errrr QI is straightforward here. i thought it just destroyed the board though, but BILGED probably does a better job of that! probably a hard move, but it feels so tough to play QI and then not have anywhere to play my bingo next turn. at least BILGED gives me a chance at a dump like QIS for 41, etc. -4 #strategymedium ?
Quackle prefers HALT, which scores two more points and unloads one more consonant, but keeps the V, which has less scoring potential than the H. At least HALT keeps E3 VUG and M11 VIG for next turn. #strategysmall I guess
Will: Too crazy. I was going for the maximum chance at a 9x myself here and also a fallback of ZANIER with an E draw. But the simple 14A VAW still preserves a good crack at a 9x while scoring 18 more points. #strategylarge
I either have to fish eit something like O(C)A or A(C)E, or I do this, which seemed to win if I drew some X? stuff. I did not iterate properly though, and this seems to always lose with the draws I was hoping for. I have to avoid stuff like FOIBLE, but a lot of outs in two will be good enough for Arie even without big plays. Spread was not important here, so I needed to find something better. Maybe I had to play A(C)E or O(C)A, though I felt he could too often block everything with a play like FIL(AR) 5B, although those plays are hard to find and make with one in the bag. Gotta try something, so maybe I do something like (P)EE or (L)EE going for ANOXIA for 67 and complications. Maybe best to play EE somewhere else. Yeah, I think that's the right idea. If ANOXIA?T or ANOXIA?B are unseen to Arie there's (P)AINTBOX, if ANOXIA?E is unseen there's (A)NOXEMIA. Damn, wish I had thought of that. Way better at conceptualizing wins that don't involve very specific bingo threats. #strategysaddest
O7 TIRITIS #knowledgesaddest also I went with TITI instead of TITIS for 37 because I figured the S was pretty important on this board. They sim pretty close (TITIS is about a point ahead)
Wow, I completely overestimated how bad CDQTW because 8A RE(SHAVED) is just much better here. I figured I could always just hit it next turn since I didn't think it would get blocked or taken. #tacticssaddest
such an insane bingo available here. Can you find it? This is probably worse than MAY L11 because although I block myself with MAY, I also give him a lot less to work with, and I have the blank, so I don't really need to leave everything open. #tacticssmall #findingmedium #knowledgemedium
Quackle likes GLEIS but likes G13 GIE a bit more; interestingly, it far prefers GIE to GIO in the same spot, expecting I get a lot more bingos down the M column paralleling SO and perhaps a handful on column I with the (D)O(R) insertion. #strategysmall
12H DOWERY was tempting as well, but WANY and WARY actually cut off more bingos than DOWERY does by a lot (A1 P bingos, column B overlapping bingo, a handful of bingos through the O of JOLTS). WANY bingos a tiny bit more often next turn than WARY. #tacticssmall
i always struggle a bit with making obvious fishes like this but it seemed to work with a lot of letters, and through the A, etc. quackle prefers N1 PST for 29 or O7 PHT for 14. i think i would have played PHT if i'd thought of it. -2.5 #tacticssmall #visionsmall
I like how well this goes through the tile bag while I'm ahead by a lot, but 2K BOIT(E) was missed and should have been the play. I should be making plays with less turnover with all those As left. #visionmedium
did not see the H hook on HUMP, and probably would not have known HUMPHS was valid. A play like HIE or HILI at 14L is a good idea here to set up a big lane #findingsmall #knowledgesmall
Quackle prefers D11 NOVA, but there's no way I do that. The second pick, D11 NAV, is reasonable: it makes a sevens lane on row 14, but that almost always allows counterplay, unlike many bingos on rows 11 and 12 that NAV blocks. Also, NAV saves 1M NOO for next turn if necessary. #tacticssmall
huge misevaluation - NAW or LAW J4 sim far better. I average more and lower his average and score better. I didn't expect DNT so be so bad here, but apparently DLNU bingoes far more. I guess keeping more floaters open? #tacticsmedium
Quackle likes 11E TREYS to score 10 more and restrict the 11 row, but I'm not so sure - between row 11 and SAL I'm pretty likely to bingo with EIRS after NUTSY. #strategysmall if anything.
I considered this, FIE 11E and FETA 7G. I missed OHIA 11D which seems like the play. I didn't want to play FIE because it set up PIER with ECO and 6 R's out without a good lane on the board. OHIA sims better than HAO by 4 points, and I imagine it's even better than that in this position. #findingsmall
ok you know what? im still baffled that this is not a common english word. i dont even feel like this should be a #knowledgesaddest because clearly this is just a twilight zone moment
#visionsolid on this one with another 5 letter underlap. I also saw 14A sYNDETS, L6 aNDESYT(E), and DENSiTY in the same spot. I did not, however, see 2B eN(C)YSTED, but I would have passed it up anyway.
this was a pretty crazy draw. Quackle doesn't care and tells me to play NIX for 53 and open that huge spot. I felt I could hold this closed position, but maybe the leave is just too unwieldy. I score 10 points more on average after NIX, which is relevant here. #strategymedium
I overdrew here for the only time this tournament. And it's obviously since I had the blank. Luckily I didn't mix, so he only chose from the 5 I drew. CIZ and the Z is gone. Quackle agrees with that choice. Lucky it wasn't a bigger mistake, but losing the Z is pretty bad. B11 (J)IBE is the favourite. I couldn't stomach it. #strategymedium
knew this was invalid, but missed better alternatives. This was the first play of the tournament, and I purposely phonied. Lol #findingsmall for WARILY which I think is best.
big oofs all around here, frens. 15A FOREtOL(D), 15A OvERFOL(D), 15A FORsLOE(D) 15B REFLOO(D)s all would have been fine #KNOWLEDGESADDEST #FINDINGSADDEST #VISIONSADDEST
I thought I was dead, I didn't see IO(t)A on my timie and thought he had just given me a chance to stay in the game with WO. IO(t)A is by far best. I was playing well until IRONIZED. #findinglarge
I shouldn't play so many tiles to let him stick me with RR. 15K RE is 8 points better than this. But I calculated it out and it seemed I still won. He was also low on time. #endgamemedium
J4 ICEB(O)ATS #findingsaddest also #knowledgesad for challenge also I'm so sorry if you're rooting for the underdog in this game because i straight up zonked out
Quackle says N5 IN is the only winning play, but when I play out the games it loses to A1 FUNKiA, A1 FANKlE, and even A1 UNRAKE, so I'm not sure what's best here. #strategysaddest
I8 SPOOL looks a little better. NORSS doesn't even bingo more than NRS and is much higher variance, plus SPOOL creates another S hook I can use. #strategysmall
completely missed the PSHAW hook! I went for PAESANO 2B and APNOEAS 14E, and set up another hook just in case I was missing another bingo with the N/Kevin would be less prone to blocking with more live bingo lanes. I might be best off playing N2 (T)AE for 10 here. It threatens PAVANES with an AN draw and REPAVES with an ER draw. I think Kevin is very likely to have the R, which is why I rejected the hail mary bag-empting EAV(E) D3, which would set up REAVE and a possible bingo in two spots (maybe?). But (T)AE also sets up the Z, and maybe if Kevin messes up somehow I can win if I draw the Z for P(RE)Z or O4 Z- plays. #findinglarge
I did not see the best rack-cleanup options here, C8 (R)UBIED or 13B BEDUI(N). Again a lack of ability to generate certain patterns that I must attempt to eliminate. (R)UBIED looks pretty good. #findingsmall
6A YARDeRS #knowledgesaddest #visionsaddest. This ends up being a 12-point dynamic equity mistake. I saw the word but wasn't sure of it. I might have tried it but didn't even see the spot. My play is second best tho