CSW21 Deletions

There are no new word additions in CSW21. Here are the 2-8 letter CSW21 deletions largely inspired by Mattel (source: WESPA):

      

3 Letter Deletions		5 Letter Deletions		6 Letter Deletions
ABO		ASPIE		ASPIES
GOY		BAKRA		BAASES
JEW		BANTU		BACKRA
LES		BINTS		BAKRAS
LEZ		BOCHE		BANTUS
WOG		BOONG		BINGHI
YID		BUBBA		BOCHES
		BUFTY		BOHUNK
4 Letter Deletions		CHOLO		BOONGA
		COOLY		BOONGS
ABOS		CRIPS		BOSCHE
BINT		DAGOS		BUBBAS
CRIP		DARKY		BUCKRA
DAGO		DIKEY		BUFTIE
GOYS		DOGAN		BUMBOY
HORI		DYKEY		CHOLOS
JEWS		FAGGY		COOLIE
KIKE		GINZO		CRACKA
LEZZ		GIPPO		DAGOES
MICK		GOYIM		DARKEY
MUNT		GYPPO		DARKIE
OFAY		HAOLE		DIKIER
SPAZ		HONKY		DOGANS
SPIC		HORIS		DYKIER
SPIK		JEWED		GAMMAT
TAIG		KAFIR		GINZOS
WOGS		KIKES		GIPPOS
YIDS		LESBO		GOYISH
		LESES		GRINGA
		LEZES		GRINGO
		LEZZA		GYPPED
		LEZZY		GYPPER
		LUBRA		GYPPOS
		MICKS		HAOLES
		MUNTS		HONKEY
		MUNTU		HONKIE
		NANCE		HUNKEY
		NANCY		HUNKIE
		NEGRO		JESUIT
		NIGER		JEWING
		OFAYS		KAFFIR
		PIKEY		KAFIRS
		POOFS		KANAKA
		POOFY		LESBOS
		POOVE		LEZZAS
		POOVY		LEZZES
		REFFO		LEZZIE
		SAKAI		LUBRAS
		SKIMO		MOFFIE
		SPAZZ		MONGED
		SPICS		MONGOL
		SPIKS		MUNTUS
		SQUAW		NANCES
		TAIGS		NIGERS
		VENDU		NIGGER
		WIGGA		PAPISH
		ZAMBO		PAPISM
				PAPIST
				PIKEYS
				POLACK
				POOVES
				POPERY
				POPISH
				REFFOS
				SAKAIS
				SCHIZO
				SCHIZY
				SHIKSA
				SHIKSE
				SKIMOS
				SPICKS
				SQUAWS
				VENDUS
				WIGGAS
				WIGGER
				ZAMBOS

7 Letter Deletions		8 Letter Deletions
BACKRAS		BOSSBOYS
BINGHIS		BULLDIKE
BOHUNKS		BULLDYKE
BOONGAS		CHINKIES
BOSCHES		FAGGIEST
BOSSBOY		FAGGOTRY
BUCKRAS		GOLLIWOG
BUFTIES		GOLLYWOG
BUMBOYS		GYPSTERS
CHINKIE		HARELIPS
COOLIES		HASBIANS
CRACKAS		JESUITIC
DARKEYS		JESUITRY
DARKIES		JIGABOOS
DIKIEST		MULATTAS
DYKIEST		MULATTOS
FAGGERY		NANCIEST
FAGGIER		NEGROIDS
FAGGOTY		NEGROISM
GAMMATS		NIGGERED
GINZOES		NITCHIES
GIPPOES		OCTAROON
GOYISCH		OCTOROON
GOYISHE		PAPISHER
GRINGAS		PAPISHES
GRINGOS		PAPISTIC
GYPPERS		PAPISTRY
GYPPING		PICCANIN
GYPSTER		PICKNEYS
HARELIP		POOFIEST
HASBIAN		POOFTAHS
HONKEYS		POOFTERS
HONKIES		POOVIEST
HUNKEYS		POPERIES
HUNKIES		POPISHLY
JESUITS		POUFTAHS
JIGABOO		POUFTERS
KAFFIRS		QUADROON
KANAKAS		QUASHEES
LEZZIES		QUASHIES
MOFFIES		QUEERDOM
MONGOLS		RAGHEADS
MULATTA		REDNECKS
MULATTO		REDSKINS
NANCIER		SCHIZIER
NANCIES		SEMIMUTE
NEGRESS		SHEENEYS
NEGROES		SHEENIES
NEGROID		SHEMALES
NIGGERS		SHICKSAS
NIGGERY		SHIKSEHS
NITCHIE		SHKOTZIM
PAPISMS		SHVARTZE
PAPISTS		SPASTICS
PICKNEY		SPAZZING
POLACKS		SQUAWMAN
POOFIER		SQUAWMEN
POOFTAH		UMLUNGUS
POOFTER		WETBACKS
POOVERY		WOOFTAHS
POOVIER		WOOFTERS
POUFTAH
POUFTER
QUASHEE
QUASHIE
RAGHEAD
REDNECK
REDSKIN
SCHIZOS
SCHIZZY
SHEENEY
SHEENIE
SHEGETZ
SHEMALE
SHICKSA
SHIKSAS
SHIKSEH
SHIKSES
SPAZZED
SPAZZES
UMLUNGU
WETBACK
WHITEYS
WHITIES
WIGGERS
WOGGISH
WOOFTAH
WOOFTER

 

                                                                

World Blitz Scrabble Championships

The world blitz scrabble championships finals will be contested by two scrabble legends David Eldar and Will Anderson. Both players advanced with hard fought 7-5 wins in the semi finals. Here's how they got to the finals courtesy @cocoscrabble:

Will Anderson runs out the winner 10-6:

Review of the Scrabble Go App - A Competitive Players Perspective

Thought I'd review the Scrabble Go App from a competitive players mindset. Yes, the ads can be a bit annoying but there's a lot you can do with the app. I am going to review each of the App's features which I have tried many times over:

1) Duels - This is a one on one match up with a random opponent. You usually get 5 turns apiece. Usually, the standard of the competition is low and disconnection by opponents is high. My Rating - 3/5

2) Arena Games:

a) Rush - This is the equivalent of playing duplicate scrabble with all the users on the site. It is quite fun but the time limit of 1.5-3 minutes per round is a bit too short. Useful for testing your strategies within a time constraint. My Rating - 4/5

b) Word Drop - This requires you to reel off words mostly 2, 3, or 4s in a 1.5 minute round format. Very little relevance for us competitive players. My Rating - 1/5

c) Tumbler - Similar to drop where you make mostly 2, 3, or 4s in a 1.5 minute round format. I am not amused. My Rating - 2/5

3) Puzzle Path - I absolutely love this. This is one thing competitive players must try. Does improve your board vision and strategy. The later rounds are particularly challenging. Very good in particular to improve your short game (4-6 letters). My Rating - 4/5

4) Word Search - This basically makes you guess common anagrams and sub-anagrams of an alphagram. Easy to do. My Rating - 3/5

5) Adventures - This is a new word builder game with many twists. Interesting and a bit challenging. My Rating - 4/5

6) Scrabble - The regular game. This is in a void challenge format. So you miss out on the elements of tile tracking and challenging your opponent's moves. My Rating - 3/5

7) Showdown - This requires very quick anagramming skills. Time is a bit short though. My Rating - 3/5

Increasingly the APP has a lot of bugs and customer service has been very poor of late. Hence my overall rating of SCRABBLE GO is a 2/5

My Profile as Profiled by the Scrabble Association of Delhi NCR

Sharing this from the Scrabble Association of Delhi NCR 

Today we profile an academician from Bangalore: 

Rajveer Rawlin

Of Fish, Finance, and Fiendish words:

A long-time aquarist and freshly minted Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D. to the layperson) in finance, Dr. Rawlin has been a competitive scrabbler for the last 15 years. Introduced to competitive scrabble in the UK when studying for his MBA in finance, he quickly realized he had a knack for the game. When he returned to India (Chennai) in 2006, he started playing with the Chennai Scrabble Club and was mentored by Mohan and Ranga, two stalwarts of the game. The time Mohan Chunkath (profiled earlier) spent explaining the finer aspects of strategy contributed immensely to improving his game.

Always lucky with mentors, he even had Akshay and Sherwin give him tips on improving his game while playing against them in the Nationals. After he lost to Akshay at the Nationals (in 2012), despite a 190-points lead he learned the strategy of blocking the board when ahead! He lost narrowly to Sherwin because he challenged a penultimate word (TOOTHS). That 5-point loss for the challenge lost him the game – another valuable lesson!

He moved from Chennai to Bangalore in 2010 and was soon completely immersed in analyzing games, working on strategy and board vision with the Bangalore Scrabble Club - particularly Radhika, Ishika, the Potnis family (Suchindra, Vidya and Yash), Lenny, Rex, Aubrey, and Mr. Syed. Irfan also contributed to his Scrabble training albeit remotely from Dubai). All this work and lots of play made Rajveer “a very bright boy”, and in 2019, he finished 4th in the Nationals and was the runner up in WESPAC A division.

An engineer by training, his natural inclination towards math drew him to the analytical aspect of the game and his academician’s thirst for knowledge through study, got him to focus on learning words. Some of the best advice he says he got (from Ranga) was to focus on the 2,3,4’s and 5’s and leave the 7’s and 8’s for later. Over the years, he mastered learning tools, his favorite being Xerafin. He’s mastered the inner workings of Xerafin and can provide tutorials on how to use the app. Even now, he does about 500 anagrams a day: 300 from his card box and 200 from the quizzes. Of course, now he covers all the word lengths – from 2-letter words to 9-letter words!

Having moved fairly easily from engineering in the US to studying finance in the UK and then coming back to (marry) and work in India, Rajveer feels that he sometimes ‘can get ahead of himself’. And unlike investing in the markets where you can ‘unwind a mistake’, once you make a mistake in a game, it’s done. With a Zen take on the game, Rajveer feels Scrabble keeps him grounded as he sees it as a great ‘evener’. Even the best players can lose games if their opponent has sufficient luck. That makes him keep his nose to the grindstone as he tries to minimize the element of luck, relies more on word knowledge, skill, and strategy, and overall, be better than he was yesterday.

Like Scrabble, his 7-year old daughter (pic attached) keeps him grounded and stops him from ‘getting ahead of himself’. Wanting to let her find her own way, he holds himself back to watch her make her own choices.

Apart from Scrabble, his other passions are finance and fish- the only commonality being the first two letters! He is a passionate aquarist (yep, valid scrabble word: it means one who keeps aquariums) and has 7 fish tanks. One really large one with about 70 fish (of 15 different types), 4 medium-sized tanks, and 2 smaller breeding tanks. The breeding tanks have lots of plants for babies to hide so that their carnivorous parents don’t eat them up! He breeds ‘live-bearer fish’ i.e. those that produce small fish (not eggs) such as Guppies, Mollies, Platies, etc. (pictures attached). He’s had aquariums since he was in his early teens, a hobby encouraged by his parents. At one point, to make a little extra pocket money, he bred and sold fish.

He also regularly blogs on Scrabble and on Finance. As blogs require a fair degree of work, he blogs only on the two subjects to which he is most deeply connected. Check out http://rajveersscrabble.blogspot.com/

 for the scrabble stuff and https://rajveersmarketviews.blogspot.com/

 for the finance stuff.

One of the lucky folks who get paid for following their passion, Rajveer is paid to teach (also a passion) finance -his favorite subject. In fact, he has recently combined his passion for teaching with Scrabble and is in the process of opening a Scrabble club at his university. Having been the lucky recipient of mentoring from some outstanding players, he is keen to develop coaching programs for youngsters. While this is just an idea yet, if there are any youngsters out there who would like to be coached, reach out to Rajveer, and, who knows, you might be the catalyst to a youth mentoring program!

Scrabble Word Study Tools

 My colleague Ishika takes you through some useful tools for word study namely Zyzzyva, Aerolith, and Anagram Quizzer. I chip in on my favorite tool for word study Xerafin: