Everyone gets racks of all consonants now and again and there are numerous ways of dealing with the problem. Much depends on the stage of the game, what letters you can play, the potential of the letters you keep, and how far ahead or behind you are. It’s important not to overreact with a ‘Change’ before exploring the possibilities of moves on the board. Changing can be beneficial if it is likely to improve your scoring in the next few turns and/or improve your chances of winning. But sometimes a change can be delayed for a turn if there is a good scoring opportunity to be taken, albeit with a nasty rack leave.
Let’s look at three example racks at the start of a game with just one word on the board.
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Look at the racks below the board. Think about what you might play or change in each case, and why, and then read some suggestions by clicking on the appropriate rack |
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Rack One : C G L L N T V |
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Rack Two : D L N R S T T |
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Rack Three: C H Q R T V X |
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Now read on for more situations... |
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Now assume you have the same racks and have slipped to 40 points behind with the following game position......
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Again, have a think about what you might play or change and then click on the rack for some suggestions. When behind it can be even more difficult to make a change because of the fear of losing more ground, especially later in the game. However, as this position is still fairly early in the game there is time to make up further lost ground from a change, and time to play your way out of the consonant-heavy rack over several moves.
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Rack One : C G L L N T V |
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Rack Two : D L N R S T T |
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Rack Three: C H Q R T V X |
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There are several face-value plays through the O but all leave four consonants with either a C or V or both. One of the best times to invest in a change for a bonus is at the start of the game. In this case changing all seven gives the best chance of picking an S or blank. Avoid the temptation to keep the G for HOGG.
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This is a rack with strong bonus potential devalued by the lack of vowels. Changing is again a reasonable solution, but avoid keeping four attractive consonants because you need to give yourself a reasonable chance of picking at least two vowels from the bag. Keeping RST is better than NRTS. Note that the (S)HOG(S) and (S)H hooks provide several bonus places. Alternatively, a more defensive move is to play TOLD or DOLT and keep NRST, gambling on a vowel-heavy pickup. However, the 5 points for this is insufficient to outweigh the imbalance. Now, if the word on the board had been POH or NOH then, because neither take an -S, playing through the O to create an -S hook for a bonus (eg the DOLT move) would be preferable. Before putting emphasis on an early bonus, think about whether you are likely to be able to play it anywhere. |
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In many ways this rack is worse than the other two and a change is tempting, but let’s look at some of the available moves: VOX (13) keeping CHQRT TORCH (10) keeping QVX CH (25) keeping QRTVX Of these the CH play is rather creative. Not only does it score 25 points but there is a small chance that you might pick an A or I to be able to play QI or QAT around CH next turn, and still hold the powerful X back. Of course the opponent’s play and your pickup may not be helpful so you would need to be prepared to reconsider a change next turn. |
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Plays to consider include GLENT, VOLT, VELL or CLEG. Of these VOLT leaves the least-bad rack of CGLN. There are no I’s out yet so an -ING is possible, the L fits nicely with the Y of FAERY for an -LY ending, and the floating E may also be helpful if left. VELL scores more and takes out the floating E with a slightly inferior rack leave of CGNT. So VOLT looks best because of the compatibility of CL. Changing all seven is not a bad alternative (all emphasis on restoring balance) but the VOLT play is a reasonable compromise (emphasis on some score and some balancing). |
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Although there are numerous dumping plays through the E (eg TREND, DENT, TELD) which all keep the bonus potential of the rack alive, they don’t give the best rack leave of RST. They also take out the floating E which itself, along with the floating O, might be needed for an eight-letter play with a fair pickup. The best chance of an immediate bonus next turn is to keep the board open and change DLNT. If the scores had been level or you were ahead, then a play such as TREND would be wiser. |
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The V and X could be dumped with VOX (25). Much better though is to play VETCH and keep QRX. The turn over of four tiles gives a good chance of being able to get good triple scores for the Q next turn - an I for QI J6d, or an A for QAT F2d, plus retaining the powerful X for later scoring. Definitely not a change here! Everyone has their own style of play and some players like to be more defensive or aggressive. So some players will no doubt have different views on the best plays from the above examples, but hopefully others will have been prompted with ideas on how to deal with consonant-bound racks. |
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C is for COBZA (a Romanian folk stringed instrument)
a selection of the short C lists from issue 105
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The C can be an awkward consonant to play in shorter words but it is a surprisingly useful bonus letter, combining well with the common one and two-point tiles for bonus potential. Good five-letter C combinations include: ACERT, ACENT, CEIRT, CEINT, CEORT, CENOT The C is also the second most common starting letter of a seven-letter word after S. Some useful prefixes and suffixes to work with are:- CO- COM- CON- -ANCE -ENCE -IC -ICAL
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Sixes |
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ACE CEE COO CUE ECU ICE OCA |
CACA CECA CIAO COCA COCO ECCE ECCO |
AECIA CACAO CAECA COCCI * COCCO * COCOA COOEE |
ACACIA COCCIC * COOCOO |
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*these words require at least one blank |
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CAHOW CEIBA CEILI CHETH CHOOF CIPPI CIRRI CNIDA COBZA CRWTH CTENE CUBEB |
a sea bird a tropical tree Irish form of ceilidh a Hebrew letter to go away (Aust.) pl of CIPPUS, a pillar pl of CIRRUS, high cloud a stinging organ in jellyfish Romanian folk instrument Welsh stringed instrument a comblike swimming organ a dried pepper berry
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Words that only take a front C-hook, or a back -C hook |
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C-EORL C-HAMLET C-HAO C-HAZAN C-HUTZPA
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C-LEVE C-LIFTED C-OBIA C-ONTO C-OVARY
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C-OVERT C-OPEN C-ROUTE C-RURAL C-TENE
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C-ULEX C-URITE FUNGI-C LOTI-C |
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Your challenge is to replace all these 16 letters back on the board to recreate a valid game situation such that all the existing words are connected together in some way.
A A O U U B D F G H J L L P V Y click here for solution
BONUS MNEMONICS by Allan Simmons
With the publication of the new Official Scrabble Lists International many players will no doubt be getting to grips with the Bonus Words section and perhaps coming across the associated mnemonics for the first time. Mnemonics for the six- and seven-letter bonus combinations were first introduced with the 3rd edition of OSL. By creating a mnemonic phrase or sentence that contains all the letters that combine with a six- or seven-letter bonus combination to yield a seven- or eight-letter word, a player need only remember the mnemonic to prompt recall of bonus words during play. The bonus combination is rearranged into a keyword to prompt the mnemonic. Not all keywords are necessarily valid words, and in OSL all keywords that are not real words are shown in brackets, as they are in this article. For example:
In OSL3 the combination AEILNRU is arranged into a keyword (LUNAIRE), and given the mnemonic FAB MATHS which reveals that the letters ABFHMST combine with (LUNAIRE) to make valid eight-letter words as follows:
A=AURELIAN, B = RUINABLE,
F= FRAULEIN, H=INHAULER, M=LEMURIAN, S=LUNARIES, T=AUNTLIER, RETINULA and TENURIAL.
Clearly, you need to study the bonus words that each combination makes first, but the prompt that there is a word to find during play is often enough to prompt recall. Conversely, knowing that there is no bonus word playable is a great time saver with promising looking racks.
With the introduction of new words in OSWi, many of these mnemonics have been revised to reflect new combining letters. In other cases the mnemonics and keywords have been changed to improve their memorability. For example:-
The (LUNAIRE) keyword has been changed to (U & I LEARN) which is a better association with FAB MATHS.
The (RENOTED) keyword previously had the neat one-word mnemonic of SCHOLIUM. However although it is a neat solution the word and keyword have no association. In OSLi this has been changed to ERODENT with the mnemonic MUCH SOIL LOSS giving an ‘erosion’ link.
The keyword INTRUDE previously had the unhelpful SWAMP BRIDE as the mnemonic but now, with the additional letters of CLN, there is a better phrase: CLAMBER INSIDE PALACE WALL prompting the words:
(+ = other anagrams possible):
A= URINATED+, B=UNDERBIT+,
C= REINDUCT , D=INTRUDED, E=REUNITED+, I=UNTIDIER, L=UNDERLIT , M=RUDIMENT+, N=INTURNED , P=TURNIPED, R=INTRUDER, S=INTRUDES, W=UNDERWIT.
So if you had the INTRUDE plus an F you would know not to try UNDERFIT or UNRIFTED, and know not to spend ages looking for something with INTRUDE+O
The creation of mnemonics can be quite an art if they are to fulfil essential criteria of: having some connection with the keyword it relates to reducing the risks of misremembering the mnemonic creating a memorable or personal mental image avoid having too many abbreviations and acronyms.
As is often the case, the combining letters with some combinations are just not very flexible due to lack of vowels and it is necessary to settle for an unsatisfactory keyword and/or mnemonic. In other cases, more can be done to achieve most, if not all of the objectives.
In a few rare cases the mnemonic can be reduced to just one word. In other cases perhaps a very short phrase of two or three words could be constructed. However, the shortness of the mnemonic is not always especially helpful, especially if has no connection with the keyword prompt. It’s far better to have a longer mnemonic with some (albeit often tenuous) connection with the keyword. Also the more ridiculous the mental image the more memorable it can be.
Lets look at some OSLi examples:
DANGER = TOO PERILOUS (short and a good keyword association)
SNARES = GOD CATCHES WICKER FLY (good keyword association and amusing image)
LATHER = FOAMY AMBIENCES
(good association but if it wasn’t for the obvious LATHERS, the S of AMBIENCES could easily be omitted on recall. Perhaps SOME FOAMY AMBIENCE would have been better.)
METROS = PARIS HAS LE BON UNDERGROUND
(strong keyword association is the overriding power of this one).
Note : If there is an S required in the mnemonic then using it as plural should be avoided because it’s too easy to drop the S when recalling. Also avoid easily confusable words such as MAN or MEN if the A or E is critical in that word.
Finally, here are some of my personal favourites from OSLi:
AGENTS - DEAL IN THEATREDOM
DI & ROSE - AMAZED TWELVE BLOND CHAPS
INTROS - HOPEFUL BEGINNING TO ACT
READING - HELD STORYBOOK IN MY HANDS
SMARTIE - LOVELY SWEETY COMPOUND PACKED IN LONG BOX
DESPAIR - POOR ENGLISH EDUCATION
I’m sure readers can further improve on the mnemonics in OSLi. By creating your own you can make them more personal and therefore more memorable. Note that OSL does not show any mnemonics for combinations that don’t combine with any vowels. However one solution that readers might like to pursue for themselves is use the combining letters as the initial letters of words in a sentence. For example:
ARENOSE = The Boozer Displayed Red Snout Proudly
Have fun!
Note: OSLi lists mnemonics for as many as possible of the 250 6-letter combinations and 250 7-letter combinations.
Solutions for Join Them Up Challenge
TYPO A3 across, HADJ D4 across, JUGFUL G3 down, LOVABLE G8 across
