c4countdown

Clive Brooker

EDIT: Glad that European Football Championships was picked today as well. Naively, I assumed this was going to be a question about the European Football Championships. Learning all the previous winners earlier today was a complete waste of time... I thought it was a bit off that there wasn't time t...

Clive Brooker

This took a few minutes:

(75-100*9/50)*7+25

Just managed to scrape past the challenger from my armchair - the first numbers was a disappointment for anyone hoping for a memorable contest.

Clive Brooker

I saw a nice STEP question once that basically asked you to prove that there were exactly five Platonic solids. And now, 5 years later, I can't remember how to do it at all. I had a lecture on it at Leeds. I can recall some of it, heres a shabby explanation. Its do do with how the internal angles o...

Clive Brooker

(75-(10+1)*4)*6+1 I think

Clive Brooker

What's the minimum days it will take? (assuming I'm only on 1 show) This sounds a bit negative! You must have a plan which allows you to record 8 shows however unlikely that may seem. Because 5 shows are recorded in a day, if you are asked to start in either show 4 or show 5 you potentially have to...

Clive Brooker

Perhaps you've all seen this, but here's the link anyway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z5TyM57ggw&feature=related Countdowngoofs seems to have been doing very well lately in unearthing old episodes, and he's posted quite a few which weren't there last time I looked. I've got a few humdrum one...

Clive Brooker

[quote="Gavin Chipper"[What about the highest over a sustained period?[/quote] I'm intrigued by this, so I've started pulling the numbers out of the published BARB data to try and see what the overall picture is. Available data starts in June 1998, and in the week beginning 1/2/1999 the lo...

Clive Brooker

I was on in 2000 when they used to say regularly that they got four million viewers, so I was a bit surprised when I found I was only being watched by less than half that number. ...you are likely to be seen by over 2 million people. So the guidelines are 9 years out of date. They also advise (in s...

Clive Brooker

Maureen Sye is on Millionaire at the moment, but time's running out if she wants any money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmf9trRh ... re=related

Clive Brooker

No famous births or deaths on my birthday that I can find. Aneurin Bevan died three days earlier.

Clive Brooker

When there isn't a totally obvious winning line, frequently there are a number of possible approaches (working up from below, down from above, etc.) and whilst sometimes all of them lead to a solution, sometimes only one does. The key to being consistently successful must be to be able to move calml...

Clive Brooker

Not claiming to be an expert either, but I have some idea. Once you have the add/subtract before multiplying method ingrained, I would suggest practising the split multiplication, a technique few TV contestants can manage. Once you are proficient at this, a problem where you have, say 25, 6, 5 plus ...

Clive Brooker

I also wonder, has anyone else ever been 19 points behind with 2 rounds to go, before winning by 1 point :?: It probably has happened but I seem to remember Pete Cashmore coming back from 20 down and winning on a sudden death conundrum in a game once. I imagine that could well have happened on othe...

Clive Brooker

That's the first time I've ever seen "your choice" become something other than 1 large. I'm fucking proud of Rachel for that. Yeah, I really don't know why anyone would ask for that. But respect for not just choosing 1 large. I noticed in Series 60 that on the few occasions Rachel had the...

Clive Brooker

Strangely, it was the previous year's Apollo 8 which made the biggest impression on me (aged 8). Leaving the Earth to orbit the Moon was way beyond anything that had happened before, and once that was accomplished there didn't seem any doubt that the landing would happen soon.

Clive Brooker

I know we shouldn't slag the contestants but I really have no idea how Barbara passed the audition. Hmmm. I hinted in a post a few weeks ago that I didn't think I should have passed the audition (I had the ROMANISE/ROMANIZES version which will be familiar to many). This may sound daft, but when I t...

Clive Brooker

Thanks guys (hope that's OK Julie). James, I'll never forget meeting you as I climbed off set after the rollercoaster of my first game. So nice to to be congratulated by a familiar voice and face, even if I couldn't recall your name at that moment. I was wondering which distinguished Countdownian I ...

Clive Brooker

Losers get a canvas countdown bag with an O.E.D., a pen, a clock, a mug, & Susie's book as prizes but Jeff's aint there. You can also take your nameplate & get a couple of photos sent out to you. I don't know what winners get - obviously. As well as the teapot, winning 1 game nowadays gets ...

Clive Brooker

Incomprehensible as it may seem to many on this forum, just because a contestant is aware of Apterous it doesn't automatically follow that he/she will choose to use it to any extent. This certainly applied to at least two of the gang on my recording day (Jackie Baker and myself), so including Innis,...

Clive Brooker

I think the point I am making here is that, if large numbers of the TV audience should become disenchanted with the inevitability of Apterous victors and desert the programme, there is a danger that it could be taken off air. I haven't seen any serious analysis of viewing trends since the new team ...

Clive Brooker

The first episode was had a very similar final result. The chaser was different - another contender from "Are You an Egghead" who I've seen many times but whose name escapes me. As far as I can tell the team of challengers doesn't have any prior connection, but I could be wrong. The curiou...

Clive Brooker

Knowing that my appearance was going to be commented on by the people who really know what it's all about added a lot to the experience IMO. But the views expressed can be quite forthright so it was a bit scary as well.

Edit - when I said "appearance" I didn't mean...never mind.

Clive Brooker

Nice recap Jon - thanks. I'm relieved.

I notice that CountdownWiki has our contributions for R10 reversed - this recap is correct. I've no idea what the best way of reporting this is, so here will have to do.

Clive Brooker

In case anyone's wondering, I knew the moment Innis's name was mentioned at the studio that he was an eminent apteroid and what that probably meant for my chances. Congratulations on a fine performance today and especially for being so gracious in everything you did. For obvious reasons I can't wish...

Clive Brooker

Clive's really good, too bad he had to come up against Carson in his second game. 50 million times better than meeting him in my first! Good last numbers game wasn't it. I spent most of the drive home trying to come to terms with that. Also explains my apparent lack of enthusiasm at the end. I'm go...

Clive Brooker

3rd numbers: (75 x 4 - 5 x 3) x 2 - 1 Now why didn't I do it like that? Thanks for the kind sentiments, everyone. I think I'd have found myself very annoying - too slow selecting the letters, etc. I never thought I would ever apply for the show because I was sure my nerves wouldn't take it, but eve...

Clive Brooker

He looks terrified!

Clive Brooker

The one thing that seemed to be missing in Manchester was the legendary free bar.

Clive Brooker

Didn't see yeserday's but was it the same team that were on the beginning of Monday's show? I only saw the first half but they got upto rd 2 q4 with all correct answers and not wasting any time at all. They said their one weakness was history and then they had to place the iron, bronze and ice age ...

Clive Brooker

With several weeks' recordings having already been made in Manchester, I can't help wondering how much Jeff/Rachel banter will need to be thrown away after today's news.

Clive Brooker

Thanks to all recappers. I use them quite a lot and it's appreciated. Not sure how much you'll all care about this but I'll ask anyway. Can you be consistent in noting when Rachel's solution is late? A couple of examples where this detail hasn't been put in the recap (and where the episodes are stil...

Clive Brooker

D Eadie wrote:Susie and Rachel are both fantastic at what they do.

Never disputed.

Clive Brooker

its much more common for the average viewer to find something that beats rachel rather then something that beats DC I'm not convinced by this, but would be interested to see what others think. Every so often there is a numbers round like the infamous 579 a few weeks ago which gives all the casual v...

Clive Brooker

DOCKAGE R6 I hope.

Can't claim a beater because I tried to pluralise it.

Clive Brooker

The new article is completely silent on whether any sort of computerised assistance is used. My guess is that most people reading it will assume that it must be, and no doubt this was the NOTW's intention. What I don't think any of us know is how frequently DC's best offering has been fed to them by...

Clive Brooker

Following on from Charlie's post, if Chris were to reach 5 wins, presumably he could deliberately lose the sixth, ensuring a place in the Series 60 finals, rather than risking not qualifying for the Series 61 finals. The wins are carried on into the next series IIRC. Yes, but 6 wins might not be en...

Clive Brooker

Following on from Charlie's post, if Chris were to reach 5 wins, presumably he could deliberately lose the sixth, ensuring a place in the Series 60 finals, rather than risking not qualifying for the Series 61 finals.

Clive Brooker

Jon Corby wrote:
Clive Brooker wrote:Shouldn't you be working?

Here's a clue - Nuts.
Pete Cashmore v Dag Griffiths? The special that Damian hated?

I was going to offer a prize of more cash than Charlie's ever put up, but it was obviously too easy.

Clive Brooker

Shouldn't you be working?

Here's a clue - Nuts.

Clive Brooker

If you have any more classic games mate, I for one would be so happy to view them. Thanks for posting this one. As I'm sure you realised, the point of my little yarn was to illustrate how random is the process by which precious stuff like this gets preserved - rather like the uncoordinated way in w...

Clive Brooker

He was a true class act, as always. Chris or Julian? Easily the best special ever IMHO. Great credit to both players and played in a perfect spirit. For anyone who's interested, this particular Youtube gem came from a SVCD which had sat in my loft for over 5 years. Around the time this was broadcas...

Clive Brooker

Peter Mabey wrote:STOUTEST

Presumably R6 - were there 3 T's?

R9 - disappointed that BROCAGE isn't in.

Clive Brooker

Numbers challenge: Rachel vs David Williams would get my vote if I had one.

Clive Brooker

Junaid Mubeen wrote: I assume the * should be a + .

Thanks - edited.

Clive Brooker

One of those elegant but invalid "solutions" to the first numbers:

(100+75/50)(9-3)

Still waiting for the day when there's one of these but no valid solution.

R9 - pleased with WINSOME for a few seconds!

Clive Brooker

marc meakin wrote:I think that it would be a good idea if challengers, who get beaten by a tiebreak conundrum, automatically get another chance in the next series

Does anybody else agree ?

I disagree, because all appearances on Countdown are at the discretion of the organisers.

Clive Brooker

Jack Morgan wrote:There were actually FOUR conundrums, a countdown record. Due to time constraints they cut two of them out...

This seems wrong to me. A bit ironic that it happened on a day when the DC yarn was a repeat (allegedly).

Edit: Thanks for telling us Jack. Exciting game and very bad luck.

Clive Brooker

2nd numbers: RR's solution needs a little tweak - or did she get it wrong?

Clive Brooker

Harvey Freeman = Bobby Fischer

Clive Brooker

3rd numbers: 100*((9-1)*7-10)/8 Please tell me you got this in time? If you did - amazing. If you didn't then surely that's cheating? Didn't expect that. Yes, I did get it in the time. Because it looked awkward to approach using 100*6 I looked at 575*8, so I had at least 20 seconds to make 46 from ...

Clive Brooker · Re: Spoilers, Tuesday 19/05/2009 3rd numbers: 100*((9-1)*7-10)/8

3rd numbers:

100*((9-1)*7-10)/8

Clive Brooker

Part of the reason will be that you can't do very much with the numbers (part from write them down) until you've seen the target. At my audition, the targets were read out first, followed by the large numbers (if any), and finally the small. Being careful not to say anything that could be remotely h...

Clive Brooker

Spotted this last Friday. I thought it was an interesting view.

http://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/news/mu ... xperience/

Clive Brooker

I always write the numbers down from right to left, so that I can later see at a glance whether what I've written down matches the board. An instruction like "please put the big ones one from the left and one from the right, and the small ones in the remaining spaces" might slow down an op...

Clive Brooker

David Williams wrote:I'm sure this has been discussed before (at length, no doubt).

Agreed, but I couldn't think of an obvious search (and still can't).

Clive Brooker

Jimmy, had you possibly not spotted mediocre in rd 3, you seemed to raise your eyebrows in surprise when Sue declared an 8 and as you did not have it written down, I thought that you may have seen it in the few seconds before Jeff came to you. I demand an answer! I had the same impression. Does any...

Clive Brooker

David O'Donnell wrote:Interesting post, Kevin. I didn't even think of the bridge example even though I play every week in a club where the strongest players are female!

We need a partnership version of Countdown?

Clive Brooker

Innis Carson wrote:I'll be appearing on the 25th of June.

But not as the first forum member to record at Manchester.

I will materialise on set on June 24th.

Clive Brooker

EllieJones wrote:...Not hard. Bring Carol Back.

I am quite confident that Carol used to miss a higher proportion of easy ones than Rachel does.

Clive Brooker

Kai Laddiman wrote:A fellow apteree (I think that is the official term)

Apteroid?

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