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NSC 2014 Commentary: Round 24

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.

Round 24

Stefan Rau (Hudson, NY) is enlivening the Collins division today with his lime green Converse shoes and bright, geometric print shirt. You cannot miss him from across the room! He played Austin Shin (United Kingdom). On their board I see BOWLED, OLIVINE, VOICERS, FuGLIEST#, and WuRZELS. Stefan’s win, 378-367. All I got to say is this: There are already too many Us in SCRABBLE, you make the blanks two more! Sheesh!

John OLaughlin (San Francisco, CA) and Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) go to the challenge machine. GIRDLER is acceptable.

Sunshine Lewis (wife of Herb Lewis (Cherry Hill, NJ)) made her trek to Niagara Falls and took the Maiden of the Mist boat ride, standing in the front a la Kate Winslet in Titanic. She loved her time there.

Another round of former NSC champs at table 1 in Collins. Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) vs. Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR). The game is over by the time I stop by and I can tell by the angle of Dave’s head that it wasn’t his win. I see Adam’s dHURNAS and OVERTIRe. Making lemonade out of lemons, Dave played JARK# for 60, QUOD for 42, and ZAS for 55. Adam did indeed win, 416-357.

A 478-470 win for Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) against John OLaughlin (San Francisco, CA). I see John’s SPINETTE# and Joel’s VANISHER. ERuDITE and BaRGAINS are on the board, too.

RAVAGERS, RHENIUMS, MILTIER, WOOdSMEN played through an O, AsININE, OUTYELP, AZLON, and CRAIC#. A 466-386 win for Mark.

I catch a Ben Greenwood (Florence, MA) vs. Jonathan Lindh (Chicago, IL) game in progress. I am sure it got much more interesting, but my swings by only picked up SALTIES! Then I hear that Ben played Greg Feldkamp (Cleveland Heights, OH) at board 1 last round and that was the game I really wanted to see. Ben won, 465-314. Greg opened with ARIA for 8 and Ben replied with DOTTIEST through the I. Later on Greg played TUNA for 8 and Ben replied with QUART for 48. Greg got his revenge, though, by making WINES/QUARTE on one turn and SOX/QUARTES on another.

Crayne Spanier (Toronto ON) had a great game start last round. A bingo-bango-bongo in his first three plays: MARQUIS for 92, RELATIVE for 71, and EXPOSURE for 85. He won, of course. Then on his next game, he opened with DOGSH@T* (the @ is an I). And he lost. In his defense, he contends that he really thought it was good. I told him it was bad, even in Collins! He went on to lose that game.

Jean McArthur (Austin, TX) has come onto the dais and rubbed our shoulders. We are soooo thankful! Wish we could give her a bit of spread for her giving nature!

A local team of professional videographers has been hired to record some Hasbro footage. These folks are quite creative. This round, they put the camera and camera operator into a wheelchair and they pushed the chair between the row of tables. It will make a great “moving” shot, I bet!

Greg Feldkamp (Cleveland Heights, OH) vs. Marshall Resnick (West Orange, NJ): LeISURE and DOWAGER. Game still in progress.

Doug Critchlow (Columbus, OH) vs. Charles Dupont (Seattle, WA): OVERRAN and INERTIaS. Game still in progress.

Mike Baron (Corrales, NM) had a fun trip before the NSC. His daughter, going into her third year at a Western Mass college, wanted her car at school. So, instead of flying to Buffalo as he had planned, he drove from New Mexico to New York, stopping a few times (one being at Niagara Falls, of course!). Melina went onto college a couple of days ago, leaving her dad to fly back home to New Mexico after the NSC.

Peter Hopkins (Toronto ON) vs. Megan McMahon (Worcester, MA). She got down GrITTIER and BULLETS and he played BOASTED and TINDERS. She points out his high-scoring JiNNY*/BY for 59. I asked twice, it wasn’t an E, but an I. Peter’s win, 436-361.

Sean Baizana (Ottawa ON) drops me off a pile of Jolly Rancher taffies. Sweet, sweet!

Timothy Schwab (Cheektowaga, NY) is winding up his game with Zachary Ansell (Los Angeles, CA). I see Zachary’s 90-point double-double FLATTERY for 90 and Tim’s DEVOTIoN. Zachary’s win, 423-305. Of the game, Timothy said, “he sure plays quickly.” Zachary had more than 16 minutes left on his clock.

Mark Fidler (Waltham, MA) vs. George Asaka (Omaha, NE). I ask them how the game went and Mark said, “he exploded!” I see Mark’s STRINGY and OUTRAGES and George’s LITERATI, DELETES (blank L), and MEANEST. Mark played UPHROE at one point and George slapped VETO down to the triple, hooking to make EUPHROE. Nice. A 511-368 win!

Nigel Peltier (Portland, OR) vs. Kolton Koehler (Portland, OR). I hear one of them ask the other if WEARIED takes an A front hook. I didn’t hear the answer, so I looked it up. It does in Collins! Conrad played ROTTENLY as a double-double, THORNEd, LAMINOUS and Kolton played ANISEEDS, PRIZED for 50, POUFF, and WEARIED. My notes have Nigel extended WEARIED to OUTWEARIED. Kolton says that Nigel “chickened” out in the endgame by not trying BEACHIER through the E. Instead he stayed safe and played BRACHET to the T instead. OUTWEARYING is one of those words that has an AEIOUY in it. Nigel’s win.

I walk away from the board impressed with Kolton. I mention this to Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Piedmont, CA) and he agreed and said I might not know that the is one of the best Boggle players in the world. Remind me NOT to play with him anytime soon.

Sandy Nang (Malibu, CA) played a triple-triple DEASHING for 167 points and she lost the game anyway. She was tracking when she should have been noticing that he got away with a phony two: OT. I said, “Wait, there are phony 2s in Collins? Aren’t all two letter combinations good?” She gave me the look. The win was for Steve Polatnick (Miami, FL).

Jesse Day (Berkeley, CA) vs. Mack Meller (Bedford, NY). Two for Jesse: DAUpHINE for 80 and FisTNOTE for 80. Two for Mack: PERSISARCS for 76 and SODALITES for 61. Mack’s win.

Cesar Del Solar (Albany, CA) played two 9s this round: CONTRASTY (he added the Y) and AMBITIOUS (he played from AMBI). His opponent, Scott Garner (Memphis, TN), played DESIGNER, CONTRAST, and OWNAbLE while Cesar got down PuDDLES. Scott’s win.

Holy Moly! A 522-523 game in division 1 that survived the recount! Both players made bingo-bango-bongos! First, Eric Tran (Calgary AB) got down REIFIES, GORMAND, and COUNTERS. Jeff Fiszbein (South Lyon, MI) played DELETES, EQUATING, and PAINTER. Eric later played STAGGIER, but it wasn’t enough by one point and Jeff won this match up. Wow!