Tuesday, December 30, 2014

New Scrabble Word Alert: GIWWSYY

WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) 

Add this to the crazy list of acronyms that have become words. 

Thursday, December 25, 2014

New Q word: EEQSU

EQUES: a member of a privileged military class of Ancient Rome (pl. EQUITES)

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Bingo OTD: BEEIISTU


I don't know if I'll ever get to play this again, but studying this 8 letter 'vowel dump' however many times I did, in this moment, paid off. 




Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Friday, November 21, 2014

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

New word: EGGINORR

It's a least fun to run across a new word-

GORGERIN and ROGERING were in the last word list, but new to this one is 

REORGING (and of course, ORG) 

Monday, November 17, 2014

Some new K words

The poor K tile is not classified as a 'power tile' but is still a good one to know words for! Here are the new 4 letter K words added to the TWL14: 



KAPUa Hawaiian set of rules for daily life [n -S]
KETAa type of salmon [n -S]
KRAIan administrative district in Russia [n -S] : KRAY(s)
KRAYkrai [n -S]






Sunday, November 2, 2014

Bingo OTD: EEHIRRTX

Played by Jeremy Hildebrand this weekend in a high-scoring game, you can see the play (and the rest of the game of you'd like) here: 

http://cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=19714#11

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Things I learned at club this week

I1. IAMBI is a great word.
2. ADEEKIM makes a word with an R.
3. AGOS* isn't good (luckily I got away with it)
4. BAIRD* also isn't good (argh)
5. DANCINGS* isn't good either (double argh)
6. When someone plays a word near the end of the game that puts them ahead 80 points (see above), you should probably challenge it if you're unsure if it's a phony.
7. Don't add insult to injury by giving them a spot to play a third bingo against you on the last play.


Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Fill in the blank quiz: EEILRTU?

RETICULE... Was pretty happy I was able to find this at club last night despite my many other terrible mistakes and eventual loss. 

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Things I leaned at scrabble club this week

1. MIT* still isn't a valid 3. Argh. 
2. SARCOID takes an S. Aargh. 
3. DERRICK is a word. (Didn't know it) 
4. ENVISAGE is good. (As a bright spot, a guess for a bingo outplay. Still lost though)

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The newest 7 letter scrabble word: BEILNTS

NIBLETS (and NIBLET) were just announced as the two words of 8 letters or less (i.e. most likely to be played) that were incorrectly omitted from the new tournament word list. There was also a list of 24 words under 8 letters that should be deleted. 

Found word OTD: AABMNRTU


RAMBUTAN the edible fruit of the Malayan tree. (Gotta love Asian food markets!)

Monday, October 20, 2014

Sneaky second quiz: TEXTURE

It's a new one! URTEXTE+. Previously only URTEXT(S) was playable. 

Refers to the original text, as of a musical score or a literary work.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

PERV now has three hooks instead of one!

Haha ok I know this post sounds a little odd, but I just tried to play PERVY+ in a Facebook game that didn't have the new dictionary yet and wasn't able to. So naturally I thought 'I wonder if it's in the new word list?' Yep, it is. So is PERVO+

Thursday, October 16, 2014

OOF and YOOF: two fun new scrabble words

OOF- interjection used to express discomfort 
YOOF- youth (ok, that's just odd) 

Also of note: FOO- a name for temporary computer variables or files 


Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Missed bingo OTD: DEILOPU


EUPLOID: a cell having three or more identical genomes 

Of note, this word takes an S or a Y back hook! 

Saturday, October 11, 2014

ABCN: another newly added scrabble word

BANC the bench on which the judges of a court sit. 

This is one of those words I used to always wish I could play, for some reason. Now I can! Takes an S or an O. 

Friday, October 10, 2014

Missed bingo OTD: BELMNOS

NOMBLES variant spelling of numbles; deer entrails 


Ever line up letters on your rack and say 'hm, that looks like it could be a word' but not play it? Yep, that happened here. 

Monday, October 6, 2014

Thing I learned at scrabble club this week


1. GRIDE is a word. 
2. CEEILRT + E has an anagram. 
3. If you're playing on a closed board and you're ahead- keep it closed. 

Missed bingo OTD: AAEGLOVS


Darn it! I won't see that opportunity again for another 20 years. 

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Found Word OTD: AEELQSTUZ


Ok I know a nine letter word isn't so useful, but wouldn't it be a cool front extension to ALES? I'd known QUETZALS, but not this version. 

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Words my kid says that I wonder if they are words: AFHINOSY

FASHIONY+ fashionable, trendy

Yes, it's only good in the new scrabble dictionary! I guess my kid is ahead (or current with) the times. Also makes for a fun back hook. 

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Missed Bingo OTD: DEEINRTT

RETINTED

Whoops. What's an 'easy' word uo ve missed lately? 

-OWIE words

Do you know all four? These can be helpful if you're stuck with a W and several vowels. 

DOWIE (no s) dreary
TOWIEs a form of contract bridge for 3 players 
YOWIEs a small ewe 
ZOWIE (no s) used to express surprise 

Monday, September 29, 2014

Fill in the blank quiz: CEIRSY?

There are four answers, one is new: 

CLERISY the well educated class
CRUISEY+ cruisy 
RICKEYS an alcoholic beverage 
SPICERY a spicy quality 

Sunday, September 28, 2014

High Probability Bingo OTD: EGILNOT

LENTIGO: a small pigmented spot on the skin

Not sure how I'd never seen this word. Of note; it doesn't take an S, or even an -ES. Plural is LENTIGINES. 

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Opening rack quiz: EEIORRU

What would you do? 

This is a case where knowing your vowel-heavy words really helps. Two options are EURO and OURIE. One leaves EIR and the other ER. One scores 6, the other twelve. And one can be placed so that there are no vowels under a DWS space, and the other can't. 

So, the more defensive play is likely EURO, while OURIE is more on the offensive side. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments if you'd like. 

Fill in the blank quiz: EILLNNS?

SNELLING: to tie a hook to a line. (SNELL)

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Missed Bingo OTD: ACILNST


Normally when I post a 'missed bingo' it's one that I could've played in a game but didn't know. Unfortunately, in this case, it was one that both I and my opponent didn't know. 

'Wait, what?', you may ask? Well he tried to play LACTINS* on the previous turn as an out-play, and I challenged it off. What I didn't realize was that he had a valid word to put in the same spot, CATLINS (TINCALS), and therefore I didn't block it. He guessed the word on his next turn and won. 


For a much higher skill level of something similar happening, check here: 
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=19322#6#

Monday, September 22, 2014

AADEIOR: new vowel heavy scrabble word

AERADIO+: a Canadian radio system used by pilots. 

The only eight that can be formed with these 7 is AERADIOS. 

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Another new high probability bingo: ADEINST

You probably already knew 
DETAINS
DESTAIN
INSTEAD
NIDATES
SAINTED 
STAINED
 
But now there is also SATINED+

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Scrabble word OTD: ALNOUZ

Someone just played this against me today. 

ZONULA a small zone

I hadn't seen it before, which I knows may sound kind of silly, but considering there's also 

ZONULE
ZONULES
ZONULAE
ZONULAR
ZONULAS

You'd think I'd have run across it by now. (Interestingly, ALNOUZ?? yields no 8s)

Friday, September 19, 2014

SLANTIER+

SLANTY+ is a new TWL14 word too! 

SLANTIER may now be one the most played new 8s moving forward. (My very unprofessional opinion) 

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Missed Bingo OTD: AEIKNTY

KYANITE: a blue silicate mineral. 

KYANITIC
KYANISE
KYANIZE
are all also variants. 


Also spelled CYANITE- which leads us to another set of words: 

CYANITIC
CYANIC
CYANID
CYANIDEd
CYANIN
CYANINE
CYANATE
CYANAMID
CYANAMIDE

All the ones that don't end with C take an S. 

9 letter word vs. 8 letter word...

That time then my 9 letter word extended to the TWS was actually not the hugest scoring play... But perhaps I win for style points? 


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

New AEIOU 8: ACEIOSSU

The podcast actually had this as a feature once upon a time; it looks like there's one more to add to the list! 

CAESIOUS: bluish green

8 letter words with 5 vowels can be life-savers in scrabble; and there's quite a few. I made a point of memorizing the ones that contained AEIOU just because it made for a short and easier list. 

Monday, September 15, 2014

New words with VV

I know this is hardly the right place to start as far as studying new words, but then again, I've never been one to study strictly by probability/playability. A friend texted me the word BEVIES (referring to beverages) and made me wonder about the word BEVVIES+. Yup, it's a new one. Here's a list of the others that are new to the TWL14 (up to 8 letters):

BEVVY
LUVVY
BOVVER
LUVVED
LUVVIE
BEVVIES
BOVVERS
LUVVIES
LUVVING
SPIVVIER
SPIVVISH



Saturday, September 13, 2014

MANIA words.

I recently missed a clever move that would've added EGO to the existing MANIAS on the board, and so was inspired to create this list of words for you, with the back hooks added (they a take an S):

APIMANIA
BALLETOMANIA
BIBLIOMANIAc
DECALCOMANIA
DIPSOMANIAc
EGOMANIAc
EROTOMANIAc+
HYPERMANIA
HYPOMANIA
KLEPTOMANIAc
LEISHMANIA (takes an L)
MEGALOMANIAc
MONOMANIAc
MYTHOMANIAc
NYMPHOMANIAc
PYROMANIAc
ZOOMANIA

If you have to memorize only three, go for API-, EGO-, and ZOO-, as they will be the most useful in an opening word scenario. 

Missed Bingo OTD: AEFKOTU?

Also, fill-in-the-blank quiz. 

Friday, September 12, 2014

New Three Letter Scrabble Words Quiz...

Hey everyone! So if you are a serious scrabble player, you already use Zyzzyva to study words. Unfortunately, the new word list has not yet been released to use with Zyzzyva, making it tough to study. (Apparently they are close to making it work, however.) In the meantime, since I figured the first words I'd want to learn are the new 3s, I made a file that you can add to Zyzzyva as a custom lexicon. This includes all the new three letter words as well as anagrams of them that were already in the last word list. So if you load it up, you should be able to quiz yourself! Here is the file link: 




Tuesday, September 9, 2014

New JQXZ word OTD: ACHZ

CAZH: casual (does not take an S)

This one is new to the OSPD5/ TWL14! 
Always good to have new words to get rid of clunky tiles. 

Monday, September 8, 2014

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Friday, September 5, 2014

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Why you should take an extra few seconds to look for a better play

I am often quick to play a bingo, especially when it's an exciting word- but had I spent 5 seconds more, I'd likely have realized it would for one row over- and for a whopping 49 more points. That's a lot. 


Wednesday, September 3, 2014

A rare 9 letter word find: EEINNOTZ?

I was pretty excited to spot this. Don't know if I would've gone for it in a regular game as I wasn't 100% sure it was good,  but that's not a problem with Facebook scrabble games. 


There happens to be one other word with the letters EEINNOTZ? if you wanna take a crack at it. 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Why you should take an extra few seconds to look for a better play

I am often quick to play a bingo, especially when it's an exciting word- but had I spent 5 seconds more, I'd likely have realized it would for one row over- and for a whopping 49 more points. That's a lot. 


3 things I learned at scrabble club last night

1. ACEILLN thru a T has a bingo. (Thru an A yields 3 more)
2. PAREO is a useful 5 (anagram of OPERA)
3. TOXIMAS* is not a word (it's funny how in the middle of a game, one can convince oneself that something looks familiar) TOXEMIA/ TOXAEMIA is good. 



Sunday, August 31, 2014

Movie review and a cool word: ABFJORSU


Ok, I know you didn't come here for a movie recommendation, but I found 'Bad Words' starring (and directed by) Jason Bateman to be pretty hilarious. As a bonus: I discovered a new low probability 8 letter word! It means 'splendid'. Oh and the film is rated R, btw. 

Sneaky second: (5 letter edition) LEFTY

Five letter words are often far along the study list, but the right one can sure get you out of a bind. I didn't know FLYTE, and it would've scored more points and balance my rack better than the play I made. It's an alternate spelling of FLITE, and means 'to quarrel'. 

Saturday, August 30, 2014

New Q without U words

Everyone usually learns words like QI, QAT, QADI and QAID pretty quickly when playing competitive scrabble, and with good reason- they get played a lot! The new dictionary has several new additions that will be useful- here are a few you will be most likely to play first: 

CINQ(S) cinque (the number five) 
NIQAB/NIQAAB(S) a veil worn by Muslim women
QIBLA(S) kibla/kiblah the direction Muslims face while praying 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

TAJINES+

A word you'll likely see played a bit when the OSPD5 is enacted is TAJINES. The + symbol indicates that it's been added to the new TWL; words that are still only acceptable in CSW- international scrabble lexicon- are indicated with a # I.e. JANTIES#)

Also new to the OSPD5 is TAGINES (alternate spelling and even higher probability)

While JANTIES# isn't in it, JANTY was already in the last version. (Alternate spelling of JAUNTY)

Monday, August 25, 2014

Low Probability Bingo OTD: ACEHKLPR

KREPLACH: dumplings filled with ground meat or cheese (also KREPLECH)

It's plural, so no -S, either. 

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Fun front hooks: _RATTLING


Although it didn't come into play this game, it would've been fun to play B(RATTLING) or P(RATTLING), especially given the board placement. Do you have a favorite surprise front hook?

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Found Word OTD: ABERTY


Also a sneaky second. Interestingly, BETRAYER has been featured as a sneaky second before as well. 

Friday, August 22, 2014

The best place to learn about OSPD5 errata/ omissions, etc

The folks who run the Seattle Scrabble Club are on top of things. Check this link out for what is probably the best place on the web to find lists of newly added words, which ones are omitted from the OSPD (but are valid in tournament play), etc. 

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Scrabble, distilled, and different levels of frustration

If I had to break scrabble play down to its essential elements, I think it would end up being these three things: 

1. Knowing the words. 
2. Finding the aforementioned words on your rack. 
3. Finding the best place on the board to play them. 

The first one is easy to amend; you just study more words. If I miss playing a word that I didn't know, well, I can't get too mad at myself. 

Number two is a little trickier. It involves the letters on your rack as well as playing through letters on the board. When I miss seeing a word that I know, because I fail to anagram it, then I get a little mad at myself. 

The last one is the toughest, and for me, can be the most aggravating. Say for example, I have the word CALX among the letters on my rack; but I don see anywhere on the board I can play it. I end up making a subpar play of AX, only to realize that I forgot I could add an X to the end of JIN. Well, 'forgot' is the wrong word. I just missed it. And that makes me really mad at myself. 

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

EVENTED#

So two times in the past week I've found DEEENTV on my rack- but it's only playable in the international scrabble lexicon (hence the # symbol). There is, however, one 8 letter word you can make in TWL by adding an I. Know it?

Missed bingo OTD: AEISTTU

Sometimes a perfectly normal word will still stump me, either because I keep trying to put one letter in the same spot (S at the end), or because it's just enough out of my probability range as far as studying (two Ts and a U will do that). On the bright side, it wasn't playable. But I knew I was missing something. 

Monday, August 18, 2014

Things I learned at club

1. Remember to double your opening play. Yeah. That happened. (And the game ended up being a tie)
2. INOORZ? contains a bingo. Plus two 8s! Darn it. 
3. PENCE takes an S front hook


Finding front extensions using Zyzzyva


Just one reason why Zyzzyva is so great: say, someone plays WIGS and you're wondering, what could I have put in front of that? Well, by using the @ sign along with a pattern search, Voila! You realize you had PERI on your rack. Darn it. 

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Missed Bingo OTD: AAIILNZR



Thanks once a again, FB Scrabble teacher, for making me feel stupid. 

Definition: a red dye.
Back hooks: E and S 

Friday, August 15, 2014

New podcast episode!

With all the excitement of Nationals and the new dictionary, I forgot to mention that there's a new episode out! Find it on iTunes. 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Helpful OSPD5 search

So it looks like Merriam Webster has a feature on this page that allows you to search words that are in the new dictionary! The downside is, you can only use two blanks- but I've already found a few three letter words I'd missed this way. Try it out:


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Find the bingo quiz


Taken from round 25 at the NSC, Joel Sherman holds EINOST? on this turn. There are 25 anagrams but only one that will score across the double-double spot. How long will it take you to find it?

Monday, August 11, 2014

NSC 2014

Unless you're living in a hole, you must know that the National Scrabble Championships have been taking place in Buffalo, NY. Well, that, or you're just not a scrabble fan. But if you weren't, you wouldn't be on this page, right? 

Well aside from checking to see how my personal friends are faring, as well as checking to see who is leading Division 1 (gasp! The top seed is currently not even in the top 10- but I wouldn't count him out just yet), my favorite thing to do is to visit the live annotated games. It's great to follow along top players in action, and to see if I can properly guess what their next move will be. 

If you'd like to try it, visit here: http://event.scrabbleplayers.org/games///nsc2014/

Saturday, August 9, 2014

I got it!


Now begins the sifting through and highlighting new words of interest. Who's with me? 

Friday, August 8, 2014

New 3 letter scrabble words in the OSPD5/ OWL14

You've all likely heard of the four new 2 letter words: DA, GI, PO and TE- but I haven't seen a list of the new three letter words anywhere. Well fear not, dear readers: I've scrolled through the OSPD and made an attempt to glean all the new 3 letter words. My friend has verified that these are all in the new TWL- some I have had to guess at the definitions.  Thanks to those who have helped add ones I was missing! 

New 3 letter scrabble words:
AJI a type of chili pepper 
CAF a cafeteria or cafe 
CAL small calorie
CUZ a cousin  
DAS plural of da
DEP a convenience store
DOH do
DUM cooked with steam
ECO ecology 
EEW eeew, used to express disgust 
EMO emo rock 
EST a group technique for raising self awareness 
FAH fa
FOO a name for temporary computer files
GIF a computer file 
GIS plural of gi
GRR interj used to express annoyance 
HOM a sacred plant of the ancient Persians 
HOO expresses suprise (interj)
LAH la
LOR variant of lord
LUD a form of address to a judge in a court 
LUN a lee
MAM a mother 
MEH interj boring 
MES ???
MMM mm
MOI me- interj
MUX to transmit several messages simultaneously along a single channel 
NAV navigation
NUG a chunk of wood sawn from a log 
OCH used to express surprise or regret
OIK a very rude or stupid person
OMA grandmother 
OOF interj used to express discomfort 
OPA grandfather 
ORG organization 
OWT anything 
PAK pack
PHO Vietnamese soup
POS plural of po
REZ reservation (area of land)
ROO kangaroo 
RYU school of japanese martial arts
SAN a sanatorium 
SEV an Indian food of deep fried strands of flour 
SEZ ???
SHO former monetary unit of Tibet 
SIG an email signature 
SOC a sociology course
SOH sol
SUS to suss (figure out)
TEC tech 
TES plural of te
TIX tickets
TIZ tizzy 
TUM stomach 
UMS to pause in speaking 
UNI uniform/ university 
VIN French wine
VOG air pollution caused by volcano
XED to mark with an X
YAS an Asian pear
YER ??? (found on naspa website)
YEZ you 
WUZ ???

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

WALK this way

Recently had a game where WALK was on the board, which made me wonder what front extensions there are for the word. There are 16...

BOARD
CAT
CAKE
CAT
CROSS
DUCK
JAY
MOON
OUT
RACE
ROPE
SHEEP
SIDE
SKY
SLEEP
SPACE


I find SHEEPWALK the most intriguing... It's a apparently what they call a sheep farm. 

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Fun words and advice!

The NASPA (North American Scrabble Players Association) group on Facebook has a thread going via the link below- it's for an upcoming article in Time magazine, but the answers are fun to read, as everyone lists their favorite words, as well as a piece of advice! 

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Things I learned from a casual game this week


Well, no scrabble club this week, but I did meet up with a friend who is attending Nationals and was looking for extra practice.. 

1) OUTWEAR is good. And it takes and S and a Y! I was skeptical when I played it but decided to take the chance. The Y hook even crossed my mind but seemed even more implausible at the time. 

2) Getting both blanks is good, but if you get them at the same time and can only a play a low scoring bingo (and your opponent bingos twice naturally), then it's not so good. (Luckily this happened to him, not me) 

3) Always play the less common bingo! If the scoring isn't different. TETANOID drew a challenge. Know the anagram? 

Thursday, July 31, 2014

New words coming soon!

For those of you who haven't heard, the long awaited update to the scrabble dictionary is coming... To be released at the national scrabble championship in August: http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/w/2014_National_SCRABBLE_Championship

I haven't been posting on here much, but it's possible that having a new set of words to study will be good incentive to do so! Stay tuned. 

Monday, January 13, 2014

Things I learned at club tonight

Had one good game and one bad game. So here's what I leaned from the bad one: 

1. Just because there's three of one consonant in a rack doesn't mean you should not look for a bingo. (EIRSTTT, duh)

2. RITZES is good. Failing to play this set off a sequence of horrible racks. 

3. LIBATING* is a phony. (Challenged off)

4. MISTOLD* is also a phony. (Not challenged) 

5. When checking a play upside down, pay attention to the 2 letter words. (I checked and still missed IM*)

6. If you can't play RETRIAL, look for an A to start with. 


Saturday, January 11, 2014

Missed triple triple

ACDELOPS, had ADELPS? With a C on the board. Definition: a subdivision of the zonal soil order. 

Front hook

NEATEN. Totally obvious but didn't think about a U.