After my near-death experience the night before, I regained some of my schwerve in the second half of the tournament...though it wasn't easy getting up the next morning.
Game 11 against Bob L was a rather pedestrian game as far as plays went - we traded bingoes on our fourth racks, his LOITERS followed by my INERTIAE (through the N, turning a rack of AEEIIRT into 82 points). I then picked up ?BDEGOT but with nowhere to play BiGOTED, I instead played through an I, keeping the blank...and drawing AENORS, which allowed a 58-point pERSONAL next rack for an 80-point lead. I coasted to a 400-356 win despite his 55-point JET a turn later.
Game 12 was a frustrating one against Marje S - despite getting to opening with ZEBRA 52 after she dumped four tiles from her opening rack, she struck back with NOTABLEs through the B. I was able to build a 90-point lead on the strength of FIXED 32, HOMO 46 and TEAK 34 but when she drew the second blank and third S to make SILlIER to pull her within 24, the board closed up. When she dumped one U with NU and another with NUGGET, I figured her for the last U and realized I couldn't afford to draw the Q, so I played carefully...but drew it anyway, and allowed her the last S. So despite her drawing both blanks and all four S's, she STILL needed to stick me with the Q to win, 381-364.
The last game before lunch started off with a similar bang - Mark P opened with PHON (a unit of loudness) which I hooked to make PHONE and FIQUE (a tropical plant) for 47 After his beautiful natural ANOREXIA (through an opening I had made) two racks later, I held CEIRSTV and had a choice - either take VERTICES for 78, or try VERISTIC, a word I was only 60% sure of, for 20 points more. I opted for the safe play and took the points. I then stupidly opened up another spot, which he smashed with a 97-point YOWLERS to take a 50-point lead. Desperate to catch up, I opened yet another spot, which enabled him to drop JESTS for 60 and seal the deal. I caught him with 11 points on his last rack which drew me to within 411-363, but I had hit my low point of the tournament at 3-8. Time for lunch.
The peppermill turkey bagel sandwich must have had something in it because I came back with a vengeance in the afternoon. After Dave K opened with TAU, I played VEXT to the T for 22. He then played ZEAL through the E for 33, setting up a rather unique opportunity to pluralize both TAU and ZEAL at once - with OGRISMS (the state of resembling an ogre) for 84. He held it for a minute, but let it go (the spelling of OGREISMS is better-known, but both are good). Three turns later, Dave makes AGAROSE (a sugar) for 75, next to which I play WUD (crazy) for 26. This makes the following position:
| W | U | D | |||||
| A | G | A | R | O | S | E | |
| - | = |
The single-quote is a double-letter score, and the equals sign is a triple-word score. My rack is EHKLNPR, and I net a cool 67 points for KELP to the triple, making WOK, USE and DEL (an operator in differential calculus) in the process. He uses both blanks to make AEROlItE (a meteorite containing more stone than iron) for 68, but that enables me to turn BEHNRRT into BRETHREN through the E for 64 more. From there we trade average scores and I emerge with a 401-344 victory.
Game 15 is a rematch against Debbie, and we jump out to a quick start - I open with JOINS for 40, she comes back with SMEARING a rack later for 80. When she makes TWANG to leave the G just above a triple-letter score, it lets me get 41 for DRIFTY (full of snow drifts) instead of the 20-something it would have scored. My next rack nets my first blank in four games, and I waste no time in dropping WEARIEr for 67, which I follow with NOSH for 45. She replies with RATOONED (to sprout from a previously-planted root) for 61 and then drops FEAZED (fazed) between the F and D for 38 to draw within 2, but I'm able to counter with YERK (to beat vigorously) for 27, which I then hook an S to two turns later with VISE for. Still, she's not done - her last rack, which I mistracked, was ILNSUPP (I had her for IINSUPP) and it turns out she could have won if she'd tried SUPPLING (she had also considered PULPINGS, which is no good), but chickened out and played SUPPING instead for 45, which gave me a 416-362 win and my first winning streak.
Frank greeted me our next game by opening with BATTY after I had drawn ??DEFIQ to open (the only 7 or 8 in that rack is SQUIFFED, meaning drunk). I passed FQ and (of course) drew UU...but I found the only double-double eight through T in that rack with a nifty qUIETUDe (the state of tranquility) for 78. He made VEX for 46, followed by BOW for 37, but I managed to play AGONIES on a triple for 90, putting me up 60. I slowly extended it with plays like ZILL 28 (plankton), UNRATED 27 and HIM 30 before he got back into it with SOUTANE (a clerical robe) for 72 and SPY for 37. Unfortunately, SPY enabled my 45-point SNEAKS and despite getting stuck with the Q again against him, I escaped with a 424-410 victory and a heady three-game streak going into the last game of the day.
And what a game it was. My opening rack of ?IIMRTU didn't look promising, but I found one of two bingoes with TRIvIUM (the singular of trivia). She came back with READYING from the R, and my ACHELRU went through the N for RELAUNCH. She then tried SPOUTED/TRIvIUMS which got challenged off, but since she had two places to play (SPOUTED or OUTSPED in another spot, and OUTSPEEd elsewhere) the best I could do was ROLF...although if RELAUNCH hadn't blocked the G in READYING, I would have had a 204-point ROOFINGS! She then played SPOUTED for 78, and my AIINNOS slotted through the M in TRIvIUM for INSOMNIA and my third bingo in four turns. She wasn't done, though - down came ZONER (one who makes zones) for 68 (triple-letter double-word) followed by JAPE/PRELAUNCH (double-letter triple-word for 79) and a 300-268 lead after a mere 5 turns each. BAM for 31 put her up more, but a 48-point VAST/ZONERS pulled closer. GOX 38 (gaseous oxygen) for her, FROW 30 (a cleaving tool) for me. She drew the other blank and used it for VEgETATE 64, I responded with HAVEN for 45. But despite a 37-point YO and 28 more for ICKERS (a head of grain), she was able to hang on for a wild 529-486 victory, my highest losing score ever. The irony - it wasn't even the highest losing score of the tournament; that honor belonged to a 505-488 game at the head table. We eventually figured out that SICKO would have scored more on my last rack and I could have lost 511-491 but just the fact that we'd obliterated 1000 total points in a game was enough for us.
I had been debating going down to Southport to see blues harmonica legend James Cotton but decided against it as I was tired. So instead I stayed up playing anagrams. The big challenge of the night was finding a 12-word triple anagram of ARTHROSCOPE, CRAPSHOOTER and PROTHORACES, though OVERPASSED/EAVESDROPS, HARMONICAS/MARASCHINO and NECTARINES/TRANSIENCE were time-consuming as well. I stumped a few people with ENUMERATION/MOUNTAINEER, and spotted DECORATION/COORDINATE right away, but despite the spirit being willing to continue, the flesh was weak and I finally called it an early morning at 1:30, finally ending day 3 with a 7-10 record.
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