Go to: Commentary Games Players Standings Photos tsh Prizes

Back to CNSC 2008 Live Coverage

CNSC 2008 Commentary: Round 14

[ ]

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, Award Ceremony, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3, Final Round 4, Final Round 5, After the Tournament.

Round 14

Joan Buma (Grimsby ON) vs. Lynda Wise (Toronto ON). While I'm watching, Joan plays DIAZO/HAED to the triple for 53. This, as all the other games here, is being played with the event Protiles (white with blue lettering and blue maple leaves on the blanks) and Lynda has made the play of sILVERs, which looks so pretty, perfectly bookcased as it is by the blanks.

I run into Lam Tang (Vancouver BC) by the standings screen and he tells me that he had good game yesterday with Tony Leah (Ajax ON). I ask how it is going today and we decide to ask him later on!

"You got all 10," said Michael Lancashire (Toronto ON) to Ross Brown (Kanata ON) and he pushed back from the table. I'd seen Michael with a couple lollipops today, which he told me were nicotine delivery vehicles. I feared he was going outside to have a cigarette. I was right, that was his plan. As it turns out, the loss, 369-444, could have been so much worse. Michael, down by 178, bingoed out with VITALITY for 95 points, which was my favorite word on that board.

Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) defeated Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON) this round, 522-454. Turns out that the game was highly competitive and one small change could have made all the difference in the scores. Joel played APRAXIAs for 114, SNAILED for 89, and BEWORMs for 77. Chris played three of his own: REIVING for 83, LEGALIZE for 74, and TRIAGES for 72. Chris pointed out that had he played STAGIER instead, he could have bingoed out with RETURNEE, leaving Joel with LTZUN, which would have won him the game. But.... if wishes were fishes....

Adam Logan (Waterloo ON) vs. Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC). Two bingos each. Adam's MOLDERING and RETrIEVE and Dean's TANGLeRS and INVALIDS.

Mark Edelson (Toronto ON) is managing to smile ongoingly. This despite drawing a blank on the first pull and holding it the whole game long against Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON). He lost by a bunch, too, 234-442. And he is still smiling! A positive attitude goes a long way when the turkeys are trying to get you down.

Who doesn't want to see a board with BIRDFARM on it!? In addition to that lovely played through the R for 84, Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) also played LATEENER for 82, GInGELY, and TWITChES to the S for 89. His opponent, Ron Hoekstra (Kentwood, MI), was having a pretty tough game, but managed SIENITE. Out of desperation, at the very end, Ron tried to block the TWITCHES spot on the bingo lane with NONGOERS*, which Evan called off.

Part of the glamor of the Internet reporting gig is tossing trash off abandoned tables and bringing paperwork up to the data inputter. Tables 3, 2, and 1 all finished at about the same time, so I was gathering their paperwork. Last table's paperwork was 1, and I asked Tony Leah (Ajax ON) if I could carry his slip up. He said, "Wait, let me check it first. You know what? Let's recount!" The table erupted in laughter (remember, there are still four annotators there, it is like a Parisian picnic up there!), which I didn't quite get until I checked out the slip. David Boys (Dorval QC) won, 578-386.

I walk by what is termed the "Four P" board. Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON) has deafeated Jeremy Hildebrand (Ottawa ON), 478-314. Craig played APpENDS and SpRAYER (as his outbingo), thus the Four Ps. Jeremy played BAZOO and DILUTANT*, which they discover, as I stand there, is phoney. Jeremy ended up eating IIUQR. Ick.

I see Chris Lipe standing near my desk and give him the keyboard. He says, "Annotating at board one -- today has been quite the day. It's really interesting to watch the top players and see what they play -- and also what they miss. I don't feel bad by saying this because these games are all on the website -- I was sitting there amazed as David Boys (Dorval QC), playing Adam Logan (Waterloo ON), missed the hook on GENTRIES to win the game at the end. There have been breathtaking moments too -- his beautiful play of VOyAGeRS through AG for a non-bingo 3x3 yesterday, or the beautiful COINMATES through N and S this morning. I've been annotating him for most of the tournament -- people ask how I'm doing, and guess what, I'm mostly winning! :-) The other thing I've been doing, in the downtime between plays, is chatting with some people who are out there in Scrabbleland watching the coverage. It almost makes me feel like a REAL reporter. And it's pretty cool to be able to add additional color -- "so and so is spending a lot of time on the movie, shuffling tiles" sort of thing. Even though some complicated citizenship issues prevented me from playing in the tournament, I'm still having a really great time. I believe I'll be in annotating the finals tomorrow morning. New excitements await!

"Oh, and time against Glenn Dunlop on move two where David exchanged five vowels, and the annotator entered it as exch EIEIO, that was me."

Okay, hope that made sense! Lunch is soon over and then two games before a break!

HASBRO is the owner of the registered SCRABBLE^® trademark in the United States and Canada. © 2008 HASBRO. All rights reserved. "SCRABBLE Brand Crossword Game" is the proper way to refer to this unique group of word games and related properties marketed by HASBRO. "SCRABBLE" is not a generic term. To use it as such is not only misleading but also does injustice to the company responsible for the trademark's longtime popularity. All we ask is that when you mean SCRABBLE Brand Crossword Game, you say so. 

The SCRABBLE^® trademark is owned by J.W. Spear and Sons, PLC, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc. outside of the United States and Canada. 

For more information about SCRABBLE or the NSA, or to comment on or correct the contents of this page, please e-mail: info@scrabble-assoc.com 
To report technical difficulties in reading this page,  please contact webmaster John Chew at: jjchew@math.utoronto.ca