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Written by HG

Category: Wordplay

Published: 28 March 2025

Hits: 136

This month’s quiz :

Many players see a Y on their rack and instinctively assume the Y to be at the end of a word.

Here are 14 racks, each making a unique 7 letter word. There are 2 words that start with Y, 2 with Y in position 2, 2 Ys in position 3… etc.. How many of the 14 words can you unravel ?

AADILWY

AAELNSY

ABCLMSY

ACHLNOY

ACILPTY

AELRSWY

AIOPRTY

ALLOPRY

DEMOSTY

EEHSTUY

EKRSTUY

ELMOPRY

GENOURY

GHORTUY

Answers below :

Coming soon

Soon

Soon

now :

AADILWY - WAYLAID

AAELNSY - ANALYSE

ABCLMSY - CYMBALS

ACHLNOY - HALCYON

ACILPTY - TYPICAL

AELRSWY - LAWYERS

AIOPRTY - TOPIARY

ALLOPRY - PAYROLL

DEMOSTY - MODESTY

EEHSTUY - SHUTEYE - yes no hyphen!

EKRSTUY - TURKEYS

ELMOPRY - POLYMER 

GENOURY - YOUNGER

GHORTUY - YOGHURT

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Written by HG

Category: Wordplay

Published: 21 February 2025

Hits: 247

This month's quiz comes in 3 parts and is based on a real-game situation from the recent Isle of Wight tournament.

Part 1

What all the 7 letter anagrams of   IGOTA and two blanks ?

There are 40 - most of which are not in everyday English - so try to find at least 7.    Answers below.

Part 2 

Once you have found the bonuses you know - try laying at least one on this board.

For context the scores are about 300-290 and the last couple of moves were :

Player A : TUNIER 6

Player B : PED 19

Player A ; changed tiles (assume 4).

Can you play a 7 letter word with IGOTA??   ?

Also for context the unseen letters are : A C D EEE H I L N OO RR S U V W Y Z

Part 3

If you are struggling to lay a 7 letter bonus, can you make an 8 letter word on the board ?  There are 2 everyday words to find.

Answers and thoughts below.

Coming soon

Soon

Part 1 answers :

The 40 7 letter words are :

AGATOID AGISTOR AGITATO AGITPOP AGONIST AGOUTIS  ANTIFOG ANTILOG ARGOTIC ATONING AUTOING 

BOATING

COATING COTINGA

DOATING DOGTAIL 

FAGOTTI 

GALIOTS GALIPOT GALLIOT GIGATON GITANOS GOATIER GOATIES GOATISH GODETIA GOLIATH GORDITA

LATIGOS

MOATING

ORATING ORGIAST OTALGIA OTALGIC OUTGAIN OVATING

PIGBOAT

ROATING

SALIGOT 

TOAZING

Part 2 :

The only playable bonuses are :

ANTILOG A13 across 77 points

ANTIFOG as above

GALIOTS B13 across 76

SALIGOT l9 down 75

SALIGOT a13 across 73

GALIPOT as above

GALLIOT as above

AGONIST a13 across 72

ORGIAST as above

AGITPOP a13 across 69

GODETIA e13 across 67

SALIGOT h13 across 67

Part 3 :

Using the D at 3 5 8 letter words are playable :

DOGMATIC 60, and DONATING 59 are the everyday words.

The remainder are DOATINGS DOGSTAIL and DOGTAILS.

What is the best play ?

From the unseen tiles

A C D EEE H I L N OO RR S U V W Y Z

your opponent may have a bonus word also e.g SIDECAR ENCASED which will play. Also DECLARES amongst others using the D.

The higher scoring bonuses are in row 13, so play there, trying to avoid playing a vowel in column A - as your opponent may have the Z and score 69 points back! 

Preferred option is GODETIA 67, which blocks all a13 row bonuses, leaving your opponent with just one good line - an 8 letter word beginning D.

In the real game - AGONIST was played by player B, and player A replied with ZATI (69) ouch ! 

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Written by HG

Category: Wordplay

Published: 24 January 2025

Hits: 313

Following all the publicity East Berks members had on TV and RADIO this month, here is an associated quiz.

What words, containing a V,  can you make from the letters TVRADIO ?

There are 11 3 letter words, including a CSW2024 new word.

There are 11 4 letter words, 3 are in everyday English – but how many others do you know ?

There are 4 5 letter words, 2 are in everyday English.

There is one, obscure, 6 letter word to find.

Answers below

Answers below

Answers below

Answers here :

TVRADIO 3s ;

AVI  (new to CSW2024)

AVO DIV OVA RAV TAV VAR VAT VIA VID VOR

4s :

ARVO AVID DIVA DIVO RIVA RIVO VAIR VITA VOAR VOID VROT

5s and 6 :

AVOID DAVIT DIVOT VITRO 

VIATOR

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Written by HG

Category: Wordplay

Published: 21 December 2024

Hits: 373

Here are 10 opening Scrabble racks.

What is the best score you can make for each opening move ?

Remember where the double letter square is on your opening move, and don’t forget to add 50 for any bonus words. There are three!

All words are in fairly everyday English - the lowest scoring move is 26 the highest is 102!

This is the last quiz using CSW2021. From January 2025 all quizzes will be based on CSW2024. Some of the answers to historic quizzes may have slightly different answers after January 2025.

DEOSVXU                                        

EEPRTTX                                         

BELNVYX                                        

DEELUXZ                                        

ABCDEFX                                       

AEGRUXY                                      

EORSTVX                                       

AKLNOSX                                       

ACKOTUX                                      

DIFLOSX                                        

Answers below

Coming soon

Soon

Nearly there

Now!

DEOSVXU                                        EXODUS 44

EEPRTTX                                         PRETEXT 98

BELNVYX                                        LYNX 28

DEELUXZ                                        DELUXE 44

ABCDEFX                                       FAXED 40

AEGRUXY                                       XRAY 28

EORSTVX                                       VORTEX 48

AKLNOSX                                       KLAXONS 96

ACKOTUX                                       COAX 26

DIFLOSX                                        SIXFOLD 102