Ten (more) Fours

...that I didn't know

LOUP to leap (takes an E too, don't think I knew this was good.)
AMYL a univalent radical (gotta love those univalent radicals. Also ACYL, ARYL. I smell a 'univalent radical of the month' feature.)
BRIN a rib of a fan (back hooks EGKSY. I always think this is BIRN*)
AMUS a unit of mass, plural (I knew this, but it takes an R or W in front, and don't forget the back E!)
MUMP to beg (I didn't know this was a verb, and would've possibly challenged thinking it could only be plural)
SOLI plural of SOLO (I think I prefer SOLOS)
RAGG a wool fiber (add to the 'words you didn't know could have a doubled ending consonant' list)
ODIC pertaining to an ode (did I know this at some point? probably. I definitely know OTIC and ETIC. But I definitely didn't know  IODIC and SODIC.)
PIMA a strong, high-grade cotton (apparently I'm ignorant of fabric-related words.)

Ten Fours

Still slowly going through the fours- here are the first ten that popped up that I either didn't know at all, or wasn't sure of:

PISO the Philippine peso (also POIS)

MUGG to make funny faces (knew MIGG, not this one)

UNDE wavy (an adjective, doesn't take an S- also DUNE, NUDE)

DORP a village (DROP, PROD. this one doesn't even look familiar)

BUTE a drug for treating arthritis (back hook of O, also TUBE)

SIDH a hill inhabited by supernatural beings in Irish folklore (sounds like an M. Night Shyamalan movie. takes an E, not an S, also DISH)

SKAT a card game (can't believe I didn't know KAT took a front S hook. also- KATS, TASK)

POME a fleshy fruit with a core (what, an abbreviation for pomegranate? ok. also, MOPE, POEM)

CYME a flower cluster (think I knew this but haven't seen it in a long time)

MONY many (adjective, no S)

 

 

4s Hook Quiz

So as I've been studying my 4's, I've also been trying to pay attention to any interesting hooks that they take. See if you know the unusual front hooks these words take:

YARD
HOOT
MAZE
SADI
ATAP
RARE
AGIN

Studying 4s

So we've had an extra laptop in our house for the past few weeks, and I just recently figured out that I can carry it along with me to work. (I'm a letter carrier for the Post Office. So if you see a guy in western mass typing in his truck instead of delivering mail, it might be me.) I installed Zyzzya, and decided to start seriously studying my four letter words. I could be wrong, but I think that learning the '4s' is one of the main hurdles one has to get over before moving toward the upper end of an intermediate ranking. Of course, I haven't actually played in a tournament since 2008, so I don't really know what my ranking is. Hopefully it's higher than the 1075 I rated after the two that I played in that year. Not because I'm egotistical about it, but because I'd be ticked if I've been studying flashcards and reviewing games all this time without improving. Anyway, here's a few words I've discovered recently, narrowed down because they are formed from surprise -Y end hooks.

ATOPY a type of allergy (ATOPIC adj)
BOTHY a hut in Scotland
COBBY stocky
DONSY donsie (adj) (anagram: SYNOD)

I love me some chemical compounds...

Here's a long list of words that I deleted from the current podcast when it became waaaay too long. Plus I think it's easier to see it written out in this case:

IMINE a chemical compound
IMINO containing an imine (adj- no S)

AMIN (main, mina) amine (takes front hook of G)
AMINE a chemical compound (also takes front hook of G, F)
AMINO containing an amine united with a nonacid radical (adj- no S)
AMNIO  a surgical insertion of a needle into the uterus (takes back hooks N, S)

I unfortunately had to witness my wife getting an AMNIO (full name is amniocentesis) when she was pregnant with our first child. I don't recommend it.

AMMINE (immane) a type of chemical compound
AMMINO pertaining to ammine (adj- no S)

AMMONO containing ammonia (adj- no S)
AMMONIA (takes back hooks C, S)

BIDI WADI

I'm always intrigued when I find out that a word I've known (in Scrabble) for a while has another spelling, or has a group of words that are similar to it. Most recently, I was reviewing a game someone posted and found that BIDI, a word I learned early on when I was looking for ways to get rid of two I's at once, could be spelled BEEDI. Here are some BEEDIS to the right ....


On the 'similar words' note, I just learned that in addition to WADI (the bed of a usually dry watercourse) being a word, there is also:
WADDY     to strike with a thick club
WADDIE    a cowboy
WADDIED (past tense of waddy)
WADDIES (could be either one)


For a more common set of words, you could put a C on the front of these...

ROTL

You may think I accidentally tried to text message someone instead of typing a title for this entry, but it's actually:

ROTL  a unit of weight in Muslim countries. [n. ROTLS or ARTAL]

Of interest: the plural form, ARTAL, takes a front hook of H, and has 3 anagrams.