At Giant recently, I noticed a geeky new addition to the snack cracker aisle: Cheez-It Scrabble Junior.

Of course, I picked up a box (I’m a sucker for foods that spell). Still, I’m offended by the idea that Sunshine Foods and Hasbro seem to think that lettered cheesy crackers are the sole domain of “Junior” players, as if we adults can’t get as giddy as the neighborhood spelling bee champ about them.

They’re letters of the alphabet, after all. You can use them to spell “dog” or “Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”

So to prove that Scrabble Junior Cheez Its can be every bit as sophisticated and erudite as, say, Scrabble Grown-Up Cheez Its, I’m going to use them to spell some of the new, Scrabble-sanctioned food words added to the fourth edition of the OSPD (known to Scrabble novices as the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary).

In order of increasing point value (calculated the lazy way using this engine):

12 points

Related new words: CHAI, KORMA, RAITA, TIKKA

13 points

Related new words: CUVEE, BEIGNE, FRITES, FRISEE, PISTOU, NICOISE, TARTARE, SAUCIER, CLAFOUTI, POUTINE, BOURSIN

(As in: “Where are Bob and Sally?” “They’re fonduing with the Smiths.”)

13 points

Related new words (as in, they’re all odd selections): POBOY, CHEDDARY, MOCKTAIL, TOFUTTI, INEDIBLY

14 points

Related new words: PANINI, ALFREDO, CROSTINI, FARFALLE, BISCOTTI, TORTA

18 points

Related new words: BENTO, MIRIN, RAMEN, SOBA, UDON, UMAMI, WAKAME, GINKO

21 points

Related new words: MASA, ANCHO, TAQUERIA, CHURRO, FLAUTA, GORDITA, MENUDO, POBLANO, RELLENO, CHIPOTLE

I’m going to have to remember “cerveza” for my next Scrabble match: 63 points with a triple word score!

– Christina