IT HAD TO BE U (OR V OR W)
GAMES/World of Puzzles
May, 2016
Scott Appel

Scott Appel (no relation to me) has been playing tournament Scrabble for 20 years. Competitive Scrabble is not the friendly game many of us remember. Competitors memorize lists of two-letter words, and many of the words used are so obscure they are unrecognizable. The racks below contain groups of six, seven, and eight letters - and a blank, denoted by a question mark. In each case, there is exactly one common word that can be made.What letter does the blank need to be to make a word, and what is the word? The answers follow each list.

6-LETTER WORDS

1. G H L N T ?
2. H I M P R ?
3. A A E E  R ?
4. E E O V V ?
5. F J L O U ?
6. A B H P U ?

Answers:

1. E - LENGTH
2. S - SHRIMP
3. T - AERATE
4. L - EVOLVE
5. Y - JOYFUL
6. C - HUBCAP 

7-LETTER WORDS

1. E E I P V W ?
2. A B I P T Z ?
3. E L M O P X ?
4. A G L O O Y ?
5. A E I O S U ?
6. O L D I P N ?

Answers:

1. E - PREVIEW
2. E - BAPTIZE
3. C - COMPLEX
4. P - APOLOGY
5. Q - SEQUOIA
6. H - DOLPHIN

8-LETTER WORDS

1. A C G H N T W ?
2. A A C D H I P ?
3. T R N O I F E ?
4. S A R P E E U ?
5. A T D E U A E ?
6. C A T N E G I ?

Answers:

1. I - WATCHING
2. N - HANDICAP
3. R - FRONTIER
4. L - PLEASURE
5. Q - ADEQUATE
6. X - EXACTING

Note: #3-6 in the last set: JA.