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NSC 2008 Commentary: Round 16

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Go to: 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, Award Ceremony.

Round 16

Daniel Goodwin (Seattle, WA) asks me over to division 2 where a nice game has just been played between Charles Smith (Durham, NC) and Andrew Solomon (Barrington, IL). Andrew opened with TOADISH for 80, which was challenged. Since the play was good, Andrew got a second turn. He played INTIMES* for 83, making a 7-tile overlap of IT/NO/TA/ID/MI/ES/SH! Charles decided to join in the game and played SHACKLERS from the SH for 88. Andrew then played AQUARIUm through the Q for 82. Later Charles got down ARTsIER for 69. It was a bittersweet bingo, as he knew what Andrew held and he could do nothing to stop IBEX through the B, on the triple for 63. Andrew's win, 528-401. This is Charles' 4th loss in a row, yet he still smiles. Yukiko Loritz (Anaheim, CA) walks over and checks out INTIMES* on her palm: there is no angram.

Jesse Day (New Haven, CT) is delighted to report that he held the rack JQXZ in a game against Winter Zxqkj (Houston, TX). Sadly, I think the coolness factor didn't add up to winning mojo. I think Winter wouldn't mind all his opponents finding themselves with has last name in the endgame.

Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Moraga, CA) defeated Glenn Dunlop (Brantford ON) this round, 536-312. This monster win was due mostly to: ALTERGRI for 76, DEFINITE for 74, TAnGELO for 99, and FEIJoA for 73. Glenn did get down ORBITAL for 71. Conrad is still fond of his play of DEMIURGe in round 15.

I'm sure it came around as a joke at one point, but someone moved a fake ficus tree from the side of the room and plopped it beside the bottom two games in division 1. It is almost like those at those table are attempting to blend into the scenery. This round I catch a barefooted Nawapadol Sayavesa (Thailand) playing Rose Kreiswirth (East Northport, NY). I could barely make her out due to the foliage obscuring her!

I see Lila Crotty (Metairie, LA) playing and wonder how her daughter Lindsay is doing. This is the first tournament I've seen Lila out without Lindsay in a long time. A long-planned wedding is scheduled for three weeks from now between Lindsay and her finance, James Bahra. The kicker? They both play SCRABBLE and he made a beachside SCRABBLE-themed proposal to her! No one can accuse Lila of being a meddling mom. She is here in Orlando playing SCRABBLE to her heart's content! Congrats to Lindsay and James on their upcoming nuptials!

I catch Nigel Richards (Malaysia) quietly watching division 1 games wrap up; his 440-357 win against Ian Weinstein (Coral Springs, FL) now under his belt. I notice something I'd not taken note of until now: Nigel has on a nice pair of boots! So, I took a full-length shot for his fans in New Zealand and Malaysia.

Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) continues his winning streak, now up to 13 games in a row, defeating Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ) this round, 548-320.