Hotshot Scrabble

I was shot at the end of an internet game by a word I didn’t know. My opponent won the game by playing an 8 letter word that ended in SHOT. I thought that was an unusual ending for a bonus word. Certainly it isn’t one you immediately think of, such as –IER, -ING, -IEST.

Checking after the game revealed that there are 15 words that fit this pattern:

_ _ _ _ S H O T

Some of them have letters that are reasonably common, so perhaps this ending should be used more often than it actually is. How many can you think of?

Answers are at the bottom of the page.

For the HOT part of the title I am giving you a list of 5 letter words that have those 3 letters. That list would have 109 words. To keep it to a manageable size I have selected the ones that look the most useful and are not ordinary English words. Hopefully some of these might be new ammunition for you.

AZOTH Another name for the element mercury BHOOT A small whirlwind. Also spelled BHUT BOTHY A Scottish term for a hut or cabin. Also spelled BOTHIE BUTOH A style of modern Japanese dance CHOTA Little. A term of Indian origin. An adjective, so doesn’t take an S DOCHT To be able FOUTH Abundance. Also FOWTH. GOTCH Underpants. Also GINCH, GITCH, GONCH HOTCH To jog HOTEN Archaic form of command. This is a favourite word. It won me a game in the Trans-Tasman. I played HOTE and challenged my opponent when he put an S on the end. Then I got an extra 5 points when I hooked an N to play HOTEN and he challenged. Finally I challenged him off again when he tried to play their S on the end of that

(HOTE actually does take an S - At the other end.... for SHOTE) KOTCH To vomit. A word of South African origin METHO Aussie slang for methylated spirits. POTCH To thrust or push violently. Also POTCHE TACHO Short for TACHOGRAM which is a record of rotation speed THEOW A slave THOFT A rowing bench THORP A small village or group of houses. Also THORPE THOWL An oar pin. Keeps your oars clipped in position. Also THOWEL TOPHE A rock made of fine volcanic detritus. Also TOPH and TUFA TOPHI The plural of TOPHUS. A deposit of uric salts in tissues around a joint WHOOT To make a sound like an owl

So back to the quiz at the top of the page.

What happened was that my opponent played DEVIL to one off the bottom of the board. There was a blank and an S still to come, but I had neither and this was the most likely spot for him to get the bingo he needed. I tried to block the spot by playing MEL so that a bingo which pluralised DEVIL had to have LS as part of the word.

There had still been letters left in the bag. I couldn’t tell at the time exactly what my opponent had, but it soon transpired that he had AIHOST and a blank because he played HAILSHOT. Interestingly, MAILSHOT was another word he could have played. If I hadn’t tried to block that part of the board, one of the 7 letter words he could have played was AIRSHOT. I was obviously destined to be shot one way or another.

These are the 8 letter –SHOT words:

BIRDSHOT A small kind of shot used for shooting birds BUCKSHOT A large kind of shot used for shooting deer BULLSHOT A drink made of vodka and bouillon (strong broth) COCKSHOT A target in a throwing contest DROPSHOT A type of shot in tennis HAILSHOT Small shotgun pellets which scatter like hailstones HEADSHOT A photograph of head and shoulders only JUMPSHOT A type of shot in basketball MAILSHOT Targeted advertising in the form of junk mail MOONSHOT A space launch to the moon NECKSHOT A shot in the neck of an animal. OVERSHOT As well as the obvious meaning it is also a fabric weave, so it takes an S. That would be a surprise hook! PARASHOT alternative to PARASHAH, a passage in Jewish literature SLAPSHOT A fast, powerful shot in ice hockey SNAPSHOT An informal photograph

Isn’t is weird that you can have a NECKSHOT, but not a bodyshot?

There were also 11 words of 7 letters ending in –SHOT:

AIRSHOT, BOWSHOT, EARSHOT, EYESHOT, GUNSHOT, HIPSHOT, HOTSHOT, MUGSHOT, OUTSHOT, POTSHOT and RIMSHOT.

Cheers Patrick