It's risky, but I feel certain this is an awkward one. I'm not going to suggest 'Q': although I do feel there's one in there I'd like to get your views first. A 'Q' would suggest a 'U' unless it has some Arabic origin.

Yes, there is a U, and it goes in that place you're thinking of, too. I'll let you do the honours.

Er - as Projoy set this, and he reckons there should be two Fs then surely there are two Fs - and in any case restating an already used letter should not incur a penalty - as all instances of the letter should be shown by the hangman at the time.
BTW Officinal certainly is a valid word, concerned with medicines, especially those that are kept ready for dispensing.

Very amused to hear Ian Wright, commenting on a football match, describe the play as "effervescent, is that a word?"

[IS,P!] Barry Cryer playing Scrabble:- "I've got A-W... O-R-D... is that a word?"
[Blob] But Projoy didn't set this, he just wrote out 9 dashes. The Collective Consciousness set it, and only the Collective Consciousness knows what it is. As for the extra F - well, the hangman didn't show two Fs immediately, and I thought the hangman's decision was final (otherwise we could just be changing letters around, or adding and discarding them, which would be a very different, if better, game). Anyway, no possible word exists in the language, even if there are two Fs. Unless it's something like the famed Astaire/Rogers vehicle, "O Funny Gal!"

I play... u. I'll leave the Q for anyone daring enough.

Does the Collective Consciousness consider that OFTOQUIAL might be a word?

I believe it does, but what could it mean?

OFTOQUIAL is little known low profile regulator of conversational or infomal spoken english. Its full title would be the Office of Fair Trading of Colloquial, but shortened in the same manner as OFTWAT, OFTTEL and OFTGAS. "Awigh' guv'".

Although I was wondering if it were a word that is frequently said, but never written down.

It's actually a seafarer's corruption of "aft-o-keel", the front beam of the ship's hull. "Aft-o-keel-hauling" was the pirate's worst punishment, where they strapped you to the front of the ship and rammed you into whatever galleons happened to be passing.

Would that it were, would that it were. Nay nay nay. So, well, we have a word that's frequently uttered but never writ, a piece of nautical architecture, or a high-profile governmental regulatory unit. So, well, so, across to the other team and a turn of speed if you would.

[Collective us] Bravo!
A quickie...

_ _ _ _ _

Is it "Elbow"?

OMG - Mornington Dictionary Hangman ! What a challenge.

It's not likely to be Elbow. I withdraw my guess.
So, is it "Xyzzy"?

[MF] I say not . . . . although I have a feeling that S is in it.

Indeed there is, the word is infact a plural. _ _ _ _ S It remains to be found what the root is though.

Is the collective conciousness sure that there's only one S? My small corner of the collective thinks there is one more .

What, you mean it's S---s?

Absolutely : S _ _ _ S which makes me think there's an A in there.

Absolutely. S _ A _ S

Might one of the two be an M?

Which leaves S _ A M S. I suppose the last letter could be C, E, H, L or P.

Well, logic dictates that at least four of those guesses are wrong, so...

I'll leave it to the conciousness to decide which is right.

How do we know it's not SNAMS, army codeword for the South Vietnam vets who sat around in Saigon complaining of the lack of sick animals?

If put into the word, each letter would generate a word found in any accepted dictionary, therefore it can be none of them. I agree with Snams.

So the scores on the doors are:

Me:   1
Raak: 1

Everything to play for as we move into Round 3:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (2 words)

Let's go for an E then - must be at least one in the two words.

Shouldn't we know where the break of words is or is that also up to the collective? Do wrong guesses as to the break location lead to a hanging?

I would imagine that the break will make itself known given time.

There is indeed at least one E. In fact there are four!

_ E _ E _ _ _ _ _ E E _

Does the latter part have at least one T-shaped hole in it?

Is there an S?

_ E _ E S S _ _ _ E E _     T

I'll make a guess at the word division: is it (6,6)?

Any C's?

I get the feeling this is one of those trick scientific words. I believe a digit is required here, bordered by dashes. I therefore propose -4-.

T (6,6) -4-

Hemmed in here a bit by early multiple letter answers but I'll try for a full guess.

CELESSIC FEEL
A modern day tv audiece condition, brought on by overdosing on 'Celebrity TV'. As the empathy between the viewer and celeb increases, the veils of status disappear till the viewer mistaken with delusion begins to feel that anyone these days can be a celebrity.

That seems like a prefectly good definition to me. And, I think, with the scaffold silent in the breeze it's probably time to put this game in a cupboard where it can mature a while until the next time Hitler can be hanged.

*shouts, screams, generally goes wild for Projoy*