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 85, Week 05 of 25 – April 28, 2026
Jonathan and ElanaS each had what to celebrate in the last week or so. Jonathan brought an elegant kiddush of strawberries and liqueurs to celebrate his turning 80. Elana said she would be “raining popcorn down on everyone” Tuesday night, and was as good as her word. Last but not least, Bob announced the birth of his second grandchild in the US. Mazal tov to all three!
And congratulations to DavidS, who has emerged club champion for the 29th time. Kudos goes to Wendy who battled it out with him boldly. “It was an honour to be defeated by him,” she said, adding that a less thorough defeat would also have been acceptable. David: “I have more club championships than Evan Cohen [in Tel Aviv] because his club abolished them.”
Welcome back to DavidG, whom we haven’t seen since last year. Every returnee makes us realize how much they were missed.
We will be meeting on Motze Lag Ba’Omer, May 5. The games may be fiery.
Steve managed four bingos: ERMINES, CONQUERS, UNSTABLE and PRESAGED. Liran extended Pamela’s QUIP to QUIPPING over the triple for 51 points. Marilyn’s opponent thought she knew all the three-letter words but was caught out over SEI, a type of whale.
Only the good nature of both players prevented the situation from becoming unpleasant. Player A put down OUTR?TE, calling the blank an A. Player B heard the blank as an I, and challenged. Reminder: It is part of the Scrabble rules to write down and show your opponent the designation of your blank so there can be no ambiguity.
With Iran never far from our minds, it may be of interest to note that our dictionary includes many words of distinctly Persian origin, though they might have “migrated” to other languages like Arabic and Hindi and, of course, English. Examples: BAZAAR, PAJAMA, SHAWL, JASMINE and CARAVAN. KHAKI, a Persian word meaning dust-colored, came into English usage via the British Army in India. It takes an S.
As ugly words go, they don’t come much uglier than VUG. And yet this ungainly little word has allowed many a player to dispose of an unwanted V and, as a bonus, an unusable U. Further benefits accrue with the several forms the word takes: VUGG, VUGH, and the adjective VUGGY. The following anecdote comes from May, from when she toured a national park in the US. “A park ranger was giving a talk when, pointing to a rock formation, he said, ‘For all you Scrabble players – this is a vug.’”
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 up to a week in advance.
WWW: DavidS, Susan, May
WOW: STYMIES (Rena), PALLIEST (Rita), EVINCED (Brenda)
PHOW: TOILINGS (ElanaS)
High Win, High Loss, High Triple:
A: 509 (DavidS), 412 (Dahlia), 1361 (DavidS)
B1: 429 (May), 377 (Lisa), 1200 (May)
Scores over 500: 509 (DavidS)
100-pt play: STYMIES 110 (Rena)
Attendance: 20