Thanks to Rich Baker of the USA for this newsy item.
At a recent tournament in the USA, Matt Graham completed his round 17 game against Mark Przybyszewski using only 96 seconds on his own clock, and went on to win the game 471-370. The game was the last round of the event and as Matt was already out of the prize money he had no special reason to worry about maximising spread. He started the game with two very high scoring plays to take a commanding lead and then decided to go for the best time he could.
His opponent, Mark, had the unusual habit of announcing his turn score and then writing his turn score meticulously before hitting his clock. The time that it took Mark to do this was plenty for Matt to record the cumulative score (which he is required to do before making his play), so Matt could slap his tiles on the board as soon as Mark hit the clock.
[We wonder if Matt then spent five minutes correctly spelling his opponent's name on the result sheet !]
A series from the pen of Densil Grempet
This feature is inspired by the BBC's radio 4 programme, Desert Island Discs, where celebrities select eight pieces of music they'd take with them if stranded on a desert island, music that would bring back sweet or poignant memories. Densil similarly asks well-known Scrabble players to select the words they would treasure if stranded in the middle of nowhere&ldots;&ldots;
Scotland has produced some fine Scrabble players over the years, including the late, lamented John Catto, and more recently the redoubtable Neil Scott. But none have achieved anything like as much, anything like as quickly, as Paul Allan. Paul is currently rated #2 in Britain, and in November he beat the #1, Mark Nyman, 10-6 in the Final of the British Elimination Scrabble Tournament. Scotland doesn't have a great record in the World Scrabble Championship, but with Paul representing his country in Malaysia later this year, I have no doubt this is about to change.
I've flown up to Glasgow to meet Paul in his home town. He's currently completing his PhD in Nuclear Physics or some similarly thaumaturgic subject, but fortunately the conversation revolves around the subject of Scrabble rather than particle physics.
Densil: Hello Paul, it's a pleasure to see you. I'm sure you know the routine by now: eight words, eight fond memories - so without further ado, tell us your first word.
Paul: My first word is DAISIES. According to my Mum, it was my first ever word, so it's always nice to play it.
Densil: I'm not sure what my first ever word was - apparently I was a difficult child, so it was probably NO, spoken with conviction and the kind of face-screwed-up grimace that only babies can do. I guess it's appropriate that the first ever word of a future Scrabble champion contains seven letters, whereas mine is a pathetic two-letter word.
Paul: Don't knock 2-letter words. The move that I think is my best ever was AR for 2 points. I was playing Simon Gillam at the Scottish Championships in 1998. I had a lead of around 70 points with 2 tiles in the bag and something like AEEILNRST unseen. I couldn't score enough to guarantee the win or even block potential S- bonuses so I set up a scoring spot for myself that he couldn't adequately block. I was able to work out that AR won for all of Simon's possible racks. Ironically, I picked up the S, so almost any move would have won the game easily.
Densil: In that kind of situation you almost feel cheated! You want your skill to be rewarded; you don't want the win to be handed to you on a plate. It's a pity that the average man on the street is impressed by obscure words with difficult tiles, such as TZADDIQ, whereas a clever strategic move is actually much more satisfying. Time for your third word, Paul.
Paul: From one extreme to the other - following AR, my third word is IMMETHODICALLY. This is my longest word in a game of Scrabble. It was against the computer program Maven, unfortunately, rather than a human. I played METHODIC, Maven extended it to METHODICALLY and I was lucky enough to draw IM.
Densil: I certainly wouldn't have been sure of IMMETHODICALLY, but when you have the chance of a 14-letter word you have to go for it. The nearest I've ever come was when VOLUTION was played, with the chance for REVOLUTIONARIES. I had something like AEIRS, but didn't fish for the 15-letter word. I've always regretted it.
Paul: My fourth word, or more accurately non-word, contains 15 letters: STEELIEHOUNDERS. Not one of mine - this was played by Martin Cairns my Scottish League teammate. Needing to score 100+ on his last move he tried to add STEELIE to the front of HOUNDERS, which he'd played earlier but which should have been challenged off as it was an OSW match. I most remember the adjudicator Carol Malkin's reaction. Having no Chambers dictionary at the venue, she phoned a friend, insisting that she also look under HOUNDERS, STEELEEHOUNDERS and STEELYHOUNDERS. She even offered to drive several miles to her house and back to retrieve her Chambers and check for herself this most ludicrous attempt at a word.
Densil: Superb! But hey, maybe it is in a dictionary somewhere? It sounds to me like it might have reggae origins - the Jamaican steeliehounders, private detectives with a musical leaning. The world is full of wonderful words.
Paul: On the subject of wonderful words, I've always liked RUNCIBLE, which I managed to play as a 9-timer for 167 at the 1999 NSC. It was the highest scoring move of the tournament. I get so very few opportunities to play 9-timers that each one is special. This is my favourite though.
Densil: It's also wonderful that a word can find its way into the dictionary simply because someone made it up in a nonsense poem.
Paul: Making up words can be very fruitful. My sixth word, SLANE, came in my first tournament win, Kirkcaldy 1996. It was against Moya Dewar and LANE was on the board. Needing a bonus to win I desperately tried to add an S to the front of it, and was as amazed as Moya that it was good. That was in the days before I did any real word studying. It's one of the things that I miss since starting intensive studying - the scope for pleasant discoveries that attempted words are good diminishes to nearly nothing.
Densil: The pleasure of pleasant discoveries is something that's still very much a part of my Scrabble life. But I reckon playing a favourite word is an even better feeling.
Paul: Being a scientist can cause problems in Scrabble, with so many scientific "words" not having found their way into the dictionary. One that has is my seventh word, MAXWELL. Named in honour of the great physicist James Clerk-Maxwell it's the CGS unit of magnetic flux and is one of my favourites. I've only had the opportunity to play this once but for 100+ it was most satisfying.
Densil: As I mentioned in my introduction, you won the 2002 BEST, one the biggest events in the Scrabble calendar, against one of the best players in the world. That must have been a great feeling.
Paul: It was, and my final word PREUNITED comes from the Final. It was possibly my best "competitive situation" move. Holding DEEIPRT and needing a bonus to win, I was able to fit PRE-UN-ITED in for a last ditch win. Not a particularly difficult spot, but I was very glad to manage it under the pressure of the situation.
Densil: I was lucky enough to be there, and it was an excellent spot under intense time pressure. All you need to do now is repeat the performance in Kuala Lumpur! Many thanks Paul, for sharing your Words in the Wilderness.
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.
D D D E E E F I J O O R S S U X click here for solution
In a BEST game last year Paul Allan started a game with the non-word KARTED. The words KART and KARTING were familiar to both players so the assumption was that KART was a verb and the play, although invalid, went unchallenged. The false evidence for the verb was compounded by the existence of the agent noun (KARTER). So it doesn't always follow that if you know a root word and an associated -ING and -ER form that it is a verb and the associated -ED inflexion is a valid. Here's a selection of words where you should NOT play the -ED form.
-ING but no -ED form
BAUBLING
BRASTING
DAIRYING
EMBACING
FERNING
FIRRING
GLOAMING
HALLING
KETCHING
LEESING
LEGERING
LOONING
MEARING
MOSHING
PERSING
QUALMING
ROADING
SHEILING (especially confusing because SHIELED is ok)
-ER and -ING but no -ED form
BUTCHER BUTCHING
CROFTER CROFTING
DREARER DREARING
GRICER GRICING
KARTER KARTING
LOWSER LOWSING
RIEVER RIEVING
TROUTER TROUTING
TWOCCER TWOCCING
Solutions for Join Them Up Challenge
FJORD D7 down, JUXTAPOSED D8 across, ABED A11 across, SIDESHOW K8 down
