TINIER but not tiny

I was playing one of the newer players on Monday night and they made a mistake with a RETINA word. RETINA is a great group of letters, but there was a blog on that not so long ago. So I was looking for something else. I like to keep the 5 letters INTER if I have the chance to do so. That made me wonder what the chances are for various combinations after one more tile has been picked up.

The best chance is if the next tile is a blank. Then you have a 98.9% chance the next tile will give you a 7 letter word. Only a Q wouldn't work

The next best is A for RETINA - that gives an 84% chance

S gives a 77.7% chance

G gives a 70.2% chance

E gives a 69.1% chance

U gives a 67% chance

T gives a 62.7% chance

I gives a 55.3% chance

O gives a 48.9% chance

I bet that most people would be surprised how bad TONIER is. It is slightly better to have doubled the I, rather than introduce a new letter with an O. That certainly seems anti-intuitive.

In a game between two A graders - Lawson and Mike Curry - one of them played ARENITIC – describing a grainy rock. You could say that is a RETINA 8, but it is also a TINIER 8, so that looks like the theme for this week. TINIER, a group that isn't so good you would go out of your way to keep it, but can frequently end up on your rack. It isn't so bad either

A Grade Challenge

5 words of 8 letters including TINIER:

T I N I E R + G U

T I N I E R + C O

T I N I E R + F R

T I N I E R + V Y

T I N I E R + C N

B & C Grade Study List

There are 26 words in the TINIER group of 7 letter words, but it only goes with 13 different letters:

A – INERTIA – The tendency to resist acceleration

C – CITRINE – A variety of quartz

C – CRINITE – Fossil of a starfish type creature

C – INCITER – Someone who incites

C – NERITIC – Pertaining to shallow water

D – INDITER – Someone who writes or composes

D – NITRIDE – A compound of nitrogen

E – ERINITE – An arsenate of copper

E – NITERIE – A nightclub. Also NITERY

F – NIFTIER – More agile or stylish

G – IGNITER – Something that ignites

G - TIERING – Arranging in rows

G – TIGRINE – Like a tiger

H – INHERIT – To receive by legal succession

L – LINTIER – More covered with lint

L – NITRILE – An organic cyanide compound

M – INTERIM – The time between

M – MINTIER – More minty

M – TERMINI – Plural of terminus – an end

N – TINNIER – More like tin or more lucky

T – NITRITE – A salt of nitrous acid

T – NITTIER – More full of nits

T – TINTIER – More unevenly tinted

V – INVITER – Someone who invites

V – VITRINE – A glass showcase for objects

W – TWINIER – More resembling strong string

Answers to A Grade Challenge

INTRIGUE – To arouse the curiosity of someone

RETINOIC – Retinoic acid – a derivative of Vitamin A

FERRITIN – A protein which stores iron in the liver

INVERITY – Lack of truth

INTRINCE – A Shakespearean word for intricate

Happy Scrabbling

Patrick