Give this list an A plus

AAERST might not be a letter group many people have studied, but it may be better than you think.

A Grade Challenge

There are 5 words to find, one from each combination

A     A     E     G     L     R     S     T

A     A     E     N     O     R     S     T

A     A     E     H     L     R     S     T

A     A     E     M     P     R     S     T

A     A     E     L     P     R     S     T

B and C Grade Study List

If it was your first turn and the first 6 tiles you saw were AAERST you would be hopeful that the next tile would give you a bingo to start the game. You do have a double A, but those letters are good, maybe even better than you think. 70 of the remaining 94 tiles will make a bingo which means there is a 74.5% chance that the next tile will be something you want to see. Isn’t that surprising when you have a double A?

The letters you might draw make the following words:

B = ABATERS and ABREAST

C = ACATERS and CARATES

D = ADRATES (Tariffs businesses pay to advertise)

E = AERATES

G = AGRASTE, GASTREA and TEARGAS

I = ARISTAE, ASTERIA and ATRESIA

K = KARATES

L = TARSEAL

M = AMEARST and RETAMAS

N = ANESTRA and SANTERA

O = AEROSAT (communications satellite)

P = PETARAS (clothes baskets)

R = ERRATAS (printing errors)

S = SEARATS (pirates)

U = AURATES (salts of auric acid)

W = AWAREST

Sometimes it is easy to miss ordinary words that you might use in your normal vocabulary. A very good player once missed TARSEAL at the end of a game against me. He spent about 5 minutes looking at it, but the fact that it isn’t a common ending made it hard to spot.

Answers to A Grade Challenge

AGRESTAL – Describing weeds growing on cultivated land

ANOESTRA – Time between two periods of oestrus

TREHALAS – Sugary substance from an Asian weevil cocoon

APTAMERS – Artificially created DNA molecules

PALESTRA – Greek place for athletic training