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The Association of Premier Scrabble* Players
Issue No. 57 NEWSLETTER December 1997
JOEL SHERMAN WINS WORLD TITLEAmerican Joel Sherman is the 1997 World Scrabble Champion. In a battle ofNew Yorkers, he
defeated stand-up comedian Matt Graham 3-1 in the Final. It was a sweet success for
Sherman, who had reached the Final in 1995, only to be defeated by Canada's David Boys.
One little-known fact about Joel is that he's a member ofdie APSP! Hejoined in 1995, when
the World Championship was held in London, and has retained his membership ever since. So
we can offer our congratulations to one of our own members!
For the first two days the tournament had been dominated by the UK team. At one stage, the
top four positions were occupied by UK players. But as the pressure mounted the Americans
made their move, with Graham winning 13 successive games to secure his place in the Final.
The top UK finisher was Mark Nyman in 5th place, with Russell Byers (7th) also achieving a
top ten finish.
You can read a full report, including Mark's own account ofthe event, on page 4.
ANDY COOK IS NATIONAL CHAMPIONThe rise ofAndy Cook continues unabated. Within three years he's risen from the ranks of the
"who's her to become the UK's National Champion. In the Final he defeated Jackie McLeod,
3-0. Andy's winning prize included an expenses-paid trip to Washington DC to watch the
World Championship. Not bad for a weekend's Scrabble!
The Intermediate title was won by 21-year-old Paul Chadwick, with a magnificent record of9
wins and 1 tie in his ten games. Teenager Lewis Mackay came in a very creditable eighth -
obviously both are names to look out for in the future.
There's a full report of the NSC on page 13, and we also have an annotation ofthe decisive
third game. Plus lots, lots more!
Important Notice: It's time to renew your APSP membership for 1998. You'll find a
renewal slip enclosed. Please fill it in and send it offNOW! There's also a questionnaire.
We'd very much appreciate it ifyou could fill it in, and return it with your renewal slip.
VRABBO* n .1 reKMnrd tucfv mail <>l LW.Stx.-u 4 Snm PtC. InlieU. Mdd«, tngbnd
In this issueAPSP News 2
A Committee response to last issue's Scrabble Soapbox 2Events and Ratings 4
1997 World Scrabble Championship 4
1997 UK National Scrabble Championship 13
Other UK events 17
Ratings list at 23rd November 1997 22
Improving Your Scrabble Skills 26
Annotated game: Andrew Cook v Jackie McLeod 26
It's your move 30
A couple of end games 32
Word Play 33
All 1 want for Christmas is a consonant 33
The history of Scrabble dictionaries 36
Puzzles and Teasers 37
The Nunn Challenge 37
Solution to Incremental Hooks puzzle 37
Scrabble Soapbox: Widening the Dictionary Debate 38
Some Fun for the Festive Season 41
The right track 41
A Christmas event at the APSP 42
Readers' Letters 45
Answers to puzzles 47
Tournament Details 47
Forthcoming Events 48
APSP News
A Committee response to last issue's Scrabble Soapbox
Martin Fowkes responds on behalfof the APSP Committee.
I would like to reassure Terry Hollington and any other worried members, that the Committee
has not made any definitive decisions about a combined OSW and OSPD dictionary. What we
have done is made a decision to discuss the matter. We would be failing in our duties if we did
not give the subject serious thought, as SOWPODS events are now taking place in the UK and
will undoubtedly increase in number. The Mind Sports Olympiad offered the largest prizes ever
seen here and this event looks likely to take place again next year. Whether we like it or not,
there is an increasing demand for a unified dictionary.
Introducing the additional OSPD words with the next OSW is one proposal being considered, as
it is obviously a logical one. However this does not mean that other proposals cannot be consid
ered. One option is of course to do nothing. You will see that the enclosed questionnaire gives
you an opportunity to air your views on the matter, so please take the chance to tell us what you
think. Not all Committee members are keen to learn OSPD words, and I would like to stress that
Committee meetings are conducted in a very democratic manner. Therefore please add your
views to the debate.
All dictionaries are different and no doubt all contain words some of us would define as
"rubbish", but it does get very subjective. I have my own pet hates C'phs" and "mininigbies"
for a start) but we have to go by what is in the dictionary. If we don't agree with the inclusion
of certain words then we should write to Chambers as Graeme Thomas pointed out before.Obviously a unified dictionary would have to contain everything from OSPD (including the
"rubbish") or it would be useless.
I am not aware that the Committee has told its members that "the APSP Committee apparently
knows best", as Terry stated. We do value members' views, so please make yours known. We
do also consider the effect of any changes we make on clubs and non-members as well. This is
a difficult topic, and we do want to get the best solution for all.
Ed: See "Scrabble Soapbox: Widening the Dictionary Debate" on page 3Sfor some more
members' opinions.
I— APSP Advertisement
Announcing! A new Scrabble digital timer:
The Premier Countup Timer
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no idea whether there was one minute or 10 seconds left on your clock? Fed up with those
awkward disputes over how many minutes excess time you or your opponent has used? Then
why not replace that chess clock with an electronic digital timer?
The specially designed Premier Countup Timer is approved by the APSP. It is robust,
sturdy, easy to operate and features large easy-to-see digital displays at a comfortable playing
angle. The timer counts up in minutes and seconds from zero to 25 minutes (and beyond)
and is available at a price similar to that of the traditional chess clocks. It runs on four LR06
or equivalent batteries. With care, and depending on quality of batteries, this could give up
to 1000 playing hours.
The timers will be available at APSP tournaments. Alternatively you can order by mail
directly from Margaret Browne (Premier Books). Quality alkaline batteries can be supplied
for an additional £2.50. If ordering by post there is an additional charge of £3.50 for insured
Securicor delivery. For any number of timers to same address, please make cheques payable
to: "Kingfisher Sales" - £29.50 + £3.50 delivery (+ batteries £2.50 optional).
Dollar or sterling cheques, or credit credit cards are accepted. Give card details including
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Send to: Premier Books, 65 High Town Road, Luton. LU2 OBW
or phone... 01582 611991, or fax... 01582 611911, or [email protected]
Events and Ratings
1997 World Scrabble Championship
Sit back and relive tlie excitement of the recent World Championship, with an on-the-spot reportfrom Mike O'Rourke, written from the perspective ofan unashamedly biased UK supporter, a
game-by-game account of the Final, and Mark Nyman's own reminiscences of an event in whichhe was so close to emulating his 1993 triumph...
We'll keep the red shirts flying here...
It was good of the organisers to arrange a surprise birthday party for me at the Mayflower Hotel
in Washington DC on November 20. Okay, so it was billed as a reception for the competitors inthe World Scrabble Championships, but it was still one of the most exciting parties I've
attended. A prefect prelude to the biggest Scrabble event in the calendar.
Members of the UK-Scrabble (Internet) mailing lists were treated to unrivalled luxury in the
commentary that accompanied the event. Having returned home and read the reports I actually
learned things from the Internet that 1 was unaware of sitting 10 feet from the play! However,
here are some of the salient details from the British perspective. You'll forgive my lapsing into
the American vernacular which called us "The Brits".
Fashion note: Spears had generously kitted out the British team with distinctive rugby shirts to
give the team a sense of identity. Hence, the English players all wore a scarlet shirt with the
three gold lions motif, the Northern Ireland player, Nuala Clenaghan, had a white shirt with
shamrock motif, and the Welsh players had green shirts. Unfortunately there was no Scottish
player so blue shin and St Andrew's flag were noticeably absent. Apart from the American team
members, some of whom wore a grey fleece type jacket, no other team displayed such a distinc
tive team design. It was also noticeable that the British team was far more cohesive and spent a
lot of time together.
The twin flags denoting the opponents' nationalities added to the colourful sight which greeted
the spectators. In fact it was only the flags and the extra note of tension in the player's faces
that marked this event as different from any other Scrabble tournament. As the games got under
way there was that familiar noise - as one journalist remarked "it was like the sound of a million
rattlesnakes suddenly awoken from sleep".
The following account is unashamedly partisan, covering the results from the Brits, and some of
the interesting words that were played. You are invited to speculate on which words mentioned
arc OSPD, which are OSW, and which are phoneys! The event was played with both diction
aries (SOWPODS).
In Round One, the Brits were to experience a phenomenon which became all too familiar as the
event wore on - two were paired to play each other: Gareth Williams (Wai) vs David Acton
(Eng). David Webb found himself playing another familiar opponent - Linda Pray who was the
Oman representative.
I sat for much of the tournament next to Tim Rayment of the Sunday Times. He was a very
amiable soul and became very popular with the players. I remarked at one stage that every time
he left the room, the Brits seemed to do badly. He became the unofficial mascot and I think we
all rather hope that he will be the first reporter "on side". His article is due for publication in a
January edition of the Sunday Times Magazine.
One aspect of sitting in the front row of the spectator's "gallery" was that we were close enough
to the play to be able to assess from the body language how our chaps and chapesses were
doing. Add to that the fact that the winner was required to take the score sheet to the front and
we always had a pretty good idea of how the round had gone.
I sympathised with Nuala who was drawn against the losing 1995 World finalist, "G.I." Joel
Sherman. Although he brought the score sheet up and apparently came out with such beauties as
KENAFS. SIR). ANKERITE and RONEO he only won by 73 points. In the other games, we
were pleased to see quite a few red shins taking their sheets up and in the early rounds this was
quite common.
Among other Brit highlights of Round 1, Penny Downer, a last minute addition to the team who
had but one week to prepare, was forgiven for missing the OSPD-only bonus from AEINOQRU
- especially as no-one else knew the word. Gareth had the potentially high-scoring words
FIVESPOT and OVERF1TS but recommended that players do not try them at home. He lost a
closely fought game against David Acton, who played PER1BOLI among other more familiar
words. Mark had a lucky escape when his opponent, not realising that Mark could go out in one
move, failed to capitalise on his last chance and lost by S points. Andrew played the remarkable
NONSKID then went on to win as did Russell, Allan, and Clive. A good round for the Brits.
In Round 2, Gareth found himself for the second time falling victim to a familiar opponent - .
this time it was closer to home in the form of fellow Welsh player, John Grayson. We again
had a good round with S of the 11 Brits still on two wins - Allan leading the pack with a
mighty cumulative spread of +336 and David Acton not far behind on + 332.
At the start of Round 3, it was very encouraging to have so many red shirts at the top tables.
Again it was a good round though Andrew lost a tough game against the reigning World
Champion, David Boys. Allan retained his 'Top Brit" slot by beating GI Joel Sherman. Russell
Byers also lost his 100% record in this round. David Acton was really happy with his recent
purchase of an Arnold electronic timer - it was being christened in style as he notched up his
third win. In shades of die 1993 final, Mark came back from a -140 deficit to win his game,
and Nuala clocked up her first win. Penny also broke her duck.
At the end of Round 4, Russell walked past with a thumb up but David A lost by just 11
points. Mark played 9-timer GERARDIA to beat top Australian Roger Blom by 220 points,
while John Grayson moved to two wins wim a win against Dan - the man from Rumania. Mean
while. Allan kept his and Britain's only remaining 100% record intact and moved onto 4 wins.
Round 5 saw yet another all-Brit pairing with Andrew playing Mark. Clive looked grim as he
came to our commentary box and reported that after 5 games he had still only had I blank (he
managed to find 9 more during the rest of the tournament). Allan, now leading the tournament,
was playing Robin Pollock Daniel, a much-fancied Canadian player on Table I. and was abso
lutely surrounded by the media circus. I counted 17 people at one stage pressing in on his table.
Robin looked very happy towards the end. With 55 seconds left on her clock she played
MOJOS down to a triple. With all the pressure on him. Allen, however, kept his cool and went
out with TOPSIDE to move to 5 wins out of 5. Mark played AFTEREYE and TIELESS against
Andrew who retaliated by playing IONIZES then went out with EVENING catching Mark with
a high countback. It was not enough though and Mark won by 32 points. Russell meanwhile was
progressing well. His 164-point win included the word TINLIKE. This took him into the top 5
players. David A also won and suddenly we had 6 Brits in the top 10.
Round 6 saw Allan still silting on Table 1, David was on 3. Mark on 5 and Russell on table 6.
Clivc got his second blank of the tournament but with plays of OXID and CAMPO his opponent
won by +30. Russell meanwhile, moved onto 5 wins. Allan was facing the media again and
5
decided to take a rest, handing the lead to Canadian Joel Wapnick - the only player now on 6
wins. Andrew won - starting with the ominous MISRULE, and Mark continued his good run,
but David Webb came unstuck as his opponent played AGLYCONS. Nuala came to us with a
smile on her face having beaten Dan from Rumania, while Gareth moved onto 4 wins.
And so to Round 7, the last of the first day. Tie of the round saw yet another all Brit pairing -
this time Russell Byers against Allan Saldanha. Gareth won again to move him to 5 wins for the
end of Day 1. Meanwhile David A moved to 6 with Allan. Joel Wapnick retained the lead
ending the day unbeaten. Nuala won her third victory but Andrew, John and Clive all lost. The
other Brits all did well, including Penny who was told by her American opponent, "You're
awesome". At the end of the first day the 'Brit' table showed:
2. Allan Saldanha
3. David Acton
4. Hark Nyman
7. Russell Byers
12. David Webb
17. Gareth Williams
27. Penny Downer
29. John Grayson
35. Andrew Fisher
42. Clive Spate
51. Nuala Clenaghan
6-1
6-1
6-1
5-2
5-2
5-2
4-3
4-3
4-3
3-4
3-4
+591
+563
+419
+327
+232
+125
+234
+204
+ 70
+ 23
-128
Day 2, and Round 8 brought some amazing words in Mark's first game against Joel Wapnick,
which had been introduced by the Tournament Director as "Shades of Manhattan", being the
replica of the 1993 final. Mark started with UNHINGE and closely followed it with
DECURION, DRUXIEST and the 10-letter STIMULANTS. Needless to say Mark won the
game. Again Brit interests were shared on Table 2 as David Acton predictably took on Allan. It
was a close game which saw David taking the sheets up. Russell was again first to finish with a
win. Clive also started the day well.
Round 9 saw four red shirts on the top three tables with Mark playing Jeff Grant on Table 1,
David A against Russell on Table 2 and David W now on 6 wins joining the fray on Table 3
versus Joel Wapnick. Clive had an amazing game - still without blanks. His first word was
DELATING around a placed letter, his opponent then missed PETUNTSE but capitalised on his
letters with INTERTIE. Clive's next few goes included WAKF, SPRUG and INTIL. His oppo
nent came back with DANEGELT and TENUTO but Clive held on to win his 5th victory.
Meanwhile Russell triumphed on Table 2 leaving both he and David A on 7 wins. Mark moved
onto 8 but David W lost as did Gareth. Penny moved to 6 wins and Allan joined the 7-win club.
Round 10 saw the now familiar pattern of two red shirts playing each other - this time they
belonged to Mark and Russell, on Table 1. Russell triumphed and with David and Allan both
winning the games the top four places were occupied by red shirts:
1. Russell Byers
2. David Acton
3. Allan Saldanha
4. Mark Nyman
8-2
8-2
8-2
8-2
+705
+559
+508
+495
For me, this was the high spot of the whole tournament.
Round 11 saw another all-British clash on Table 1, with David A playing Mark. David Webb
was an early casualty of the remarkable 17 year old Bahrain player Bhandakar who scored 300
points in just 4 moves including ZEATINS for 130. Other players who have graced our shores
included South African, Steve Gruzd, who moved onto 7 wins. Clive came up with his sheets
and GI Joel's audible "Well done" signified good news as Russell moved to 9 wins with
ENGIRDS, TOZ1NG and RELAXINS. Meanwhile Mark beat David A. Some amazing words
played in that game included PRIEVED, ECTOPIA, UNSOUNDLY, TEMBLOR and AFF.
Penny put her opponent to sleep with the 9-timer SEDATION and moved to 7. Andrew, plagued
by consonants, turned his thumb down and Clive celebrated his third blank of the tournament
with a win, while Gareth moved onto 8. Nuala played the wonderful ANTENATI but unfortu
nately lost. One player complained that they were not getting any E's so I offered to walk
down to the shadier part of the city to get some.
Round 12 saw Mark beating Allan. John, Andrew, Penny and Clive also won but our other
leading lights fell by the wayside. As Danny McMullen would have said "I think this was the
turning point".
Round 13, the last round of the day, with the prospect of eight games on the final day, saw
Mark with only 3 minutes and 11 seconds left on his clock challenge a word off to enable his
play of FEIST1ER. Things became very tense with half the press gathered around the table.
Mark kept them on their toes to the very end as with only 8 seconds left he narrowly lost by 5
points. Andrew did better and Penny moved onto 9 wins - could she pull off a spectacular win?
Odds against her were shortening.
At the end of Day 2 after 13 rounds, the Brit table looked like this:
1. Russell Byers
3. Mark Nyman
6. Penny Downer
7. Allan Saldanha
17. David Acton
21. Gareth Williams
30. Clive Spate34. David Webb
29. John Grayson
35. Andrew Fisher
51. Nuala Cienaghan
10-3
10-3
9-4
9-4
8-5
8-5
7-6
7-6
7-6
6-7
5-8
+703
+521
+555
+536
+436
+ 93
+195
-167
-266
+ 35
-352
Day 3 dawned with some of us regretting the rather full stomachs from the previous evening's
visit to Isabella's. Wonderful evening but I'm afraid you're not getting anything from me!
Mark was due to play Penny which showed how well she was doing but suddenly there was a
rash of USA players chasing the heels of the Brits - it was to be an exciting final day.
The reminder from the tournament Director to pace themselves was probably not required. Even
the spectators quailed at the thought of eight games and 12 hours stretching ahead of them. As
Round 14 started tensions were running high enough without the late appearance of Linda Prayand Nuala's opponents.
John found himself playing Clive - the first in a spate (ha ha) of Brit-Brit pairings which Clive
was to endure. Mark was playing Penny which ensured that we would have two Brit winners.
Gareth and Allan lost. John had successive moves of UINTAITE (58). QUIRE (fifi) and BURD
(40) against Clive's SNOOPER (74) and AZALEA (39); John eventually won by 20. Mark beat
Penny in the other derby. David A won as did Nuala. Andrew was the only other Brit winner,
moving him on to 7 wins. But overall the Brits did not have a good round. I blamed Tim
Rayment who arrived early in the second game. Conversely the Americans all did well and 1
realised that although Mark was still leading the field it was going to be a struggle to keep theBrit momentum going.
In Round 15, Charlie Southwell, the TD, transposed the two first names so Mark Sherman
found himself playing his "other half Joel Nyman on Table 1. The other draws were equally
daunting with Russell matched against Man Graham, the two leading women (Perrins and
Downer) playing each other, and yet another all-Brit pairing, this time between Clive and David
W. After Round IS it was possible for rematches to occur and I cynically predicted a lot more
Brit pairings. John found himself playing the Canadian, Adam Logan who is a dead ringer for
Shaggy in the cartoon series 'Scooby Doo'. Adam is a very good player, however, and included
REPAIRMAN in his winning repertoire. Gareth won again taking him to 9 wins and within
reach of the leaders. Clive and David W had a very tight game and I couldn't tell from either
face who was going to win so the eventual draw seemed a reasonable result. David A lost but
Penny won the Scrabble Ashes against Australia's Esther Perrins. Andrew and Allan also did
well but our leading light, Mark, faltered.
I predicted that on 7.5 wins each Give and David W would play again in Round 16 and of
course this was the case. As the games got underway an horrendous noise erupted from outside
the room so I went out to investigate. The Palm Court band were attempting to play "music" so
I asked someone to see if they could put them out of their misery. Eventually they quietened
down.
Clive didn't let it stop him playing TALAYOT to David's FIELDS, then Clive went out and
won with ENZIANS. Russell preached the good news with SERMONED and moved onto 11
wins, while Penny beat Ron Tiekert with such words as the 137-point GUIZERS. Fortunately
her opponent's REFLIGHT with two blanks was challenged off towards the end of the game.
Andrew quizzed us with a word he'd missed from CEEH77 onto a loose L in the 7th position
of a nine-timer. I think it was appropriate that we couldn't see it either. There are, in fact, two
possibilities. John won but on 9 wins he and Gareth, who lost, were probably by now out of the
running. David A reported that he had managed stay 60-70 points behind all through the game
until he went out with TYRANTS to win by 12 points and give himself an outside chance on 10
wins. Mr Nyman picked up his winning habit again and moved onto 12, but with Grant and
Graham also on 12 with higher spreads and Sherman just behind I felt it was going to be tough
for him to leave his mark!
Round 17 was a disaster for the Brits with only Russell triumphing to move to 12 wins. Again
Tim Rayment had left the room - scenting a story in the corridor.
So I'll quickly move to Round 18 where we fared a little better. Penny was playing l-'elt and
lost to plays like FOODIES and MEANDER. Russell took on Sherman and lost. Nuala won to
take her to a creditable 7 - an excellent showing given her position in the UK ratings. Andrew
also won as did Mark - could he pull off another miracle come-back as he did in 1993? His
chances were looking slim as American Matt Graham took a decisive lead on 14 wins. Allan
and David A moved to 11 wins to reach Penny but with only three games to play it was certain
that they would not reach the final.
Interest in the Brit supporters camp now focused on another target - getting more than half our
players in the top 25%, that is, the top 20 positions. This would earn an additional qualifying
spot for the 1999 WSC. The possibility looked pretty good but I think we made the mistake of
mentioning it to the team. Although I'm certain they were fully aware of the situation they could
have done without this extra pressure.
Round 19 saw Mark needing to beat Edley. but he lost by 5 points which kept him on 13 wins.
Still statistically possible - but unlikely. Clive, Andrew and Gareth were all hovering outside the
top 20 looking for that elusive entry. A straightforward win with no weird and wonderful words
except HERLS saw Clive move to 27th on 10.5 wins. Andrew. Gareth. and David W also won
with ENTIRETY. DOTTLER. and CAVORTERS. Could we see more than 6 Brits in the top
20? Meanwhile Matt Graham booked his ticket to the final moving to 15 wins, but David A
came unstuck to his opponent's 4-timer UNWASHED play. Allan won, as did Russell, lo
increase the unlikely but .statistical chance of a Brit in the final.
The penultimate Round 20 saw David A move to 12 wins, Russell beating Mark to move to 14,
Penny winning to take her to 12, Andrew moving to 11, Allan to 13 and Clive to 11.5. David
W also won but the Welsh and the Irish lost. It was looking certain to be a USA final probably
between Matt Graham and either Edley or Sherman. It was nice for the spectators that the tour
nament was keeping us in suspense right to the final game. We also had the prospect that with
good results in round 21, the Brits could get the extra qualifying place for 1999.
Round 21, the final round, saw Sherman inove to 16 wins, while Graham hung onto second
place on spread, despite losing to Edley. This set up a Graham-Sherman final. Unfortunately
our team didn't do so well, although Mark won to finish the top non-American, and Nuala
notched up her Xth win to ensure that she not only finished as Kth woman the world but also
finished ahead of her Republic of Ireland rival Eileen Meghen. Unfortunately we just missed out
on the extra qualifying place but saw many Brits finish in the top 30 places - excellent result -
well done the Brits!!
The top ten. and all the Brits, are shown below...
Results after 21 rounds
1. Joel Sherman
2. Matt Graham
3. Joe Edley
4. Robert Felt
5. Mark Nyman
6. Kendall Boyd
7. Russell Byers
8. Akshay Bhandarkar
9. Adam Logan
10. BHan Cappelietto
12. David Acton
USA
USA
USA
USA
GBR
NZL
GBR
BHR
CAN
USA
GBR
16-0-5
15-0-6
15-0-6
14-0-7
14-0-7
14-0-7
14-0-7
14-0-7
13-0-8
13-0-8
13-0-8
+ 829
♦ 993
♦ 915
+ 814
♦ 741
* 401
♦ 396
♦ 353+ 1064
+ 946
♦ 517
14. Allan Saldanha
21. Penny Downer
22. Andrew Fisher
26. Gareth Williams
27. Clive Spate
41. David Webb
51. John Grayson
73. Nuala Cleneghan
GBR
GBR
GBR
GBR
GBR
GBR
GBR
GBR
13-0-8
12-0-9
12-0-9
12-6-9
11-1-9
10-1-10
10-0-11
8-0-13
+234
♦402
+382
-179
+344
+ 127
-447
-862
The Final (Joel Sherman v Matt Graham)
Gams 1: The final couldn't have started more spectacularly, with Matt playing FUSTIAN for
76 as his opening move, and immediately picking both blanks, together with HMOTW. He
found MiSTHrOW for 78, and a 128-point lead. Although Joel fought back with TORNADIC.
Matt's GUINEAS for 64 pretty much wrapped up the game, and he finished with a 409-334
victory.
Game 2: Joel was faced with an interesting choice on his opening rack of '.'AIOUVZ, and
chose to play ZOUAVe (OSI'D-only) for 54. rather than hold back the blank. Matt immediately
responded with SIZzLERS through the Z. Faced with the ugly rack of ACEGHU, Joel played
GUA1AC for 13. He remained slightly behind until move 5, when SEXPOT for 54 took him
into a 38-point lead. However, holding AIILRTT Mali's managed lo spot LITERATI through a
floating E to regain the lead. The critical moment came on move 9. With a 295-308 deficit and
holding BDEFNOW, Matt could have played BOWNED for 52. Instead he played DOWF for
39, which looked a reasonable move but in fact let in Joel for 48 with GLAD, leaving just two
tiles in the bag. Although Matt gave himself a chance of a game-winning bonus, it wasn't to be.Joel won the game 387-363. One apiece!
Game 3: For the third consecutive game, Matt's first move was a bonus, this time HANDING
for 82. A couple of moves later Joel missed DEADLIFT holding DDEFLfT. Impressively, this
was spotted by Mark Nyman in the commentary box, although it is OSPD-only. Man held onto
his 60+ lead until move 5, when Joel played ARGOT1C, hooking an R onto the front of AIAS.
Both ARGOTIC and RAIAS are OSPD-only. At this point Matt slipped up, failing to see
BERTH for 54. With Joel playing WIDENeRS a couple of moves later, Matt needed a bonus to
win. He finally got it on his final move, but by then Joel was over 100 points clear. Final score:
Matt 405 Joel 419.
Game 4: For once the game started quietly, with no early bonuses. On move 3, holding
AEEEGIZ, Matt missed AGUIZE (OSW-only) for 52, and then had to watch while Joel played
consecutive bonuses, GLEANER and StALWaRT. Man kept plugging away, but was faced with
a crucial decision on move 8. Trailing by 214-308, he tried FLEXERS for 103. It came back
marked unacceptable, and the game was effectively lost. Joel eventually won 410-324. After
wards, Joel confessed that he, too, would have tried FLEXERS - only FLEXORS is allowed.
Summary: Surprisingly, this was the first time the final of the World Championship hadn't
gone to a deciding game. As is so often the case, one move probably turned out to be the
turning point. Had Matt played BOWNED, he would have been a strong favourite to win Game
2, and for all Joel's undoubted talent, coming back from a 0-2 deficit might have been too
much. BOWNED is OSW-only, so it wasn't surprising that Matt didn't know it. But one thing's
for certain - he wouldn't miss it again in 1999!
The World Championship on the Internet
Okay, so it wasn't quite the same as being there, but for those of us with Internet access it came
a pretty good second. Within moments of each round being completed, a full set of results was
posted on the World Wide Web, showing who'd played who, what the scores were, and the
current standings. Shortly afterwards a "commentary" would also be posted, providing some
more informal details of the proceedings. As well as being posted on the Web, the results and
commentaries were also sent to all subscribers on several Scrabble-related mailing lists around
the world. The main problem was the time difference - I'm sure I wasn't the only person who
sat up until the early hours of Monday morning, keeping my fingers crossed for Mark as he
strove to reach the Final.
The people mainly responsible for this magnificent service were John Chew, a computer expert
from Canada, and Sherrie Saint John, who is the administrator of the biggest world-wide
Scrabble mailing list.
The move-by-move progress of the final itself could be viewed 'live' on the Internet. 1 didn't
tune in myself, but have heard excellent reports from those who did.
So what next? My guess is that full video and audio coverage on the Web will not be far away.
So instead of sitting in a room watching Gyles do his bit, it will be possible to sit at home
watching real, live events unfold on your computer!
10
Flying the Flag for the UK
Mark Nyman, the UK's lop-placedfinisher, describes his experiences of the event...
1 went into this year's World Scrabble Championship in a very positive frame of mind - it wasnice not to have to handle the pressure of defending the title this time around. Talk about certain
US players knowing 98% of the dictionary didn't bother me at all - if that really was the case
they must be strategically suspect otherwise they would be winning nearly every tournament in
sight! I put in a pretty large amount of study but even so it was more like 9.8% rather than
98%!
The British team was arguably as strong as it could be with one notable exception - the editor of
this newsletter (1 had to include that otherwise he wouldn't have printed this article!). Ironically
the top-rated players in the US and New Zealand (David Wiegand and Nigel Richards) also
missed out on qualification, which suggests a late 'wild card' system might not be a bad idea.
Day 1: 1 had a tough draw in my first game against Jere Mead, one of the top Americans • I
was relieved to get away with a S-point win after he misplayed the endgame. I didn't really
have a look-in in my second game against another American John Luebkemann and when I
came back from 140 down to beat Chamwit Sukhumrattanapom, (whom I'd shared 4 games
with in the Thai Championship earlier in the year), I was pleased not to have lost all the fust
three.
My first comfortable game was against the Australian Roger Blom - I had the pleasure of having
a 9-timcr as the last move of the game when I already had a 60-point lead -1 spent the final S
minutes on the clock just enjoying the moment before playing the move! I then had an excellent
game with Andrew Fisher - I was almost 200 ahead before he pegged me back to 32 points at
the end. 1 finished off Day I with wins over Ananga Yawo. one of the top Africans (the bane of
'95!) and Bob Lipton (who was 4th in the previous WSC). At this stage I was lying in 4th with
good company in Allan Saldanha and David Acton, 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Day 2: Day 2 began with a game against my WSC '93 Final opponent Joel Wapnick who was
on 7-0. Two bonuses in the first two moves helped put an end to his unbeaten record and then I
defeated New Zealand's Jeff Grant (3rd in WSC '95) - at this stage things were looking very
good for all the Brits - it was great to behold the sea of red Rugby shirts (the England players'
attire) which swathed the top end of the playing room.
I was now on table 1 playing Russell Byers but two consecutive bonuses soon knocked me off -
then I was drawn against the brilliant David Acton on table 2, whom I was expecting to end up
top of the Brits. We had a great game but I scraped home 484-459; David now plans to have a
two-year sabbatical before returning to conquer all throughout the 21st century, but I think he
might start a bit sooner.
1 couldn't believe it when I was drawn against yet another great Brit in Allan Saldanha • Allan
was leading all the way but I managed to peg him back and scrape home by 6 points. The final
game of Day 2 was against Joe Edley - probably the most consistent player on the American
circuit (5th in WSC '95) -1 was never really in the game but Joe carelessly lost a turn'towards
the end and nearly blew it - he began to panic and almost missed the winning move of 'FRY'
(putting RY on to an F for 17 points) - he had 15 minutes on his clock to spot it and it took
him 5 (all the time I had "I die with FRY" written on the back of my scoresheet!). That didn't
diminish another satisfactory day - in 3rd position, 1 reckoned I needed 5 wins out of 8 on the
last day to reach the final.
II
Day 3: When I was drawn against Penny Downer, my fourth Brit in 5 games, I began to
wonder about the manual pairing system. Penny was doing superbly considering she only came
in at less then 2 weeks' notice to replace Neil Scott, and when I lost my first tum of the tourna
ment on the first move with FROUNCY, I wasn't too hopeful - however, some great pick-ups
late in the game helped me to a 100-point victory and took me into the lead.
Back on table I, I was finally drawn to pay Cl (Gastro-Intestinal!) Joel Sherman - the game
never really got going until Joel played the excellent FRISSON to go 100 ahead and a late
bonus wasn't quite enough to pull him back.
At this stage, re-pairings were allowed and I was drawn again against the excellent African
Yawo - I came through narrowly by 22 points so now it was 3 from S. Back on top table, I was
redrawn against Jeff Grant - this was not the time to pick up no S's or blanks but I still
managed to average 45 before the endgame - sadly this wasn't enough as Jeff managed 49!
Next up was Akshay Bhandarkar from Bahrain, who was having a great tournament - his early
mistake of BETT allowed me to get ahead and on a beautifully blocked board a 100-point lead
was very comfortable (even if he did have 2 blanks and 3 S's!). I then resumed my rivalry with
Joe Edley - I made my biggest mistake of the tournament when trying to extend SPEAK already
on the board to NONSPEAK when I could have played NEWSPEAK - ironically this was as a
result of Joe missing UNSPEAK for 98! There ensued a remarkably similar game to the first,
with me pegging Joe back and in a very exciting endgame, Joe played extremely well to hold on
by 5 - again!
My 'lives' had run out and I now needed to win the last two well to reach the final. The only
other Brit in with a shout was Russell and - surprise, surprise - we were drawn to play each
other again. This time I was starting, but I was left cursing as my first four racks of ADEEIRT
(play IDE), AERT+AAE (played AERATE), A+EEEILR (played AWEE to set up AWEEL) an
EILR+OOU left me 100 behind - Russell's 265 points in 5 moves ensured my title chances were
over, even though a late rally brought me within 45.
With the pressure off, the final game against Allan Saldanha seemed anti-climactic. Neverthe
less, there was $2000 up for grabs as well as the lop non-US placing, and it was nice to have
my first decent pick-ups for 5 games. I came through by 165 points and immediately retired to
the bar!
John Williams Jr, the much-admired organiser, asked if I could commentate on the Final
between Sherman and Matt Graham the following day There were a combination of excellent
and strange moves - I always have mixed feelings about spotting a better play (for example
Sherman missing DEADLIFT and BEDOUIN), but having been there myself, I suppose the
misses should be more and more forgivable the closer you get to the finishing line.
On reflection, 1 was extremely pleased with the way 1 played - if I had been told before the
event that I would come away not knowing of any missed bonuses or endgame cock-ups, and
playing words such as ECLOGITE, GERARDIA, AFTEREYE, STIMULANT, UNSOUNDLY,
OUTROWED, RATICIDE and GERBERA, I would have fancied my chances. But of course
there's no accounting for luck and I think I'm still paying for the "jam" I had against Joel
Wapnick in '93. Four games in a row on the final day here without a blank was just too much
against the quality of opposition, so like everyone else, I'll just have to wait 'til next time
12
1997 UK National Scrabble Championship
The report of this year's National Scrabble Championship is split into several sections. First.
Mike O'Rourke provides an overall report of the event, from the Deputy Director's chair. This is
followed by a more detailed report of thefinal, a list ofsome of the challenges (courtesy of
Sheila Spate), and an extractfrom the press reaction to the event...
Sea of Green
Anyone who attended the final of the NSC will attest to the appropriateness of this heading -
there were very few players or staff not wearing the official green polo shirt.
I arrived at the duly appointed time to set up the scorer's PC - not a difficult task, fat fingers
and myopia notwithstanding. Philip Nelkon then introduced me as Deputy Director - I hastily
hid the ham and juniper triple decker sandwich under the table and took a bow.
With the arrival of Maura Pratesi, the extraction of missing players and the first round fixtures
were printed out without trouble apart from the curious fact that with 78 players we still
somehow had fixtures for 40 tables! We sorted it out and the first game kicked off with that all
too familiar mixture of almost audible tension and rattling Scrabble bags.
In my first adjudication, I relied on gut instinct to tell me that Pete Finley was right in his
assertion that he could challenge a word that he had misspelled on the challenge slip first time
round - I eventually found that Rule 4.9.8 proved him right - Phew! There were no other deci
sions to be made during the whole of Friday and Saturday.
In the first game it was probably as disconcerting for Andy Cook as it was for me that every
time 1 lifted my head to scan the room, his eyes seemed to meet mine - perhaps the unconscious
transfer helped him beat my fellow Cambridgehire player Chris Hawkins? Other notable first
round results included Steve Perry's win against Martin Fowkes and Phil Appleby's colossal
score of 532 (which earned him a bottle of wine for highest game score) against Bob Violett.
Meanwhile Mike Willis moved to an early top spot with a +208 against Amy Byrne.
The biggest shock of the second round was Amy Byrne's win over Mark Nyman. Winners of
the wine in Game 2 were highest losers, Les Nyman (Experts) and Michael Partner (Intermedi
ates).
Round 3 brought the unusual sight of Andrew Fisher challenging a word - so the offer of a wine
prize for the most obscure word played in Round 3 was obviously bringing some gems out of
the woodwork. The words that won the wine were KEELSON by David Acton in the Experts,
and DACITES by Peter Thompson in the Intermediates.
In Round 4 after an excellent helping of brain food (poached salmon) the spot prize was for the
highest word. Winners were Mark Nyman (Expert) for FAJITAS (98) and Alan Bailey (Int) forSHIRTED.
Round 5 featured the best move of the tournament: Paul Golder's AL/VE around LITERATI
for the 12-letter word ALLITERATIVE, unfortunately scoring a meagre 33. This laudable move
did not win any prizes and still didn't prevent him from going down to Dick Green by 177.
The positions at the end of Day I were:
Expert
1.
2.
3.
Allan Siimons
Alan Sinclair
Jackie HcLeod
5-0
4-1
4-1
+211
+398
+384
Intermediate
1.
2.
3.
Ian Burn
Paul Chadwick
Stella Lander
5-0-0
4-1-0
4-1-0
+394
+310
+205
With a warm room sleep was difficult but Saturday morning came with breakfast delivered to
the door. After two moves of the game between Bob Violen and Clive Spate it was evident that
the two players were also saving brain cells as only one word had been played - Z1NEB twice.
Bob ran out the winner and high-scoring spot prize winners were Russell Byers (Exp) for 529
and Adebowale Ajose (Int) for 497.
After Rounds 7 and H, the positions at the top of both divisions were beginning to take shape:
Expert
1. Jackie Kcleod
2. Allan Sinntons
3. David Acton
4. Andrew Cook
5. Andrew Fisher
7-1
7-1
6-2
6-2
6-2
+572
+174
+544
+517
♦381
Intermediate
1. Paul Chadwick
2. Ian Burn
3. Amy Ballantyne
4. Adebowale Ajose
5. Syd Berger
7-1-9
7-8-1
6-0-2
6-0-2
6-6-2
+503
+302
+359
+335
+335
In Round 9 Intermediate, Ian Bum played Henry Walton, who was fast coming up on the
outside. Paul Chadwick was playing Amy Ballantyre in the big match of the round.
In the Experts, Andy Cook was playing Jackie, Allan was playing David and Andrew was
playing Phil. (1 was thinking "Come on Phil - I don't fancy sleeping in a cardboard box tonight"
since Phil had promised that we could have his room if he made it to the semi-finals!)
Even in Round 9 the runners were still fresh - at one point, Henry held up a challenge slip and
no less than three runners started towards him.
After Round 9 the positions were:
Expert
1. David Acton
2. Andrew Cook
3. Jackie KcLeod
4. Phil Appleby
5. Allan Simons
7-2
7-2
7-2
7-2
7-2
+661
+519
+519
+389
♦ 57
Intermediate
1. Paul Chadwick
2. Ian Burn
3. Syd Berger
4. Adebowale Ajose
5. Tim Lawrence
8-1-8
8-0-1
7-0-2
6-0-3
6-0-3
+846
+395
+244
+307
+153
I didn't know who to support in the final game between Phil (I need the bed) Appleby and
Allan (I'm not alone in wanting to see him win NSC) Simmons so I hid under my impartial
Deputy Director's role. In the end Phil triumphed and 1 slept comfortably - poor Allan accepted
defeat in good grace and came back the next day to provide the commentary on the final. Jackie
beat David to finish top of the semi-final qualifiers, whilst Andrew Cook scraped into the final
qualifying spot despite losing his final game.
The positions after Round 10 were as follows. The top four in the Expert Division went forward
to the semi-finals, while Paul Chadwick rightly took the plaudits for his superb win in the Inter
mediates.
14
Expert
1. Jackie HcLeod
2. Phil Appleby
3. David Acton
4. Andrew Cook
5. Andrew Fisher
6. CHve Spate
7. Brett Smitheram
8. Allan Simmons
9. Terry Kirk
10. Alan Sinclair
8-2
8-2
7-3
7-3
7-3
7-3
7-3
7-3
6-4
6-4
+612
+431
+568
+567
+399
+358
+137
+ 15
+352
+349
Intermediate
1. Paul Chadwick
2. Ian Burn
3. Adebowale Ajose
4. Syd Berger
5. Tim Lawrence
6. Amy Ballantyne
7. Chris Lloyd
8. Lewise Hackay
9. Sandra Hoffland
10. Richard Woodward
9-1-0
8-0-2
7-0-3
7-0-3
7-0-3
7-0-3
6-0-4
6-0-4
6-0-4
6-0-4
+877
+385
+357
+230
+163
+ 30
+449
+373
+217
+ 38
The semi-finals took the form of a round-robin, but with the existing results carried forward. In
the first round Andrew beat Phil, while Jackie virtually assured herself of a place in the final by
beating David. Jackie continued her fine form with a 105-point win over Andrew, while Phil
edged home against David by 19 after slotting in COGNISE on his penultimate move. The posi
tions going into the final game were:
1. Jackie NcLeod
2. Phil Appleby
3. Andrew Cook
4. David Acton
10-2
9-3
8-4
7-5
+780
+352
+560
+486
Phil was playing Jackie, and Andrew was playing David. Andrew knew that he had to beat
David, and rely on Jackie beating Phil, in order to reach the final. Jackie duly did the business,
with a comfortable 103-point win which included the bonuses STATION and SPROUTED.
David battled to the end, however a late bonus by Andrew left him with no option but to
attempt a comeback bonus involving an -S hook on DAFT. The move was disallowed, and
Andrew's place in the final was assured.
I didn't actually see die semi-finals, but was in the room for the Final between Jackie and Andy.
Understandably there was considerable tension in the air (and that was just me trying to be a
Director!). I again caught Andy Cook's gaze - totally unfathomable - but apart from a slight
twitching of his fingers I saw no signs of emotion and thought to myself - he is going to win!
The Final (Andrew Cook v Jackie McLeod)
Game 1: Andrew started the opening game in dramatic style, with HEALERS as his opening
move. Jackie chose to change EHV from a rack of EECiTJV, which was surprising given that
she could have played the same tiles with IVIES or VISE. Andrew could have played a second
successive bonus widi his second rack of ELNPTTY, through the A of HEALERS, but played
PETTY instead. In desperation, holding EHIOOST Jackie tried TOOTHIES (there were obscure
bonuses available through an S or L), but the game was up when Andrew played his second
bonus, PILSNER, to take a 246-95 lead. Although Jackie picked both blanks towards the end of
the game, it was too little too late, and Andrew finished with a 413-309 victory.
Game 2: Jackie started Game 2 with WELTER, and Andrew missed a bonus holding the
unpromising AAEIOS?. Instead he played off AIA, and followed this up with ENGOrES second
move. Again faced with an early deficit, Jackie attempted a second non-word, INFUTES. The
punishment was severe: three further bonuses by Andrew (WAITERS, ORDiNALS, and theimpressive TROILiTE) wrapped up a 499-304 win.
15
Game 3: This game is annotated by David Webb, with the help of the computer programMAVEN, on page 26.
Summary: Andrew picked the better tiles and played very solidly throughout. For poor
Jackie the Final never really got going - good combinations were continually accompanied by
poor pick-ups. Missed moves proved very costly; it's interesting to note that two of the words
Jackie attempted include 6-letter combinations from (he top-250 list. A system of mnemonics
would have indicated, categorically, that there were no 7-Ietter words on the rack in each case -
another strong, but often underestimated, benefit of mnemonics.
There's no doubt that Andrew is a worthy champion, as his rapidly rising rating testifies. For
Jackie there was the consolation that, for the first two days of the NSC Final, she was far-and-
away the best player!
Missed bonuses: PATENTLY. SHOOT1ES. HOOUEST. OLEARIAS.
NSC Challenges
The following words were some of those challenged during the three days of the NSC Final -
can you work out which are okay, and which aren't? See page 47 for the answers.
ARECA, FLOKATI. BADDEST, GURNEY, MENUED, LORNER, TEREK, TREPANED,
SAILIER, CAUDAD. TUATH, WINNA. APODIC, TUTTI, TAROK. RUSTLIER. ALIUNDES,
CHERl, SUDARIES. OBEAH1SM, MOTIONER, NOTIONED, ICT1C, ZENANA, MISLAIN.
GLEDE, MEGADOSE, TEACHIES, NAFFEST, HUANACO, KRENG. POLYPI, YAWNER,
BUNKINGS. FICTOR, MESON, HEEDIEST, VIKINGS, PUBE, DEAVE, UNFLESH,
DIVESTOR, CAUFS.
NSC Press Coverage
As one would expect, the press coverage of the NSC Final was varied, in terms of both accuracy
and entertainment value. Reports appeared in many newspapers, but arguably the best was that
in the Independent, written by William Hartston:
" Proud of his pultoon. but aghast not to recognise an agami when he ran into one, Andrew
Cook, 26, from Abingdon in Oxfordshire, won the British Scrabble Championship yesterday,
with a 3-0 win in the final over Jackie McLcod, a secretary from Highgate North London.
Mr. Cook is unusual among top class Scrabble players in that he knows the meaning of most of
the curious words that appear on the board in his games. "Some just treat it as a strategy game"
he said "but I like lo understand the words 1 use."
In the last game, for example, he would have been untroubled by aerobes (micro organisms that
live on airborne oxygen), in the knowledge that his pultoon (Indian army word for a platoon) of
punkas (cooling fans) could blow them away. It was another micro organism that brought about
the downfall of former world Scrabble champion Mark Nyman in an early round. In a crucial
game he added the letters glea to zoo to form zooglea. That would have been fine in the World
Championships, when any word in Chambers or Webster's dictionaries is permissible, but in the
British Championships Chambers is the sole arbiter, and zooglea (a glutinous mass of bacteria)
counted for nothing.
After qualifying for the final with nine wins from 13 games, Mr. Cook made only one slip on
his way to the title, when he challenged the word 'agami' - a bird allied to the crane. Apart
from that, his qi (oriental life force), was untroubled and he romped to the championship."
16
Other UK events
Sheffmatch '97: September 27th (Report by Rob Dowse)
Sheffmatch '97 attracted a record entry of 96 contestants to Eccleshall Parish Church Hall.
Division C was won by Kevin Sellars of Barnsley, ahead of Kath Barnes and Ann Toft. Kevin
clinched victory with a 60-point win over Ann in the final round. Division B was won by
Joanne Hiley of Coventry in only her third tournament. Clearly Joanne is one to watch for the
future.
Division A was taken by storm early on by Chris Hawkins, with wins over Lou McMeeken and
Chris Quartermain by 288 and 154 points respectively. He continued with a 62-point win against
Lesley Trotter before succumbing by 79 points to Ruth Maclnemey, who went on to play Andy
Roughton for the title. Andy won by 94 to take home the Sheffmatch trophy.
Division A
1. A.Roughton
2. C.Hawkins
3. R.MacInerney
4. D.Meadows
5-0
4-1
4-1
4-1
+591
+549
+282
+281
Division B
1. J.Hiley
2. J.Dunlop
3. T.Davis
4. J.Crookes
5-0
4-1
4-1
4-1
+484
+562
+269
+164
Division C
1. K.Sellars
2. K.Barnes
3. A.Toft
4. P.Friend
5-0
4-1
4-1
4-1
+314
+562
+269
+164
Edinburgh : October 11th (Results only)
Division A
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Wilma Warwick
Alec Robinson
Malcolm Quirie
Neil Scott
Marion Keatings
5-6
4-1
4-1
4-1
4-1
+222
+491
+296
+254
+161
Division 8
1. Viv Beckmann
2. Louise Gray
3. Kenneth Gordon
4. Florence Davies
5. Jayne Reilly
s-e
5-e
4-1
4-1
4-1
+226
+199
+556
+364
+212
South West Evergreen : October 11th (Report by Derrick Thome)
86 players attended the 12th annual staging of this popular event. Ten would-be entrants had to
be turned away owing to lack of space. In Division A, Jill Fisher, a former winner, made the
early running, but in the last game Alan Childs came through with a big win to take the title for
a second time.
Division A
1. A.Childs
2. J.Fisher
3. R.Shipley
Division C
1. P.Buckingham
2. O.Clarke
3. H.Holland
3-0
3-0
3-0
3-6
3-6
3-6
+304
+244
+ 77
+267
+226
+ 82
Division B
1. M.English
2. P.Terry
3. S.Wild
Division D
1. J.Fothergill
2. S.Russell
3. M.Gulliver
3-0
3-0
3-0
3-6
3-6
3-6
+462
+239
+138
+555
+165
+ 96
17
Bournemouth Invitation : October 12th (Report by Val Wright)
Bournemouth Scrabble Club held its second successful one-day APSP-rated tournament on
Sunday 12th October, at the Burlington Hotel. There were 64 players in two divisions, invited
from clubs in the south of England, including the Isle of Wight. The results were:
Division A
1.
2.
3.
4.
Joy Lloyd
Penny Downer
Kathryn Le Grove
Bob Lynn
5-0
4-1
4-1
4-1
♦408
♦278
♦211
+209
Division B
1. Abraham Smith
2. Margaret Staunton
3. Doreen Blake
4. Angela Swain
5-0
4-1
4-1
4-1
♦374
♦372
♦221
♦ 161
The ratings prize in Division A was won by Alan Bailey (4-1 +149). The prize for the highest
spread in a single game wentto Elisabeth Jardine from Bournemouth with -t-350. Two spot prizes
were given for unusual words challenged and allowed: Terry Hollington played JAROSITE,
which is "a hydrous sulphate of iron and potassium forming hexagonal crystals", and Noel
Turner played KRANZES, which is a South African word for "crowns of rock on a mountain
lop - or a precipice".
East London : October 18th (Results only)
Division A
1. P.Nelkon
2. B.Grossman
3. O.Dennis
4. A.Webb
5. E.Simopson
6-0
5-1
5-1
4-2
4-2
+753
+247
+158
+372
+303
Division B
1. O.Adesiyan
2. J.Nelkon
3. S.Green
4. L.Brundell
5. D.Shenkin
5-1
5-1
5-1
4-2
4-2
♦ 599
♦409
+348
♦411
♦329
Division C
1. K.Synnott
2. D.French
3. P.Fernandez
4. A.Golding
5. P.Ernest
6-0
5-1
5-1
4-2
4-2
+877
♦470
♦333
+315
+183
Elgin : October 25th (Report by Lorraine Watson)
This was the first Elgin tournament to be APSP-rated, and we were very encouraged by the size
and standard of the entry. 48 competitors came, from all areas of Scotland. Thanks to everyone
who contributed to the success of this maiden event, which I'm sure will now become a regular
feature of the Scrabble calendar.
Division A
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Amy Byrne
Donald MacLeod
Hilma Warwick
Ann Davidson
Helen Mitchell
5-0
4-1
4-1
4-1
3-2
♦387
♦494
+ 188
+ 130
♦258
Division B
1. Ken Gordon
2. Isobel Smith
3. Stella Brown
4. Julia Glen
5. John McLean
5-0
4-1
4-1
4-1
4-1
+475
+332
♦289
+187
- 55
Havering SC Tournament: 2nd November (Report by Christina French)
1 firmly believe some Scrabble players would be excellent at Call My Bluff. Well, they are
clever with words, and when it comes to giving whopping great porkies of explanations to
include words in a theme word competition, they are even better! The theme words for the
Havering Tournament were supposed to be related to "painting" (the ones you hang on the
walls). Just read below the offerings we received and their related "bluffs":
NUMBERS "You know, painting by..."
REPOINT "What you do to bricks before you paint them."
IX
LADDERED "Now how else would Michelangelo have got up to that ceiling? He laddered
his way up."
WELLIES "What painters wear if they are standing in a field painting a landscape - and
its raining."
MOAN "It's an anagram of MONA, as in Lisa."
I don't know if this bears any relevance to the above, but the most challenged word played at
the tournament was LOONIES.
Many many thanks to all the entrants who anended this event and made it such a successful day.
With their help we raised £110 in raffle proceeds for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Organisation.
Mauro Pratesi won the theme words prize for playing the word ART, twice. The lunchtime
puzzle was won by Graham Wakefield with a total score of 440. Philip Cohen, our last entrant,
won the tournament. Two of our own Havering players managed 1st and 2nd in the C Division.
We had a superb team of ■little helpers', and also Margaret, who came along with Alan Bailey
from Portsmouth, was a real asset to us.
Unfortunately, three of our entrants who were travelling from the Norwich area had to turn back
due to the pile-ups on the A12, which were caused by motorists driving too fast in fog condi
tions; we spoke to Carol Smith in the evening and they got home safely and played some
friendly games instead.
Division A
1. P.Cohen
2. 0.Francis
3. R.Richland
4. R.Miner
5. T.Hoi lington
5-1
5-1
5-1
4-2
4-2
+477
+431
♦354
+388
+172
Division B
1. D.Keeble
2. H.Rees
3. Y.Eade
4. J.Rees
5. J.NeHon
5-1
5-1
5-1
4-2
4-2
+309
+171
+161
+248
+268
Division C
1. N.Jenkins
2. S.Ball
3. F.Shanmas
4. J.Kay
5. M. Pratesi
6-0
5-1
5-1
4-2
4-2
+346
+284
♦ 132
+429
+345
Isle of Wight: 1st-2nd November (Report by Noel Turner)
132 players took part in the biggest I.W. Event to date, which was held at a new venue, a larger
Art Deco-style Hotel, in Ryde. The event was held over 11 games. This year, for the first time,
there were 4 divisions. The results were as follows:
Division A
1. Terry Kirk
2. Steve Balment
3. Karl Khoshnaw
4. Hart in Fowkes
5. Andrew Perry
Division C
1. Para Fairless
2. Pat Fenn
3. Pamela Windsor
4. Phillipa Morris
5. Jill Dyer
9-2 +936
9-2 +224
8-3 +219
8-3 +106
7-4 +581
11-0 +946
9-2 +794
9-2 +356
7-4 +447
7-4 +341
Division B
1. Carol Rison
2. David Ellis
9-2
8-3
3. Debbie Holloway 8-3
4. Mary Allen
5. Ian Burn
Division D
1. Sonya Uyld
2. David Reading
3. Simon Wood
4. Alan Everitt
5. Don Beavis
7-4
7-4
9-0-2
8-0-3
8-0-3
7-1-3
7-0-4
+631
+734
+191
+529
+386
+425
+495
+461
+441
+396
Congratulations to Terry. This is the first time that he has won the event, which he has entered
faithfully since its beginning. A good win for Southampton's Carole Rison, too. She has not
been playing all that long, and is a stalwart member of the Club's Southern Counties' League
First Division team. Pam Fairle.ss did remarkably well to win all her games in Division C. Sonya
Wyld got her first ever win in Division D, whilst South Coast Scrabble players might be inter-
19
estcd to know that Newport IW's new up-and-coming star, David Reading has only been corning
to the club since winning last year's Unigate Milk Competition. We were astonished when we
learned that that competition had been won by someone from our own backyard, but who wasn't
a member of either of the Island's clubs!
As an interesting aside, David is a teacher, and runs a Scrabble club at his school. We decided
to invest in our future, by offering free entry to the event to any of his young players who
wanted to give it a try. Suffice to say that the two lads who entered brought up the rear, but
both enjoyed themselves immensely. Hopefully they will go back to their friends and tell them
how exciting Scrabble can be!
Everyone seems to have been very impressed with the new venue, which I'm pleased to say will
host next year's IOW event on the first weekend of November 1998 (contrary to an announce
ment made at the time, when it appeared that the event would have to be postponed till the
second weekend).
Cleveland Challenge : 2nd November (Report by Pauline Johnson)
A full complement of 18 players for the three divisions turned up for the last match of the
season.
In the Porterfield Group, widi the help of STERNER and SEEDIER, and a narrow 4-point win
in her final game, Flo Davies held off Hilda Hudspeth with Gwen Linfoot in third place. In the
Camsell Group Tony Davis finished with a 100% winning record, thanks to AVERTED,
DEVALUE, HASTENS, VERSION and SERMONS. The Milbum Group was closely fought,
with Viv Beckmann's second successive 3-bonus game not quite enough to snatch victory from
Josef Thompson.
Porterfield
1.
2.
3.
F
H
G
Davies
Hudspeth
Lightfoot
4-1
4-1
3-2
+ 157
+ 38
♦ 46
Camsell
1.
2.
3.
T
H
S
Davis
Cowie
Thompson
5-0
4-1
3-2
♦368
+112
-125
Division C
1.
2.
3.
J
V
H
Thompson
Beckmann
Burdon
4-1
4-1
3-2
♦201
+188
+ 176
Porlock Week: November 3rd-7th (Report by Cllve Spate)
I'd hazard a guess that Porlock might be the smallest place in the British Isles which has an
entry in Chambers Dictionary. Whatever the case, it was the venue for a mixture of activities for
27 Scrabble players (plus Sheila and myself), ranging from tournament regulars to club players
from Devon and Somerset having their first experience of APSP-rated play. Although there was
no compulsion to play rated games, by the end of the week everyone had.
The chief competition involved a mini-Nomads of three groups of 9 in round robins played in
the mornings. The top five in each group were:
Grasoere Group
1. D.Beasley
2. C.Finlay
3. J.Phillips
4. O.Shenkin
5. F.Mairey
7-1
6-2
5-3
4-4
3-5
♦870
♦449
♦237
-110
- 25
Hope Group
1. H.Garret.t
2. P.Ebrecht
3. J.Hill
4. J.Shaw
5. R.Flood
5-0-3
5-0-3
4-1-3
4-1-3
4-0-4
♦ 95
- 64
♦233
-151
♦ 183
Whttby Group
1. J.Monger
2. C.Wide
3. E.Hens
4. H.Hens
5. l.Uhite
5-3
5-3
5-3
5-3
5-3
♦307.
♦224
♦221
♦ 105
+ 69
20
In addition to the APSP's favourite nonagenarian, Lucy White, the Whitby group featured threeother players aged over 80 - a great testament, I think, to Scrabble's appeal to players of all
ages.
In the afternoons about a dozen Scrabblers went on the led walks through the autumnal country
side; the rest either ventured out by car or stayed to play more Scrabble - either friendly games
or more rated ones. In addition to the round robins, a knock-out competition was held during
the week. In the final Martin Thomas beat Janet Phillips - Martin's play of ADZ/ZEALS for 101
points being most impressive.
Evening activities featured games of duplicate Scrabble and Countdown, using OSW as the ref
erence rather than the Concise Oxford. Readers might like to see what they could find from the
nine letters RCENUBEES. (See page 47)
We expect to organise a similar venture next year at Hope in the Peak District, possible dates
November 9th to 13th.
APSP Winter Matchplay: November 29th-30th
The tournament seemed to run smoothly, with no major hitches, thanks largely to David French
as TD and Steve Thomas on the computer. The hard-working band of runners included
9-year-old Alice Violett who, before prize-giving, read out a story she wrote (about the event)
with great aplomb.
Steve reported a few interesting adjudications - SPYHOLES, DROSSIEST, NTNEPENCE,
FAVOURITE, PISSOIR. He also had some curious coincidences: WITGAT was challenged
twice in the same round. BEERY then BEERIER appeared and (amusingly, but not quite PC)
HONKY and DARKY arrived in succession on separate challenge slips!
The tournament itself provided a platform for Bob Violett to show that he is still a force to be
reckoned with, losing only one game, to Andy Davis. Now, with his Psion 3c, he is likely to
become an even more formidable opponent! Neil Rowley, one of the lowest-rated players in the
A Division, put up a great show, while Jake Jacobs continued his rise up the ratings. Ratings
prizes were won by Graeme Thomas and Nick Ball.
In the B Division Dave Nunn emulated Bob's achievement, with Nick Deller in second spot.
What have these two players in common? They're both regular contributors to the Newsletter of
course! Could this be the key to Scrabble success?! The B Division ratings prizes went to Alison
Sadler and Syd Berger.
Finally, in the C Division it was Garry Clark who emerged triumphant from a four-way bottle
neck at the top. His superior spread edged him home ahead of Janet Bonham, Sue Ball, and
Vernon Draper. The ratings prize was won by Paul Steadman.
Many thanks to Forte Hotels and Psion for their generosity in providing prizes, and to everyone
else involved in making the event such a success.
Division A
1. B.Violett
2. A.Simmons
3. N.Rowley
4. A.Davis
5. J.Jacobs
10-1
9-2
8-3
7-4
7-4
+798
+358
-120
+426
+358
Division B
1. O.Nunn
2. N.Deller
3. H.Thompson
4. 0.Ellis
5. H.Conway
10-1
9-2
8-3
7-4
7-4
+844
♦341
+534
+311
+285
Division C
1. G.Clark
2. J.Bonham
3. S.Ball
4. V.Draper
5. S.Wood
8-3
8-3
8-3
8-3
7-4
+678
+629
+581
+212
+408
21
Ratings list at 23rd November 1997
These ratings incorporate results from all events played prior to November 23rd, with the excep
tion of Glasgow and Middlesborough.
S3 x 205 Allan Saldanha (GM) 30 x
194 x 196 David Acton 84 x
109 x 196 Hark Hyman (GH) 96 x
192 x 194 Gareth Williams (GH) 179 x
83 x 193 Clive Spate (GH) 208 x
155 x 193 David Webb (Exp) 255 x
168 x 190 Phil Appleby (GH) 92 x
187 x 190 Russell Byers (GH) 76 x
146 x 190 Andrew Fisher (GH) 310 x
105 x 188 John Grayson (GH) 127 x
70 x 188 Philip Helton (GH) 97 x
178 x 187 Andrew Davis 157 x
35 x 186 Richard Evans (Exp) 35 x
175 x 185 Andrew Cook 74 x
125 x 185 Brett Sraitheram 141 x
204 x 184 Neil Scott 264 x
181 x 183 Di Dennis (Exp) 323 x
244 x 183 Allan Simrons (GM) 123 x
149 x 183 Brian Sugar (Exp) 224 x
451 x 182 Terry Kirk (Exp) 71 x
197 x 182 Evan Simpson (Exp) 380 x
247 x 181 Martin Fowkes 190 x
366 x 180 Jackie Hcleod 59 x
100 x 180 Hartley Hoorhouse 93 x
185 x 179 Paul Allan 36 x
143 x 179 Penny Downer 182 x
233 x 179 Alec Webb (Exp) 379 x
81 x 177 Steven Gruzd 71 x
74 x 177 Harshan Lamabadusuriya 95 x
247 x 177 Andrew Perry 88 x
142 x 177 Hike Willis (Exp) 416 x
155 x 176 Elie Dangoor 79 x
143 x 176 Paul Golder 66 x
139 x 176 Ruth Morgan-Th (Exp) 175 x
211 x 176 Noel Turner (Exp) 207 x
218 x 176 Bob Violett (Exp) 87 x
50 x 175 Peter Finley (GM) 171 x
168 x 175 Gary Polhill 69 x
197 x 174 Joyce Cansfield (Exp) 198 x
165 x 174 Darryl Francis (Exp) 53 x
192 x 174 Helen Gipson (Exp) 153 x
99 x 174 Sheila Spate 83 x
139 x 173 Dick Green 75 x
245 x 173 Wilna Warwick 171 x
271 x 172 Philip Cohen 45 x
204 x 172 Barry Grossman 51 x
361 x 172 Robert Richland (Exp) 34 x
381 x 172 Sandie Simonis 121 x
59 x 171 Ian Gucklhorn 316 x
163 x 171 David Kendix 55 x
150 x 171 Diane Pratesi (Exp) 40 x
63 x 171 Peter Preston 178 x
41 x 170 Ivan Swallow 42 x
68 x 170 Chris Vicary 85 x
169 David Brook 33 x
168 Irene Bell 337 x
168 Chris Hawkins 193 x
167 Christopher Finlay 276 x
167 Helen Grayson (Exp) 113 x
167 Helen Greenaway 118 x
167 Jake Jacobs 124 x
167 Karl Khoshnaw 124 x
167 Cecil Muscat 192 x
167 Paul Nind 31 x
167 Karen Willis 47 x
166 Danny Bekhor 296 x
166 Neil Cribb 83 x
166 Tony Killilea 65 x
166 Andrew Roughton 306 x
166 Alan Sinclair 57 x
166 Graeme Thomas 266 x
166 Hartin Thompson 34 x
165 Donald MacLeod 191 x
165 Kenneth Oliver 264 x
164 Steve Baiment 109 x
164 Simon Carter 248 x
164 Hary Grylls 149 x
164 John Simpson 194 x
164 Hartin Thomas 112 x
163 Caroline Atkins 238 x
163 Amy Bymc 81 x
163 Edward Garrett-Joncs 112 x
163 Simon Gil Ian (Exp) 140 x
163 John Howell 120 x
163 Ruth Maclnemey 116 x
163 Jayne Mackenzie 84 x
162 Jonathan Anstey 300 x
162 Nicholas Ball 103 x
162 Iain Harley 79 x
162 Debbie Heaton 58 x
162 Hartin Reed 62 x
162 Neil Rowley 70 x
161 Diana Beasley 212 x
161 Neil Derbyshire 36 x
161 Graham Harding HI x
161 Ken Heaton 143 x
161 Chris Keeley 66 x
161 Halcoln Quirie 68 x
161 Kwaku Sapong 68 x
160 Adebowale Ajose 69 x
160 Christina Brown 63 x
160 Loz Crouch 37 x
160 Rob Dowse 129 x
159 Cathy Anderson 117 x
159 Alan Catherall 69 x
159 Peter Dean 291 x
159 Liz Furness 62 x
159 Pauline Johnson 144 x
159 Russell Murch
159 Raymond Tate
158 Hartin Bloomberg
158 Hoira Conway
158 Jane Gibson
158 David Holland
158 Bob Lynn
158 Frankie Mairey
158 David Meadows
158 Roy Miller
158 Janet Palcer
158 Janet Phillips
158 Linda Pray
157 David Dawson
157 Gary Fox
157 Timothy Lawrence
157 Steve Perry
157 Roger Phillips
157 Rachelle Winer
156 Nuala Clenaghan
156 Christine Cooper
156 Marion Keatings
155 Doug Brown
155 Brian Bull
155 Angela Evans
155 Christine Hamilton
155 Terry Hoi lington
155 Elisabeth Jardine
155 Hary Jones
155 Chris Lloyd
155 Shanker Henon
155 Thomas Hensah
155 Hike O'Rourke
155 Norman Smith
154 Eryl Barker
154 Bob Berry
154 Sue Bowman
154 David Lawton
154 Joy Lloyd
154 David Longley
154 Alec Robertson
154 Fran Thompson
153 Eileen Anderson
153 Ian Betteridge
153 Laura Finley
153 Colin Hall
153 Ron Hendra
153 Bryn Packer
153 Haria Thomson
153 Pam Titheradge
153 Dennis Walker
152 Adrienne Berger
152 Paul Chadwick
152 Alan Georgeson
22
39
53
35
99
115
B5
43
86
58
58
94
68
152
282
33
37
116
47
132
114
65
266
39
59
94
151
384
56
46
93
166
53
141
236
73
364
72
134
364
39
96
36
206
147
72
283
96
246
157
199
59
172
43
57
131
169
54
53
225
67
53
136
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
152
152
152
152
152
152
151
151
151
151
151
151
151
151
151
151
151
151
150
150
156
156
150
158
149
149
149
149
149
149
148
148
148
148
148
148
148
148
148
147
147
147
147
147
147
147
147
147
146
146
146
146
146
146
145
145
145
145
145
145
145
145
Keith King
Brenda Margereson
Huw Morgan
Les Nyntan
Jean RappUt
Josef Thompson
Oluyemi Adesiyan
Tony Bailey
Graham Buckingham
Pat Colling
Billy Oott
Brian Jones
Lorna Rapley
Maureen Rayson
Kenneth Ross
Judy Straughan
Graham Uakefield
Henry Walton
Margaret Burdon
Kate Leckie
Lou HcHeeken
Anne Ramsay
Carol Stanley
Richard Woodward
John Balloch
Ivy Dixon-Bafrd
Sheila Green
Peter Thompson
Lesley Trotter
Lorraine Watson
Ian Burn
Chris Oavison
Nick Deller
Moya Oewar
Datnian Eadie
Doreen Marsh
Martha Mitchell
Kate Surtees
Sylvia Swaney
Linda Bird
Margaret Browne
Pam Fairless
Christina French
George Gruner
Stella Lander
Pat HacBean
Jean Williams
Ton Wilson
Amie Ballantyne
Yvonne Eade
Kathryn Le Grove
Carol Mai kin
Julie Nelkon
Oavid Williams
David Ellis
Marjory Flight
Anne Hidden
Steven Hopper
Eddie McKeown
John Mitchell
Carole Rison
Carol Smith
186 x
58 x
173 x
52 x
83 x
153 x
188 x
159 x
279 x
99 x
59 x
146 x
55 x
278 x
61 x
59 x
43 x
133 x
58 x
128 x
53 x
314 x
36 X
73 x
53 x
72 x
73 x
55 x
37 x
55 x
56 x
114 x
S3 x
96 x
408 x
105 x
37 x
115 x
55 x
42 x
197 x
60 x
106 x
160 x
69 x
47 x
32 x
53 x
83 X
58 x
231 x
199 x
57 x
127 x
80 x
53 x
285 x
35 x
112 x
35 x
98 x
189 x
144 Mary Allen 143 x
144 Trevor Bently 54 x
144 Margaret Bright 41 x
144 James Horsfall 122 x
144 Oavid Keeble 85 x
144 Helen Mitchell 62 x
144 Dorothy Taylor 53 x
144 Teena Walls 122 x
143 Peter Ashurst 381 x
143 Louise Brundell 57 x
143 Marie English 165 x
143 Norma Howarth 138 x
143 Sylvia Meyrick 45 x
143 Margaret Pritchett 76 x
143 Derrick Thome 69 x
143 Jan Turner 58 x
143 Malcolm Meant 89 x
142 Liz Barber 58 x
142 Alan Chi Ids 249 x
142 Ann Davidson 31 x
142 Ceridwen Davies 46 x
142 Priscilla Encamacion 66 x
142 Dorothy Henretty 76 x
142 Debbie Holloway 41 x
142 Davina Latham 98 x
142 Ron Hanton 105 x
142 Kim Phipps 68 X
142 Barbara Price 272 x
142 Helen Rees 93 x
141 Jean Bridge 41 x
141 Tony Davis 93 x
141 Sandra Hoffland 31 x
141 Graham Maker 95 x
141 Alison Sadler 71 x
141 David Shenkin 36 x
140 Etta Alexander 48 x
140 Alan Bailey 70 x
140 Fay Hadeley 69 x
140 David Nunn 52 x
140 Barbara Sharanas 68 x
140 Rose Spencer 52 x
140 Brian Watson 115 x
140 Lesley Watson 43 x
139 Sheila Anderson 57 x
139 Margaret Armstrong 169 x
139 Hike Buckley 389 x
139 Kathy Bull en 52 x
139 Jean Dymock 54 x
139 Lewis Mackay 134 x
139 Tess McCarthy 51 x
139 Ken Quarshie 51 x
139 Harjorie Smith 55 x
139 Rita Todd 143 x
138 Philip Aldous 91 x
138 Liz Allen 31 x
138 Nora Bain 58 x
138 Syd Berger 53 x
138 Richard Bettis 94 x
138 Rita Brookes 106 x
138 Wanda De Poitiers 97 x
138 Heather Frankland 111 x
138 Jilly Garnett 32 x
138 Lois McLeod
138 Margarita Saldanha
138 Ricky Zinger
137 Janice Bease
137 Jill Fisher
137 Agnes Gunn
137 Sally Lewis
137 Michael Partner
137 Marlene Skinner
137 Evan Terrett
137 Vai Wright
136 Linda Bradford
136 Jean Carter
136 Joan Caws
136 Gerry Donnelly
136 Patricia Fenn
136 Jane Lowndes
136 Carol Smith
136 Anne Steward
136 Frances Ure
136 Pat Wheeler
135 Janet Braund
135 Ian Caws
135 John Dunlop
135 Sheila Jolliffe
135 Jayne Reilly
135 Isla Wilkie
134 Vivien Beckmann
134 Maureen Brough
134 Jacqui Brown
134 Edelle Crane
134 Michael Finn
134 Jean Galiacher
134 Sharon Landau
134 Mary Oram
134 Stuart Pierce
134 Angela Spilsbury
134 Margaret Yeadon
133 Michael Baxendale
133 James Crooks
133 Jill Dyer
133 June Edwards
133 Haureen Greening-Steer
133 Linda Hi Hard
133 Kay Johnston
133 Philippa Morris
133 Willie Scott
133 Barbara Sennett
133 Peter Terry
132 Doreen Blake
132 Catriona Budge
132 Vera Flood
132 Mary Lindsay
132 Gwynfor Owen
132 Eva Paine
132 Gilii Simons
132 Stan Skinner
132 Edith Smith
132 Joyce Squire
132 Donna Stanton
132 Wendy Tiley
132 Sandra Walton
30 x 132 Ethel Wilding 44 x
53 x 131 Dorothy Dean 39 x
63 x 131 Barbara Dein 62 x
54 x 131 Ann Edwards 42 x
68 x 131 Sally Fisroan 187 x
170 x 131 Eric Howarth 276 x
150 x 131 Adesanmi Odelana 45 x
52 x 131 Ann Pitblado 42 x
84 x 131 Pat Rockley 96 x
58 x 131 Eric Smith 60 x
36 x 131 Joyce Smith 84 x
106 x 131 June Wilson 39 x
195 x 131 Pamela Windsor 57 x
49 x 130 Lois Cakebread 166 x
43 x 130 Val Couzens 74 x
45 x 130 Honu Galley 50 x
123 x 130 Roma Hollingworth 82 x
44 x 130 Luke Keegan 86 x
38 x 130 Margaret Keegan 60 x
32 x 130 Lilly Laker 66 x
67 x 130 Jacqui Owens 68 x
41 x 130 Joan Rees 37 x
40 x 130 Susan Skirving 142 x
62 x 129 Charley Adesoji 60 x
83 x 129 Kaureen Austin 53 x
53 x 129 Sheila Booth-Hi Hard 52 x
60 x 129 Martin Cairns 15B x
79 x 129 Eve Conlon 42 x
82 x 129 Mavis Harding 31 x
64 x 129 Kathleen Mggins 67 x
84 x 129 Brian Keegan 31 x
39 x 129 Wyn Lloyd 69 x
52 x 129 Esther Hay)or 87 x
335 x 129 Marigold Page 35 x
157 x 129 Gertie Roberts 112 x
66 x 129 Jean Shaw 45 x
40 x 129 Ho TiHey 30 x
53 x 128 Shirley Angel 1 69 x
85 x 128 Eileen Bashan 128 x
120 x 128 Helen Cowie 228 x
139 x 128 Val Hoskings 31 x
51 x 128 Mary Riggans 43 x
102 x 128 Ruth Rose 76 x
41 x 128 Honica Stockwell 53 x
69 x 128 Gladys Tierney 33 x
99 x 128 Kit Uzzell 47 x
70 x 127 Jessie Brown 50 x
1GO x 127 Winnie Buik 31 x
56 x 127 Harjorie Garrett 170 x
52 x 127 Peter Kelly 44
41 x 127 Dale Lloyd 46
194 x 127 Stuart Hay 99
105 x 127 Celi a Osbom 48
47 x 127 Brenda Rodwell 112
30 x 127 Len Shuttleworth 145 x
102 x 127 Edith Tempest 172 x
40 x 126 Peter G Arnold 45 x
37 x 126 Stella Brown 40 x
73 x 126 Jennifer Clifford 145 x
30 x 126 Louise Gray 95 x
68 x 126 Norman Haddow 66 x
65 x 126 Hichael Harley 62 x
126 Joy Hewgill
126 Stella Magnus
125 Martin Byrne
125 Georgina Cook
125 Elizabeth Draper
125 Ruby Flood
125 Lorna Franks
125 Lena Glass
125 Kenneth Gordon
125 Harjorie Hi si op
125 Barbara Kent
125 Joy Reason
125 Kitty Rugman
125 Sue Thompson
124 Elizabeth J Allen
124 John Cakebread
124 Sharon Colder
124 Joan Lawrence
124 Richard Saldanha
123 Samantha Beckwith
123 Kate Boutinot
123 Jean Buckley
123 David French
123 Lynn Giles
123 Joe Harsh
122 Eileen Bradshaw
122 Julie Brewster
122 Joyce Gershon
122 Dennis Nelson
122 Halcola Roberts
122 Harie Ross
122 Winifred Smith
122 Winifred Stitt
121 Irene Catherail
121 Vera Sine
120 Betty Balding
120 Haureen Barr
120 Kate Barratt
120 Florence Davies
120 Vemon Draper
120 Rose Ford
120 Paul Harding
120 Joy Hodge
120 Doreen Horris
120 Doreen Pratt
120 Hary Raifs
119 Jean Bakowell
119 Hilary Birdsaii
119 Garry Clark
119 Una Collinson
119 Liz Dunlop
119 Hargaret Harkness
119 Dawn Pierce
119 Peter Sime
119 Jessie Tollick
118 Barbara Grant
118 Keith Haynes
118 Barbara Hill
118 Heather Ilott
118 Joan Kurphy
118 Hay Qutgley
118 Jo Tebbutt
31 x
197 x
60
60
55 x
76
58
118 x
59 x
68 x
70 x
52 x
110 x
45 x
55 x
38 x
101 x
48 x
90 x
41 x
35 x
174 x
31 x
147 x
198 x
61 x
44 x
278 x
30 x
97 x
31 x
77 X
177 x
53 x
78 x
83 x
33 x
34 x
85 x
53 x
105 x
57 x
50 x
119 x
95 x
30 x
64 x
170 X
45 X
51 X
76 x
31 x
52 x
53 x
32 x
50 x
87 x
73 x
45 x
78 x
66 x
SO x
117 Kathleen Barnes
117 Janet Bonham
117 Pat Burgess
117 Hilda Hudspeth
117 Hargaret Irons
117 Anne Uwton
117 Alice Hadin
117 Vanessa Peters
117 Hauro Pratesi
117 Halcoin Shaw
117 Joanna Skirving
117 Sonja Wyld
116 Carmen Dolan
116 Eric Emslie
116 Peggy Frawley
116 Peter Hall
116 Steve Powell
115 Hary Adams
115 Alice Allwood
115 Hargaret Bigg
115 Hadia Deadnsn
115 Lorna Llewellyn
US Harry Sinclair
115 Claire Violett
115 Simon Wood
114 Nicholas Butler
114 June Faulkner
114 Norah Thompson
114 Aqy Vye
114 Jacqui White
113 Huriel Arnold
113 Habel Choularton
113 Hay Gray
113 Sheila Reeve
113 Haureen Reynolds
113 Connie Riach
113 Colin Rivington
113 Anna Whitefield
112 Sue Bullock
112 Susan Bury
112 Peter Ernest
112 Joan Johns
112 Davina Keddie
112 Eve Hillington
112 Christine Nicholson
112 Iris Shuttleworth
112 Jean Stevens
111 June Clark
111 Paul Famworth
HI Nicholas Jenkins
HI Hay Hacdonaid
111 Sheila Tutt
110 Dorothy Black
110 Kay Halpass
110 Isabelle McLean
110 Hargaret Seabrook
109 Sue Ball
109 Florence Fellows
169 Edith Grant
109 Irene Lindsay
109 Paul Pye
109 Ann Toft
24
81
127
31
62
102
47
67
41
67
69
33
42
42
139
42
45
63
52
34
65
205
55
8B
52
77
63
80
63
35
32
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
109
108
108
108
108
108
107
107
187
107
107
107
107
107
107
106
106
106
106
106
106
105
105
105
105
105
104
104
104
104
Kath Ward
Hary Broadhead
Barbara Cox
Daphne Fletcher
Douglas Robinson
Wenna Robinson
Roy Arnold
Don Beavis
Rona Dryden
Marian Izatt
Rosemary Jones
Christine Jukes
Hary Keevey
Holly Lane
Ian Mitchell
Agnes Clark
Pat Friend
Angie Jones
Zsuzsi Lea
Alice Tozeland
Chris Wide
Audrey Barrington
Julia Glen
Shirley Heal
Helen Sandier
Betty Sharp
Peter Basham
Betty Benton
Ann Clark
Lesley Gunton
72 x 104
112 x 104
43 x 104
105 x 103
64 x 103
98 x 103
53 x 103
37 x 103
33 x 103
62 x 103
239 x 103
233 x 102
41 x 102
32 x 102
40 x 102
73 x 101
137 x 101
33 x 101
70 x 100
38 x 100
57 x 100
99 x 99
40 x 99
82 x 98
146 x 97
111 x 97
40 x 96
93 x 96
55 x 96
199 x 96
Jo Holland
Hary Hanson
Olivia Patton
Fred Burford
Dixie Haynes
Lionel Howard
Adelle Jones
Rosalyn Lishak
Fuad Shainnas
Dorothy Wilks
Irene Wool ley
Harcia Davies
Tom Faulkner
Kath Jennings
Alison Pritchard
Sheila Anderson
Marjorie Lefley
Henry Woodward
Zoe Cooper
Nellie Cox
Jean Iris Williams
Mary Bradley
Sheila Ross
Trish Johnson
Paul Cartman
Eric Rowland
Jack Baker
Hyra Copleston
Olive Matthew
Lucy White
73 x 95
57 x 95
32 x 95
229 x 94
93 x 94
41 x 93
50 x 93
31 x 93
62 x 92
118 x 91
49 x 90
75 x 90
83 x 89
48 x 89
30 x 84
51 x 84
70 x 84
41 x 83
80 x 81
63 x 81
36 x 81
30 x 79
30 x 79
53 x 79
31 x 78
31 x 78
31 x 78
31 x 78
146 x 72
50 x 71
33 x 61
Joan Cussens
Fay Goble
Paul Steadman
Pamela Brown
Barrie Hall
Ralph Edwards
Winnie Haston
Hary Patrick
Rita Hanton
Vera Allen
Karen Allen
Doreen Colentan
Mavis Ernest
Beryl Trace
Margaret Hills
Jean Ross
Peter Shuttiewood
Gwen Linfoot
Dorothy Henry
Peggy Shortt
Stanley Wilkinson
George Aitken
Mary Oavison
Nancy Yorkston
Margaret Craig
Dorothy Edwards
Cindy Hollyer
Mary Shi el Is
Christine Cartman
Bessie Winter
Irene Hodson
— Any old Scrabble gear?
Garelh Williams received the following request from Ampofo Erasmus, Tutor Librarian at the
Ahafoman Sec/Tech School, P.O.Box 57, Goasa, Brong-Ahafo Region, Ghana. Perhaps some
APSP members may be able to help out?
"I would be grateful if you could send us some Scrabble boards, related books on Scrabble,
for example dictionaries, etc. Mr. Manley Mensah of 3 Edward Temine Avenue, Stratford,
London El5 4BE, a friend, sent a board to me and I introduced the game to my students to
help improve upon their standard of English, especially in the fields of spelling and vocabu
lary.
Due to the high number of students who are eager to learn the game, the inability of the
school to purchase the game because it's not on the Ghanaian market and the overuse of my
board which is now almost wom out, I am appealing to you to send us the materials
requested to help sustain the interest of my students.
We are prepared to pay the cost of postage and would be pleased to have the estimated cost
from you depending on the weight and cost of the items. We may send the money to you
either through the Western Union Money Transfer or the International Postal Order."
25
Improving Your Scrabble Skills
Annotated game: Andrew Cook v Jackie McLeod
This was the third and. as it turned out, decisive game in the NSC Final. Andrew was 2-0 up, and
a win in this game would make him the 1997 National Champion.
Our annotator is David Webb, who has analysed the game using the Maven computer program.
Every move has been run through Maven's simulator. The term "equity" refers to the average
number ofpoints difference in final spread in a gamefollowing onfrom one play, as opposed to a
gamefollowingfrom the optimal play.
Andrew I: AIKNOPU
PUNKA D8a 28 28
PUNKA is best and Andrew plays it. Next best is PINKO with inferior rack leave - AU is worth
two points less than IO.
Jackie 1: EEIIMOV -28
OVINE FSd 16 16
OVINE is best and Jackie plays it
Andrew 2: IOAESSW +12
WISE I6d 21 49
OW at E4 for 20 points is best. Andrew plays WISE for one extra point but the inferior rack
leave of AOS compared to AEISS results in an equity loss of 5.S points. Interestingly SOW at
E3, scoring two more points than OW, is not a better move. In general a second S on a rack is
worth nothing so playing it for even one extra point would be a good thing. However there is a
lot of synergy for two S's with the vowel combo AE1 and the vowel-consonant ratio is better
with two S's than one. These factors contribute to OW's equity being one point greater than that
of SOW.
Jackie 2: EIMAINS -33
ANIHISE J9d 6 16
Jackie plays a phoney. However plausible or reasonable a phoney might be it frequently repres
ents a personal tragedy in the context of the game in which it occurs. The equity loss alone is
likely to be of the order of 30-50 points which can undo the good work done on many other
moves. The psychological blow is also usually heavy. One's equanimity is rattled and subse
quent judgment impaired. Moves following phoneys are rarely optimal.
It would be unfair to castigate Jackie for this particular phoney because we all have a different
set of words in our armoury and the number of words we are 100% rock solid on is consider
ably smaller than the number of words we actually play. A significant number of plays by top
players have a small element of doubt attached to them. Perhaps Jackie's phoney fell into this
category and she was unlucky. Or maybe she just panicked under pressure and took a flier.
Whatever, a phoney it was.
26
Ironically Jackie's best play was the simple word AIM at E3 for IK points
Andrew 3: AOSFMRZ +33
MOZ E3d 56 99
MOZ is best and Andrew plays it. As luck would have it Andrew's play occupies the spot that
Jackie's AIM would have taken.
Jackie 3: EIMAINS -83
MINE C9a 15 31
PAINIM at DS for 20 points is best and outperforms Jackie's move by 5.5 points of equity.
Arguably this is the only obscure optimal move that occurs in the whole game. The fact that
Andrew and Jackie missed the optimal move about half the time shows how much more there is
to Scrabble than word-power alone.
Andrew 4: AFRSAIO +68
MAFIA C9d 28 119
AFRO at G2 for 23 points is best and is worth 5.5 points of equity more than Andrew's move
of MAFIA. Three of these points arise from score and two from rack leave and other factors.
AIS is slightly better than ORS but probably not 2.5 points better. Other influences must be atwork.
Jackie 4: AEISAGT -88
AGAMI B3a 16 47
FAG at Cl 1 for 14 points is best, 3.9 points of equity better than Jackie's move of AGAMI.
AGAMI scores two more points than FAG but FAG's rack leave of AEIST is dripping with
bonus potential and accounts for the 6 point superiority over AGAMI's leave of EST.
Andrew 5: OKSIMJIR +72
FRIG Clla 16 135
GRID at B7 for 24 points beats Andrew's FRIG by 5.2 points of equity. To put this into context
an S is worth 8 points. The difference in rack leave is immaterial. ORS versus DORS.
Jackie 5: ESTDVX? -88
TAXED B2d 34 81
TAXED is best and Jackie plays it. but within one point of equity come VIED at B12 for 23
points and XI at F2 for 25 points. LATEX at B2 for 54 points is 12 points of equity worse thanTAXED.
Andrew 6: DORSIiOY +54
HOODY A5d 6 135
Andrew plays a phoney, the OSPD word HOODY, but his punishment is not as great as that
which Jackie received earlier. There are three spots for 30+ point plays and Jackie cannot use
any of them. The best move for Andrew would have been HORSY at AS for 41 points.
27
Jackie 6: SV7LTTU -54
VAT D2d 16 97
VAT is best and Jackie plays it
Andrew 7: DHOORSY +38
HYDRO F2a 35 178
HORSY at AS for 41 points is still best and beats Andrew's play of HYDRO by 3.4 points of
equity.
Jackie 7: LSTU7IU -73
Ch LUU 6 97
The best move is SULU at K2 for 21 points. Nobody spotted this in the audience. The bonus
play of NAUTILUS at B13 for 59 points is 4.3 points of equity worse than SULU while
Jackie's play of -LUU is 8.5 points worse than SULU. This shows that Jackie's play was only
4.2 points inferior to the bonus play, a far smaller differential than most of the audience would
have imagined, I suspect, including myself.
Ed: Although I'm witling to accept that SULU might, on average, produce a betterfinal result
than nAUTILUS, I feel that the bonus must be the best play given the 73 point deficit. What
Jackie needs is a bonus now and a good pick-up to follow.
Andrew 8: OSAIOQK +73
QI Aid 35 265
Ql is best and Andrew plays it.
Jackie 8: IST7BEG -108
BIGgEST A5d 84 181
BIGgEST is best and Jackie plays it.
Andrew 9: AOOKSEU +24
0U Hla 17 222
OU is best and Andrew plays it. ODOUR at H8 for 21 points is a close second.
Jackie 9: DEEEERU -41
URE B8d 19 266
DEERE at 13 for 24 points is best, being two equity points better than URE. I am surprised the
differential is not greater with a leave of three E"s.
Andrew 10: AEORSB? +22
AEROBeS H3a 78 366
iSOBARE at Kid for 79 poinls is best, beating Andrew's bonus of AEROBES by 6.1 points of
equity.
2K
Jackie 10: DEEECIL -100
CEE J4a 25 225
CEE is best and Jackie plays it.
Andrew 11: AAENRST +75
ANESTRA J9d 63 363
ANESTRA is best and Andrew plays it. The only other bonus is SERENATA.
Jackie II: DEILFOT -138
FOLIATED F15a 89 314
FOLIATED is best and Jackie plays it.
Andrew 12: ALNOOPU +49
PULTOON G13a 26 389
PULTOON is best and Andrew plays it.
Jackie 12: EEHIXNT -75
HELL L12a 28 342
The game is effectively now over and the remaining moves played out. All the remaining moves
were reasonable but sub-optimal. For the sake of interest the optimal moves are shown below.
Optimal move: NESTLE at HI2a for 27 points.
Andrew 13: ACDNRWY +47
CRAWL 08d 38 419
Optimal move: DECRY at 11 la for 34 points.
Jackie 13: ENTJ -77
JET Ilia 28 362
Optimal move: JEST at Nld for 22 points.
Andrew 14: DNY +57
BENDY L3d 11 430
Optimal move: WYND at I6d for 19 points.
Final score: Andrew 432 Jackie 360
Summary: Andrew and Jackie each made
six optimal moves and played one phoney
apiece. Andrew lost 25 points of equity in
his suboptimal non-phony moves and
Jackie lost 28 points in her equivalent
moves. This demonstrates remarkable simi
larity of quality of play. The difference
between the two in the end, 72 points, can
probably be accounted for by Andrew
going first and the greater consequences of
Jackie's phoney compared to that of
Andrew.
In fact 50% of optimal plays is jolly high.
I rarely achieve this and neither do most
top players. Barring the phoneys, the play
in this game was very high quality. Never
theless it does emphasise the scope for
improvement within everyone's game
without having to expand one's vocabulary.
It's your move
This will be the last "It's your move". Although people are occasionally sending in positions for
analysis, unfortunately no-one seems prepared to make the effort to analyze them! However I
have included some Maven analysis of the positions from the last two newsletters. My thanks toDavid Webb.
In this position, it's Brian Sugar to play,
with the rack EUNOQV. Brian leads
264-231. His opponent, Philip Nelkon, has
just played PAM at GSa, using only the P.
The remaining tiles are:
AAAEEEIIHHOOU
BBCDDGGHLNRTTTVYZ.'?
Suggested moves included JIVE at A7a
(Allan Simmons and David Acton). NEVI
at CISa (Phil Appleby) and ROJI at K2a
(Donald McLeod). These moves, plus JOE
at F6d. JIAO at J6d, and QUINA at E7d.
were fed into Maven's simulator, which
goes through a series of 'real-life' sce
narios and works out the possible out
comes. Results are shown below.
3(1
BEST
GOOD
ALSO
ALSO
ALSO
ALSO
ROJI
NEV1
JIAO
JOE
QUINA
JIVE
(«a)
(C14a)
(J6d)
(F6d)
(E7d)
(A7a)
22
11 - 0.15
27 - 2.97
26 - 3.70
14 - 9.77
20 -11.65
This demonsvates quite clearly the strength of the moves which set up a high-scoring Q play on
the next move.
This was last issue's position, taken from a
game in the South-West regional between
me and Andrew Perry. Andrew has just
played the single tile H, making HER at
B6a for 14. taking a 323-312 lead and
leaving four tiles in the bag. The unseen
tiles are:
EE7 CDGJNRTX
This time the following moves were simu
lated by Maven: HAW (17) and HAWED
(24) at B6d. ROED (37) at Old, and LAW
(26) at Ll4a. The advantages of HAW and
HAWED is that they block plays using
CHER. ROED is the highest-scoring move,
but empties the bag. LAW scores reason
ably well and leaves ROED at Ol for next
move. The simulation results are shown
below.
BEST LAM (L14a) 26
GOOD ROEO (Old) 37 - 0.78
ALSO HAW (B6d) 17 - 5.53
ALSO HAWED (B6d) 24 -11.26
It seems that the ideal solution is to keep ROED and leave a single tile in the bag. However
what Maven doesn't do is to consider Andrew's previous move. Perhaps the fact that he has
made such an obvious set-up play should be taken into account? This might result in HAW
being a better play than the simulation suggests.
— Top Tips for Scrabble Players
Avoiding eating crisps while playing Scrabble - it is all loo easy to mix up the two bags.
Crisps are invariably difficult to incorporate into words, and should you swallow a tile, valu
able minutes will be lost waiting for nature to "take its course" so that the tiles may be
retrieved, washed and returned to the bag.
Dr Zhivago, Omsk
A couple of end games
Two less complex endgames this issue, both solved over the table. See if you can see the correct
moves...
A B
This was a SOWPODS game, featuring
Mark Nyman. The racks were as follows,
and Mark was trailing by 447-413. It's
Mark's turn to play. The solution (see page
47) involves only OSW words.
Mark's rack:
Opponent :
IILQRST
AEIOU
Note: Can you see the phony that stayed
on the board?
The second game was played by Nick
Deller. Nick is trailing 345-398. What is
his best chance of winning? See page 47.
Nick's rack: BOINTT?
Unseen tiles: CEEIIRSTU
Word Play
All I want for Christmas is a consonant
Nick Deller gets into the Festive spirit...
Ho ho ho! Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells etc... oh, this is ridiculous. I'm sitting here in early
November trying to write my piece for the Christmas newsletter, and do you know, I don't feel
Christmassy at all. I don't! I've not even started my first giant chocolate bar of the festive
season yet. But I shall carry on regardless.
As I write, I've not picked up a Scrabble tile in anger since the last newsletter. I've been on the
sidelines, restricted to a pair of unrated friendlies against a chum at a kind of music festival in
October. OK, I confess. It was a Eurovision Fan Club convention. Nothing wrong with that. We
got to listen to songs whose titles read like refugees from a wordlist, like "Mana Mou" and
"Mooi". We also beat off allcomers to take the "Golden Anorak" award in the quiz.
Anyway, getting back to the Scrabble, 1 won one game easily - to my mild embarrassment, he
won one equally easily. Well, I had rotten tiles. He had all the goodies, I had all the vowels.
What can you do with a rackful of vowels? Nothing. Well, what if it's only nearly full? And
what sort of half-witted link into a wordlist is that anyway?
ABOULIA(S): This is either a lack of willpower or an inability to make decisions. I'll have to
leave you to decide which, since 1 can't
AECIDIA: Oh, heck. Looks like I'm going to need a dictionary just to understand the defi
nitions this month! This is the plural of AECIDIUM, which as you know is a cup-shaped
fructification in rust fungi. I'd go home, but I'm there anyway...
AENEOUS: Hmm, 1 thought this had cropped up before but it hasn't. It means that something
has a shining bronze colour.
AEOLIAN: This has cropped up before! But I don't really want to get onto windy things this
month if I can avoid it
AEONIAN: Eternal. Lasting forever. Like my aeonian prose probably seems to be, one way oranother.
AIERIES: Another familiar one - eagles' nests.
ALIENEE(S): This is a well known word, at least to me. When I was adjudicating at the 1996
NSC, I swear this came up on half-a-dozen different challenge slips. It's a legal term, being the
person to whom property is transferred. We're all alienees, apparently, and never realised it!
AMOEBAE: How do you know when an amoeba's been in your fridge? Nucleus prints in the
butter! Ah, it wasn't funny at the time and I'll be damned if it isn't just as unfunny today! It's a
single-celled creature that keeps changing shape. AMOEBAS is an alternative plural.
ANAEMIA(S): Bloodlessness, or more generally a disorder of the blood when you've not got
enough little red cells.
33
AQUARIA(N): Fishtanks. I sometimes think that we ought to rationalise some of these plural
forms, 'cause I can never remember what's what How about splitting the difference and making
it aquariumsa?
AQUEOUS: To do with water, or dissolved in water. I'm getting a definite feeling of deja vu
about this list - I've not done it before, have I?...
AREOLAE: I'd remember this and I don't. An AREOLA is one of various little sunken spots
or similar things located in various places around the body.
(L)AUREATE: Golden, gilded, shiny, lovely. Like me, essentially, except for being golden,
gilded, shiny and lovely.
AURELIA(NS): A golden jellyfish. Not a pair of words 1 was expecting to use in the same
sentence. OK, a gold-coloured jellyfish then, to avoid giving ideas to budding Gerald Ratners.
AUREOLA(S): Oh, now that IS nice. A crown, or halo, or any of a range of things in a similar
vein. Nice and Christmassy. I like that.
AUREOLE(DS): Like an AUREOLA. A lot like an AUREOLA. In fact, it IS an AUREOLA.
AURORAE: Variant plural of AURORA, which is a sort of natural light show - you probably
know the Aurora Borealis as the technical name for the Northern Lights (and I'm not talking
about the Blackpool Illuminations here either!)
AUTOCUE(S): Device with immense untapped potential for utilisation by sadistic production
teams in order to humiliate witless TV presenters.
CAMAIEU(X): Most easily remembered as a cameo, but it can also apparently be a literary
work that is monotonous or lacks interest. I shall say no more for fear of incriminating myself.
DOULEIA(S): I've done this before as well! You must remember, the inferior veneration of
saints and angels. Seems I was a tad unfair, since it's inferior only to the Virgin Mary's
HYPERDULIA and God's LATRIA.
EPUISEE: From the French, meaning worn out I'm not sure whether this is in the anorak sense
or the pooped sense. Either way, since the coat fits, I may as well wear it...
EQUINIA(S): Glanders. Pardon? Glanders. I see, and what exactly is glanders? A fatal diseaseof the horse and ass. For the benefit of our US readers who may be confused, this is an English
ass and not an American ass. Umm - it's not going well this month, is it...
ETAERIO(S): Blah blah achenes blah blah drupels blah blah been there, done that, drunk the
juice.
EUCAINE(S): The star of a series of 60s action movies promoting the benefits of European
integration. And a substitute for cocaine. Well, maybe just the cocaine one.
EUGENIA(S): A clove. Any of several cloves actually, and I think a group name at a recent
Nomads.
EULOC5IA: An odd plural of EULOGY, which is a fitting tribute of course.
34
EUOUAES: I didn't know this. A EUOUAE is a Gregorian cadence, obtained from "st'culorum
Amen" in the doxology "Gloria Patri". I've a feeling I was at school with a Gloria Patri, I
wonder if it's the same one?
EUTEXIA(S): The property of being easily meltable. Like chocolate. Mmm, Two Tonne
Toblerones...
EVACUEE(S): Somebody who's removed from a place of danger.
EXUVIAE: Those implausible words included in dictionaries at the behest of players of word
games in order to upset non-players of word games. Bluff! Good word though, it's like fossil
remains and that kind of thing, but doesn't have a singular form. No, it is... honest...
IPOMOEA(S): An exuvia. Not really. It's a morning glory plant.
MOINEAU(S): A small flat bastion. Not to be confused with myself, a tall fat (CENSORED)
NOUVEAU: New.
OLEARIA(S): An Australasian evergreen shrub with daisies, named after the former Arsenal
and Eire defender David O'Leary. I'm not 100% certain that the derivation's accurate, but it
sounds right.
OOGONIA(L): Female reproductive organs. Of seaweed. This isn't really naughty picture mate
rial, in my opinion.
OUABAIN(S): A poisonous alkaloid obtained from apocynaceous seeds and wood. Apparently
aponcynaceous plants are closely related to the asclepiads, which fact should serve to clarify the
definition.
OUAKARI(S): A short-tailed, long-haired South American monkey. I won't mention Diego
Maradona if no-one else does...
QUEENIE(RS): A Solway scallop. Which is of course... umm... I haven't the faintest idea what
it is!
RAOULIA(S): Yet another plant This one's a large, white caespitose cushion plant. Umm,
caespitose means 'tufty' apparently. Why didn't they just say so?
ROULEAU(SX): A coil of ribbon or a pile of coins or any other cylindrical pile.
SAOUARI(S): An American tree with good timber and edible butternuts. I was at the
greengrocer's a few days ago and asked if he had butternuts. "No," he replied, "I always walk
like this". Naturally, I'm never going to speak to him again.
SEQUOIA(S): Another American tree, with ideas above Us station. Typically about 100 metresabove its station. Blooming show-off, I don't know...
TAENIAE: Tapeworms! Again...
URAEMIA(S): Didn't need to look this one up. My day job is working in the computer depart
ment at a charity raising funds to combat various kidney-related diseases - URAEMIA is one of
them.
35
ZOOECIA: The body walls or enclosing chambers of polyzoan individuals. Which are various
aquatic animals.
I'm off now to eat several tonnes of Cheese Footballs. I'll be back next year, but remember -
making carol singers perform "Ding Dong Merrily On High" is one of the few forms of child
cruelty that remains socially acceptable, so do feel free to go for it! Yerrm Stirmhacs and a Yerv
Phypa Wen Ayre!
The history of Scrabble dictionaries
There are several contributions in this newsletter relating to future word sources for Scrabble in
the UK. So perhaps it's a good time to think about how things were in the past. Danyl Francis
takes a nostalgic trip into dictionary corner...
The first UK National Scrabble Championship was held in 1971. When the entry forms inviting
people to participate were sent out, they stated that the dictionary of authority would be the
Merriam Webster New Collegiate Dictionary This provoked a hostile response! "Why are you
using an American dictionary??"; "What's wrong with a proper British dictionary?", etc. As a
result the rules were changed to adopt the Shorter Oxford as the dictionary of authority -
between the initial entry forms going out and the actual NSC Final itself. So, the 1971 NSC
final was eventually played using the Shorter Oxford Dictionary (SOD) as the authority, and this
continued in subsequent years, up to 1980.
Meanwhile, in its very early days, the London Scrabble League (plus the few other Scrabble
clubs which existed) used Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary. This meant that the London
Scrabble League used two dictionaries of authority - SOD and Chambers - at the same time.
(Shades of a SOWPODS debate!). If you check out Mike Goldman's book" Play Better
Scrabble", you'll find that it contains both SOD and Chambers words!
All this messing around with dictionaries was - by-and-large - accepted by Scrabblers. There
was no APSP, no Onwords, no organised voice for Scrabble. Players generally accepted these
dictionary shenanigans, but with various sotto voce mumblings!
Even when Chambers became the dictionary of authority for the NSC, there was still no OSW.
There was plenty of scope for arguing whether a particular noun had a plural form, what the
plural form was, whether an adjective could have a comparative or superlative, plurals of
interjections, plurals of letter-names (yes!), etc etc. I wrote a definitive word rules guide for the
London League, which went through 2 or 3 editions. The complexity of these rules was proof
that an OSW-type authority was needed, leaving no scope for individual adjudicator interpreta
tion.
The issue regarding the transition to SOWPODS seems relatively trivial compared with some of
the difficulties of 25 years ago!
Eeee - we were reel backward! No OSW, no OSL, no TSP, no matchplay, no uk-scrabblc, no
computers (lists of words had to be typed or handwritten!), no Psions or Mavens, no newsletters,
no weekend events, no inter-club activity. It's amazing anyone even played the game!
Puzzles and Teasers
The Nunn Challenge
Here's the latest of David Nunn's word puzzles... As always, each number represents a letter
of the alphabet All you have to do is to fill in the blanks. The clues this issue: D = 16,1 = 19.
Solution from last Issue
A
14
N
12
B
8
0
4
C
7
P
5
D
1
Q
24
E
3
R
23
F
15
S
6
G
16
T
22
H
17
U
13
I
2
V
21
J
9
W
19
K
10
X
20
L
11
Y
26
M
18
Z
25
Solution to Incremental Hooks puzzle
Well, I'm afraid no-one claimed the prize bottle of wine which was on offer for Ed Garrett-
Jones' devious word puzzle. Here is the solution. (The grid appeared in the August edition).
Across: 1. cleansers, 7. cred, 12. nap, 13. oblate, 14. women 15. ah, 17. alee, 18. relapsers,
20. sinky, 21. trin, 22. eh, 23. bovines, 26. isatines, 31. so, 32. eh, 33. an, 34. sol, 35. mi, 37.
massas, 40. tassels, 45. fee, 46. am, 47. astride, 49. prelatcss, 50. los, 51. ae, 52. he, S3. tensest,
55. heaste, 57. eath, 58. sty. 59. recloses.
Down: 2. lomenta, 3. annoy, 4. na, 5. sparthes, 6. solanos, 7. classisms, 8. rale, 9. eterne, 10.dees, II. washiest, 16. her, 19. lib, 22. en, 24. no, 25. swishest, 27. sh, 29. in, 30. sol, 35. ma,
36. blather, 38. astones, 39. smilets, 41. afreet, 42. see, 43. smee, 44. pastel, 48. dosh, 49. pahs,54. sae, 56. ay.
Scrabble Soapbox: Widening the Dictionary Debate
Following Terry Hollingtoris article last issue, two APSP members have responded with some
alternative viewpoints. See also "A Committee response to last issue's Scrabble Soapbox" on
page 2. First. Noel Turner looks at the subject of the words themselves...
I recently managed to engineer a general chat - called a "thread" in Webspeak - on my
Company Wide Web, on the subject of Scrabble. I successfully drew people in by telling them
one or two funny stories about the politically correct OSPD. Soon I found that there were one or
two genuine enthusiasts responding, so I was able to broaden the discussion.
One of these complained that, though he liked playing words "like QAT and EUOUAE", his
wife and all her family prefened only to use ordinary everyday words. I pointed out to him that
this must lead to terrible arguments, as one person's everyday word was often another person's
silly word, and he agreed whole-heartedly, and with obvious delight in finding someone who
understood how he felt!
This goes to the root of why the OSW was produced in the first place. It was to provide a
proper agreed reference for Scrabble words, and suppress the need for argumenL I acknowledge
that it contains a few contentious words, such as the widely-maligned PH, but generally, we all
know where we stand, and everyone feels all the better for it.
Terry Hollington, when he launched his invective against SOWPODS during the AGM, turned
some of his Tire on OSW itself, pointing out that people from outside Scrabble see the words we
play as cheating, "And they're right!" he declaimed. I believe Terry is wrong - they are not
right The full Oxford English Dictionary, - the prize on "Countdown" - contains a million or
so words. The Concise version, and Chambers, similarly, contain less than 200,000 words. This
is still between five and ten times the normal vocabulary of any typical member of the popu
lation. Most of what is in the dictionary is a foreign language to most of us. Does that mean it is
not English? No it does not. We are lumbered with the most eclectic language in the World.
But that is a fact of life, not a reason for despair.
If we are to play Scrabble with this language of ours, then, we have to draw a line in the sand
somewhere. We have drawn it at the contents of the Chambers English Dictionary. We COULD
have drawn it at the contents of the Oxford Concise. The choice was relatively arbitrary. The
difference, as most "Countdown" entrants know, is about 30%, or the order of 50,000 words.
But what of it? Only a very few players in the country profess to know the whole of the OSW.
The rest of us pick and choose with more or less regard for a word's usefulness. To most of us
there are 50,000 or so words in the book which we would never miss if they were suddenly
declared void, because the source was changed. We have still to conquer the other 50,000 or so
obscure words which are common to both. We would only notice if there were changes to the
2's. or 3's, or the high-scoring 4's and maybe 5's. And a few bonuses, too.
When we first adopted the OSW there were significant changes. I seem to remember that the
Greek letters suddenly found their way into our lists of 2's and 3's, to cite just one key change.
But people did not give up on Scrabble. Rather, it is healthier today than it ever was. If we
graduate to a reference that includes those words which are currently exclusive to the OSPD, the
38
changes we will see will be no more significant to the majority of us. There are about ten new
2-letter words, and 100 or so new 3-letter words. There will be a few new useful words with J,
Q. X, and Z in them, and a handful of really useful new bonuses. For most of us, that would be
it. For the players who reckon they know the OSW inside-out - well, they are just the same
players who are most interested in embracing SOWPODS - it's their problem, and one they'll be
happy to have. OSW was a major step forward in giving credibility to Scrabble. SOWPODS is
the next logical step. It broadens the base on which the game is founded. The Americans will
accept it, because not doing so would be to cede an advantage to the rest of the World.
David Webb, a UK competitor in the recent World Championship, considers the possibilities for
a measured move to SOWPODS...
The debate as to whether OSW should be replaced by SOWPODS (i.e. OSW plus OSPD) has
been conducted for some time now. This article is not intended to contribute to this debate by
advocating either side's position. Rather its intention is to draw attention to a number of events
relating to SOWPODS that have occurred over the last few months, to comment on their conse
quences and to make recommendations based on these consequences.
The events that have occurred are:
• The APSP deciding that SOWPODS games from 1 January 1998 can be rated and will con
tribute towards the existing rating system.
• The APSP deciding that certain events held in people's homes can be rated.
* The publication of Redwood, a single volume authoritative list of acceptable SOWPODS
words, i.e. a SOWPODS equivalent of OSW.
• The Middlesex League converting to SOWPODS, involving its sixteen members in
SOWPODS games every month.
* The growing demand for SOWPODS tournaments from World Championship represen
tatives. Every two years a new batch of players are exposed to SOWPODS and most, if not
all. express a preference for SOWPODS over OSW.
* The growing number of international SOWPODS tournaments open to all players regardless
of ability. These include the biggest money tournament in the UK, the Mind Sports
Olympiad, which looks set to be an annual event, and overseas tournaments such as Bahrain
and the Philippines scheduled for 1998. A number of non World Championship represen
tatives have expressed an interest in these tournaments.
The impact of the above is that SOWPODS is no longer an academic debate in which every
thing will continue as before until a decision is eventually made by the APSP membership to
switch to SOWPODS or to stick with OSW. 1998 will be different from 1997 without any
major new decisions being made.
Of the above bulleted points the first three are likely to have the biggest impact Rated
SOWPODS events in people's homes will be happening in 1998 for the first time. This is a
good thing in that it satisfies a demand for rated SOWPODS games that hasn't been met before.
It is a bad thing in that the events will of necessity be invitation only, they will not be acces
sible to people in remote locations, and they could lead to a small group of top players playing
each other regularly and bolstering each other's ratings at artificially high levels. The partic
ipants will also miss out on the social contact occasioned by regular tournaments.
Despite I he preponderance of negative factors cited above the demand for SOWPODS games is
sufficiently strong for these home events to be a success and for a chunk of top players to
39
disappear from the regular tournament scene. I don't think that this is in the best interests of the
UK Scrabble movement.
I would like to reiterate that 1 am not advocating a wholesale switch to SOWPODS. At the
moment the majority of the APSP membership prefers OSW and their wishes should be
respected. The matter of the moment is how to accommodate the legitimate desire of a minority
of players for SOWPODS games.
I believe the best way forward is for tournament directors to run a SOWPODS division at any
major tournament if six or more players would like one to be run. Pairings exist for any number
of players and any number of rounds so the exact number of SOWPODS competitors should
not be a problem. In addition the existence of Redwood should prevent dual adjudication being
too heavy a burden.
The obvious candidates for a SOWPODS division are Exeter, Nottingham Nomads (August), the
BMSC and the Masters. Indeed there is a strong argument for the Masters being solely
SOWPODS and Mark will be canvassing opinion in January.
While the provision of an additional division with separate pairings and adjudication may appear
to be onerous for the sake of half a dozen to a dozen players I believe the alternative scenario of
a number of players excluding themselves from the UK tournament scene is less desirable.
Until the SOWPODS debate is resolved it is surely in both camps' best interests to peacefully
coexist. No decision to switch to SOWPODS needs to be taken immediately. The experience of
two years of domestic SOWPODS tournaments in 1998 and 1999 and the pattern of demand for
these tournaments should enable an informed decision to be taken in mid to late 1999 regarding
a sole reference for the year 2000 and beyond. This date would also correspond with the intro
duction of OSW4 and so would appear to be a natural time to make a decision.
In conclusion I would say that the Rubicon has been crossed and if wisdom and tolerance
prevail the UK Scrabble scene will undergo a period of change and development that will satisfy
most players and also strengthen our performance on the world stage.
— Chambers Press Release
Just as the Newsletter was going to press, the following Press Release was issued by Cham
bers Harrap:
"Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd obtained an interim injunction in the Australian Federal
Court in Sydney, Australia on 28th November 1997 which orders Hinkler Book Distributors
Pty Ltd of Melbourne, Australia to halt the planned publication and distribution of a book
containing a list of Scrabble words. This title is alleged to infringe Chambers copyright.
The Chambers Dictionary is regarded as the ultimate arbiter for the validity of words in the
game of Scrabble for players using UK English. Chambers Official Scrabble Words contains
a convenient list of these word for use by keen players and in club and national Scrabble
competitions. T United States Scrabble community uses a different list based on American
dictionaries."
The bottom line, following this Press Release, is that the Redwood book mentioned by David
Webb will no longer Ik available. We await further developments...
4(1
Some Fun for the Festive Season
The right track
An enlightening tale by Arnold Cleelish...
1 had a rather strange encounter earlier this year. I was aboard a train, passing the time by
playing solo Scrabble, when I suddenly became aware that there were some rather attractive
young women keenly observing my game. Being highly adept at taking advantage of such situ
ations, I knew exactly what to say. It was something of a surprise therefore that what left my
mouth was the word "splurble".
"Splurble?" replied one of them with a gleam in her eye, "That's not a word!"
I happened to notice that she was wearing a tracksuit, and enquired as to whether she was the
sporty type. She laughed "Yes, but I'm not quite game for anything!" There was obviously a
spark of something there, so I showed her my rack and asked if she could see any way that I
could slot it in.
Suddenly, spoiling the mood somewhat, another of the group butted in. She was bespectacled,
with long frizzy hair; very attractive, if a little frightening. I had half an idea that 1 recognised
her from somewhere, but couldn't put my finger on where from. She placed her face very close
to mine, then immediately withdrew it waving her hand across her nose. It seemed to be some
kind of greeting, which I returned.
When I regained consciousness a couple of minutes later, I looked up and saw her peering down
at me from what seemed to be a safe distance. "Now look, fatso," she said; I looked around and
seeing no-one else nearby assumed that her lenses must be too strong and that she was talking to
me; "Yes, you, fatty. The only fun and games we're planning with you are Scrabble-related.
We're all experts, we're going to tell you how we like to play it, and one of us is going to lie.
Tell us which it is, and we might - just might - let you have a rummage in our tile bags. Now, 1
personally like to play it quite SCARILY."
"You don't say?", I replied through a couple less gritted teeth than I had had five minutes
earlier. "And what about your mate there? 1 suppose she plays SPORTILY, does she?"
"Yes, she does." This was a voice I'd not heard before, and coming from a vibrant redhead. No
hair, just a red head. I picked myself up GINGERLY, and she continued "You know, you did
thai just the way I play Scrabble. Well, you have to with this mob. Come on, Vic, say
something".
I followed the direction of her gaze, and saw - frankly - a snob. An attractive snob, but nonethe
less a snob. "Ger, you know that I don't speak to anyone less sophisticated than Premier League
footballers."
I considered remarking that it must be difficult to even find anyone less sophisticated than
Premier League footballers, but I was still quite sore and thought better of it "Alright, alright,"
she concluded, "I play POSHLY. Happy now?"
There was only one person left, a pleasing blonde with pigtails on either .side of her head. We
all looked at her, and she giggled, "I play babily!" We all continued to look at her, and the
scary one broke the silence. "Look, we know he's just a dumb bloke, but nobody could be that
dumb. Get a grip, Em."
41
Em (Em? I know these people, I'm sure I do!) looked suitably chastened and said "Well, I do
play SPICILY, same as we all do".
I'm happy to relate that I immediately knew who was telling me porkies, and told them as
much. All five seemed quite impressed, and I went on to spend a most enjoyable afternoon's
Scrabbling with some wonderful pick-ups.
The answer to the problem is SCARILY - SPORT1LY, GINGERLY, POSHLY and SPICILY
are all allowed, SCARILY isn't.
— Festive Tips for Scrabble Players
Instead of inserting a S pence piece into this year's Christinas pudding, carefully insert a
Scrabble tile instead. The lucky recipient will then have the honour of the first game of the
evening, and will be guaranteed a great talking point with which to bore people rigid for
every Christmas to follow.
Mr. I.B.Crackers, Bilgeworthy
Photocopy several pages from the OSW and make Christmas hats out of them. They will
look great to wear at Christmas dinner and will help you to practice your words rather than
have to speak to dreadful relatives.
Chris Mazturki, Norfolk Enchants
A Christmas event at the APSP
Lewis Eden-Trotter writes for the newsletter...
Christmas was fast approaching, and the day centre for dysfunctional ex-MPs (also known as the
Alternative Palace for Sometime Parliamentarians, or "APSP") was holding one of its regular
Scrabble events. A mince pie and a glass of mulled wine had been included in the £5 entry fee,
so the atmosphere amongst most of the players was highly convivial.
But not at the top table. The atmosphere was rarely convivial when Sir William Haughty, ex
Prime Minister, was present. Virtually everyone in the room had crossed swords with Sir
William in The House, and most had left with their pride, and in many cases their parliamentary
ambitions, punctured. Sir William was not a man to be meddled with. Since leaving the
Commons Sir William had turned his formidable powers to the pursuit of excellence over the
Scrabble board, with considerable success. It was widely acknowledged that he was the finest
player in the APSP, and it was no surprise that he was leading the event going into the final
game.
His opponent was a former junior Minister, Peregrine Milksop. Peregrine was a rather nervous,
diffident sort of chap who had failed to fulfill his political ambitions, even though he was
known to be highly intelligent - relative to other MPs of course, rather than the public at large.
He had served under Sir William, but had been forced to resign over the infamous 'Toasted
Teacakes' affair. Many felt that he had been a scapegoat, and that the blame lay at a much
42
higher level. So Peregrine was keen to put one over Sir William; on the Scrabble board at least,
everyone starts on an equal footing. Although his spread was poor, both he and Sir William
were level on four wins, so whoever won their game would be the champion.
Unfortunately for Milksop, things hadn't gone as planned. Although he'd had his moments, he
found himself trailing by well over 100 points with just seven tiles left in the bag. What was
worse, he was sitting with a rackful of consonants, and was down to the last 30 seconds on Sir
William's digital clock. (This was a custom-built clock known as a Ben Timer, when your time
ran out, it would ring the chimes of Big Ben, much to the annoyance of those at nearby tables.)
This was the situation that faced Peregrine:
Peregrine : GLNRSTY
Unseen tiles : AAEINNOOOQRSTV
Score: Peregrine 317
Sir William 442
Suddenly he spotted a move which just
might give him an inkling of a chance!
STRONGLY, through the O of
ORDINATE. He threw down his tiles, and
counted the score: "13 plus SO bonus
equals 63". He hit the clock and only then
realised, to his horror, that he'd placed the
L and the Y the wrong way round.
Peregrine's shriek of anguish alerted those on the next table to his gaffe. Instinctively, he
reached over towards the misplaced tiles, but a hugely authoritative female voice on his left
immediately announced: "Rule 4.6.2 - no change to the play may be made after the turn is
ended. You pressed the clock therefore you can't change the play." Winifred Waitrose, former
Speaker, was not a great Scrabble player, but she knew the rule book inside out.
It was Sir William who spoke next. Surprisingly, his tone was gentle, even conciliatory. "My
dear Perry, I would hate to take advantage of your minor indiscretion. Please, feel free to play
the move you intended to play." But Winifred was one of the few people who had no fear. "The
move was played, and the move must stand" she announced, and there was no doubting the
finality of the verdict.
At this point Winifred's opponent Harvey Wordsworth, a corpulent former Minister of Culture,
leaned over. "Ah, STRONGYL. It's a type of parasitic threadworm. I had an infestation of
strongyl when I was Governor of Hong Kong. Most unpleasant". Harvey seemed to know the
meaning of every word in the dictionary, and had personal experience of most, yet when faced
with the letters on his rack he would fail to see the simplest of anagrams.
Mushing furiously, Peregrine replenished his rack: EINOOST. Sir William was now faced withthe following situation:
Sir William
Peregrine
AANOQRV
EINOOST
Score: Peregrine 389
Sir William 442
Having tracked accurately. Sir William had
realised instantly that Peregrine had a
bonus at A2a (SNOOTIER). His play of
STRONGYL set up a second spot, for
LOONIEST at Lid. What made things
even worse, it prevented Sir William
getting rid of his Q with YAQONA, which
would have been playable off
STRONGLY.
The best he could come up with was ARVO at 07d for 30. The fact that this set up a third
bonus play (1SOTONE at Nld or N2d) was academic. With a grunt of disgust, he slapped downthe tiles.
Peregrine duly played his highest-scoring bonus, SNOOTIER for 78, and ran out the winner by
470 to 460. His reward was a Christmas Hamper containing, amongst other things, an edible
copy of Hansard signed by both John Major and Tony Blair, and a packet of boiled sweets in
red, blue, and orange.
In the bar afterwards. Milksop had recovered his composure and, as MPs are apt to do, was
reinterpreting the events of earlier in the day. "Of course I realised that my best chance was to
create a second bonus spot, so I chose to sacrifice 3 points so as to leave the L, a more flexible
tile, available for an eight-letter word. Happily, I was rewarded for my foresight." Sir William
downed his triple Glenfiddich and stormed out. It was bad enough losing, but losing to an inef
fectual junior Minister and then hearing him boasting about it was just too much. He made a
mental note to phone his friends at "Who's Who", requesting that Milksop be removed from its
pages.
In the corridor outside, he was approached by Nigel Westlake, his former Chancellor of the
Exchequer. "Merry Christmas, Sir William!" was the cheery greeting. "Bah, Humbug!" thought
the great man. but forced a smile. "Will you be playing in the New Year Knockout
competition'.'", Nigel continued. "Of course!", was the brusque reply.
The thing about Scrabble, as we all know, is that even when it kicks you in the teeth, you
always come back for more. Especially when you can't wait to get back at the person who
kicked you...
44
Readers' Letters
i— Note
Any opinions expressed by APSP com
mittee members in the letters column are
just that - personal opinions, rather than
committee policy.
Chris Flnlay: I would like to take this
opportunity to say how much I enjoyed the
Isle of Wight tournament. It was in a new
venue with excellent playing facilities. When
you change venues no-one can be sure how it
will go, so a big thankyou to all Islanders for
a great time.
There was just one problem, which is all too
familiar at tournaments, namely players who
leave before the prize-giving. We in
Southampton request that, if possible, players
could stay until the prize-giving has taken
place. It's quite dejecting to be presented
with a prize when the hall is half empty, a
situation which was quite noticeable at the
Isle of Wight event. While I understand that
people might have had ferries to catch, I
noticed some winners in the lower divisions
collect their prizes, gather their belongings,
and walk virtually the length of the room out
of the hotel. I bet if they had won the top
prize they would have waited. So 1 say to
these players, at the very least locate yourself
near an exit where maybe you can slip out
unnoticed.
Ed: I agree with Chris. Unless you're going
to miss a plane, train, orferry, please do have
consideration for those being presented with
prizes - next time it might be you!
Pauline Johnson: Just a quick word of
thanks to all who came, played, worked,
directed, and enjoyed the inaugural
Middlesborough Open. Hopefully see you all
next year!
great deal of dissatisfaction in my enjoyment
of tournaments.
It is not an isolated incident as it has
occurred to me in each of my last four tour
naments! At move One, after due consider
ation of my tiles and choices, I play a word,
announce my score, hit the clock, and take
my riles. No sooner do I pick my last tile
from the bag than my opponent plays a word,
announces the score and hits the clock, at
which point I write both scores down, tick off
the tiles played by myself and my opponent,
and then look at my rack. Again I deliberate
over a difficult rack. I play a word, announce
my score, hit the clock, and take my tiles. No
sooner do I pick my last tile from the bag
than my opponent plays a word, announces
the score, hits the clock... and the same
sequence occurs again, and again, and again!
When 4X tiles have been played my flag is
about to drop, while my opponent's clock
shows only 5-10 minutes have elapsed! This
causes me to go at least 10+ minutes over
time and a subsequent penalty loss of 100+
points in such a game. If I had my
opponent's thinking time 1 would be less
rushed and could easily win.
Other than challenge every common word my
opponent plays, and being unsportsmanlike
myself, is there anything else I can do?
Ed: Do other players suffer in this way? Is
there anything you might advise, apartfrom
the inevitable "play faster"! My own experi
ence is that a quick opponent actually tends to
make me playfaster - / have to force myself to
slow down and think through the possibilities,
rather than rushing my moves. That said, if
you are playing someone who is rather slow,
you do tend to have your next move worked
out in advance, in which case you play it
immediately, resulting in the effect described
by the letter writer.
Name and address withheld: I would
appreciate comments from other players about
a certain area of gamesmanship which is not
actually illegal but which has caused me a
Martin Reed: With regard to the World
Championship, I am disappointed that we
didn't get anyone into the final, but am
extremely proud of all of our team. The
45
excitement of the first 2 days, when at one
point 1 think we had 6 players in the top 10,
was great. If only the Tile Gods had smiled
on Mark over the last 3 games then my
phone bill would have gone through the roof,
watching the final live on the internet
I don't know what everyone else thinks but I
am more convinced than ever that a switch to
SOWPODS is imperative and should happen
sooner rather than later. Would our team have
performed even better if they played
SOWPODS all the time? I would urge all
tournament organisers to offer SOWPODS
divisions next year and as many players as
possible to enter them. Now that approval for
the games to be rated has been given we
should hopefully have more takers.
Chris Wide: During the last National Club
Knockout Competition Truro requested a
halfway house at Exeter for their match
against Cirencestcr. I agreed to referee the
match, and would encourage others to referee
matches as I was able to learn words played
by both teams. Amongst the challenges were:
ZINEB, LITE, ARBA, HAIQUE, TYND,
EMCEE, EWEST. NEVES, CLIES.
HURLINGS, WILDERS, CRESTON,
MEOW, COININGS, and LUIT.
Lucy White: I appreciated very much the
basket of flowers and plants the APSP Com
mittee sent me on behalf of all my Scrabble
friends for my 90th birthday on October 1st.
My membership of my local club and the
APSP is one of the reasons I've reached this
age comparatively Tit.
The APSP must be a unique association with
its large membership and wide age range, all
competing on equal terms. I look forward to
attending many more organised events, and
warmly thank those who do the organising
and officiating when, no doubt, they would
rather be playing.
— Scrabble Club Insurance
It's that time of year again, and Harold Robinson has his annual reminder that it's better safe
than sorry...
I continue to be confounded by the high proportion of club officers and tournament
organisers who neglect to take up Public Liability insurance; bridge clubs, for example,
protect their members in this way to a wide or even universal extent.
If someone is injured (or property damaged) at a Scrabble venue, it can follow that a claim
by the injured party is made against the organising club; not a frequent occurrence, but when
it docs happen the financial consequences can be devastating.
Public liability insurance, subject to its terms and conditions, serves to protect clubs (that is.
their committees and members) in such cases. The policy mentioned below has a main
indemnity of £1 million for legal defence costs and awards of damages.
Cover can be sought from brokers and insurers, or via the Commercial Union policy held by
my club and shared with the APSP and. since 1994, with several other clubs. The cost for
the calendar year 1998 is £12.
Please send cheques, payable to "London Scrabble League", to Harold Robinson at 45
Jackson's Lane. London, N6 5SR (Tel: 0181-245 9748).
Answers to puzzles
Countdown finds
Martin Thomas spotted CRUBEENS. and Diana Beasley BERCEUSE.
NSC Challenges
Allowed: ARECA, FLOKATI, OURNEY, TEREK, CAUDAD, TUATH, WINNA. TUTTI,
TAROK, SUDARJES. OBEAH1SM. ICTIC. ZENANA, GLEDE, MEGADOSE, HUANACO.
KRENG, POLYPI. FICTOR. MESON, VIKINGS. DEAVE. UNFLEASH
Disallowed: BADDEST, MENUED, LORNER, TREPANED, SAILER, MOTIONER,
NOTIONED. MISLAIN, TEACHES. YAWNER, BUNKINGS. HEEDIEST. PUBE.
DIVESTOR. CAUFS
A couple of endgame puzzles
In the first game, Mark played LITRES ai 16a for 21. This set up QI for 37 at J5a, as well as QI
for 26 at F13a. The best reply for Mark's opponent is EAU at I5a, but Mark wins 461-459.
Note that if Mark had played QI at F13a first, ADIEU at LlOd would have been enough to win
the game for his opponent The phony was TYNDS.
In the second game, Nick realised that he needed a bonus to have a chance of winning. So he
played TOMB at N7d for 21, closing to within 32 points. His pickup of CU. leaving a final rack
of CDINTU?, provided a choice of bonuses with EDUCTIoN at A15a for 89, or INDUCTS or
UNCITeD at Fla.
Tournament Details
Note: This issue the one-day tournament details have been issued as a separate sheet This is
because the Newsletter already contains 48 pages; I'd need to go to 52 to include the event
details, and it's too late in the day to knock up an extra couple of pages!
Entry forms
Unless otherwise stated, the following notes apply to all events:
The cost of the event includes a ratings levy.
Deduct 50p from the cost of the event if you are bringing a chess clock.
Positions are determined based on wins and spread.
Smoking is not permitted within the playing area.
If you do not enter a division on your application form, you will be placed in the appropriate
division based on your rating.
Entrants con request to play in a higher division, although the tournament organiser reserves
the right to reject the request.
Tournament organisers reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone applying to enter the
event.
Send an SAE with your entry form for confirmation of entry and additional details such as
directions to the venue.
Phone the listed contact for more information.
47
Forthcoming Events
Note that I have added an extra column to this list The Iss column shows the issue of the
newsletter in which the entry form was included, or in which details of a one-day event were
published.
Date
Dec 13
1998
Jan 23-25
Jan 25
Feb 7-8
Feb 21
Mar 6-8
Mar 8
Mar 14
Mar 14
Mar 15
Mar 28-29
Mar 29
Apr 4
Apr 4
Apr 5
Apr 14-17
Apr 17-20
May 10
Jun 20-21
Oct9-ll
Nov3-6
Nov 6-8
Note: * = re
Tournament (No. of
games)
* Romford Round Robin (5)
* Chester Weekend (16)
* Hampshire Congress (7)
* Nomads Weekend (16)
* Leicester West End (5)
£ Langham Hotel, E'boume
* Swindon (5)
* Lothian (5)
* East Sussex (5)
* Newcastle DSS (5)
*APSP Durham (11)
* Southampton (5)
Romford High-Score (3)
Romford Duplicate (2 or 3)
* Romford Tournament (5)
£ Langham Hotel, E'bourne
£ Langham Hotel, E'bourne
* Gwent (5)
• Havering Weekend (12)
£ Langham Hotel, E'bourne
£ Langham Hotel, E'bourne
£ Langham Hotel, E'bourne
:eistered for ratine; # = invitation
Contact
Paul Golder
Kathy Rush
Terry Hollington
Clive Spate
Marjorie Smith
Steve Perry
Alan Sinclair
Stan Skinner
Martin Thompson
Pete Finley
Chris Finlay
Paul Golder
Paul Golder
Paul Golder
Terry Jones
Christina French
only: £ = commercial
Telephone
01277 633339
01928 733565
01705 791319
0115 920 0208
0116 255 1176
01323 731451
01367 244757
0131 699 7316
01323 832003
0191 285 3367
0191 565 4079
01703 558013
01277 633339
01277 633339
01277 633339
01323 731451
01323 731451
01633 852740
01708 701578
01323 731451
01323 731451
01323 731451
event;
Iss
55
56
56
57
57
57
57
57
57
57
57
57
57
57
Langham Hotel events
These have been well supported over the past year. In October 35 players (including many
APSP tournament regulars) enjoyed a highly successful Scrabble weekend with prizes, and
lots of unseasonal sunshine! A £10 discount is available on the first Scrabble weekend of
1998, if you book before January 1st
I— APSP Newsletter
The APSP Newsletter is published regularly six times a year, in February, April, June,
August, October and December. The deadline for the next issue is January 23rd, 1998.
Please send contributions to Phil Appleby, Thorns Cottage, Mount Pleasant Lane,
Lymington, Hampshire, SO41 8LS, or e-mail to [email protected] (note the
change!).
If you need to contact me urgently, my phone number is 01590-682971.
48
