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Scrabble with Alcoholic Dismay

In a game on Monday it was quite surprising to be queried over putting an R on the end of SKY to make SKYR. However, on reflection words that end with Y often feel as though they do not take any extensions. In fact SKY can also be extended to SKYF as well. Also, look out for an E at the other end to make ESKY.


For this blog I thought I would focus on the words DISMAY and ALKY (an alcoholic). While ALKY takes two front hooks to make BALKY and TALKY, this blog is about what the two words have in common - they both take hooks of D and L to make the words ALKYD, ALKYL, DISMAYD and DISMAYL. There is an unusual meaning too. DISMAYD does not mean upset or unhappy, but instead refers to something that is misshapen


Here are all the words which can be made by adding either a D or an L onto a valid word that is already on the board. First the D Hooks:


QUAYD Daunted

SPAYD A 3 yead old male deer. Also spelled SPAYAD

APAYD and APPAYD Satisfied

POURTRAYD Depicted.


That last one extends an alternative spelling of the word PORTRAY, but the D hook can only be used on POURTRAY. Now let us look at the L hooks. There are some nice ones.


ARYL An aromatic hydrocarbon radical

MOYL A mule

ALLYL An organic radical in oils of garlic or mustard

SWAYL To scorch or singe

VINYL A type of plastic

NITRYL The group NO2, usually called the nitro group

CHROMYL A bivalent radical

ETHOXYL A univalent chemical radical

HYDROXYL The group containing hydrogen and oxygen

METHOXYL A compound containing a certain chemical group

SULFURYL and SULPHURYL A bivalent chemical group

ANTIMONYL A substance containing antimony oxide


The one I have used on a number of occasions is putting the L on VINY. it is very easy to overlook that sort of hook, even with such an ordinary word simply because you do not even consider what goes in that spot. My knowledge of chemistry is not good enough to really understand things like univalent or bivalent radicals, but they certainly make some radical scrabble plays!


Happy Scrabbling

Patrick








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