WSC 03052019 Volume 1 Issue 35 - Wolfberg
[Pages:2]Ready or not, new words Volume 1 | Issue 35
Feb. 26-Mar. 5, 2019
"Compare Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island with another Bildungsroman, one also written after the terminal conflagration, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain (1924). Each novel isolates its Candidelike protagonist in a kind of life laboratory (Rampole Island itself, the International Sanatorium Berghoff in Mann's masterwork), where each is exposed to a vision of the state of mind of Western Humanity in the years before World War One."
Effective this past Friday, March 1, 2019, the newly revised NASPA Word List 2018 Edition (NWL2018) is in effect for club and tournament play. Since our club abides by NASPA rules, the list is now in effect for all games. The free challenges rule that we had
been using during the last few weeks as a means of getting used to the new list is no longer in effect. So, unless you are playing a newcomer who is also a beginning player and thus entitled to free challenges during their first visit, it's back to the cold and heartless world of challenges and lost turns. While a certain level of stress and consternation may accompany any change, perhaps it will help to bear in mind the image at left, the "Zen in Your Pen" ad by Zebra pen. After all, we play word games, and most of us use a pen (or pencil) to keep score.
Remember that for the rare occasions when we have games that use the Collins lexicon, we will continue to play by the Collins +5 points rule. Players who challenge unsuccessfully do not lose a turn in Collins, but the player who played an acceptable word receives 5 extra points. Any unacceptable words, however, cost the person making the play a turn, just as in OWL. You can read more about the new word list at .
Excerpt from: Pardon This Intrusion by John Clute Hachette Book Group 2016 (See page 2)
YNOEUWR S#C13R!AIMBBPLREOVGEAME!
2
Rampole, ranpike, rampike, rampick
In his 397-356 win over James K., Mike W. played RAMPOLE. While this spelling variant is not immediately to be found in the OED, it is another way to spell a RANPIKE or RAMPIKE. However you spell it, the word is slang, chiefly Canadian, to refer to a dead tree, often splintered and/or bleached, that has been killed by lightning, fire, or wind. The image at left is illustrator George Picken's cover for the first U.K. edition of H.G. Wells' 1928 novel Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island (see quotation on page 1 of this week's newsletter for more). RAMPOLE has one anagram, PLEROMA, meaning "fullness" or "abundance" in Greek, or "divine being" in Gnosticism. RANPIKE and RAMPIKE have no acceptable anagrams. And Collins adds one more spelling, RAMPICK#.
Neck and neck, seeking that 100th win
There's nothing at stake but bragging rights -- such as they are -- but as noted last week, Mike Wolfberg and Chris Kulig are both nearly their 100th win of the club season. As the graphic above shows, they have been close throughout the season. Chris missed a few sessions last summer, allowing Mike to pull ahead. Then Mike was out of town, allowing Chris to catch up and take a sizeable edge. Then, last week, Mike found another gear, going 6-0 to move to 96 wins, while Chris managed three victories, leaving him with 95. In their one head-to-head battle, Mike prevailed 470-390. Chris had PETRONEL, a medieval weapon defined by Robert Barrett as a "horsemans peece" in his 1598 book Theorike and Practike of Modern Warres. But Mike had three bingoes, including UNHORSED. So this horse race, if you will, is coming down the home stretch. It could be a photo finish. To be sure, both Mike and Chris will easily exceed 100 wins on the year. Beth Mix is in third place with 52 wins thus far. Those three, along with Nora and Megan, are the five players to participate in 100+ games this year.
Play the word, skip the disease
One of two bingos Chris K. played in his win over Megan M. was CONIOSES, the plural of CONIOSIS, a lung disease caused by the inhalation of dust or fine particles. Known as CONIOSIS or SILICOSIS, the much longer name for the affliction is shown in the cartoon above. According to Wikipedia: "This word was invented in the annual meeting of the National Puzzlers' League (N.P.L.) by its president Everett M. Smith. The word featured in the headline for an article published by the New York Herald Tribune on February 23, 1935, titled `Puzzlers Open 103rd Session Here by Recognizing 45-Letter Word.'" Be that long story as it may, the words CONIOSIS or CONIOSES are super useful in Scrabble when you look at the racks from which they come: CIINOOSS and CEINOOSS, which don't seem terribly promising. There are no other anagrams.
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