UVSC Session Report
September 3, 2018 (Session #195)
(authored by BJ)

"Thank you Ed Liebfried," I said out loud as I played the bingo LORISES
this week.  I was remembering a moment from back when I had just started
playing competitive Scrabble.  It was at Ed's club in Brattleboro in a
game against Ed himself.  I had decided to try the word "soilers", and
he immediately said "hold" and scribbled something down, pondered it for
a moment, then challenged the word -- SOILERS* was phony.  After the
game Ed explained that he had written down the alphagram -- EILORSS --
which helped trigger his memory of the words that could be made with
those letters, which were LORISES and RISSOLE.  I never forgot that
moment nor those words, but until Monday, I had never gotten to play
them either.  However, this was actually not the first time that
information came in handy -- just a few weeks ago, I told the above
story to David after a game in which I challenged SOILERS* off of the
board myself.  And that was the second time David had played SOILERS*
that night; the first time, it had not been challenged, and David didn't
yet realize it was phony.  And so I got to pass that same information on
down the line myself, in memorable fashion, to another new player.
These days many of us learn new words in a more systematic way, but some
knowledge is still acquired and passed on in a more memorable fashion --
from actual playing experience.  So I say again, "Thank you Ed!"

Besides that little trip down memory lane, we were really pleased to
have longtime Vermont Scrabbler Nina Jaffe visit us for the first time,
too!  Joined also by Ellen, Iliana, Gabe and myself, we enjoyed some
tasty take-out from Cantore's while playing several rounds of our
favorite game.  Gabe picked up some more tips from the veterans in the
room and nearly got to play the sweet bingo EQUINOX late in a game, but
alas it did not quite fit on the board.  Nina surprised us (well, me,
anyway) by not only playing TWL against TWL players, but playing Collins
against Iliana and me!  In addition to her bingos, she also got down some
other fun words, including UMIAK (an Eskimo canoe), VIELLE (a stringed
instrument, also called a hurdy-gurdy), and THALI (as seen on menus in
Indian restaurants).

Among our bingos tonight were the following words: MALINES (a delicate
net used for veils), MONIKERS, ETESIAN (an annually recurring wind),
RAMRODS, DIRENESS, FORESAW, ANTIGEN, MISDRAW, DANTING# (DANT# being an
old spelling of daunt), DRAISINE# (an early type of bicycle), DIASTER,
FRISBEE, GAUDIEST, BESHAME, MEDIANTS (a type of musical tone), UNSIZED,
NEARSIDE, GEEZERS, VESTINGS, GYPSIES, VISIONS, and GOOIEST.