The Association of Premier Scrabble* Players

Issue No. 57 NEWSLETTER December 1997

JOEL SHERMAN WINS WORLD TITLE American Joel Sherman is the 1997 World Scrabble Champion. In a battle of New 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 of die APSP! He joined 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 of the event, on page 4.

ANDY COOK IS NATIONAL CHAMPION The rise of Andy Cook continues unabated. Within three yearshe'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. Notbad for a weekend's Scrabble!

The Intermediate title was won by 21-year-old Paul Chadwick, with a magnificent record of 9 winsand 1 tie in histen 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 of the 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 fillit in and send it off NOW! There's also a questionnaire. We'd very much appreciate it if you 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 issue APSP News 2 A Committee response to last issue's Scrabble Soapbox 2 Events 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 forthe 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 behalf of 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. Whatwe have done is made a decision to discuss thematter. 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 defineas "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 pointedout 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.

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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 report from Mike O'Rourke, written from the perspective of an unashamedly biased UK supporter, a game-by-game account of the Final, and Mark Nyman's own reminiscences of an event in which he 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 in the 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 thecalendar.

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 soblue 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 sucha 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 theextra 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 familiaras the event wore on - two were paired to play each other: Gareth Williams (Wai) vs DavidActon (Eng). David Webb found himself playinganother 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 hebrought 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 chanceand 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 toa 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 inthis round. DavidActon was really happy with his recent purchase ofan Arnold electronic timer - it was being christened in style as he notched up his third win. In shades of die 1993 final, Markcame 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 witha 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 sheplayed 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 by32 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 thetop 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 6-1 +591 3. David Acton 6-1 +563 4. Hark Nyman 6-1 +419 7. Russell Byers 5-2 +327 12. David Webb 5-2 +232 17. Gareth Williams 5-2 +125 27. Penny Downer 4-3 +234 29. John Grayson 4-3 +204 35. Andrew Fisher 4-3 + 70 42. Clive Spate 3-4 + 23 51. Nuala Clenaghan 3-4 -128

Day 2, and Round 8 brought some amazing words in Mark's first game against Joel Wapnick, which hadbeen 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 thesheetsup. Russell was again first to finish with a win. Clive also started the day well.

Round 9 saw four red shirts on the top threetables with Mark playing Jeff Grant on Table 1, David A against Russell on Table 2 and David W now on6 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 didGareth. 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 thetop four places were occupied by red shirts:

1. Russell Byers 8-2 +705 2. David Acton 8-2 +559 3. Allan Saldanha 8-2 +508 4. Mark Nyman 8-2 +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 "Welldone" signified good news as Russell moved to 9 wins with ENGIRDS, TOZ1NG and RELAXINS. Meanwhile Mark beat David A. Some amazingwords 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 withonly 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 themon their toes to the very end as withonly 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 10-3 +703 3. Mark Nyman 10-3 +521 6. Penny Downer 9-4 +555 7. Allan Saldanha 9-4 +536 17. David Acton 8-5 +436 21. Gareth Williams 8-5 + 93 30. Clive Spate 7-6 +195 34. David Webb 7-6 -167 29. John Grayson 7-6 -266 35. Andrew Fisher 6-7 + 35 51. Nuala Cienaghan 5-8 -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 thespectators 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 Pray and 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 didwell and 1 realised that although Mark was still leading the field it was going to be a struggle to keep the Brit 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 dauntingwith 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 cynicallypredicted 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 winshe 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 winby 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 12with 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 lostto 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 by5 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 ticketto 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 herXth win to ensure that shenot 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 thetop 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 USA 16-0-5 + 829 14. Allan Saldanha GBR 13-0-8 +234 2. Matt Graham USA 15-0-6 ♦ 993 3. Joe Edley USA 15-0-6 ♦ 915 21. Penny Downer GBR 12-0-9 ♦402 4. Robert Felt USA 14-0-7 + 814 22. AndrewFisher GBR 12-0-9 +382 5. Mark Nyman GBR 14-0-7 ♦ 741 6. Kendall Boyd NZL 14-0-7 * 401 26. Gareth Williams GBR 12-6-9 -179 7. Russell Byers GBR 14-0-7 ♦ 396 27. Clive Spate GBR 11-1-9 +344 8. Akshay Bhandarkar BHR 14-0-7 ♦ 353 9. Adam Logan CAN 13-0-8 + 1064 41. DavidWebb GBR 10-1-10 + 127 10. BHan Cappelietto USA 13-0-8 + 946 51. John Grayson GBR 10-0-11 -447 12. DavidActon GBR 13-0-8 ♦ 517 73. Nuala Cleneghan GBR 8-0-13 -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. Mattimmediately 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 for82. 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 for54. 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 - hewouldn'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 ofus 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. Shortlyafterwardsa "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 alsosent 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 eventsunfold on your computer!

10 Flyingthe Flag for the UK

Mark Nyman, the UK's lop-placed finisher, describes his experiences of the event...

1 went into this year's World Scrabble Championship in a very positive frame of mind - it was nice 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 pleasednot 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) - atthis 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 DavidActon 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 Britin Allan Saldanha • Allan was leading all the way but I managed to peg him back and scrape home by6 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 latein 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 theexcellent African Yawo - I came through narrowly by 22 points so now it was 3 from S. Backon 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!

Nextup 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 asa 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 wellas 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 getto 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 the final, a list of some of the challenges (courtesy of Sheila Spate), andan extract from 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 AndyCook 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 DavidActon 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) for SHIRTED.

Round 5 featured the best move of the tournament: Paul Golder's AL/VE around LITERATI for the 12-letter word ALLITERATIVE, unfortunately scoringa 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 Intermediate 1. Allan Siimons 5-0 +211 1. Ian Burn 5-0-0 +394 2. Alan Sinclair 4-1 +398 2. Paul Chadwick 4-1-0 +310 3. Jackie HcLeod 4-1 +384 3. StellaLander 4-1-0 +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 CliveSpate 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 topof both divisions were beginning to take shape:

Expert Intermediate 1. Jackie Kcleod 7-1 +572 1. Paul Chadwick 7-1-9 +503 2. Allan Sinntons 7-1 +174 2. Ian Burn 7-8-1 +302 3. David Acton 6-2 +544 3. Amy Ballantyne 6-0-2 +359 4. Andrew Cook 6-2 +517 4. Adebowale Ajose 6-0-2 +335 5. Andrew Fisher 6-2 ♦381 5. Syd Berger 6-6-2 +335

In Round 9 Intermediate, Ian Bum played Henry Walton, who was fast coming up on the outside. Paul Chadwickwas 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 Intermediate 1. David Acton 7-2 +661 1. Paul Chadwick 8-1-8 +846 2. Andrew Cook 7-2 +519 2. Ian Burn 8-0-1 +395 3. Jackie KcLeod 7-2 +519 3. Syd Berger 7-0-2 +244 4. Phil Appleby 7-2 +389 4. Adebowale Ajose 6-0-3 +307 5. Allan Simons 7-2 ♦ 57 5. Tim Lawrence 6-0-3 +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 forhis superb win in the Inter mediates.

14 Expert Intermediate 1. Jackie HcLeod 8-2 +612 1. Paul Chadwick 9-1-0 +877 2. Phil Appleby 8-2 +431 2. Ian Burn 8-0-2 +385 3. David Acton 7-3 +568 3. Adebowale Ajose 7-0-3 +357 4. Andrew Cook 7-3 +567 4. Syd Berger 7-0-3 +230 5. Andrew Fisher 7-3 +399 5. Tim Lawrence 7-0-3 +163 6. CHve Spate 7-3 +358 6. Amy Ballantyne 7-0-3 + 30 7. Brett Smitheram 7-3 +137 7. ChrisLloyd 6-0-4 +449 8. Allan Simmons 7-3 + 15 8. Lewise Hackay 6-0-4 +373 9. Terry Kirk 6-4 +352 9. Sandra Hoffland 6-0-4 +217 10. Alan Sinclair 6-4 +349 10. Richard Woodward 6-0-4 + 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 10-2 +780 2. Phil Appleby 9-3 +352 3. Andrew Cook 8-4 +560 4. David Acton 7-5 +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 thebusiness, 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 attempta 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 diesemi-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 witha 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 the impressive TROILiTE) wrapped up a 499-304 win.

15 Game 3: This game is annotated by David Webb, with the help of the computer program MAVEN, 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 bestplayer!

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, andwhich 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 bothaccuracy 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 havebeen 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 blowthem away. It was another micro organism that brought about the downfall of formerworld 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 thecrane. 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 byKevin 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 onby 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 Division B Division C 1. A.Roughton 5-0 +591 1. J.Hiley 5-0 +484 1. K.Sellars 5-0 +314 2. C.Hawkins 4-1 +549 2. J.Dunlop 4-1 +562 2. K.Barnes 4-1 +562 3. R.MacInerney 4-1 +282 3. T.Davis 4-1 +269 3. A.Toft 4-1 +269 4. D.Meadows 4-1 +281 4. J.Crookes 4-1 +164 4. P.Friend 4-1 +164

Edinburgh : October 11th(Results only)

Division A Division 8 1. Wilma Warwick 5-6 +222 1. Viv Beckmann s-e +226 2. Alec Robinson 4-1 +491 2. Louise Gray 5-e +199 3. Malcolm Quirie 4-1 +296 3. Kenneth Gordon 4-1 +556 4. Neil Scott 4-1 +254 4. Florence Davies 4-1 +364 5. Marion Keatings 4-1 +161 5. Jayne Reilly 4-1 +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 Division B 1. A.Childs 3-0 +304 1. M.English 3-0 +462 2. J.Fisher 3-0 +244 2. P.Terry 3-0 +239 3. R.Shipley 3-0 + 77 3. S.Wild 3-0 +138

Division C Division D 1. P.Buckingham 3-6 +267 1. J.Fothergill 3-6 +555 2. O.Clarke 3-6 +226 2. S.Russell 3-6 +165 3. H.Holland 3-6 + 82 3. M.Gulliver 3-6 + 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 Division B 1. Joy Lloyd 5-0 ♦408 1. Abraham Smith 5-0 ♦374 2. Penny Downer 4-1 ♦278 2. MargaretStaunton 4-1 ♦372 3. Kathryn Le Grove 4-1 ♦211 3. Doreen Blake 4-1 ♦221 4. Bob Lynn 4-1 +209 4. Angela Swain 4-1 ♦ 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 ofrock on a mountain lop - or a precipice".

East London : October 18th (Results only)

Division A Division B Division C 1. P.Nelkon 6-0 +753 1. O.Adesiyan 5-1 ♦ 599 1. K.Synnott 6-0 +877 2. B.Grossman 5-1 +247 2. J.Nelkon 5-1 ♦409 2. D.French 5-1 ♦470 3. O.Dennis 5-1 +158 3. S.Green 5-1 +348 3. P.Fernandez 5-1 ♦333 4. A.Webb 4-2 +372 4. L.Brundell 4-2 ♦411 4. A.Golding 4-2 +315 5. E.Simopson 4-2 +303 5. D.Shenkin 4-2 ♦329 5. P.Ernest 4-2 +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 Division B 1. Amy Byrne 5-0 ♦387 1. Ken Gordon 5-0 +475 2. Donald MacLeod 4-1 ♦494 2. Isobel Smith 4-1 +332 3. Hilma Warwick 4-1 + 188 3. Stella Brown 4-1 ♦289 4. Ann Davidson 4-1 + 130 4. Julia Glen 4-1 +187 5. Helen Mitchell 3-2 ♦258 5. John McLean 4-1 - 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 tothat 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 themewords prize for playing the word ART, twice. The lunchtime puzzle was won by Graham Wakefield with a total score of440. 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 Division B Division C 1. P.Cohen 5-1 +477 1. D.Keeble 5-1 +309 1. N.Jenkins 6-0 +346 2. 0.Francis 5-1 +431 2. H.Rees 5-1 +171 2. S.Ball 5-1 +284 3. R.Richland 5-1 ♦354 3. Y.Eade 5-1 +161 3. F.Shanmas 5-1 ♦ 132 4. R.Miner 4-2 +388 4. J.Rees 4-2 +248 4. J.Kay 4-2 +429 5. T.Hoi lington 4-2 +172 5. J.NeHon 4-2 +268 5. M. Pratesi 4-2 +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,forthe first time, there were 4 divisions. The results were as follows:

Division A Division B 1. Terry Kirk 9-2 +936 1. Carol Rison 9-2 +631 2. Steve Balment 9-2 +224 2. David Ellis 8-3 +734 3. Karl Khoshnaw 8-3 +219 3. Debbie Holloway 8-3 +191 4. Hart in Fowkes 8-3 +106 4. MaryAllen 7-4 +529 5. Andrew Perry 7-4 +581 5. Ian Burn 7-4 +386

Division C Division D 1. Para Fairless 11-0 +946 1. Sonya Uyld 9-0-2 +425 2. Pat Fenn 9-2 +794 2. David Reading 8-0-3 +495 3. Pamela Windsor 9-2 +356 3. Simon Wood 8-0-3 +461 4. Phillipa Morris 7-4 +447 4. Alan Everitt 7-1-3 +441 5. Jill Dyer 7-4 +341 5. Don Beavis 7-0-4 +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 theIsland's clubs!

As an interesting aside, David is a teacher, and runs a Scrabbleclub 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 totheir 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 heldoff 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 Camsell Division C 1. F Davies 4-1 + 157 1. T Davis 5-0 ♦368 1. J Thompson 4-1 ♦201 2. H Hudspeth 4-1 + 38 2. H Cowie 4-1 +112 2. V Beckmann 4-1 +188 3. G Lightfoot 3-2 ♦ 46 3. S Thompson 3-2 -125 3. H Burdon 3-2 + 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 Hope Group Whttby Group 1. D.Beasley 7-1 ♦870 1. H.Garret.t 5-0-3 ♦ 95 1. J.Monger 5-3 ♦307. 2. C.Finlay 6-2 ♦449 2. P.Ebrecht 5-0-3 - 64 2. C.Wide 5-3 ♦224 3. J.Phillips 5-3 ♦237 3. J.Hill 4-1-3 ♦233 3. E.Hens 5-3 ♦221 4. O.Shenkin 4-4 -110 4. J.Shaw 4-1-3 -151 4. H.Hens 5-3 ♦ 105 5. F.Mairey 3-5 - 25 5. R.Flood 4-0-4 ♦ 183 5. l.Uhite 5-3 + 69

20 In addition to the APSP's favourite nonagenarian, Lucy White, the Whitby group featured three other 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 liketo 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, whileJake 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 Newsletterof 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 Division B Division C 1. B.Violett 10-1 +798 1. O.Nunn 10-1 +844 1. G.Clark 8-3 +678 2. A.Simmons 9-2 +358 2. N.Deller 9-2 ♦341 2. J.Bonham 8-3 +629 3. N.Rowley 8-3 -120 3. H.Thompson 8-3 +534 3. S.Ball 8-3 +581 4. A.Davis 7-4 +426 4. 0.Ellis 7-4 +311 4. V.Draper 8-3 +212 5. J.Jacobs 7-4 +358 5. H.Conway 7-4 +285 5. S.Wood 7-4 +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 169 David Brook 33 x 159 Russell Murch 194 x 196 David Acton 84 x 168 Irene Bell 337 x 159 Raymond Tate 109 x 196 Hark Hyman (GH) 96 x 168 Chris Hawkins 193 x 158 Hartin Bloomberg 192x 194 Gareth Williams (GH) 179 x 167 Christopher Finlay 276 x 158 Hoira Conway 83 x 193 Clive Spate (GH) 208 x 167 Helen Grayson (Exp) 113 x 158 Jane Gibson 155 x 193 David Webb (Exp) 255 x 167 Helen Greenaway 118 x 158 David Holland 168 x 190 Phil Appleby (GH) 92 x 167 JakeJacobs 124 x 158 Bob Lynn 187 x 190 Russell Byers (GH) 76 x 167 Karl Khoshnaw 124 x 158 Frankie Mairey 146 x 190 Andrew Fisher (GH) 310 x 167 Cecil Muscat 192 x 158 David Meadows 105 x 188 John Grayson (GH) 127 x 167 Paul Nind 31 x 158 Roy Miller 70 x 188 PhilipHelton (GH) 97 x 167 Karen Willis 47 x 158 Janet Palcer 178 x 187 Andrew Davis 157 x 166 Danny Bekhor 296 x 158 Janet Phillips 35 x 186 Richard Evans (Exp) 35 x 166 Neil Cribb 83 x 158 Linda Pray 175 x 185 Andrew Cook 74 x 166 Tony Killilea 65 x 157 David Dawson 125 x 185 Brett Sraitheram 141 x 166 Andrew Roughton 306 x 157 Gary Fox 204 x 184 Neil Scott 264 x 166 AlanSinclair 57 x 157 Timothy Lawrence 181x 183 Di Dennis (Exp) 323 x 166 Graeme Thomas 266 x 157 Steve Perry 244 x 183 Allan Simrons (GM) 123 x 166 Hartin Thompson 34 x 157 Roger Phillips 149 x 183 Brian Sugar (Exp) 224 x 165 Donald MacLeod 191 x 157 Rachelle Winer 451 x 182 Terry Kirk (Exp) 71 x 165 Kenneth Oliver 264 x 156 Nuala Clenaghan 197x 182 Evan Simpson (Exp) 380 x 164 Steve Baiment 109 x 156 Christine Cooper 247 x 181 Martin Fowkes 190 x 164 Simon Carter 248 x 156 Marion Keatings 366 x 180 JackieHcleod 59 x 164 Hary Grylls 149 x 155 Doug Brown 100 x 180 Hartley Hoorhouse 93 x 164 John Simpson 194 x 155 Brian Bull 185 x 179 Paul Allan 36 x 164 Hartin Thomas 112 x 155 Angela Evans 143 x 179 Penny Downer 182 x 163 Caroline Atkins 238 x 155 Christine Hamilton 233 x 179 Alec Webb (Exp) 379 x 163 Amy Bymc 81 x 155 Terry Hoi lington 81 x 177 Steven Gruzd 71 x 163 Edward Garrett-Joncs 112 x 155 Elisabeth Jardine 74 x 177 Harshan Lamabadusuriya 95 x 163 Simon Gil Ian (Exp) 140 x 155 Hary Jones 247 x 177 Andrew Perry 88 x 163 John Howell 120 x 155 Chris Lloyd 142 x 177 Hike Willis (Exp) 416 x 163 Ruth Maclnemey 116 x 155 Shanker Henon 155 x 176 Elie Dangoor 79 x 163 Jayne Mackenzie 84 x 155 Thomas Hensah 143 x 176 Paul Golder 66 x 162 Jonathan Anstey 300 x 155 Hike O'Rourke 139 x 176 Ruth Morgan-Th (Exp) 175 x 162 Nicholas Ball 103 x 155 Norman Smith 211 x 176 Noel Turner (Exp) 207 x 162 Iain Harley 79 x 154 Eryl Barker 218 x 176 Bob Violett (Exp) 87 x 162 DebbieHeaton 58 x 154 Bob Berry 50 x 175 Peter Finley (GM) 171 x 162 Hartin Reed 62 x 154 Sue Bowman 168 x 175 Gary Polhill 69 x 162 Neil Rowley 70 x 154 David Lawton 197 x 174 Joyce Cansfield (Exp) 198 x 161 Diana Beasley 212 x 154 Joy Lloyd 165 x 174 Darryl Francis (Exp) 53 x 161 Neil Derbyshire 36 x 154 David Longley 192 x 174 Helen Gipson (Exp) 153x 161 Graham Harding HI x 154 Alec Robertson 99 x 174 Sheila Spate 83 x 161 Ken Heaton 143 x 154 Fran Thompson 139 x 173 Dick Green 75 x 161 Chris Keeley 66 x 153 Eileen Anderson 245 x 173 Wilna Warwick 171x 161 Halcoln Quirie 68 x 153Ian Betteridge 271 x 172 Philip Cohen 45 x 161 Kwaku Sapong 68 x 153 Laura Finley 204 x 172 Barry Grossman 51 x 160 Adebowale Ajose 69 x 153 Colin Hall 361 x 172 Robert Richland (Exp) 34 x 160 Christina Brown 63 x 153 Ron Hendra 381 x 172 Sandie Simonis 121 x 160Loz Crouch 37 x 153 BrynPacker 59 x 171 Ian Gucklhorn 316 x 160 Rob Dowse 129 x 153 Haria Thomson 163 x 171 David Kendix 55 x 159 Cathy Anderson 117 x 153 Pam Titheradge 150 x 171 Diane Pratesi (Exp) 40 x 159 Alan Catherall 69 x 153 Dennis Walker 63 x 171 Peter Preston 178 x 159 Peter Dean 291 x 152 Adrienne Berger 41 x 170 Ivan Swallow 42 x 159Liz Furness 62 x 152 Paul Chadwick 68 x 170 Chris Vicary 85 x 159 PaulineJohnson 144 x 152 Alan Georgeson

22 138 Lois McLeod 39 X 152 Keith King 186 x 144 Mary Allen 143 x 53 X 152 Brenda Margereson 58 x 144 TrevorBently 54 x 138 Margarita Saldanha

35 X 152 Huw Morgan 173 x 144 Margaret Bright 41 x 138 Ricky Zinger

99 X 152 Les Nyntan 52 x 144 James Horsfall 122 x 137 Janice Bease 115 X 152 Jean RappUt 83 x 144 Oavid Keeble 85 x 137 Jill Fisher B5 X 152 Josef Thompson 153 x 144 Helen Mitchell 62 x 137 Agnes Gunn

43 X 151 Oluyemi Adesiyan 188 x 144 Dorothy Taylor 53x 137 Sally Lewis

86 X 151 Tony Bailey 159 x 144 Teena Walls 122x 137 Michael Partner

58 X 151 Graham Buckingham 279 x 143 Peter Ashurst 381 x 137 MarleneSkinner 58 X 151 Pat Colling 99 x 143 Louise Brundell 57 x 137 Evan Terrett

94 X 151 Billy Oott 59 x 143 Marie English 165 x 137 Vai Wright

68 X 151 Brian Jones 146 x 143 Norma Howarth 138 x 136 Linda Bradford

152 X 151 Lorna Rapley 55 x 143 Sylvia Meyrick 45 x 136 Jean Carter

282 X 151 Maureen Rayson 278 x 143 Margaret Pritchett 76x 136 Joan Caws

33 X 151 Kenneth Ross 61 x 143 Derrick Thome 69 x 136 Gerry Donnelly

37 X 151 Judy Straughan 59x 143 Jan Turner 58 x 136 Patricia Fenn 116 X 151 Graham Uakefield 43 x 143 Malcolm Meant 89 x 136 Jane Lowndes 47 X 151 Henry Walton 133 x 142 Liz Barber 58 x 136 Carol Smith 132 X 150 Margaret Burdon 58 x 142 Alan Chi Ids 249 x 136 Anne Steward

114 X 150 Kate Leckie 128x 142 Ann Davidson 31 x 136 Frances Ure

65 X 156 Lou HcHeeken 53 x 142 Ceridwen Davies 46 x 136Pat Wheeler 266 X 156 Anne Ramsay 314x 142 Priscilla Encamacion 66x 135 Janet Braund

39 X 150 Carol Stanley 36 X 142 Dorothy Henretty 76 x 135 Ian Caws 59 X 158 Richard Woodward 73 x 142 Debbie Holloway 41 x 135 John Dunlop

94 X 149 John Balloch 53 x 142 Davina Latham 98 x 135 Sheila Jolliffe

151 X 149 Ivy Dixon-Bafrd 72 x 142Ron Hanton 105 x 135 Jayne Reilly 384 X 149 Sheila Green 73 x 142 Kim Phipps 68 X 135 Isla Wilkie

56 X 149 Peter Thompson 55 x 142 Barbara Price 272 x 134 Vivien Beckmann 46 X 149 Lesley Trotter 37 x 142 Helen Rees 93 x 134 Maureen Brough

93 X 149 Lorraine Watson 55x 141 Jean Bridge 41 x 134 Jacqui Brown

166 X 148 Ian Burn 56 x 141 Tony Davis 93 x 134 Edelle Crane

53 X 148 Chris Oavison 114 x 141 Sandra Hoffland 31 x 134 Michael Finn

141 X 148 Nick Deller S3 x 141 Graham Maker 95 x 134 Jean Galiacher

236 X 148 Moya Oewar 96 x 141 AlisonSadler 71 x 134 Sharon Landau

73 X 148 Datnian Eadie 408x 141 David Shenkin 36 x 134 MaryOram 364 X 148 Doreen Marsh 105x 140 Etta Alexander 48 x 134 Stuart Pierce

72 X 148 Martha Mitchell 37 x 140 Alan Bailey 70 x 134 Angela Spilsbury

134 X 148 Kate Surtees 115x 140Fay Hadeley 69 x 134 Margaret Yeadon 364 X 148 Sylvia Swaney 55 x 140 David Nunn 52 x 133 Michael Baxendale

39 X 147 Linda Bird 42 x 140 Barbara Sharanas 68 x 133 James Crooks

96 X 147 Margaret Browne 197 x 140 Rose Spencer 52 x 133 Jill Dyer

36 X 147 Pam Fairless 60 x 140 Brian Watson 115 x 133 June Edwards

206 X 147 Christina French 106 x 140 Lesley Watson 43 x 133 Haureen Greening-Steer

147 X 147 GeorgeGruner 160 x 139 Sheila Anderson 57 x 133Linda Hi Hard

72 X 147 StellaLander 69 x 139 Margaret Armstrong 169x 133 Kay Johnston

283 X 147 Pat HacBean 47 x 139 Hike Buckley 389 x 133 Philippa Morris

96 X 147 Jean Williams 32 x 139 Kathy Bull en 52 x 133 Willie Scott

246 X 147 Ton Wilson 53 x 139 Jean Dymock 54 x 133 Barbara Sennett 157 X 146 Amie Ballantyne 83 X 139 Lewis Mackay 134 x 133 Peter Terry 199 X 146 Yvonne Eade 58 x 139 Tess McCarthy 51 x 132 Doreen Blake 59 X 146 Kathryn Le Grove 231 x 139Ken Quarshie 51 x 132 Catriona Budge

172 X 146 Carol Mai kin 199 x 139 Harjorie Smith 55 x 132 Vera Flood 43 X 146 Julie Nelkon 57 x 139 Rita Todd 143 x 132 Mary Lindsay

57 X 146 Oavid Williams 127 x 138 Philip Aldous 91 x 132 Gwynfor Owen

131 X 145 David Ellis 80 x 138 Liz Allen 31 x 132 Eva Paine

169 X 145 Marjory Flight 53 x 138 Nora Bain 58 x 132 Gilii Simons

54 X 145 Anne Hidden 285 x 138 Syd Berger 53 x 132 Stan Skinner 53 X 145 Steven Hopper 35 x 138 Richard Bettis 94 x 132 Edith Smith

225 X 145 Eddie McKeown 112 x 138 Rita Brookes 106 x 132 Joyce Squire

67 X 145 John Mitchell 35 x 138 Wanda De Poitiers 97 x 132 Donna Stanton

53 X 145 Carole Rison 98 x 138 Heather Frankland 111 x 132 Wendy Tiley

136 X 145 Carol Smith 189 x 138 Jilly Garnett 32 x 132 Sandra Walton 30 x 132 Ethel Wilding 44 x 126 Joy Hewgill 31 x 117 Kathleen Barnes 53 x 131 Dorothy Dean 39 x 126 Stella Magnus 197 x 117 Janet Bonham 63 x 131 Barbara Dein 62 x 125 Martin Byrne 60 117 Pat Burgess 54 x 131 Ann Edwards 42 x 125 Georgina Cook 60 117 HildaHudspeth 68x 131 Sally Fisroan 187 x 125 Elizabeth Draper 55 x 117 Hargaret Irons 170 x 131 Eric Howarth 276x 125 Ruby Flood 76 117 Anne Uwton 150 x 131 Adesanmi Odelana 45 x 125 Lorna Franks 58 117 AliceHadin 52 x 131 Ann Pitblado 42 x 125 Lena Glass 118 x 117 Vanessa Peters 84 x 131 Pat Rockley 96 x 125 Kenneth Gordon 59 x 117 Hauro Pratesi 58 x 131 Eric Smith 60 x 125 Harjorie Hi si op 68 x 117 Halcoin Shaw 36 x 131 JoyceSmith 84 x 125 Barbara Kent 70 x 117 Joanna Skirving 106 x 131 June Wilson 39 x 125 Joy Reason 52 x 117 Sonja Wyld 195 x 131 Pamela Windsor 57 x 125 Kitty Rugman 110 x 116 Carmen Dolan 49 x 130 Lois Cakebread 166x 125 Sue Thompson 45 x 116 Eric Emslie 43 x 130 Val Couzens 74 x 124 Elizabeth J Allen 55 x 116 Peggy Frawley 45 x 130 Honu Galley 50 x 124 John Cakebread 38 x 116 Peter Hall 123 x 130 Roma Hollingworth 82 x 124 Sharon Colder 101 x 116 Steve Powell 44 x 130 Luke Keegan 86 x 124 JoanLawrence 48 x 115 Hary Adams 38x 130 Margaret Keegan 60 x 124 Richard Saldanha 90x 115 Alice Allwood 32 x 130 Lilly Laker 66 x 123 Samantha Beckwith 41 x 115 Hargaret Bigg 67 x 130 Jacqui Owens 68 x 123 Kate Boutinot 35 x 115 Hadia Deadnsn 41 x 130 Joan Rees 37 x 123 Jean Buckley 174 x 115 Lorna Llewellyn 40x 130 Susan Skirving 142x 123 David French 31 x US Harry Sinclair 62 x 129 Charley Adesoji 60 x 123 Lynn Giles 147 x 115 Claire Violett 83 x 129 Kaureen Austin 53 x 123 JoeHarsh 198 x 115 Simon Wood 53 x 129 Sheila Booth-Hi Hard 52 x 122 Eileen Bradshaw 61 x 114 Nicholas Butler 60 x 129 Martin Cairns 15B x 122 Julie Brewster 44 x 114 June Faulkner 79 x 129 Eve Conlon 42 x 122 Joyce Gershon 278 x 114 Norah Thompson 82 x 129 Mavis Harding 31 x 122 Dennis Nelson 30 x 114 Aqy Vye 64 x 129 Kathleen Mggins 67 x 122 Halcola Roberts 97 x 114 Jacqui White 84 x 129 Brian Keegan 31 x 122 Harie Ross 31 x 113 Huriel Arnold 39 x 129 Wyn Lloyd 69x 122 Winifred Smith 77 X 113 Habel Choularton 52 x 129 Esther Hay)or 87 x 122 Winifred Stitt 177 x 113 Hay Gray 335 x 129 MarigoldPage 35 x 121 Irene Catherail 53 x 113 Sheila Reeve 157 x 129 Gertie Roberts 112 x 121 Vera Sine 78 x 113 Haureen Reynolds 66 x 129 Jean Shaw 45 x 120 Betty Balding 83 x 113 Connie Riach 40x 129 Ho TiHey 30 x 120 Haureen Barr 33 x 113 Colin Rivington 53 x 128 Shirley Angel 1 69 x 120 Kate Barratt 34 x 113 Anna Whitefield 85 x 128 Eileen Bashan 128 x 120 FlorenceDavies 85 x 112 Sue Bullock 120 x 128 HelenCowie 228 x 120 Vemon Draper 53 x 112 SusanBury 139 x 128 Val Hoskings 31 x 120 Rose Ford 105 x 112 Peter Ernest 51 x 128 Mary Riggans 43 x 120 Paul Harding 57 x 112 Joan Johns 102 x 128 Ruth Rose 76 x 120 Joy Hodge 50 x 112 Davina Keddie 41 x 128 Honica Stockwell 53 x 120 Doreen Horris 119 x 112 Eve Hillington 69 x 128 Gladys Tierney 33 x 120 Doreen Pratt 95 x 112 Christine Nicholson 99 x 128 KitUzzell 47 x 120 Hary Raifs 30 x 112 Iris Shuttleworth 70 x 127 Jessie Brown 50 x 119 Jean Bakowell 64 x 112 Jean Stevens 1GO x 127 WinnieBuik 31 x 119 Hilary Birdsaii 170 X 111 June Clark 56 x 127 Harjorie Garrett 170 x 119 Garry Clark 45 X 111 Paul Famworth 52 x 127 Peter Kelly 44 119 Una Collinson 51 X HI Nicholas Jenkins 41 x 127 Dale Lloyd 46 119Liz Dunlop 76 x HI Hay Hacdonaid 194 x 127 Stuart Hay 99 119 Hargaret Harkness 31 x 111 Sheila Tutt 105 x 127 Celi a Osbom 48 119 Dawn Pierce 52 x 110 Dorothy Black 47 x 127 Brenda Rodwell 112 119 Peter Sime 53 x 110 Kay Halpass 30 x 127 Len Shuttleworth 145 x 119 Jessie Tollick 32 x 110 Isabelle McLean 102 x 127 Edith Tempest 172 x 118 Barbara Grant 50 x 110 Hargaret Seabrook 40 x 126 PeterG Arnold 45 x 118 Keith Haynes 87 x 109 Sue Ball 37 x 126 Stella Brown 40 x 118 Barbara Hill 73 x 109 Florence Fellows 73 x 126 Jennifer Clifford 145 x 118 Heather Ilott 45 x 169 Edith Grant 30 x 126 Louise Gray 95 x 118 Joan Kurphy 78 x 109 Irene Lindsay 68 x 126 Norman Haddow 66 x 118 Hay Qutgley 66 x 109 Paul Pye 65 x 126 Hichael Harley 62x 118 Jo Tebbutt SO x 109 Ann Toft

24 81 X 109 Kath Ward 72 x 104 Jo Holland 73 x 95 Joan Cussens

127 X 108 Hary Broadhead 112x 104 Hary Hanson 57 x 95 Fay Goble

31 X 108 Barbara Cox 43 x 104 Olivia Patton 32 x 95 Paul Steadman

62 X 108 Daphne Fletcher 105 x 103 Fred Burford 229 x 94 Pamela Brown 102 X 108 Douglas Robinson 64 x 103 Dixie Haynes 93 x 94 Barrie Hall

47 X 108 Wenna Robinson 98 x 103 Lionel Howard 41 x 93 Ralph Edwards

67 X 107 Roy Arnold 53 x 103 Adelle Jones 50 x 93 Winnie Haston

41 X 107 DonBeavis 37 x 103 Rosalyn Lishak 31 x 93 Hary Patrick

67 X 187 Rona Dryden 33 x 103 Fuad Shainnas 62 x 92 Rita Hanton

69 X 107 Marian Izatt 62 x 103 Dorothy Wilks 118 x 91 Vera Allen

33 X 107 Rosemary Jones 239 x 103 Irene Wool ley 49 x 90 Karen Allen

42 X 107 Christine Jukes 233 x 102 Harcia Davies 75 x 90 Doreen Colentan

42 X 107 Hary Keevey 41 x 102 Tom Faulkner 83 x 89 Mavis Ernest

139 X 107 Holly Lane 32 x 102 KathJennings 48 x 89 Beryl Trace 42 X 107 Ian Mitchell 40 x 102 Alison Pritchard 30 x 84 Margaret Hills

45 X 106 Agnes Clark 73x 101 Sheila Anderson 51 x 84 Jean Ross

63 X 106 Pat Friend 137 x 101 Marjorie Lefley 70 x 84 Peter Shuttiewood

52 X 106 AngieJones 33 x 101 Henry Woodward 41 x 83 Gwen Linfoot

34 X 106 Zsuzsi Lea 70 x 100 Zoe Cooper 80 x 81 Dorothy Henry

65 X 106 Alice Tozeland 38 x 100 Nellie Cox 63 x 81 Peggy Shortt

205 X 106 Chris Wide 57 x 100 Jean Iris Williams 36 x 81 Stanley Wilkinson

55 X 105 Audrey Barrington 99 x 99 Mary Bradley 30 x 79 GeorgeAitken

8B X 105 Julia Glen 40 x 99 Sheila Ross 30 x 79 Mary Oavison

52 X 105 Shirley Heal 82 x 98 Trish Johnson 53 x 79 Nancy Yorkston

77 X 105 Helen Sandier 146 x 97 Paul Cartman 31 x 78 Margaret Craig 63 X 105 Betty Sharp 111 x 97 Eric Rowland 31 x 78 Dorothy Edwards

80 X 104 Peter Basham 40 x 96 Jack Baker 31 x 78 Cindy Hollyer

63 X 104 Betty Benton 93 x 96 Hyra Copleston 31 x 78 Mary Shi el Is 35 X 104 Ann Clark 55 x 96 Olive Matthew 146x 72 Christine Cartman

32 X 104 Lesley Gunton 199 x 96 Lucy White 50 x 71 Bessie Winter 33 x 61 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 couldsend 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 of points difference in final spread in a game following on from one play, as opposed to a game following from the optimal play.

Andrew I: AIKNOPU

PUNKA D8a 28 28

PUNKA is best and Andrew plays it. Next best is PINKO with inferior rackleave - 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 entsa 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 onlyobscure optimal move that occurs in the wholegame. 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 2.5points better. Other influences must be at work.

Jackie 4: AEISAGT -88

AGAMI B3a 16 47

FAG at Cl 1 for 14 points is best, 3.9 points of equity better thanJackie'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 Jackieplays 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 12points of equity worse than TAXED.

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 thisin the audience. The bonus play of NAUTILUS at B13 for 59 points is 4.3 points ofequity 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, producea better final 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 equitypoints better than URE. I am surprised the differential is notgreater 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. Allthe remaining moves were reasonable but sub-optimal. For the sakeof 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.

Infact 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 effortto analyze them! However I have included some Maven analysis of the positions from the last two newsletters. My thanks to David Webb.

Inthis 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 ROJI («a) 22 GOOD NEV1 (C14a) 11 - 0.15 ALSO JIAO (J6d) 27 - 2.97 ALSO JOE (F6d) 26 - 3.70 ALSO QUINA (E7d) 14 - 9.77 ALSO JIVE (A7a) 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

Thistime the following moves weresimu lated by Maven: HAW (17) and HAWED (24) at B6d. ROED (37) at Old, and LAW (26) at Ll4a. The advantagesof HAW and HAWED is that they block playsusing 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 hehas made such an obvious set-up play should be taken into account? This might result in HAW being a better playthan 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 thebag.

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...

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: IILQRST Opponent : AEIOU

Note: Can you see the phony that stayed on the board?

A B

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 thequiz.

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 beforebut it hasn't. It means that something hasa 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 or another.

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 printsin 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 asa cameo, but it can also apparently be a literary work that is monotonous or lacks interest. I shall say no more forfear of incriminating myself.

DOULEIA(S): I've done this before aswell! You must remember, the inferior venerationof 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 outI'm notsure 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, andwhat exactly is glanders? A fatal disease of the horse and ass. For the benefit of our US readers whomay 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 withmyself,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'saccurate, 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 sayso?

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'sa few days ago and asked if he had butternuts. "No," he replied,"I always walk like this". Naturally, I'm nevergoing to speak to him again.

SEQUOIA(S): Another American tree, with ideas above Us station. Typically about100 metres above 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 inthis 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 amazinganyone 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 B C D E F G H I J K L M

14 8 7 1 3 15 16 17 2 9 10 11 18

N 0 P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

12 4 5 24 23 6 22 13 21 19 20 26 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 lastissue, 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 properagreed 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, andChambers, 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 ofus there are 50,000 orso 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 wordswhich are common to both. We would only notice if there were changes to the 2's. or 3's, orthe 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 notgive upon 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 anadvantage 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 tothis 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 bea 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 longerIk 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 aboarda 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 ofsuch 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, withlong frizzy hair; very attractive, if a little frightening. I had half an idea that 1 recognised her fromsomewhere, 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 kindof greeting, which I returned.

When I regained consciousness a couple of minutes later, I looked upand 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 toostrong 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 relatethat I immediately knew who was telling me porkies, and told them as much. All five seemed quite impressed, and I wenton 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 thepursuit 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 hadbeen forced to resign over the infamous 'Toasted Teacakes' affair. Many felt that he hadbeen 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-builtclock known asa Ben Timer, when your time ran out, it would ringthe 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 thescore: "13 plus SObonus 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 with the following situation:

Sir William AANOQRV Peregrine EINOOST

Score: Peregrine 389 SirWilliam 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. Whatmade things even worse, it prevented Sir William getting rid of his Q with YAQONA, which would have been playableoff STRONGLY.

The best he could come up with was ARVO at 07d for 30. The fact that this set upa third bonus play (1SOTONE at Nld or N2d) was academic. With a grunt of disgust, he slapped down the 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 createa 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 great deal of dissatisfaction in my enjoyment of tournaments. Any opinions expressed by APSP com mittee members in the letters column are It is not an isolated incident as it has just that - personal opinions, rather than occurred to me in each of my last four tour committee policy. 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 Chris Flnlay: I would like to take this my riles. No sooner do I pick my last tile opportunity to say how much I enjoyed the from the bag than my opponent plays a word, Isle of Wight tournament. It was in a new announces the score and hits the clock, at venue with excellent playing facilities. When which point I write both scores down, tick off youchange venues no-one can be sure how it the tiles played by myself and my opponent, will go, soa big thankyou to all Islanders for and thenlook at my rack. Again I deliberate a great time. over a difficult rack. I play a word, announce my score, hit the clock, and take my tiles. No There was just one problem, which is all too sooner do I pick my last tile from the bag familiar at tournaments, namely players who than my opponent plays a word, announces leave before the prize-giving. We in the score, hits the clock... and the same Southampton request that, if possible, players sequence occurs again, and again, and again! could stay until the prize-giving has taken place. It's quite dejecting to be presented When 4X tiles have been played my flag is witha prize when the hall is half empty, a about to drop, while my opponent's clock situation which was quite noticeable at the shows only 5-10 minutes have elapsed! This Isle of Wight event. While I understand that causes me to go at least 10+ minutes over people might have had ferries to catch, I time and a subsequent penalty loss of 100+ noticed some winners in the lower divisions points in such a game. If I had my collect their prizes, gather their belongings, opponent's thinking time 1 would be less and walk virtually the length of the room out rushed and could easily win. of the hotel. I bet if they had won the top prize they would have waited. So 1 say to Other than challenge every common word my these players, at the very least locate yourself opponent plays, and beingunsportsmanlike near an exit where maybe you can slip out myself, is there anything else I can do? unnoticed. Ed: Do other players suffer in this way? Is Ed: I agree with Chris. Unlessyou're going there anything you might advise, apart from to miss a plane, train, or ferry, please do have theinevitable "play faster"! My own experi consideration for those being presented with ence is that a quick opponent actually tends to prizes - next time it might be you! make me play faster - / have to force myself to slow down and think through the possibilities, Pauline Johnson: Just a quick word of rather than rushing my moves. That said, if thanks to all who came, played, worked, you are playing someone who is rather slow, directed, and enjoyed the inaugural you do tend to have your next move worked Middlesborough Open. Hopefully see you all out in advance, in which case you play it next year! immediately, resulting in the effect described by the letter writer.

Name and address withheld: I would appreciate comments from other players about Martin Reed: With regard to the World a certain area of gamesmanship which is not Championship, I am disappointed that we actually illegal but which has caused me a didn't get anyone into the final, but am extremely proud of all ofour team. The

45 excitement of the first 2 days, when at one match, and would encourage others to referee point 1 think we had 6 players in thetop 10, matches as I was able to learn words played was great. If only the Tile Gods had smiled by both teams. Amongst the challenges were: on Mark over the last 3 games then my ZINEB, LITE, ARBA, HAIQUE, TYND, phone bill would have gone through the roof, EMCEE, EWEST. NEVES, CLIES. watching the final live on the internet HURLINGS, WILDERS, CRESTON, MEOW, COININGS, and LUIT. 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 Lucy White: I appreciated very much the sooner rather than later. Would our team have basket of flowers and plants the APSP Com performed even better if they played mittee sent me on behalf of all my Scrabble SOWPODS all the time? I would urge all friends for my 90th birthday on October 1st. tournament organisers to offer SOWPODS My membership of my local club and the divisions next year and as many players as APSP is one of the reasons I've reached this possible to enter them. Now that approval for age comparatively Tit. the games to be rated has been given we should hopefully have more takers. The APSP must be a unique association with its large membership and wide age range, all competing on equal terms. I look forward to Chris Wide: During the last National Club attending many more organised events, and Knockout Competition Truro requesteda warmly thank those who do the organising halfway house at Exeter for their match and officiating when,no doubt,they would against Cirencestcr. I agreed to referee the 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 viathe 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 sendcheques, 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 16afor21. This set up QI for 37 at J5a, aswellas 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. leavinga 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 havebeen 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 latein 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 includesa ratings levy. Deduct 50p from the cost of the event if you are bringinga 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 thislist 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 Tournament (No. of Contact Telephone Iss games)

Dec 13 * Romford Round Robin (5) Paul Golder 01277 633339

1998 Jan 23-25 * Chester Weekend (16) Kathy Rush 01928 733565 55 Jan 25 * Hampshire Congress (7) Terry Hollington 01705791319 56 Feb 7-8 * Nomads Weekend (16) CliveSpate 01159200208 56 Feb 21 * Leicester West End (5) Marjorie Smith 0116 255 1176 57 Mar 6-8 £ Langham Hotel, E'boume 01323 731451 Mar 8 * Swindon (5) Steve Perry 01367 244757 57 Mar 14 * Lothian (5) Alan Sinclair 0131 699 7316 57 Mar 14 * East Sussex (5) Stan Skinner 01323 832003 57 Mar 15 * Newcastle DSS (5) Martin Thompson 0191 285 3367 57 Mar 28-29 *APSP Durham (11) Pete Finley 0191 565 4079 57 Mar 29 * Southampton (5) Chris Finlay 01703 558013 57 Apr 4 Romford High-Score (3) Paul Golder 01277 633339 57 Apr 4 Romford Duplicate (2or 3) Paul Golder 01277 633339 57 Apr 5 * Romford Tournament (5) Paul Golder 01277 633339 57 Apr 14-17 £ Langham Hotel, E'bourne 01323 731451 Apr 17-20 £ Langham Hotel, E'bourne 01323 731451 May 10 * Gwent (5) Terry Jones 01633 852740 Jun 20-21 • Havering Weekend (12) Christina French 01708 701578 57 Oct9-ll £ Langham Hotel, E'bourne 01323 731451 Nov3-6 £ Langham Hotel, E'bourne 01323 731451 Nov 6-8 £ Langham Hotel, E'bourne 01323 731451 Note: * = re:eistered for ratine; # = invitation only: £ = commercial event;

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