Blog

1st Andy Bohnsack went 4-1 for the second time in three weeks (ignore the intervening 1-3 record), this time with a +418 spread, good for first place. He waltzed through a two-one-one match in the opening round, downing Helen Flores 466-305 (with APPENDS, GOATIER, and ARCSINE) while simultaneously defeating Dave Kinzer 416-303 (GAOLERS, STRIDERS). This success was rewarded with a chance at Thomas Reinke, but things didn't go according to plan (unless the plan was to lose, which would be a nonsensical plan), and Andy suffered his only loss, 424-504. Andy was back to his old self in short order, proved out by a strong 508-398 win against Richard Lauder where he managed MANAGED, BREAKOUT, SEAPIECE, and ENATIONS. The bingoing continued unabated with YOUNGEST, ORIENTAL, and RETRIALS in a 469-355 victory over John Bialek.

2nd Thomas Reinke finished at 4-1 +315, continuing his streak of .500-or-better club sessions that extends all the way back to October of last year. In round one, he defeated Ed Nawrocki 435-321, despite Ed's tricky find of SORORATE (Thomas had RATANIES, which has four anagrams if you feel like tormenting your brain rather than continuing to read this writeup). For round two, Thomas played Mark Kenas and Andy Bohnsack at the same time; undaunted by the challenge, he won both, 388-384 vs. Mark and 504-424 vs. Andy. Sparks flew in a clash of twins in round three, but Charles was able to hold on and give Thomas his only loss, 452-529. Typical for their Collins-lexicon punchouts, both players bingoed frequently: REPANDLY, LISTENER, and MULTIAGE for Thomas, while Charles had EPISTLER, REINSURE, and STOLONIC. The ten-letter REEDIFYING also hit the board. Thomas recovered nicely from that loss by wiping the floor with Mark in a rematch, 538-344, getting SLIOTAR#, DESERTIC, PHAETON, and SEVENTY (the latter for 85, not 70 points).

3rd Charles Reinke used the unholy power of odd numbers to get two separate two-on-one matches, thus finishing with six total games and a 4-2 +155 record. Both losses were to Mark Kenas, and both of them were quite lopsided, 308-474 and 365-481. The latter loss could almost be considered "worth it" given that Charles got down word of the week with VAGOTOMY (a word that perhaps doesn't have the definition one would assume - it means "surgical division of the vagus nerve"). Charles did well to recover lost spread by beating John Bialek 462-282, bingoing with ROTATES, HEALINGS, and ARMONICA (apparently the same thing as a HARMONICA). The aforementioned 529-452 victory against Thomas Reinke also helped. For the final game (actually final games, plural), Charles felled Helen Flores 553-401 and Richard Lauder 433-405. A 158-point ROAMINGS was key against Helen, while the uncommon VASEFULS did some damage to Richard.

1st Dennis Lloyd far exceed his typical scoring numbers with a 428 per-game average on his way to a flawless 4-0 +456 record. He started off with a solid 385-305 win over Helen Flores, getting down a single bingo of RECALLED. That was followed up with a 399-342 victory against Steve Hartsman, where finds of ASSURED and the triple-O SONOROUS were crucial to Dennis' winning chances. Marching ever onward, Dennis made quick work of Dora Kilburn, winning 471-243 and upping his bingo count to three: DISASTER, GHOULIES, and ATTENDS. Up to this point of the night, Dennis' opponents had not played even one bingo against him; that changed in round four, but Dennis still pulled out the win against Thomas Reinke, 456-365. Thomas got RADIANCY and RADISHES, while Dennis had DEARIES and ORALIST. Moral of the story: don't let your opponents bingo. Steal tiles from their rack if you have to.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 4-1 +389, holding steadfast at the top of the yearly standings. He suffered a scare in round one as he made out with a single-digit win against Mark Kenas, 412-403, countering Mark's nice LOLLOPED with GONENESS and NITERIE. Their rematch two rounds later was more comfortable for Thomas, 455-377. In between, Thomas displayed the full extent of his bingo knowledge by playing five of them in a 554-317 drubbing of Lynda Finn. The illustrative bingos in question: AUDITORY, ELOINED, MOVINGLY, ALIGNER, and AVENSES (AVENS is a type of plant, pluralizing to AVENSES - don't play AVEN* or AVENSE*). Thomas wrapped things up with a two-on-one match, but was barred from a perfect record when Dennis Lloyd beat him 365-456. Luckily for Thomas' morale, he did not have to suffer two losses at once, as he was able to vanquish Steve Hartsman 491-335, getting SINOPIE, TENTERS, and OILIEST.

3rd Charles Reinke finished 3-1 +362, forever trying to catch his brother in the standings but not making as much progress as he would like. Charles walked all over Andy Bohnsack in the first game with a 507-295; Andy's famously bingo-oriented playstyle yielded no such bonus plays, while Charles found HAULIERS, PANGOLIN, SIENITES, and the nine-letter PICOMETER (PICOMETRE is also good despite its audaciously British construction [but don't even think about trying FEMTOMETRE# - that's only FEMTOMETER (who can even keep track of this stuff?)]). In the second game, Charles got a low-scoring win against Mark Kenas, 369-340, thanks to AFFICHES. Facing off against John Bialek, Charles repeated the strategy he had employed against Andy, holding John to zero bingos while getting four of his own (CAVEMEN, CAUDATES, SOUNDER, EPILATED); the result was a 519-324 win. Perfection was denied by Mark Kenas, who won their rematch 481-407; Mark's NOCUOUS (like INNOCUOUS but...not...) was the highlight among a batch of cool bingos played by both players.

1st Andy Bohnsack crushed most (but not all) of his opponents with a 4-1 +449 record. His two-on-one set in round one was an unqualified success, as he vanquished both Lynda Finn (436-364) and Dennis Lloyd (516-324). The only blemish was a phony of RONDEAUS* against Dennis - RONDEAU only pluralizes to RONDEAUX (meanwhile, a word like TONNEAU pluralizes both ways). Phonies struck again when Andy beat Bryan Benwitz 404-337 with TRIGONAL and ALENCONE* (ALENCON is valid). All eyes will be on Andy's scoresheet in future weeks as we try to figure out if he has become a serial phonier or if this is a one-off anomaly. Andy dominated Thomas Reinke in the next game, getting down BRASSED and FUSIONAL for a 555-367 win. Sadly, success against Reinkes was fleeting as a loss to Charles Reinke in the final round, 394-464, ended Andy's hopes of remaining undefeated.

2nd Charles Reinke went 4-1 +135, losing his first game before reeling off four straight. That first-round loss was to Mark Kenas, 414-469; Mark's triple-triple of ESCAPADE for 140 proves once again that playing triple-triples is a Very Good Idea. In round two, Charles crawled to a 328-292 win against Carol Ormand, where he played the game's only bingo, HAULIERS. Finds of ENTICES and YEARLIES (the latter for 95 points) delivered Charles a win over Dave Kinzer, 422-375. Facing off against Mark for a second go-around, Charles prevailed in a high-scoring bout, 502-465, thanks to ISOGRIV, VERATRUM, and DEARIES. A 464-394 victory against Andy Bohnsack in the last game was nice, but Charles would have liked to win by more (like, 160 more) to snag first place.

3rd Thomas Reinke finished 3-2 with a negative spread of -82. He got an early win against Richard Lauder, 386-313, despite allowing Richard's phony DASHOON* (DAHOONS and DASHEEN are both good). A high-powered Collins matchup against Mark Kenas in round two ended 475-466 in Thomas' favor, despite Thomas being outbingoed (ISOLATED and POTHEENS vs. SEELING, DOWNRATE, and REELMAN#). Thomas' point spread was obliterated in round three as he fell to Andy Bohnsack, 367-355. For the final game, Thomas played two at once, and he performed adequately against tough competition, downing Bryan Benwitz 414-272 but losing to Mark 373-491. Mark's bingos in that game (VINOUSLY, SKIORERS, and word-of-the-week CROWFEET) show the benefits of studying deep into the dictionary.