Technical writer Gail Wolford of Fountain Valley...

Technical writer Gail Wolford of Fountain Valley plays a mean Scrabble game at home but said after the recent North American Scrabble Open tournament in Boston: “I was outclassed.” She placed 160th in a field of 320 while homemaker Karen Merrill of Irvine finished 75th. “In one game, my opponent used the word ‘auxesis’ for 92 points and that ruined me,” Merrill said.