3648 🏆 SHWMAE

[Paul Keating]

It was a close finish with no sure winner until the last vote. The final leader board is 

• Tim Lodge’s hygge (7), with 5 votes.

• Debbie Embler’s niqqud (11), with 4 votes. 

Runners up with 2 votes each:

• Shani Naylor’s voetsak (5). Had I been playing,  I would  have voted for it, because the phrasing of the definition made me chuckle: Craigie’s, I think. 

• Efrem Mallach’s abugida (10).

• Tim Bourne’s sheepfold (8).

Nobody guessed the word, but Johnny Barrs knew it and so did not need to guess.

The word shwmae is Welsh in origin. It is a greeting, that for informality, and literal sense, is a close match to South African English howzit. I suspect that comparison dates me badly.

I chose the definition partly because the word doesn’t look Welsh. The spelling is a concession to English when the word is used in an English context, because none of its various spellings in Welsh, siẁmae, s’ma’i, etc, would suggest its South Wales pronunciation /ʃəˈmaɪ/.

I also chose the definition partly for the informality of the phrasing. I truly can’t imagine Murray or Gove writing it that way.

And, if it isn’t now obvious, Welsh 〈w〉 can and often does represent a vowel, giving us the English borrowings cwm ‘cirque’ (a kind of glacial valley) /kʊm/, and crwth ‘fiddle’ /kruːθ/, both of which are acceptable in tournament Scrabble.

1	N. Eng. Clean or tidy.
	Vote from Debbie Embler
	Submitted by: Nancy Shepherdson, who voted for 8, 11. Score: 1.
2	Snow-shoes.
	Vote from Tim Bourne
	Submitted by: Johnny Barrs, who did not vote (DQ). Score: 1.
3	A mechanical defect in a timepiece [perhaps a corruption of the High German schwarm ‘swarm’ and the Middle French marre ‘hoe’, though more likely an 18th-century “nonsense” coinage used among London clockmakers]
	Vote from Dan Widdis
	Submitted by: Mike Shefler, who voted for 5, 12. Score: 1.
4	A saddle-shaped depression in the ridgeline of a mountain range.
	Vote from Eric Boxer
	Submitted by: Tony Abell, who voted for 10, 11. Score: 1.
5	A command to leave (addressed esp. to a dog).
	Votes from Tim Lodge, Mike Shefler
	Submitted by: Shani Naylor, who voted for 10, 11. Score: 2.
6	Welsh English. Used as a greeting; ‘hello’, ‘hi.’
	No votes
	Real Definition. Score: D0.
7	Welsh English. A sense of homeliness and cosy contentment.
	Votes from Tim Bourne, Debbie Embler, Judy Madnick, Efrem Mallach, Dan Widdis
	Submitted by: Tim Lodge, who voted for 5, 11. Score: 5.
8	Welsh English. A sheepfold.
	Votes from Efrem Mallach, Nancy Shepherdson
	Submitted by: Tim Bourne, who voted for 2, 7. Score: 2.
9	A quick stovetop reduction made from spiced yogurt and browned onions, traditionally used to glaze vegetables before roasting.
	Votes from Eric Boxer, Judy Madnick
	Submitted by: Judy Madnick, who voted for 7, 9. Score: 1.
10	A consonantal alphabet; e.g., Hebrew or Arabic.
	Votes from Tony Abell, Shani Naylor
	Submitted by: Efrem Mallach, who voted for 7, 8. Score: 2.
11	A vowel sign in Hebrew indicating either a phoneme or the absence of a vowel.
	Votes from Tony Abell, Tim Lodge, Shani Naylor, Nancy Shepherdson
	Submitted by: Debbie Embler, who voted for 1, 7. Score: 4.
12	To stir lightly in a breeze.
	Vote from Mike Shefler
	Submitted by: Eric Boxer, who voted for 4, 9. Score: 1.
13	A path of stepping stones leading across shallow water.
	No votes
	Submitted by: Dan Widdis, who voted for 3, 7.

Def no	Player	Voted for	Votes from	Score from votes	Correct guess	Total
7	Lodge	5, 11	Bourne, Embler, Madnick, Mallach, Widdis	5		5
11	Embler	1, 7	Abell, Lodge, Naylor, Shepherdson	4		4
10	Mallach	7, 8	Abell, Naylor	2		2
5	Naylor	10, 11	Lodge, Shefler	2		2
8	Bourne	2, 7	Mallach, Shepherdson	2		2
1	Shepherdson	8, 11	Embler	1		1
2	Barrs	DQ	Bourne	1		1
3	Shefler	5, 12	Widdis	1		1
9	Madnick	7, 9	Boxer, Madnick	1		1
4	Abell	10, 11	Boxer	1		1
12	Boxer	4, 9	Shefler	1		1
13	Widdis	3, 7				0

--

Paul Keating

Soustons, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France

[Judy Madnick]

I'm not sure how I managed to vote for my own definition. It was unintentional; that's for sure!

Judy

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[Paul Keating]

When you wrote 

I don't believe any of these, least of all mine! So I'll reward the authors of the following with my votes: 7 and 9.

that had me scrambling to check and re-check that I had the author of 9 correct, and that its number in my spreadsheet agreed with published list, and anything else I could think of that I might have got wrong.

--

Paul Keating

Soustons, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France

On 2026-05-15 12:56:47, Judy Madnick <jmad...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm not sure how I managed to vote for my own definition. It was unintentional; that's for sure!

[Hugo Kornelis]

Congratrulations on your DQ. I sat out this round, but I most likely would not have ruined it for you either.

Cheers,
Hugo

Op 15-5-2026 om 09:01 schreef Paul Keating:

--

[John Barrs]

congrats on the D0

Johnny 

--

[Paul Keating]

Thanks. It's not often that I manage a D0: once in every 13 deals or so. My last was in 3516, which was 132 rounds ago, and the one before that in 3390, a gap of 126 rounds.

This is a tough group to bamboozle. 

--

Paul Keating

Soustons, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France

On 2026-05-15 14:19:54, Hugo Kornelis <hu...@perfact.info> wrote:

Congratrulations on your D0

[Judy Madnick]

Congratulations!

 

Judy

---

Original Message

From: "Paul Keating" <dixonar...@boargules.com>

To: dixo...@googlegroups.com;

Date: 5/15/2026 9:01:58 AM

Subject: Re: [Dixonary] 3648 🏆 SHWMAE

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[Judy Madnick]

Sorry about that. I meant to vote for #7 and #13 and at the same time remember that my definition was #9 so I could keep track of votes without constantly checking the list to determine how many votes I was (or wasn't!) receiving. The #9 was stuck in my brain and I typed that instead of #13!

 

Judy

---

Original Message

From: "Paul Keating" <dixo...@boargules.com>

To: dixo...@googlegroups.com;

Date: 5/15/2026 7:29:20 AM

Subject: Re: [Dixonary] 3648 🏆 SHWMAE

When you wrote 

I don't believe any of these, least of all mine! So I'll reward the authors of the following with my votes: 7 and 9.

that had me scrambling to check and re-check that I had the author of 9 correct, and that its number in my spreadsheet agreed with published list, and anything else I could think of that I might have got wrong.

--

Paul Keating

Soustons, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France

On 2026-05-15 12:56:47, Judy Madnick <jmad...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm not sure how I managed to vote for my own definition. It was unintentional; that's for sure!

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[Daniel B Widdis]

#13s author is sad. 

From: dixo...@googlegroups.com <dixo...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Judy Madnick <jmad...@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, May 15, 2026 at 7:28 AM
To: dixo...@googlegroups.com <dixo...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Dixonary] 3648 🏆 SHWMAE

Sorry about that. I meant to vote for #7 and #13 and at the same time remember that my definition was #9 so I could keep track of votes without constantly checking the list to determine how many votes I was (or wasn't!) receiving. The #9 was stuck in my brain and I typed that instead of #13!

 

Judy

---

Original Message

From: "Paul Keating" <dixo...@boargules.com>

To: dixo...@googlegroups.com;

Date: 5/15/2026 7:29:20 AM

Subject: Re: [Dixonary] 3648 🏆 SHWMAE

When you wrote 

I don't believe any of these, least of all mine! So I'll reward the authors of the following with my votes: 7 and 9.

that had me scrambling to check and re-check that I had the author of 9 correct, and that its number in my spreadsheet agreed with published list, and anything else I could think of that I might have got wrong.

--

Paul Keating

Soustons, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France

On 2026-05-15 12:56:47, Judy Madnick <jmad...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm not sure how I managed to vote for my own definition. It was unintentional; that's for sure!

--

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[Judy Madnick]

Judy

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