Pacific Helicopters

A Grade Challenge

For this week’s A Grade challenge you have a game situation

You are delighted to pick up your first 7 tiles to see that they make the word COPTERS.

However, it is not your first turn. That belongs to your opponent, and they start with the word CHORIA with the H on the double letter score. Unfortunately, that is the plural of CHORION, so COPTERS will not fit by putting an S on the end of CHORIA.

You can still play 7 different bonus words. One is a different 7 letter word that you can play horizontally. The others are 8 letter words, each of them through a different letter of CHORIA. How many of those 7 bingos can you find? And can you identify the top score?

To make it easier to visualise:

On the left side of the board is: C H O R I A

(The A is on the centre square)

Your rack is: C O P T E R S

B & C Grade Study List

H is for Helicopter, and I thought it might be interesting to look at some 5 letter words including an H and 3 vowels. There are 50 words that fit those criteria and 9 of them are Maori words, so let’s start with those 9 words. Do you know your Te Reo?

AHURU   A small pink fish

AROHA   Love or compassion

ARUHE   The edible root of a fern

HIKOI   To take part in a protest march. (HIKOIED, HIKOIING)

HINAU   A tree

KEHUA   A ghost or spirit

MAHOE   A tree with white bark

MOHUA   A small bird with yellow head and breast

RAHUI   A prohibition

Five other Pacific words make just 14 words to study.

ALOHA   A Hawaiian greeting or farewell.

COHOE   A Pacific salmon – also COHO

HAKEA   An Australian shrub

HOVEA   An Australian shrub with purple flowers

LEHUA   A Hawaiian tree

Answers to A Grade Challenge

The 7 letter bingo (putting P over the A of CHORIA) was:

PROSECT   To dissect

The 8 letter words through each letter of CHORIA are:

PERCOCTS    Cooks thoroughly.

POTCHERS    Machines that break and bleach pulp.

TOPSCORE   To be the highest scorer in a sports match.

PORRECTS   Stretches forth.

PERSICOT   Cordial made from kernels of apricots and nectarines.

POSTRACE   After a race.

Ironically, TOPSCORE wouldn’t have been the top score. That would have been PERCOCTS which scores 82. POTCHERS scores 80 and TOPSCORE comes in third at 74. Those 3 words outscore all the others because they reach a double word square.

Happy Scrabbling

Patrick