I don't know if I ever realized I had SOLUNAR. My handwriting later in the game doesn't give anything away. I know I never alphagrammed just the rack on my scoresheet, just 8s through the I and T. #findingsaddest
I was confident there were no bingos through the K with his tiles but I missed that he had no bingos starting at E1, so 9E CH(A)W is best, blocking all bingos on the E column. #endgamesad
in huge trouble, need to bank on a 3x3 now. Really stupid to not play LINY instead, but his idea of playing ENTOIL might translate into not blocking the L next turn either? No, this was clearly a miss. #findingsmall
I did see 9F MIsCITE which I passed up. However, I missed the anagram of COMITIEs- 5D sEMI(O)TIC is 94, but even better positionally is 5D EpIT(O)MIC. #findinglarge
7A ANTIENT I have never been able to successfully anagram this word in my Zyzzyva before and I wasn't about to start doing it over the board now lmao #knowledgesaddest
My play allows plays down column M to potentially block both PYOTS and column N. I'm very much preferring 13A COPSY now for some more points and to create multiple lines in different quadrants of the board. #tacticsmedium 8:34 (guess I played this move fast)
This sims way, way back: I didn't see EH 10A. No one mentioned this in either the commentary or the chat, which vindicates me slightly. SHH must be difficult to spot for everyone. (-12) #visionlarge
time ticking down, tough endgame, but it's lost. The best I have is K10 EX(P)IRE or just AH O8. I was trying to force an error and also running out of time, but it could come at a cost. -30 #endgamelarge
although this game is not realistically winnable, i can get some spread back by continuing to fish, for example, H12 BELT is just a couple points below but it keeps a much better leave. i partially thought GLOTTALS* was good. -5 #strategymedium #knowledgemedium
-3.5 to the pretty aggressive 10A OGIVAL. but i shoulda spotted VOILA or GAVOT. remember that the meow meow was not in full effect after my round 2 loss. I had to reset myself after the early bird and start over, and it wasn't until the next day that i achieved good focus again! #findingmedium
could also do PAH for one point less to further restrict overrlaps. I retain the only two letters in the pool that can overlap PA. Furthermore, he can set up D(RAG) or B(RAG) after either play with R(AG) for 4, but I can draw an E to block with TE(PA) after PAH and it is much trickier to block after HAP. B(ROO) is the lurking threat here, he could just bingo there at any time, but making another spot with R(AG) might just be his key to victory in some lines. #tacticssmall
i was trying to be a little bit clever and not keep IU or ITU or EITU. i thought this might sim slightly below but it seems like a stylistic choice. -1 #tacticssmall
Horrible. For the second time in two games, I'm so fixated on blocking things that I fail to see a high prob bingo - this time it's IRO(N)ICAL. I'm also not quite confident enough on ORGIAC to pull the trigger here when he's aggressively fishing with a 3x3 line open. LOGIC seemed fun over ORGIC because of the extension possibilities, and it's generally good to favor scoring opportunities when you're ahead? #findingsaddest
this is not a good move. i need to outrun him and score more. i didn't want to empty the bag so he wouldn't plan his outgame, but i may not have a choice here. N1 TAN scores 18 and will help outrun him. i don't think i have many ways to win after TOWEL. -3 #preendgame #strategymedium
8H OY is best, followed by 8G YO. TOYO sets up my S on column K, but it is fairly likely for Carl to have an N or S with which to use the spot; and OY and YO have better equity than TOYO. #strategymedium
The only bingos are 1G WHIlLIED# and WHILlIED, which I did not know. However, Quackle prefers 13A IWI#, which keeps a better leave than WILI# (including two vowels, which is important given the consonant-heavy pool) and gives me a chance to play a bingo from 1H-1O next turn. I considered 9M WAI#, with the same idea; but WAI performs slightly worse than IWI and the bingos, likely because it blocks column L. #strategymedium #knowledgemedium
I considered I6 VI(E)WY as well as my placement as well as exchanging. I wanted the right side of the board to be openable later on, so I eschewed the I6 placement while behind. F6 OW(L)Y sims better than I would have thought given I am keeping an ugly leave that I felt was more likely to lead to an exchange than playing VIEWY. Based on this, OWLY is probably better. #strategysmall
maybe BAM M7 to take out the X spot, or even 4H VI(G)I(A) now to a) take out the G column and to keep BAM for next turn. I kinda like that play honestly, this play is annoying with S plays and doesn't really do anything productive. #strategysmall
B2 POR(G)Y is nice. I'm committing to catching up without a bingo after SAYER. 3H OY and 3H AY are nice for fishy plays because they're tough to block + I have the floating T, O and N. #knowledgesad
In addition to having higher equity than FINNED, 7M FIN allows fewer immediate bingos, more effectively blocking those making GAITT# which I didn't see. #visionmedium I guess
I want to do (NA)RDS 5J even though it blocks the D in FOOD, because YARAKS is good! I always forget that because of its definition: a fit condition for hunting: -- used of a hawk. The last part confuses my brain into thinking it's an adjectiive or an exclamation. #knowledgemedium #tacticsmedium
Chosen over 9G AG, which allows 10G pOMFRET. H6 OVA wins the sim; ADEGR >> ORV, and after OVA, Steven's highest-scoring bingos are 6C/6G FOREMOsT 66. The sim assumes that after AGED, Steven will play 10I FORMaTE, allowing potential OVER- plays at O8--which means that if Steven plays at 7H instead I can expect worse results than the sim suggests. #tacticsmedium
i strongly considered C2 BRO, which sims best, but i feel like i should stop screwing around. i'm holding on to a bit of a tenuous lead, both blanks and X are unseen, etc. it seemed good to kill a few lanes here and score and stuff. #strategysmall ?
Utterly confused about what to do here. Q recommends just about any fish where I drop the R down, but any non-quackle opponent will just immediately knock out the bingo possibilities and coast to a victory. I'm terrified of all the Is remaining in the pool but can't find good ways to score and play my I without setting up other big plays for Greg. I wanted to set up lines over on the left side making plays like RI(P) setting up GRIP, but nothing I saw convinced me - RIP allows TRIP, RID allows IRID, RAD allows TRAD, etc.
I spent nearly 10 minutes and finally settled on this, hoping to avoid JEST or JOIST plays making GRRRLS but I have no idea what I'm actually supposed to do here.
probably #endgamesadder
damn, I just didn't see MEOW at 9G. I thought a whole lot about this turn and figured I was overthinking, but I really enjoyed the defensiveness of this play. He's maybe not going to want to make the equity plays next turn since they throw the board dangerously open, so he might either exchange or make a small play that just gives me scoring chances with my M and my W? MEOW is clearly best here, and I liked WOMEN at 7F as well. JOW and JEW at 7F seemed close but gross. #findingmedium for missing MEOW and #highlyquestionable for the rest
Quackle likes H6 MILE a lot. I don't see what's so great about it, but MIMEOED is probably a mistake anyway, as it blows up the rack. 7E MEG is the best equity play but Championship Player doesn't seem to consider it. D8 VIMEN is reasonable. #strategysmall
bad! by far the best play is the excellent 11J AMUCK. i have the case S, score 28 pts, and go for letters like the Z to score a lot with. i thought of AMUCKS/AMUCK on my rack, but didn't quite look hard enough. LUCK is very weak and is the type of game-losing play i make way too often. the fact that it takes a Y makes it even worse. 9J MUCK is ok if i don't think of AMUCK. -15.5 #strategylarge #findinglarge
I thought my best attempt would be to go for H1 QAT but going for the bingo with 6L (N)AG is much better, probably. Maybe H1 QAT just doesn't score enough, I dunno. #strategysad
I wasn't sure if it was HYOIDS or PYOIDS* that was good. If I was sure, I definitely would have done 13C OsTIARY. Out of the plays I did see, I considered 11A YAk(I)TORI but that gave back too much to him. I also saw this as more sound than I6 AuD(I)TORY or pO(D)IATRY. That said, 13C OsTIARY is clearly best but those -OID words that do or don't take an S are a bit tricky. #knowledgelarge
It's not bad for the score, but if I wasn't willing to do 1M (S)OB as that appears to give up too many points, 4G BOOR once again makes a lane that will be easy to use to access the left side of the board and keeps better. But even better is 4B OBVERT as that forks vertical lines and dumps the V. #visionsmall
so many bingos here, too bad he blocked the 2x2s. I wasn't sure enough of CROCEINE, thought it might just be CICERONE, but I saw ENCHORIC too before he blocked! Just not CORNICHE. Learn dem anagram pairs bro #knowledgemedium
Sims says G5 (M)U(REX) but I think this is assuming way more openings than Sokol would make, though it also partially blocks 6F plays. I dunno. #strategysadder
the aggressive 14K F(I)CE sims far best, but are the 10 extra points of equity worth the incredible defense I am planning to play after FE(E)ING? (yes) #strategysmall
I unfortunately missed his out play of O1 FACIAE. FOP should have been the play here as I can get rid of my Q in 2 spots next turn knowing he can't go out. #endgamebad
i saw YOWZA but didn't like the leave and what i thought was worse defense. guess i was wrong though. ZONARY has much worse defense; lots of overlaps i guess, or plays through the Z. -3 #strategysmall
There are some interesting choices that sim best like 2K B(AW)R, 6H B(I)R(R)S, O7 (KVETCH)eRS, 12C ROB(E), E10 B(A)R, 6M OB, and L12 (A)RB which are all much better than B5 SOmBReR since they don't always lose to an outbingo. #strategysaddest #timesaddest