If there is no overlap in the 1st two clues, well and novel are good a lot of the time. In a vacuum, I would always assume no overlap. In this case, it is far from clear.

novel

Novel

Wow

I don’t know which of my words hits novel

hockey - 4
round - 4
Normandy - 3
quill - 3
banner - 2
Nibelung - unlimited


Bat
Bolt
Force
Kangaroo
Opera
Rome
Spell
State
Well

Crash
Ice
Park
Pass
France
Knight
String
Novel

Pie
Spike
Pupil
Tube
Jupiter

Roulette
Date
Tablet

Sorry, Carl. I was in desperation mode with the last clue.

California - 1

state

Yup red GG.

None, I never clued for Novel

Hockey 4 was Ice/Park/Crash/Pass. In hindsight I could've gone Hockey 6 there, because France was ours, and although Bolt was neutral if you kept that same train of thought then you get Knight (Vegas).

Normandy 3 was France/State/Knight. Knight was a stretch, but I had Bookmark 2 next for Novel/String and it was the leftover word, so tried to tie in a medieval angle. Other possibles instead of Knight were neutral words so I figured it was ok.

When you missed the 2nd word, and your next word up was also a miss, I had to alter my plan. Carl looked like he was going to guess Novel next, so I figured I didn't have to worry about that one. That left Knight and String so went with Banner 2. I didn't think Blue would win on their next turn so there was no need to force anything. I was hoping you would only abandon your 1st next word up and not both of them.

Good job

Now me vs Carl?

I was pretty sure you were going to get your last two words. MICHENER, eg, clues both novel and state.

I went with Nibelung, as in Ring of the Nibelungs by Wagner. Even if Carl wasn't an opera fan, I hoped he had heard of it. Opera and magic ring -> magic spell. If we got that far, picking up round words that were left out there would get our eight words.

I didn't intend for tube to be part of the round collection, though I knew it was possible. Roulette was a moderate risk, an acceptable one, but having an extra round word made it more likely to be guessed, without the surety that tube would be seen as a round word.

Yup you and Carl next. Colors are predetermined so we'll need a 3rd party to make a board.

I didn't think I could spare the time to do something like book - 0 to avoid novel, so I had to keep pushing other words, and hope that round words were picked up before quill words, as I tried to give the impression that quill was finished with the three words guessed.

Sorry, again, Carl. I just saw myself behind the eight ball from the start, probably unjustly.

I thought quill was well tube and spell

I actually saw quill before the first clue, thinking spike, tube, spell, well (ink), and pupil. I figured that was too stretchy and didn't really make life easierfor the rest of the words. Then I saw round and the ability to use quill for spike, tube, and spell; I didn't even consider novel.

I actually had Opera in my mind as a randomish guess, with the logic that I know nothing about opera, so it would make sense that I didn't k ow the word

No worries. I wasnt thinking of ink well at all, if so I probably say it before novel

What were the intended round words?

Well, pie, Jupiter, pupil.

Yeah, well isn't exactly a clear connection.

Arm
Back
Bar
Bark
Cap
Compound
Dice
Engine
Eye
Game
Ghost
Glove
Grace
Grass
Himalayas
Hood
Mercury
Plane
Scuba diver
Soldier
Spider
Stream
Undertaker
Van
Wave

Thanks ak

Carl is red since we were red last time