MIELIES mielie, noun, an ear of maize
ERISTIC noun, a person who engages in debate
DAFFIEST daffy, adjective, another word for daft
REGENTAL adjective, relating to regent, a ruler or administrator
POLEWARD adjective, aimed at or towards a pole
Lots of handshakes and wishes of good luck ensued, then I walked the three miles back to the hostel. All the time I’d been away my partner Karen had been texting me with messages of support. As the event progressed, I was on the online-streamed game more often, so a few friends and family got to watch me live. I can’t begin to imagine how stressful that would be. I was grateful for all the remarks and attention, but also trying to keep level-headed. I tried not to let myself think about what it would mean to other people, as that would put on more pressure than just doing it for me. The next day I awoke to the sound of water dropping on the ground. It was raining and walking suddenly lost its appeal. I got all my best wetproof gear on and a change of clothes and ambled my way to the ExCeL. The weather never relented. I think my shoes were still soaking when I put them back on in the evening.
After a few bits and pieces Chris and I sat down at the smartboard – the Scrabble set with all the technology and cameras pointing at it. It would be our home for the next few hours. We were both wandering about in socks, slightly amazed at getting this far. I’d earlier made a comment about us being the two ‘weakest’ players of the eight quarterfinalists. In terms of rating I was the seventh best player and Lipe eighth. But it was all meaningless now. The first player to get three wins would be crowned World Champion. I won the draw to start and hoped that no more ING-S words would come up. A top player should really study those sorts of words specifically, so they know which ones take an S and which don’t, but I felt like I didn’t have a clue. I was mentally fatigued and just wanted easy stuff to show up. My first rack came AAMNOO? – aarrghh. My other weakness. MANOAO had been added only three years previously and I knew I was bad on the new words. I spent over five minutes trying to work out whether it was good or not. The game situation made it a much bigger error to play a phoney. So I chickened out and exchanged.
I got the bonus next turn, but more mistakes followed. I missed AUX(I)NIC for sixty-four. Unbeknownst to me, Chris had missed a few things too, but he moved ahead with LY(R)ICIST and I struggled with triple Is. Eventually my rack balanced out and I hastily played (U)NRINSED to go sixty-seven ahead. I kicked myself when it allowed Lipe to hit back immediately with SINTERE(D) onto the D, although in hindsight he would have got a bonus even if I’d played a more defensive option.
I was getting really low on time now. I knew my tile tracking was out but didn’t know by how much. I played off my only two vowels, knowing there were still six more to come with four tiles in the bag and seven on Lipe’s rack. I went eighteen points ahead and picked three tiles out. All consonants. I was sitting there with BFLNSTT with AADEOOUQ unseen. I thought for sure I’d blown it. He’s bound to have QU and score. Even if he doesn’t he can play out whilst I’m crippled with seven consonants.
Then (Z)OOEA went down. I’m still in this. I had less than a minute left. I knew QUA was out but wasn’t sure what the other letter on Chris’ rack was. I quickly played B(E)LTS through the E provided by ZOOEA and in the process blocked Lipe’s outplay. His last tile was a D. I just assumed he would block my only winning play of F(O)NT making (I)F, but I was willing him to go somewhere else. He put QUA down elsewhere and my heart skipped as I thought he was going to extend it to QUAR(E) or QUAT(E). I quickly threw F(O)NT down. Twenty-four and out. I was bewildered. I had won hadn’t I? How did that happen? Why didn’t my outplay get blocked? We confirmed scores, 403–389 in my favour.
MANOAO noun, a coniferous forest tree
AUXINIC adjective, relating to auxin, any of various plant hormones
SINTERED sinter, verb, to form lumps or masses by heating or pressure or both
ZOOEA noun, the larval stage of crabs
QUARE adjective, remarkable or strange
QUATE noun, fortune, destiny
I was still getting my head around the fact that I’d won the opening game when the next one kicked off with Chris’ opening bonus of BUNGLES. I played safe again, not being 100 per cent sure of FIRK and being rewarded with a bonus of my own. I lost around eight minutes trying to work out if BLOKARTS was the new word that’s allowed, or the old spelling (which had a W in) that got deleted. Eventually I played it and Lipe held the play before accepting it. I exhaled deeply and proceeded to draw my new tiles. I picked the second blank and got OPERATIC soon after.
Soon after I put down PAYOUT, knowing it was volatile but the right move, and created two big triple word lanes. Fortune favoured me as I drew the Z and got down ZETA for sixty-nine. Things were really going against Chris. He was over 100 down now and tried to open things up, but gave me one of the two floaters (letters through which you can play an eight-letter word) needed to go with EEHQRSU. I had been contemplating whether QUEERISH was good, but the C provided me with a nice safe CHEQUERS and the game was effectively over after seven moves each. I eventually won game two 524 to 419. I was now one game from being World Champion.
We had a break for food and I was able to think about the permutations, pondering how bad it would be to lose from this position, but knowing anyone could lose three games in a row. Better players than I had lost five or six consecutive games in the past. Even though I was out of the spotlight I felt tense and just wanted to fast forward to the end result and prize ceremony.
After what felt like an age, we got back to the Scrabble board and began the third game. I was going first and picked out my tiles. My brain was feeling laggy. UPDRAGS popped up in my head, but not straight away which generally makes me more likely to think I’ve made it up. Again I oscillated between going for it and thinking it wasn’t a word. I chose poorly and opted for PUG instead. Chris immediately followed it with JOLLIES. I was playing catch up for the rest of the game, which flowed well for both of us. GUENONS, SQUIZ, FELONIES, LIMBATE, and BIVALENT for Lipe and SHEDDERS, WRACK, OVEREYE, and UPTRAIN for me. But I was kicking myself the whole time for passing up the chance to try the bonus first up. Chris had won 509–464 in a game lasting only nineteen moves. Sure enough I discovered UPDRAGS was good immediately after. I was left wondering if I’d blown my chance.
FIRK verb, to strike with a whip
BLOKARTS blokart noun, a single seat wheeled land vehicle with a sail
UPDRAGS updrag, verb, to drag upward
GUENONS guenon noun, a genus of monkeys having long hind limbs, tail and long hair surrounding the face
SQUIZ noun, a look or glance, especially an inquisitive one
LIMBATE adjective, having an edge or border of a different colour from the rest