Folks,

SPANGHEW is the (to many people) unbelievable activity of striking frogs and toads with a stick so they'll fly into the air, def. #7. John Barrs and Dan Widdis found it believable, though, giving me a D2. Shani Naylor knew the word, and was DQ.

Voting ended in a three-way tie among Judy Madnick, Dan Widdis, and Nancy Shepherdson, with four points each. As mentioned, two of Dan's points came from his correct vote. The next tie-breaker was therefore between Judy and Nancy. Nancy has no points in the rolling scores, while Judy has - drum roll, please - ONE! Judy is the next dealer by a whisker, while Nancy will now have a much higher rolling score of (at least) 4 for the next few rounds and might win the next tie-breaker she's in.

A statistical oddity: people tended to vote for the longer definitions, with the six definitions longer than the real one (which was at the middle of the list) getting 17 of the 18 votes cast versus just one for the six shorter ones. Five of the short definitions received no votes, but none of the longer ones. There was a 76% correlation between a definition's length and the number of votes it received, including the real definition in that calculation. Since Excel was kind enough to draw a chart of this relationship, I figured I might as well include it here. It's at the bottom. Feel free to ignore it with a dismissive comment such as "Oh, he's an engineer."

Full results:

1. [S. Boston Dial.] A hairball. From Shefler, M. who voted 9, 13. Voted for by: None. Score: 0.

2. The art of clay whittling (as opposed to wood). From Embler, D. who voted 8, 13. Voted for by: None. Score: 0.

3. A board game resembling ludo, played in the Royal Navy. From Naylor, S. who was DQ. Voted for by: None. Score: 0.

4. A decorative fence that does not fully enclose or block access to an area. From Abell, T. who did not vote. Voted for by: None. Score: 0.

5. A piece of wood split off from timber, esp. such a piece used in building a fire. From Keating, P. who voted 10, 11. Voted for by: Widdis, D. Score: 1.

6. To divide a word via syllabification derived from a combination of Spanish and English. From Fein, D. who voted 9, 11. Voted for by: None. Score: 0..

7. [Scots, Nor. Eng.] To strike and cause to fly in the air, said esp. of frogs and toads. From Dictionary which could not vote. Voted for by: Barrs, J.; Widdis, D. Score: D2.

8. An attempt to hit a golf-ball across a lake [loch] by causing it to skip along bouncing on the water surface. From Barrs, J. who voted *7*, 13. Voted for by: Embler, D. Score: 3.

9. A type of recovery crane used to right large overturned vehicles or retrieve any sort of vehicle from otherwise inaccessible areas. From Shepherdson, N. who voted 10, 11. Voted for by: Shefler, M.; Fein, D.; Madnick, J.; Lodge, T. Score: 4.

10. A tract of poor, sandy, undulating or hilly land near the sea, covered with fine turf which serves chiefly for the grazing of sheep. From Widdis, D. who voted 5, *7*. Voted for by: Keating, P.; Shepherdson, N. Score: 4.

11. A form of comic or satiric verse, consisting of two couplets of metrically irregular lines, containing the name of a well-known person. From Madnick, J. who voted 9, 12. Voted for by: Keating, P.; Fein, D.; Shepherdson, N..; Lodge, T. Score: 4.

12. A Pidgin, or compound, language, originating in the Philippines during the 17th century, and containing elements of Spanish, Chinese and Malay. From Mallach, A. who did not vote. Voted for by: Madnick, J. Score: 1.

13. A component of medieval plate armor, consisting of an extra plate covering the front of the shoulder and the armpit, worn over the top of a pauldron. From Lodge, T. who voted 9, 11. Voted for by: Shefler, M.; Embler, D.; Barrs, J. Score: 3.

As a table, with tied scores in random order:



Efrem

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