The letter R

The R is one of the one-point tiles, meaning it is a common letter and may be useful for making bonus words. The most obvious prefix and suffix using R are RE- and -ER. This does rather point to the main weakness of the R – it tends to need an E for you to use it to its best advantage.

Both RE- and -ER, along with the likes of UN- and -LY, are affixes which can lead you astray. You can’t automatically add them to any old word, so take care. Having said that, both the lists contain some real doozies:

REASSORT to assort again

RECHIP to put a new chip into a stolen mobile phone

REINK to ink again

REMINT to mint again

REZONE to zone again

CLAYIER containing more clay

GELIDER colder

NUTSIER more foolish

TEUGHER tougher

VUTTIER dirtier

You may not have known GELID was a synonym for cold. It appears regularly in the steamier works of romantic fiction, or VUTTY novels, if you prefer.

By Barry Grossman

Barry is a leading UK Scrabble player and winner of several tournaments. He is the author of Scrabble for Beginners (Chambers), Need to Know Scrabble, Scrabble – Play to Win and The Little Book of Scrabble Trickster. He has also contributed to numerous other books on the subject of words and word-games, has been a series champion of Channel 4’s Countdown, and has written four comedy series for BBC Radio 4. He lives in Hertford.

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.

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