Game 8 began poorly but ended well - after trading high-scoring plays on the first rack (my QUOTE 48 to her VOyAGES 77) I cleaned up some junk with JNANA (knowledge acquired through meditation) and she responded with TROLLISH for 63. I wasn't 100% sure of it but it looked plausible and my AACIOUW rack wasn't promising if I challenged and lost (it's no good). I did get down CHIAO (a monetary unit of China), missing CAHOW. But CAHOW wouldn't have given me BUSWAY for 50 on my next turn. Of course, BUSWAY is no good, but I played it so quickly and confidently that she let it go. Two turns later I got LoNGEST for 71 (after missing DARLING/DRAGLINE the turn before) and we were just about dead even. From there it was a race to the last bingo and I got it, making DISPROVE for 67 and winning 456-368.
Game 9 had be facing off against another fellow club member, and got ugly in a hurry. I had the only bingo of the game - ALIENATE - which he quickly replied to with JuNGLE for 52. And then the board got completely unplayable. I was struggling through racks like WUUDNVQ, HCLVORT, but he wasn't scoring much either. It was the endgame that did me in, where I blundered and gave him a huge K play for a 365-316 win, though we figured out I pretty much had no way of winning anyway with the tiles we had.
Game 10 was more of a whizbang affair. After an inauspicious beginning - I challenged the new bingo EcOTOUR (a tour of a natural habitat), and was then left to dump AA from the rack AAADEET, I was blessed with a JI draw which allowed me to play a four-letter overlap JADEITE (a mineral), also forming AWEE (away), DO, EL and ID for 84 points - and immediately draw a blank. One turn later I turn that into BAPTISm for a cool 97 to put me up by 34. She fires back two turns later with LORDING for 69 to draw even, but the three nails in my coffin are ZORIL (a small African mammal) for 48, EX for 38, and my failure to see ISSUANCE (the act of issuing) through an open U. A hard-fought game, but a loss, 443-396.
Game 11 is my first of three against this opponent, and starts off well - I pass up REWAX, which I'm not sure of, for RETAX for 40. I follow with JARVEY (a carriage driver) for 38 and WYE (the letter Y) for 37. But my lead is short-lived, as she lays down QINTARS (a monetary unit of Albania) for 111. Fortuantely, I have BrOMIDE in my rack, and it plays for 66. Her play of MONARCH for 34 looks to block my RETIMED through the M in BROMIDE, but instead, it makes it more valuable, to the tune of 52 points, and I take a 40-point lead again. It is short-lived, as her ELECTING for 62 pulls her ahead by 17. My rack is EILOSTT and I'm lamenting that I can't play TOILETS/LITOTES, when I spot an F - LOFTIEST plays for 62 and I'm able to withstand her 42-point SHIP and win 438-412.
Game 12 begins well - DrAGONS is my first rack and it plays for 70. Two turns later I get down DARTLES (to dart) despite missing GLACIATE/GESTICAL/CLEATING the turn before and take a 90-point lead. Other than that play, analysis shows that just about every other play I made was the top choice given the board position at that time, and I felt like positionally I was playing well - strategically if you're up and there's only one place your opponent can score well, it's worthwhile to kill the board even if it means you won't score much. Limit the damage, so to speak. I held him to 331 while scoring 421 for myself, which puts me at 8-4 going into the last two games of the day.
Game 13 was an unlucky one for me - he started with a 14-point play and a pass, but then hit me with RECRATES for 72 followed by SQUANDEr for 67. I came back with BLaTANT for 64 to draw within 20 but then he did to me what I had done to my opponent - close off all the good lines with decent-scoring plays while I struggled to get spots that would get me back in the game. I fell short, losing 408-373.
Game 14 was the last game of the day, and just as well, as it was beaten with an ugly stick. He didn't score under 25 points per turn until the 10th turn of the game, with a string of JALOP (a Mexican plant) for 30, CURFS (incisions) for 35, PUTZES for 40, ARRANGER for 66, WAX for 34, VICAR for 28, AY for 25, QI for 31, and WINDY for 51. And then his next to last turn netted him 74 points for SETLINE (a strong fishing line). I managed ETHIONS (pesticides) for 66 in my third turn, missing HISTONE for 85 elsewhere. A 453-327 thumping brought the end of day 2, and set my record at 8-6, -3 spread points.
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