A Burning Question

In one of my games this week the word BURN was played in the bottom right hand corner. I wondered what words of at least 8 letters finished with BURN at the end. They would score well, reaching back to the Triple Word Square. I did think of a couple, but there were others I missed, plus a couple I didn’t know.

Try for yourself before you look at the answers at the bottom of the blog.

To continue with the BURN theme I have compiled a list of 4 letter words with the letters BU and two more consonants. The following list does not contain all those words. Just the ones that I thought might interest you for one reason or another.

BHUT A small whirlwind. An alternative spelling is BHOOT

BRUX A verb - grinding your teeth. Habitual grinders suffer from BRUXISM

BUCK A word you already knew, and you might have thought to extend it by playing BUCKO, but did you also know BUCKU? (An African plant)

BUFF Also familiar, but are BUFFA, BUFFE, BUFFI, BUFFO and BUFFY?

BUHL Gold or silver inlaid with tortoiseshell

BUHR A flinty rock used for millstones

BUMF Paperwork. Also spelled BUMPH

BUND A German federation, but it can also be used as a verb, to make an

embankment. BUNDED and BUNDING are correct. Also good for

back hooks - BUNDE, BUNDH, BUNDT, BUNDU and BUNDY

BUNN A kind of sweet roll or cake. Don’t be a rabbit and miss BUNNY!

BUNT To push with the horns. BUNTY is worth remembering

BURB Short for suburb

BURD A Scottish word for bird. In a Scottish accent the U sound must be

longer or it would be pronounced the same as the English spelling

BURG A fortified town. An H is good for BURGH

BURK A fool. It would be foolish to forget you can play BURKA and BURKE

BURR To remove rough edges. BURRO and BURRY are good

KNUB A small lump

UPBY A bit further on. Only hook is E for UPBYE (also does not take an S)

So here are the answers to the BURN quiz:

There were 7 words of 8 letters.

BACKBURN Set a fire in order to halt another fire

MOORBURN Seasonal heather burning on moorland to help new growth

MUIRBURN Seasonal heather burning on moorland to help new growth

OVERBURN To burn too much

POSTBURN Following a burn

SIDEBURN A strip of hair grown on the side of the face

WINDBURN Cause irritation to the skin by wind

Even if I had thought of all of them, I didn’t have the letters to play one. However there is a 9 letter word that I could have played, and it never occurred to me:

HEARTBURN A burning, acid feeling in the throat or breast

That would have been a nice 42 points

Happy Scrabbling

Patrick