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NSC 2012 Commentary: Round 19

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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 19

Back from a lunch break, Adam Ginzberg (Swarthmore, PA) told me he watched two episodes of Seinfeld and is feeling in a much better mood.

It is thundering outside and we are expecting our daily rainstorm soon.

Kate returned from lunch to say, "bye, gotta go to airport!" Thanks for your work here, Kate, see you soon! Happy trails!

A lovely 9 in division 3: BRISlING for 63 played through the connected IN. The blank is an L if that reads funny. Mark Gooley (Hawthorne, FL) played it in his game with Angela Hellmann (Fort Myers, FL).

Chris Canik (Austin, TX) in fedora and fleece-lined hoodie (is it really that cold in here?), is playing a fun game with Cathy Poole (Winston-Salem, NC). At the midway point, it is all about him: MEDIANT for 63, cONGERS, VEXATION for 102, and ALATIoN for 63.

Game in progress between Roy Dixon (Dade City, FL) and Mark Garrod (East Lansing, MI): RETASTED.

Gary Perman (Blairsville, PA) vs. Stephen Henney (Canton, MI): Gary's GREETING for 61 and BOUnCIER for 65 and Stephen's sTORIES for 77, so far.

Sam Kantimathi (Sacramento, CA) vs. Matthew Bernardina (Durham, NC): BIRDSONG and DRAFTEE for Matthew and lEAKING and STARVED for Sam.

Sam Rosin (Bernardsville, NJ) puts his wallet, iPhone, and a pile of odd-looking change on the side of the table he plays at every round. I picked up one of these coins and with the keen, sharp, young eyes of CSW director Jason Idalski, discovered it as a coin from Israel, a SHEQALIM. :)

There was some hopping and hot action on the top row of division 2 this round. At table 1, Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) was playing Roy Kamen (Covina, CA). I saw RESORCIN, RUNDLeT, LATRINES, VANISHED, and GENTLER. A 463-404 win for Roy.

A rematch at table 2 between Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA) and Adam Ginzberg (Swarthmore, PA). This time it was Adam's turn to shine (I guess there are more benefits than we knew for Seinfeld show viewings!). I see UNHAIREd for 74 and MURKIEST for 66 for Adam. Alan tried TONSULAr* from the T for 74, but Adam called it off. A bit later in the game, Alan impressed Adam by playing GOAL one spot from the triple lane. Adam had consonants and could not block at all. So, Alan then binged out with UNhOODS/GOALS for 89!

The award for the best dressed woman today goes to Emely Weissman (Menlo Park, CA). She is wearing a short-sleeved tiered little black dress with soft ruffly layers that move a bit when she walks. Drop dead dress, but this round's game wasn't her finest. Her opponent, Timothy Bottorff (Orlando, FL), played DINGOES. A bit later she got down RITZIER played through the Z as a nonbingo play, but it hooked the R in the triple lane. Through that R he plopped down PANDOORS for 158, triple-triple. A bit later, she tried ACUATeS*, which he called off. She did get down ACTUAlS, the next turn, so all was well. His win, 463-404. As of now, she has the high game and she didn't want him to get a higher one than hers, so her mission was to keep his score down. She succeeded!

I was so happy to see two women at table 5 in division 1. I had to step away to kinda let the excitement ebb and John Chew said, "Well, Sherrie, you don't really want this, because they end up knocking each other off." Hmmm, I hadn't thought about THAT part! A few minutes later, the game over, I learn that Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) defeated Cecilia Le (Cambridge, MA), 414-366. It was Cecilia in the lead after she played UNHORsE and then pulled ACCEDES out of the bag for her next turn. But Robin kept working on her and wrested the lead. Fun words: ZAYIN/SUN to triple, TENDRIL, BEEPING, and DIPTERON.

Two young bucks are at table 4: Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Piedmont, CA) vs. Orry Swift (Houston, TX). A positively gorgeous board, I see Orry's AROUsING for 77, AEROSAT for 69, and QUAIGH as a reply to Conrad's opening play. Conrad, or "the man" in the case of this game, got down MANDARIN for 65, MELANIST for 74, CLARETS For 76, and the gorgeous nonbingo WHEEZY for 93 points. The kid from California won this one, 527-378.

Fellow Canadians squared off this round in division 2: Sam Hollington (St. Catharines ON) vs. Jason Broersma (Caledon ON). Jason played GREENISH for 89, BORTZES for 104, and the phony eNCRUSTER*. Sam played OVERNEAr, RAILING, and SALPIAN, and won the game, 508-489.

In div 3, Evelyn Callaway (Bryan, TX) is excited to report that she and Vivienne Muhling (Toronto ON) had a combined score of 917 points this round. Vivienne got away with ODORISE# and Evelyn played COASTER, READING, and SYRINGE. Of the result, 464-453, in her favor, Evelyn said, "I don't think Vivienne should have had to lose with such a high score herself!"

From the Twilight Zone of the getting tired and thus confused department, Shelley Ubeika (Mississauga ON) sweetly admits she just tried HAGNUTS* this round and it didn't stay on the board. She was startled when her opponent challenged and she thought to herself that it was such a strange word, surely she could not have made it up. Well, turns out it was filed incorrectly in her head. She was thinking about HOGNUTS, which is good. Oh well, keep on studying, Shelley!

Charlene White (Kearny, NJ) made a fantastic play this round in her game with Marla Riff (Boynton Beach, FL). From an IN on the board, she played INVASIONS to the triple! Talk about a back hook! Way to go Charlene!

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.