YEAREND quiz

Actually the quiz is just about the word YEAREND. It has two anagrams, one you can find by squinting at the word, the other not.

While you're trying to figure it out, here are some YEAR extensions:

MIDYEAR(S)
MULTIYEAR (no S)
YESTERYEAR(S)

YEARBOOK(S)
YEARLONG (no S)

Reading is good for you

I just finished another paperback, The Book of Air and Shadows, by Michael Gruber. It was what one might consider a step above light reading since I think the author is a bit more intelligent than most of the crime/suspense novel writers out there. Anyways, my point is this- even when I read fluffy novels I tend to pick up new words. Here are a few I gleaned from this book:
CDEHIIV
ACEILLOP
AABDEGIN
AAKNOR
ACEIJNRR
EEILNPRV
AELMMSY
AEGMOXY
AAFGORR
AAEPPRT
as a bonus, which one doesn't take an S? (other than the past tense verb)

Things (re)learned at club last night

I should have gone 5-0, but ended up 3-2 due to the following errors:
1. Didn't challenge JOISTERS*
2. In the same game, when it came down to the endgame, I held both of the last U's and I's. Opponent has Q and Z on rack. He plays (FA)KIR down to the TWS row. I proceed to play NOI(R), WITH THE TRIPLE LETTER SCORE SPACE BETWEEN TWO I'S!!! I think I still had a chance to Z-stick him after that, but I was so mad at myself, I blew that too.
3. In another game, I saw a spot for my out play of GEE/ET, then proceeded to miss it on the very next turn (he blocked another spot which made me think it was the only one). My only defense on this one is that I was playing two games at once, hadn't tracked and was not 100% focused. But annoying nonetheless.
4. There is a good word in DOORMANS*.
That is all.

A note for feedburner subscribers...

Hey folks, I"m changing the feed address to http://feeds.feedburner.com/scrabblepodcast, I didn't realize that it still was called 'weeklyscrabblerblog' on there. Hope you migrate!

Today's Etymology Lesson

So I hail from a middle class CT family where birdwatching is a traditional activity I grew up with (which has helped me find words such as EIDER and AVOCET), so naturally I (and my parents) want my kids to follow in my footsteps. While looking in a bird book my son got for Christmas, I noticed the Latin name for certain wrens, of the genus Troglodyte. 'Troglodyte?', I thought, 'I thought that was an insult?' It is- troglodyte means 'cave-dweller', and usually it's used to insult someone, on the same level as calling them a 'frickin' Neanderthal', as one of my friends would put it. So how is a genus of birds called this, you ask? Well, courtesy of wikipedia, here you are:
Etymology: Ancient Greek τρωγλοδύτες "cave-dwellers", from trogle (τρώγλη) "hole" + dyein (δυειν) "to enter". In reference to the tendency of these wrens to enter small crevices as they search for food.


Oh, and also, TROG means 'hooligan', according to Zyzzyva. Interestingly, it's anagram is GROT, which is a grotto, or cave.

Episodes out!

December episode available for purchase, link is above.

November episode is now on iTunes for free.

Almost awesome.

My brother, cousin and I have an inside joke we use when we play disc golf and a shot goes nearly perfect- we say "that was almost awesome". Of course, often in disc golf, the difference between an awesome shot and an almost awesome one is the presence of a large tree.

Picture this: one of us launches a flying disc into the air, it soars in a perfect arc, heading directly towards the target... until CLUNK it slams in a large branch and drops straight to the earth. One of us dryly states, "that was almost awesome."  This reminds me a lot of scrabble.

How often do you have that near-perfect rack for a bingo, where you think to yourself 'if only that (insert letter here) was a (insert letter here), I'd be able to play (insert ultra-low probability word here)!' Now part of this, of course, is just the discipline of seeing possible plays, and is bound to happen. 

Along these lines, I thought I would take a play from club last night where I would have had such a play if my rack was one letter different. Except in the magical world of annotated games, I decided to actually give myself the correct rack. See if you can find the play here.

And while your at it, feel free to add your own almost awesome tales.

Double Blank Quiz

My opening rack is AEPPX??, and FIB is on the board.

Can you find the bingo? What if the opening play was FOB?