Front Hooks

In Scrabble, if a word has been played on the board and you are able to add a letter to the front of it (whether as a single letter play, or as part of a separate word), you are said to be "hooking" the new letter onto the front of the previous word. For example, If the word HIP is on the board, it would be possible to hook a C onto the front of it, making CHIP. Of course, "back hooks" exist for many words as well.

I often find front hooks appealing, especially when the newly formed word comes as a surprise... maybe a surprise because the letter hooked onto the front is uncommon (Z, X, or such), or maybe a surprise because the newly formed word is completely unrelated to the previous word (sometimes even a different part of speech).

Below I have gathered twenty-six of my favorite examples of front hooks, one for each letter of the alphabet. I tried to make each of the stem words seven letters long (eight letters after front hooked); only a couple of the letters proved uncooperative in that respect:

A VENTAIL
B OARFISH
C ORACLES
D ELUSORY
E COTYPES
F OXTAILS
G HOSTING
H EXAMINE
I SLANDER
J APERIES
K NIGHTLY
L AZURITE
M ALIGNED
N EOLITHS
O OLOGIES
P ARTISAN
Q AIDS
R URALITE
S OFTENER
T EARDROP
U PRAISED
V ENTAILS
W INDOWED
X ENOPHILE
Y EARNING
Z INCITES

All of the words, of course, are valid in tournament Scrabble.

-- Eric

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