Blanking Out At Howick

Roger Cole-Baker invented a piece of new terminology last year. It is blanking out, and refers to the condition where you have great trouble thinking of any bonus words because you have two blanks.

At the Howick tournament he showed me one where Dianne Cole-Baker had EEIOS with two blanks. She did find a bonus word to play, but on investigating later they discovered there was 42 possible 7 letter words.

With a totally different combination Cicely Bruce from the Whangarei Club reached an endgame where her letters were FIKNT and two blanks. She was delighted to find that not only could she spot the 7 letter word she needed to win, but when the combination was checked later that word was the only possibility.

So if you like to do a quiz before moving on to the list:

FIKNT?? (1 answer)

EEIOS?? (42 answers)

There are so many answers to the second combination that we will have to use the rating system to set a fair challenge:

If your rating is over 1600 see if you can find 24 of the words If your rating is over 1000 see if you can find 12 of the words If your rating is under 1000 see if you can find 6 of the words

How are you going with that?

Is it easy or are you blanking out?

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OK are you ready to go on to the answers?

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Firstly, Cicely’s great find was:

RATFINK A contemptible person

Now the 42 words that can be played with the second combination.

OBELISE To mark with an OBELUS – a symbol

EBONIES

EBONISE

EBRIOSE Intoxicated

TOEBIES TOEBIE– a type of African sandwich

DIOCESE The extent of a bishop’s reign

ECHOISE To repeat another person’s words

SENECIO Any plant of the genus senecio, which includes ragworts

COESITE A type of silica

OILSEED A type of plant, the seeds of which contain oil

EPISODE

POESIED Uttered poetry

OREIDES Alloys used in imitation gold jewelry

OSIERED Covered in osiers – small Eurasian willows

VOIDEES Wine and light food taken before going to bed

ELOGIES

SOIGNEE Carefully done (this is the word Dianne played)

GENOISE A rich sponge cake

EGOTISE Talk about oneself a lot

GOETIES GOETY – black magic

HEROISE

EIKONES Plural of EIKON, a Greek religious carving of a saint

OLEINES A glycerine ester of oleic acid

LOERIES African birds with crimson or grey plumage

ESTOILE A six pointed star

ETOILES Six pointed stars

SEMEION One of two divisions in Greek poetry

EPISOME A genetically active particle in bacteria

ISOMERE Compound with the same atoms but arranged differently

MEIOSIS A type of cell division

PEONIES Flowers

EOSINES Red dyes

ONESIES Loose fitting, one piece garments

POESIES Utters poetry

POETISE To write petry

EPOXIES

ROSIERE Rosebush

SOIREES

EROTISE To give a sexual meaning to

EROSIVE Causing erosion

ISOETES A plant of the quillwort genus. ISOETES is the singular

TOEIEST Most nervous

Happy Scrabbling

Patrick