I have always loved Scrabble. It is a love that has defied that significant period of time I spent learning the game in which I could hardly pass the 250 score mark.

Very often, I would issue a gung ho challenge to the experts in my Government Reserved Area neighborhood, not minding the eventual outcome. How else did I come to know that it is possible to receive a 4 to 1 ratio score bashing in this game I loved so much!

I suffered from the illusion that having a well above average regular spoken English vocabulary was enough to give me a good chance against the experts. WRONG!

Apparently, a significant part of Scrabble Vocabulary isn’t regular spoken or written English. One needs to play the game very regularly against the 500 plus scorers to learn those words.

It is a game of strategy!!

These days I am getting to play the game more often and it is interesting to see the average score getting higher very gradually.

Another challenge in scrabble is how soon one can juggle words together to form that powerful P R E M I U M. If care is not taken, that challenge can be a real time waster in a competitive game, particularly when the player has no blank tile.

The recent phenomenon whereby Nigeria has emerged the strongest English speaking Scrabble nation in the world makes the challenge of measuring up to local competition quite an inspiring one indeed! Here Goes!

an officer who summons witnesses and executes the orders of an ecclesiastical and (formerly) a civil court

relating to or containing the divalent group N=N united at both ends to carbon

A lur, also lure or lurr, is a long natural blowing horn without finger holes that is played by embouchure. Lurs can be straight or curved in various shapes. The purpose of the curves was to make long instruments easier to carry (e.g. for marching, like the modern sousaphone) and to prevent directing the loud noise at nearby people

An Aecium is a specialised reproductive structure found in some plant pathogenic rust fungi that produce aeciospores. Aecia may also be referred to as "cluster cups". The term aecidium is used interchangeably but is not preferred

Azoth was considered to be a universal medication or universal solvent, and was sought for in alchemy[1]. Similar to another alchemical idealized substance, alkahest, azoth was the aim, goal and vision of many alchemical works. Its symbol was the Caduceus. The term, while originally a term for an occult formula sought by alchemists much like the philosopher's stone, became a poetic word for the element mercury. The name is Medieval Latin, an alteration of azoc, being originally derived from the Arabic ''al-zā'būq'', "the mercury"[1].

an expression said when people who know each other well meet:
Hiya, Pete, how're you doing?

a black compound of sulphur and silver, lead, or copper used to incise a design on a metal surface
2.
the process of decorating surfaces with niello
3.
a surface or object decorated with niello