Finishing with Z - Mar 5

When you are lucky enough to pick up a Z it is tempting to focus on words starting with that letter. However there are some places on the board where you might get a very good score for a 5 letter word ending in Z. Imagine an A, E or O has been played on the 6th square along on the bottom of the board. Yes, that's right, just under that juicy triple letter score. But wait! Before you pounce on it with your Z to score 64 points for ZA, ZE or ZO for 64 points, just consider how much you would score for a 5 letter word ending in Z. Even if all the other letters were worth just one point you would score 99!

There are 23 words in the list below that end with Z. I am sure that you know some of them, but I am hoping you will learn a few as well. I have not included words where you need a blank to substitute for a second Z, such as WHIZZ or ABUZZ

ARROZ - Spanish rice. The plural is either ARROZES or ARROCES

ASSEZ - As part of a musical direction. e.g. assez lent is fairly slowly

BLITZ - To wage a bombing attack from the air

BORTZ - Diamond dust or a diamond fragment. Also BOART or BORT

CAPIZ - A translucent shell used in making jewellery

FRITZ - To become broken or start malfunctioning

GLITZ - To make something GLITZY or more attractive

GROSZ - A Polish monetary unit. Also GROSZE and GROSZY

HAFIZ - A Muslim who knows the Koran by heart

HERTZ - A unit of electromagnetic frequency

KLUTZ - A clumsy person

KRANZ - A crown of rock on a mountaintop. Also KRANTZ

MILTZ - The liver when used in Jewish cookery

NERTZ - An interjection used to express defiance

PLOTZ - To explode with intense emotion

SOYUZ - A Russian spacecraft

SPITZ - A breed of dogs with long hair

SQUIZ - To take a quick, close look

TOPAZ - A precious stone

TROOZ - Close cut tartan drawers worn under a kilt

WALTZ - To dance in three-four time

WAREZ - Illegally copied computer software

WOOTZ - A tough sharp steel made in southern India

Happy Scrabbling

Patrick