August 26, 2016

• I still play Scrabble

  I call myself "semi-retired" from Scrabble these days, because I no longer compete in 10-15 tournaments a year, as I used to.  I don't even compete in ONE tournament a year.  Or at least, not until lately.  A hardy band of Florida players unafraid to try the international word list (we call it "Collins," after the dictionary that publishes it) have started to meet semi-regularly in Orlando and I'm happy to join them.

  And we have a certified director friend who shows up, which makes them "rated tournaments" so I guess I'm back in action.

  It occurred to me this morning (while I was driving to work) that it might be useful to rename letter combinations such as "ORIENT+D."  There's no seven-letter word there, which is why I've been calling it that.  But why not think of it as "DETRION" or even "TERNOID?"  Here's why:  if TI is on the board already, I can play DETRITION through that two-letter word and get the 50-point bonus for emptying my rack.  I didn't know the word DETRITION until a few moments ago.  I found it by using a program on my computer that tells you all the nine-letter words that consist of ORIENT+D+two blanks.  I looked for two-letter words inside of that seven-letter stem, and found DETRITION, DETRUSION, and TERPENOID.  (PE is also a valid word.)  Not only that.  I learned the word UPTIES, which is the third-person singular for the verb UPTIE, which I also just learned.  The end letters of UPTIES are U and S, just what I need for DETRUSION.  Next to the end letters are P and E, just what I need for TERPENOID.  And the center letters are T and I, just what I need for DETRITION.

  Such is the joy that studying Scrabble words brings me.

  • 8:16 am
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