UVSC Session Report
February 25, 2019 (Session #216)
(authored by BJ)

This week we had to adapt, upon arrival, to the unavailability of our
venue.  Thankfully, the spacious (and pleasantly quirky) halls of the
Tip Top building led us to a nicely lighted hallway with decorative
photography.  After borrowing two tables and some chairs from here and
there in the halls, a friendly tenant helped supply us with one more
nice table, and we were good to go.  It turned out to be an enjoyable
change of venue, for one night anyway.  And with four regulars, Marilyn
returning, and an unexpected visit from Johanna, we had six players,
twelve games, lots of great words, and plenty of laughs.

Iliana had the high non-bingo, putting down ZOIST# (an advocate of
ZOISM#, a doctrine that the phenomena of life are due to a peculiar
vital principle) for 68 points at a critical juncture in a game against
yours truly.  I was pleased that, in my first game, a recently learned
weird word paid off on my opening rack, when I played the Collins-only
OUGLIED# for a bingo.  OUGLIE#, as well as OUGHLY#, are old spellings of
UGLY, used as verbs (ie, "to make ugly").  Johanna won an endgame
nailbiter, getting down ZEAL for 46 to eke out a narrow win in her first
game back after a long absence.  Marilyn, our newest member, is already
getting wins under her belt, this time with a two-bingo victory, playing
SHOWMEN and ABSENTS (ABSENT can be used as a verb, ie, "to keep away").
Ellen and I had a nailbiter as well, in which we discovered a dropped
tile on the floor late in the game.  We ruled that it was to have been
my tile, and luckily for me it combined well with my others and I was
able to hold on to a narrow lead.  She also played the bingo UNFEARED in
that game, which I nearly challenged because it sounded so wrong to me,
but it is valid and means "unafraid".  Margaret had a perfect night,
winning both of her games and playing two 8-letter bingos, LEVELING and
WINDIEST, plus the well-placed LAXER ("more lax") for 45.

The rest of our bingos included TWICERS# (a TWICER# can be a crook, or
also just someone who does something twice), POSTEENS (a POSTEEN is an
Afghan sheepskin coat), STRANDER (a machine that twists fibers into
rope), SEVERAL, PRORATE, PERENTIE# (a large Australian lizard),
CURATING, UNMOVED, LOGIEST, BETWEEN, WHIRRING, TALLIES, INTRONIC (like
an INTRON, an intervening sequence in a genetic code), LATENED (to LATEN
is to grow late), BAWTIES (BAWTIE is a Scottish word for dog), STINGIER,
LOADERS, TINDERS, INDITES (to INDITE is to compose, as a story),
UNITIES, LITTLEST, FORTIES, CHATTING, and DOUREST.