SUNBIRD

Thrice I have found a bird word on the ISC this month! I have yet to find the elusive QUETZAL, but I just spotted this tropical bird.

Here it is hidden among my rack: ?DINSUR.

At this point, I'm quite miffed that my opponent blocked my open lane for INSURED. It was embarassing enough that I accidentally had played OT*. INSURED would have filled out the OT* to make NOT. I don't even have the excuse that the board was upside-down, like in real games.

It takes me a few minutes to puzzle it out. And then fluttering unseen from above, the idea for SUNBIRD arrives in my head.

Bam: SUNBIRD for 64. Ain't it lovely?

Here's the final board. I lose by 40 points. My opponent had a nice bingo with WIELDERS. But for the most part, it's a lot of short words. The stepladder configuration is kind of embarrasing. I blame my short words on the pain medication.

And my crappy letters!

Just kidding....