There are two schools of thought on Scrabble. Is it a lighthearted game to while away the long wintry nights or a deadly serious war of words?

For a three-man team from Oxford Scrabble Club there was no question. The game was a verbal version of the World Cup - only more serious.

For they were fighting for the title of the kingdom's wisest men.

And king wordsmith Barry Knox came up with the frankincense, gold and myrrh - scoring an incredible 149 points with the word Oracular - which means profoundly wise.

As the pressure built, the team pulled out all the stops to win against Billericay at the quarter finals of the National Scrabble Clubs Championship.

A dicey moment had just passed when Barry's opponent put an eight-letter word down - peaviest - to mean most peeved. But great sighs of relief were heard from the Oxford team, which jokingly refers to itself as the Oxford Oxymorons, when it was disallowed.

Then Barry put down the magic eight letters and it was all over bar the shouting.

The Oxford team went on to clinch victory in the keenly-fought later stages of the contest.

Oxford team captain Andrew Cook, who is the current British Scrabble champ, and scrabble club secretary John Place then saw off the rest of the rival team, sweeping Oxford into a semi-final against Newcastle. Nine games later, they were in the final after out-wording their opponents by six games to three.

They will now play Aireborough or Peterborough for the national title on November 1.

Mr Place commented: "The games were quite tough." How would you rate? Mr Place came up with his seven favourite bizarre words which are accepted in the Chambers Dictionary, as set out in the rules for Scrabble:

Taghairm - foreseeing the future while dressed in a bullocks hide under a waterfall.

Bafflegab - deliberately confusing speech.

Inqilab - a Pakistani word for revolution.

Aasvogel - a South African vulture.

Tsaddiq - a type of Jewish leader.

Evovaes - a type of Gregorian chant.

Sforzato - sudden emphasis in music.

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