Welcome to the Jerusalem Scrabble Club
COME PLAY WITH US – VISITORS ALWAYS WELCOME!
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Director: Elana Simons, 054 220 6238, elanalibby@gmail.com
THIS WEEK AT THE CLUB
Season 85, Week 03 of 25 – April 14, 2026
It wasn’t to be expected that the Iranians would show any particular regret over the hole they created in our hallowed Tuesday evenings by depriving us of our regular club meetings. Now that we have gathered again for the first time since February, the hope is that the tradition will continue uninterrupted.
That said, with the coming Tuesday being Independence Day Eve, our next session will take place on Thursday, April 23, the day after Yom Ha’Atzmaut.
We welcomed Ashley Charnoff, who won two games despite it being her first time at the club. “I loved it,” she said. “There’s a great spirit there and I’m sorry I won’t be around for a while.” She lives half the year in Israel and is about to return home but says she’ll be joining us again in the winter. “I enjoyed learning a different dictionary and meeting other people who love Scrabble.”
Our pleasure in meeting again was dimmed by the sad and shocking news of the passing on Sunday of our dear friend and valued club member Shirley Zauer following a heart attack. Tuesday’s session began with several minutes devoted to members’ stories of Shirley’s kindness, generosity and enterprising spirit. In Scrabble, she was a player to be reckoned with. Elana recalled a session in which Shirley was paired, to her express dismay, with three A players. “At the end of the evening I asked her how many games she had won; turned out she had won them all.” Yonatan evoked a laugh when he described “one time I played Shirley and she told me, ‘I’m a nice person… except in Scrabble.’” Judy: “I brought Shirley to the club many years ago after she started work at The Jerusalem Post. We walked in and I introduced her to then club director David Litke. His response: “AZURE.” Seeing our blank faces, he opened a small window into the Scrabble mind: “It’s the anagram of ZAUER.” May Shirley’s memory be for a blessing.
Dahlia, Peta, Rena and Wendy completed the playoffs of Season 84, with Wendy emerging the winner. She gains the privilege of facing Division A’s DavidS in the best of five games for the Club Championship. Good luck! Wendy: “In my game against Dahlia, the only bingo lane began with a T. I had ILNORW and a blank. I tried – in desperation, as I later told Dahlia – TWORLING, which was challenged off. (I thought it a better bet than TOWLINER or TROWLING.)” Dahlia’s comment: “In Scrabble, there isn’t desperation – there’s creation. There’s creativeness in plays, in thinking out of the box. It sometimes works, but,” she admitted, “it very often doesn’t.” Wendy’s rack did contain an acceptable word: TOILWORN.
Lisa challenged CYANS, but it’s good, the plural of a greenish-blue color. Richard played VIEING (“I was thinking of TIEING, which is an alternative to TYING”). It’s a phony, but his opponent left it on the board in order to score well on a triple. Brenda won’t repeat the mistake of challenging her opponent’s YOD, thinking it should be YAD. “She didn’t know NIBLET [commonly referring to a single kernel of corn], but unfortunately didn’t challenge it. Had she done so, I would likely have won the game.”
Did you know? MAJORLY is good, MINORLY isn’t. Don’t waste time looking for an explanation.
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.
Final Playoff Table:
| A | W-L-T | Spread |
| Wendy | 4-2 | 298 |
| Rena | 3-3 | -134 |
| Peta | 2-4 | -49 |
| Dahlia | 2-4 | -115 |
WWW: DavidS, Wendy, Liran, Jonathan, Judy
WOW: EMERALD (Brenda), CHORDING (Elana)
PHOW: MOONIES (Yonatan), LISPIER (ElanaS)
High Win, High Loss, High Triple:
A: 501 (DavidS), 376 (Steve), 1378 (DavidS)
B1: 475 (Judy), 364 (Brenda), 1271 (Judy)
Scores over 500: 501 (DavidS)
100-pt play:
Attendance: 24