Thai victorious in National Crossword Puzzle Championships

 

 

BANGKOK: -- A Thai student has won the national crossword puzzle championships held in The Mall, Bangkapi, in Bangkok at the weekend.

 

Dignitaries from the Thai Royal family and the Ministry of Education supported the event.

 

Emerging victorious in the two day contest for adults was defending champion Tawan Sunathvanichkul. He won 25,000 baht beating Bangkok resident Gerry Carter of England into second.

 

The event, sponsored by language institute ECC, featured competition in crossword puzzles in English and Thai, Scrabble in English and Thai, Sudoku and A-Math, an equations game.

 

Some 2000 people attended, many of them school children, the youngest of whom played a version of Scrabble invented in Thailand.

 

The event was opened by a member of the Thai Royal family on Saturday at the packed shopping center. HRH Princess Soamsawali enjoyed a demonstration of the Thai players' skills on a giant board at The Mall.

 

Also present was Mom Luang Pariyada Diskul, the secretary to the Minister of Education who handed out some the main prizes.

 

Scrabble and crossword gaming have a high profile in Thailand with thousands of rated players throughout the kingdom.

 

Gerry said: "Once again this was a very professionally organized event. Everyone enjoyed themselves, especially all the children!"

 

So how come Gerry, 55, a native speaker of English, was beaten by a Thai student half his age?

 

"Tawan is excellent at Crosswords," said Gerry. "He does the hardest ones in American papers everyday to practice. He is a worthy opponent.

 

"But there was only one point in it at the end. My mistake was misreading the word abbess as abscess. Put it down to foolishness and old age".

 

In July Thailand will host the annual King's Cup when the best Scrabble players from throughout the world will come to Bangkok.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-02-06

ts a headline that a competition organised by Thais, in Thailand, for Thais to compete, was won by a Thai?

5 minutes ago, FunkyDunky58 said:

ts a headline that a competition organised by Thais, in Thailand, for Thais to compete, was won by a Thai?

Not according to Gerry!!

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Some 2000 people attended, many of them school children, the youngest of whom played a version of Scrabble invented in Thailand.

A version of scrabble?

 

You take letters and make words, what other versions can there be?

In other news, a Thai team won the Thai League.

I wonder if he can speak English or is it just rote memorization.

My Thai stepson who speaks native English has a friend at school who is very good at scrabble but lacks english skills. I wonder what advantages scrabble has if the player cannot converse in English? I'm sure there must be some.

19 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

I wonder if he can speak English or is it just rote memorization.

Does it matter?

He won.  He didn't cheat.

 

 

1 hour ago, FunkyDunky58 said:

ts a headline that a competition organised by Thais, in Thailand, for Thais to compete, was won by a Thai?

LOL, they just can't resist an opportunity to beat their chests and rave about how wonderful they are. The fact that it's a mountain of BS doesn't matter...lol

Good luck to the boy; well done and Gerry as well. I admire their skills. I don't have a propensity for violence but on more than one occasion have felt a powerful desire to punch a crossword designer ( fortunately I've never met one).

5 minutes ago, Prbkk said:

Good luck to the boy; well done and Gerry as well. I admire their skills. I don't have a propensity for violence but on more than one occasion have felt a powerful desire to punch a crossword designer ( fortunately I've never met one).

I rarely manage to complete the Saturday BKK Post cryptic crossword.

Edited February 6, 20179 yr by GarryP

2 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

A version of scrabble?

 

You take letters and make words, what other versions can there be?

If you lose playing the Thai version you and your mates get to attack the winner.

2 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

A version of scrabble?

 

You take letters and make words, what other versions can there be?

 

I started my voyage by looking at the Wikipedia entry for Scrabble, under "National Versions".

 

Off you go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 6, 20179 yr by Enoon

27 minutes ago, Enoon said:

 

I found the answer in the Wikipedia entry for Scrabble, under "National Versions".

 

Off you go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unless it's picking letters to make words, it's not scrabble.

 

If it is that, then it is not an invention.

 

It's just a copy.

Edited February 6, 20179 yr by Bluespunk