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.