Adding to an unchallenged incorrectly spelled word

by Will H.
(Bethany, Ontario)

For example the word "fadeing" was placed on the board, the spelling was NOT challenged, and play continued. A player then added "un" to the beginning of the word, which was subsequently challenged and found to be incorrect due to the "e" in the initial word placed on the board.

The person placing the "un" believes since nobody challenged the spelling of "fadeing", that unfadeing should be allowed to score.

This situation has come up a few times, so we would appreciate hearing from anyone who has a definitive answer.

It might save my marriage too!

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Hi Will - Firstly, sorry for my delay in responding to this question. I've been a bit snowed under of late.

The answer is that a challenged word is disallowed if it is not in the Scrabble dictionary, no matter how the letters in that word happened to be placed on the board.

In other words, the fact that FADEING* went unchallenged does not change the fact that UNFADEING* is invalid and, if challenged, must be removed from the board.

I hope this has not resulted in your marriage being destroyed ;-)

All the best,