![is zo a scrabble word is zo a scrabble word](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/05/10/article-1385375-0BF8C56400000578-229_239x243.jpg)
When we eventually play, I have what I consider some aesthetic triumphs – notably when I make rime and tome on the same go – but they score only modestly. Scrabble is a mathematical puzzle, not an exercise in philology or an arcane pursuit for lovers of literature. All that matters is that the word exists and is in whichever dictionary you have agreed will govern the game. But it quickly becomes apparent that knowing the definition is not crucial to top Scrabblers. Because Scrabble players have traditionally used The Chambers Dictionary, which hails from Edinburgh, there are a lot of obscure Scottish words in Scrabble. Qi is the Chinese life force zo is a cross between a yak and a cow and ee is a Scottish variant of eyes. They are crucial in Scrabble – words like qi, zo and ee."Īs it happens, Kelly knows what these words mean. "People struggle at the start to play words parallel to one another because they don't know a lot of two- and three-letter words. "The key thing is to look at each move as a puzzle," he says. Knowing a lot of words, of course, but he does not reckon that is the most important factor. What is the secret of good Scrabble, I ask him before we start playing. This will be significant when we come to play later. He immediately tells me the dictionary I have brought is useless: it may be OK for fun family Scrabble but it is hopeless for the pros, who use computerised word lists with far more words than appear in this dictionary. I've challenged Kelly to a game, and come along with my dusty Scrabble set (last used around Christmas 1992) and the Collins Scrabble Dictionary. If they're doing it day in, day out it must drive them crazy." "I can see why famous people seem terrible in interviews. "I knew it would be a bit mad, but I didn't realise how mad," he says. He has just won the UK Scrabble championship, and everyone wants a word – ideally one with a Q on a triple-letter score. W ayne Kelly is on a mobile in his hotel lobby doing his umpteenth interview when I arrive.