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NSC 2011 Commentary: Round 8

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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 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.

Round 8

A gorgeous morning in Dallas, Debbie Stegman (Kew Gardens, NY) told me over breakfast that she actually took a walk outside this early am and it was only in the high 70s!

Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA) started us off today, asking how many of us were here due to Word Freak. A large number of hands went up. What a good feeling that must be for Stefan Fatsis (Washington, DC) to know that he made such a large impression on a community. Mary Rhoades then reminded us that she has batteries for sale, for failing timers.

Eric Tran (Calgary AB) is just a funny guy. Today his shirt says, "I put the STUD in STUDY." At first, the final word was in a fold, so I thought it said STUDLY.

Walking by some division 4 games, I caught Kenny Hoang (Cary, NC) put down ALINERS/IS for 63. His opponent, Elizabeth Davis (Dayton, OH) had played the game's first bingo: SEVERAL for 72.

Stefan Fatsis (Washington, DC) vs. Paul Avrin (New York, NY) at table 1 in division 2. I see CeLOSIA and OvERSEE early on. At the game's end, which Stefan won, 455-392, I catch him on the phone. He is calling his wife, Melissa, whose highest SCRABBLE play ever was the 187-point outbingo triple-triple DOWNTIME. Sure enough, in this game with Paul, Stefan got a chance to play it on the triple lane, not a triple-triple, mind you, but very pretty anyway.

Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) got his crack at Nigel Richards (Malaysia) this round. The board is covered in awesomeness, as expected: OOLITES, LEGATOS, ABETTED, HANDFUL, INCREASE, AUREOLA, PICKINg, and KNARRY. I learned that you can have HANDSFUL and HANDFULS, but not HANDSFULS*. It was Nigel's win.

David Koenig (Silver Spring, MD) played the word BLANK in his game with Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Piedmont, CA). Stone-faced and dry as could be, Conrad shot back: Don't forget to designate it.

A gorgeous board at the table of Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX) vs. Jesse Day (Berkeley, CA). What keeps me going sometimes is the ridiculous. For instance, do Joel and Judy Horn know all the "HORN" words? And, in the case of this game, was it Jesse who played DAYBED? A win for Geoff, 552-426, and Jesse's highest-scoring loss so far in the NSC. Jesse's better plays were LEARNERS, PINTOES, and ENGRAIL (his opening play). Geoff got down OUTSKIRT, SoURDINE, YATTEReD, and the dlb-dlb DOLERITE. Other words: CHIEL, WANLY, HAMADA. Beautiful board, really.

Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ) vs. Jerry Lerman (Foster City, CA). A tense game, low time, and the gorgeous TELEGRAMMED on the board.

Trey Wright (Sierra Madre, CA) looks so good today. He's in a pretty blue long sleeved button down shirt (which he says he needs to survive the ac in this room) and his hair is hollywood perfect. He and Scott Appel (Trenton, NJ) are winding up their game this round. I see CINEASTES, pREYERS, MEOUING, and fAWNIER.

Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) challenged off her opponent's bingo to only lose by 127 instead of 250. She was rushing off, so I didn't hear the rest of the story.

The NSA's John D. Williams, Jr., is on site and already in the publicity groove. I'll keep you updated if we end up on MSNBC!

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 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.