ENTERAL) while being allowed none herself. Initial reports out of the region indicate that Helen will cease any current and future tilebag shipments to Thomas until he backs down from this unwarranted aggression.

2nd Charles Reinke finished 4-1 +221, just one brother-administered loss away from a perfecter-than-perfect 5-0 record. A four-bingo beatdown permanently damaged Andy Bohnsack's point spread, with their matchup ending 492-317. Charles played CAEOMAS (n. CAEOMA, a spore-producing organ of a fungus), RESOLDER, INWEAVE, and CUSTARD; Andy saved himself from an even worse score by bingoing out with CLARINET. Against Mary Becker, who was firing on all cylinders despite her 2-2 record, Charles only just managed to squeak out the win, 418-415. Mary played TINGLING and NATTERED; Charles had TURFIEST and the phony AVULSIVE. Dave Gilligan was not allowed the luxury of a close loss, as he was downed by Charles, 471-353. Dave's bingos were INGRATE and the word-of-the-week EXTRORSE (adj. facing outward, not to be confused with DEXTRORSE, which means "spiraling to the right"); Charles' were CONTUSE, SEMIOTIC, and HEISTED.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke found himself in third place by virtue of there not being any players who finished 3-1, leaving Peter's 3-2 +173 to be good enough. His largest margin of victory came against Barb Besadny, who found out the hard way that the ability to draw good tiles doesn't easily cross state lines; Peter won 377-250 with his bingo of INDUSIAL (adj. pertaining to an indusium, an enclosing membrane found on ferns) being the only played by either player. The bingo gods were a bit more generous towards Peter when he matched up against Gail Salm. That game ended 455-369 in Peter's favor, with Peter getting down NURTURES, MANNOSE, and SANTERA. The gods did not fully ignore Gail, as her 84-point ENTICES scored more than any of Peter's attempts. The night ended in defeat for Peter as Andy Bohnsack prevailed 412-351, a game which saw each player only get one bingo: PERIANTH for Andy, CARBINES for Peter.

A few new bingos were played: Thomas' ROUTEING and Charles' AEGROTAT. Mark Kenas contributed VERONAL (adj. pertaining to suburbs of Madison) to the list, but that word has been good in the Collins dictionary for some time despite being new in ours.

Reminder that next week we take away the cheat sheets of the new words! Does PIEZO take an S? Now you'll just have to remember! (it doesn't)

Charles Reinke Punishes All Who Oppose

1st Charles Reinke didn't dominate in his usual fashion, but an undefeated 4-0 +174 record is something that can't be argued with. Against the wizened Scrabble veteran Richard Lauder, Charles managed to win by a score of 394-374 despite a three-to-one bingo disparity. Richard's three were PREDATES, ETESIAN, and PAGODAS, while Charles only had SLIDDEN, albeit for 91 points. Andy Bohnsack did not fare much better than Richard, allowing Charles to reach his highest score of the night in a 443-386 victory. This time, the bingo distribution was equitable, with Andy playing DISROOT and COENURI to Charles' ALANINE and ELEGIES. Charles wrapped up the perfect club session by downing Thomas Reinke in just the latest chapter of a long-running blood feud. The score of that game was 425-407, and again, both players were gifted two bingos by the tile gods; WINTERED and HALIOTES for Thomas, OUTWARS and MOORING for Charles.

2nd Peter Schmiedicke averaged a hefty 454 points per game, but his single loss relegated him to second place with a 3-1 +404 record. That loss came against Mary Becker and it was not close: 331-429 was the final total. Two RE- words were played: REORDAIN for Peter and RECLASPS for Mary. After that initial disappointment, Peter waltzed comfortably through the remainder of his games, winning each by more than 100. He creamed Susan Vergeront 479-364, propelled forward by his three bingos of PROCAINE, EGESTION, and DETAILER. For her part, Susan was able to play REFRAINS and INDEBTED. But Dave Gilligan received the most punishment out of all Peter's opponents, with their game ending fairly lopsidedly, 535-254. Peter somehow managed to get that huge score with only two bingos: ETESIAN and ALINERS.

3rd Thomas Reinke fell a few spread points short of second place with his 3-1 +369 record. Things started off according to plan as Thomas beat Helen Flores 473-252. It wouldn't be a Reinke win if there weren't bingos involved, and sure enough, Thomas had two: TRINITY and OERSTED (n. a unit of magnetic intensity). The plan continued to be executed successfully with a 506-393 victory against Andy Bohnsack which broke the deadlock in the lifetime series, which had been at 37-37. Andy played NUTRIAS and RUNNIEST, but Thomas one-upped him with LAAGERED, GASTREA, and TAWNIEST, the last of which was 97 points! The third win, and Thomas' closest, was a 53-point win over Mary Becker, 429-376.

Sue Goldstein Triumphs Over Resurrected Intermediate Division

1st Sue Goldstein finished 2-2 -53, as we finally had enough Intermediate players to form a proper division. Sue used up all of her ammo in the first game of the night when she played her only bingo, CRUISING, in a 365-336 defeat of Dave Gilligan. She then went on to beat June Scott 312-277 to get her second win. However, the tides of fate cruelly turned when she was matched up against Steve Busalacchi, to whom she lost 378-321. The turning point of that game was when Steve played the phony triple-triple STONEAGE for 113 points, a phony which Sue allowed to stay on the board.

Aaron played the word of the week with SWITCHEL, a new addition to our dictionary. However, it was played in a Collins-dictionary game with Mark Kenas, so for them, the word has been valid for a while. Apparently switchel is a drink made from water, vinegar, and ginger that became popular in the 17th century. Nowadays we have Monster energy drink and don't have to drink switchel like uncivilized barbarians.

Other new words played were EENSIEST (Gail) and HALIOTES (Thomas). Take careful note that HALIOTES is the plural of HALIOTIS, so don't ever play HALIOTE!