Welcome to the Jerusalem Scrabble Club
COME PLAY WITH US … VISITORS ALWAYS WELCOME!
*** NEW PLAYERS: CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ***
Director: Elana Simons, 054 220 6238, elanalibby@gmail.com
THIS WEEK AT THE CLUB
Season 84, Week 9 of 25 – October 21, 2025
****The Club extends its sincere condolences to veteran member Nechama on the loss of her brother Meir. The funeral took place on Thursday and she is sitting shiva in the lobby of 8 Primo Levi from 10-12 am, 4-6 pm and 7-8:30 pm. Baruch Dayan HaEmet.****
With the chagim now behind us it was good to get back to Scrabble normality, enhanced by the extra treats on the refreshment table courtesy of Susan, whose grandson Ilai has just celebrated his bar mitzva.
A reminder about sponsoring Dahlia’s upcoming Wheels of Love bike ride, November 2-6, in aid of the Alyn Hospital’s Pediatric & Adolescent Rehabilitation Center: you can still donate on Dahlia’s Alyn web page at https://sponsor.alyn.org/dfriedman or via Susan at the club.
DavidS has yet to battle it out with Chani for the Club Championship. But has this multiple-time champion now notched up another first – getting a WOW transposed to a PHOW? “I saw that Rena had entered AQUAFERS on the Word of the Week sheet, and I told Elana to switch it to the phony list.” (It should have an I instead of the A.) Rena’s response? “Oh. Good that my opponent couldn’t spell, either.”
By the endgame, Judy’s contest against Avi was nail-bitingly close. “I had a good play; but he placed ONIONS down the triple with the S added to OW. It felt wrong, but with so much riding on my decision I hesitated to challenge. In the end my good play wasn’t quite good enough, and I lost by five points. Ow! With OOHS, AAHS, AHS and OHS all deemed acceptable – why not OWS?” It’s a fair question, though OH operates as a verb as well as an exclamation.
If the topic is plurals, what’s the plural of NOH – does it takes an S? asked a player. The answer was not long in coming: adding S to this description of classical Japanese theater is a noh-noh.
How many people would have challenged ElanaS’s ENCLOAK, which looks rather respectable? Her opponent didn’t and later uncovered the sad truth: it isn’t good. Jonathan got away with STINGED. Judy’s CONEYS was challenged but both -EYS and -IES are good. Staying on the farm, she slipped through with OIKING, which should have been OINKING, sounding like a pig. Pamela was gratified to garner 92 points from BOSQUES (forests) and DUGS (the teats of a female mammal), which were both challenged. Richard: “I found out that FENAGLE is an alternative spelling for FINAGLE – but while FINAGLER is good, FENAGLER isn’t.”Live and learn.
Bob: “My first three scores were all multiples of 12: 24, 24, 12 and another 12, so I was waiting for 48, and maybe even 96… but it didn’t happen.”
Report of the Scrabble Fairy’s New Year promise to contrive more congenial draws from the bag prompted this query: Does the Scrabble Fairy actually exist? You might as well ask whether the Tooth Fairy exists; both are wreathed in a mist of dream and legend. About the Scrabble Fairy, this only can be said without any doubt: She is highly capricious, bestowing her favors without rhyme or reason, capable of both astonishing generosity and incredible meanness. Hopefully this covers all questions.
If you missed the opportunity to communicate your hilite in person at the club you can email it to judymo@netvision.net.il or WhatsApp it (054-5552355) up until noon the following day. If you wish to mark any occasion by bringing refreshments to the club, please check with Susan or Elana up to a week in advance.
WWW: DavidS, May, Bob
WOW: ACOLYTE (Wendy), LEALTIES, CANTATA (DavidS)
PHOW: AQUAFER (Rena) RENDINGS (Peta)
High Win, High Loss, High Triple:
A: 501 (Jonathan), 413 (Jonathan), 1352 (DavidS)
B1: 447 (Shirley), 374 (Brenda), 1216 (Pamela)
Scores over 500: 501 (Jonathan)
100-pt play: SQUIRING 104 (Richard)
Attendance: 27