Search found 1256 matches

by David Williams
Mon Mar 18, 2024 4:59 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623976

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

I've always assumed the sign is a representation of what you should be able to see through your windscreen. At the minimum, as you drive over a chevron, there should be one chevron clearly in sight and another one appearing from under the car in front. Whatever they mean, that feels like a minimum s...
by David Williams
Fri Mar 15, 2024 7:50 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623976

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

I didn't go to the shell cos the Asda 200m up the road was 1.2p / litre cheaper. The engine warning light on my car came on a few weeks ago. I phoned the dealer. "Filled up with petrol lately?" "Er, yesterday." "Asda, by any chance?" (Asda being by no means my local su...
by David Williams
Thu Mar 14, 2024 10:22 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 242
Views: 30312

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold

It would be nice if the wider McDonalds-eating community acted in similar fashion.
by David Williams
Fri Mar 08, 2024 9:13 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623976

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

Why did people have to wire their own plugs in the past? Stuff came without a plug on. Insane. I think it was only after the war that the square pin fused plug became standard, and that was only for new houses. I can remember houses with round pin sockets. Maybe we'll go back to wiring our own plug...
by David Williams
Sat Feb 24, 2024 12:12 am
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: CO:parkrun Recaps
Replies: 579
Views: 287507

Re: CO:parkrun Recaps

Good stuff - a very impressive time too! Course sounds lovely. I'm committed to Birkenhead as that's where I'm staying but will look it up next time I'm in the vicinity. Change of heart - unless the weather is really grim, I'm going to try and get to Crosby - it looks lovely! If you're there, look ...
by David Williams
Sun Feb 11, 2024 1:42 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: CO:parkrun Recaps
Replies: 579
Views: 287507

Re: CO:parkrun Recaps

Do they even check IDs? Is there anything to prevent me registering as a 100 year old woman? Or using the barcode of an actual 100 year old woman? Are they concerned that there are people with age-related scores greater than 100%? FWIW I did my third ever parkrun yesterday. If anyone's considering C...
by David Williams
Thu Feb 08, 2024 9:52 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 8th February 2024 (Series 89, Heat 28)
Replies: 11
Views: 720

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 8th February 2024 (Series 89, Heat 28)

She looked as if she saw the right answer as she was actually half way through giving the wrong one. I wonder what they'd have done if she'd said something like "UNPOWD ... Oh no, GUNPOWDER". You are the ref . . . I think I'd have to say that she lost, and she shouldn't be able to profit b...
by David Williams
Sun Dec 24, 2023 12:28 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Your favourite Christmas song
Replies: 33
Views: 3873

Re: Your favourite Christmas song

There's an article about Jona Lewie in today's Sunday Times. He says that he wrote Stop the Cavalry as an antiwar song, but the single line "wish I was at home for Christmas" meant it made sense to release it in December. It topped the charts in France at the height of summer. It's the Die...
by David Williams
Mon Dec 18, 2023 8:22 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Strange things you used to believe as a child
Replies: 32
Views: 6008

Re: Strange things you used to believe as a child

I was probably rather older than I should have been when I realised that the River Thames I'd read about was actually the same one as the River Tems I'd heard about. And there was also Paul Gallen pronouncing SUNDRIES as if it's what they do to tomatoes.
by David Williams
Mon Dec 18, 2023 3:37 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Question of Sport Axed
Replies: 5
Views: 1779

Re: Question of Sport Axed

Makes you realise how grateful we should be that C4 didn't react similarly when viewing figures fell alarmingly on an iconic game show. Maybe the BBC should have started an 8 out of 10 cats QoS and kept the original as well.
by David Williams
Fri Dec 15, 2023 3:04 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 13th December 2023 (Series 88, Heat 119)
Replies: 5
Views: 1356

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 13th December 2023 (Series 88, Heat 119)

With a cryptic crossword the clue usually gives you the answer two ways, one of which may be a (disguised) anagram. And a lot of the time you will already have some of the letters. So a straight anagram is more difficult, even though there's no disguise. But even so, the speed that Mark can do cross...
by David Williams
Fri Dec 15, 2023 12:27 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 13th December 2023 (Series 88, Heat 119)
Replies: 5
Views: 1356

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 13th December 2023 (Series 88, Heat 119)

To a Times crossword regular, Mark Goodliffe is God. He can do a crossword in no more time than it takes to fill the answers in. I can see that he might have the same dictionary problems as Scrabblers, but that's not an issue with conundrums, and he's maybe more familiar with nine letter anagrams th...
by David Williams
Fri Dec 08, 2023 11:04 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 242
Views: 30312

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold

There was a baby boom immediately after the war. There was an extra class in my school for that year. My recollection is that they were always known as baby boomers. Those people were in their 20s by the end of the 1960s, most of them probably married with children. Their early childhoods were durin...
by David Williams
Mon Dec 04, 2023 4:36 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 242
Views: 30312

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold

My sister, a guide leader, recently discovered that more than half of her group (many of whom are in secondary school) were completely incapable of reading an analogue clock, and in an activity that involved some basic maths (like, 12x4 level of basic), where they insisted phones were put away, a l...
by David Williams
Mon Dec 04, 2023 4:12 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 242
Views: 30312

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold

Marc Meakin wrote: Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:04 am Kelly Holmes double gold in Athens was the greatest British performance at a single Olympic games
I'm struggling to think of why anyone would think this opinion would be unpopular. Whether you agreed with it or not.
by David Williams
Sun Dec 03, 2023 12:41 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 29th November 2023 (Series 88, Heat 109)
Replies: 11
Views: 2424

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 29th November 2023 (Series 88, Heat 109)

Did its reintroduction coincide with the new numbers generator? If you mean the "new" display, that came after the old 7-segment one, no. That was introduced at the same time Countdown moved from Granada to MediaCity in 2013 . It's possible that 100 became a valid target at this point and...
by David Williams
Sat Dec 02, 2023 11:02 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 29th November 2023 (Series 88, Heat 109)
Replies: 11
Views: 2424

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 29th November 2023 (Series 88, Heat 109)

Is there an Ask Graeme here?

When there were two numbers games per show you'd expect it to come up every 450 shows on average - and up to 1996 it did. Now you'd expect it to come up every 225 shows, and it doesn't. Not even close.
by David Williams
Tue Nov 21, 2023 8:11 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 242
Views: 30312

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold

I thought this was going to be stuff like "I think Matt Hancock did a pretty good job under the circumstances". There's nothing unpopular about most of these, just a little uncommon.
by David Williams
Tue Nov 21, 2023 8:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 20th November 2023 (Series 88, Heat 102)
Replies: 6
Views: 2113

Re: Spoilers for Monday 20th November 2023 (Series 88, Heat 102)

Gavin Chipper wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 12:24 pm My mum got EVENSONG in one of the rounds as a beater
I've somehow never thought of you as having a mother.
by David Williams
Sun Nov 19, 2023 4:26 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623976

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

I would have thought there were a lot more words ending in -OUS than starting in OUT-. So why is it that if you have O U and T there's nearly always an OUT- word, but if you have O U and S there's almost never an -OUS word?
by David Williams
Sun Nov 19, 2023 4:23 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623976

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

Isn't hot water always from a tank? It's not served directly to your house hot anyway. It's heated locally. Anyway, don't drink it . Surely that link is nonsense. There is a closed system where water is heated in the boiler, the hot water is piped through the cylinder to heat the fresh water that t...
by David Williams
Thu Nov 09, 2023 4:52 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Joke Items
Replies: 250
Views: 82481

Re: Joke Items

Fiona T wrote: Wed Nov 08, 2023 11:21 am Airplane mode
The last couple of flights I've been on they've also asked you to alert the crew if your electronic device starts to emit smoke. I wonder what people used to do? About as likely as a conflagration in a petrol station from someone using a phone while filling their car.
by David Williams
Thu Nov 09, 2023 4:40 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Joke Items
Replies: 250
Views: 82481

Re: Joke Items

Flu Jabs. Ive been having annual flu jabs since before covid and within 4 weeks I have always got the flu No, you had a bad cold. I used to think the same as you, until one year I really did have the flu. It's another ball game altogether - I could actually understand how people could die of it. I ...
by David Williams
Fri Oct 27, 2023 3:42 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 26th October 2023 (Series 88, Heat 85)
Replies: 7
Views: 1556

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 26th October 2023 (Series 88, Heat 85)

Then again, in http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=11631 she was OK with it. Common sense says you're right, but I don't see that the dictionary actually disallows it.
by David Williams
Fri Oct 27, 2023 9:38 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 26th October 2023 (Series 88, Heat 85)
Replies: 7
Views: 1556

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 26th October 2023 (Series 88, Heat 85)

R3 alt: (75/(4-1)+2/2)*8=208 R9 alt: ((25-1)*10+2)*4=968 R13 alt: (100-25+5)*9-3=717 R11 alt: HYALINE I think that your first 2 calculations are wrong? r3 turns out to be 128 r9 turns out to be 1152 I could be wrong (it wouldn't be the first time....) Can I claim the prize for working out how to ma...
by David Williams
Sat Oct 14, 2023 8:01 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: You Are The Ref
Replies: 345
Views: 146829

Re: You Are The Ref

If C1 had any sense he'd just say "I've used a letter twice" and that would be an end of it. I agree with the others that the result stands, but I doubt if we would think it was acceptable. Suppose it was a promising set of letters, C1 immediately sees a 9 letter word and sits back. Just b...
by David Williams
Fri Oct 13, 2023 11:35 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdowners in the news
Replies: 237
Views: 116324

Re: Countdowners in the news

When you consider the number of times a contestant is unable to reproduce what they claim to have written down, you'd have to assume that there are times when such a solution is passed to their opponent for confirmation. But I've never heard anyone say "I can't make head nor tail of this"....
by David Williams
Tue Oct 10, 2023 10:27 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 10th October 2023 (Series 88, Heat 73)
Replies: 5
Views: 1025

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 10th October 2023 (Series 88, Heat 73)

A simpler version of Rachel's solution to R3 is (7+4)*(5*5-3)
by David Williams
Mon Oct 09, 2023 11:16 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Co:Liv II - Saturday 24 February 2024
Replies: 31
Views: 14350

Re: Co:Liv II - Saturday 24 February 2024

It's also a day when Liverpool are at home, which is not good news for hotel prices. If Liverpool weren't, Everton would be. Equally the Liverpool game could well be moved to the Sunday if Liverpool continue to progress in the Europa League or a Friday/Monday with TV rights so it's not really causi...
by David Williams
Sun Oct 08, 2023 11:27 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Co:Liv II - Saturday 24 February 2024
Replies: 31
Views: 14350

Re: Co:Liv II - Saturday 24 February 2024

It's also a day when Liverpool are at home, which is not good news for hotel prices.
by David Williams
Tue Sep 26, 2023 12:34 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 21st September 2023 (Series 88, Heat 60)
Replies: 3
Views: 635

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 21st September 2023 (Series 88, Heat 60)

The moment I saw that 961 I thought Rachel would be beside herself with joy. The largest square of a prime number less than 1000, and actually achievable with the numbers available. The Holy Grail. You can only imagine how annoyed she must have been when she finally saw it.
by David Williams
Thu Sep 21, 2023 11:47 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 14th September 2023 (Series 88, Heat 55)
Replies: 7
Views: 835

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 14th September 2023 (Series 88, Heat 55)

I don't really see being a word-spotter as Susie's primary job. In any case I think a lot of it comes through her ear piece from Damian. So he's as much to blame! However, I agree on some of this. Whenever a word is offered that could plausibly take e.g. an S or R, Susie should be telling us whethe...
by David Williams
Sun Aug 27, 2023 4:41 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623976

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

If you're in court and the judge says, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" What happens if you say no? I think you would be held in contempt of court, and dealt with appropriately. I've always wondered what would happen if you answered fully all th...
by David Williams
Mon Aug 14, 2023 9:45 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 11th August 2023 (Series 88, Heat 31)
Replies: 16
Views: 2083

Re: Spoilers for Friday 11th August 2023 (Series 88, Heat 31)

Why does it take so much longer to do it blindfold? Seriously. You must have to know exactly what moves you are going to make before the blindfold goes on. One wrong move and it doesn't work. So why go for a longer sequence? It's not as if you can do it in stages and check your progress. I was also ...
by David Williams
Tue Jul 18, 2023 7:47 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623976

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

While we're at it, can anyone explain how Hawk-Eye determines the size of the impact on the ground? A perfect solid sphere resting on a perfect flat surface would have an infinitesimally small area of contact. I don't imagine that the dent in the surface caused by the weight of the ball, nor the com...
by David Williams
Sat Jul 15, 2023 11:32 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623976

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

Why they don't use automatic hawkeye at Wimbledon when they clearly have the technology for it, and wrong calls are potentially influencing the outcomes of matches. It seems so daft when a ball is called out, and then commentary says "actually, hawkeye says that was in. He should have challeng...
by David Williams
Fri Jul 14, 2023 12:45 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Celebrity and Mental Health and the media
Replies: 5
Views: 1018

Re: Celebrity and Mental Health and the media

Mainstream media weren't the main reason. It was more this sort of thing wasn't it?
by David Williams
Sun Jul 09, 2023 12:22 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Tour de France and competitive cycling generally
Replies: 1
Views: 622

Re: Tour de France and competitive cycling generally

Have you ever seen a sprint race in a velodrome? Most of it is at a speed that is as slow as you can go without stopping, because being in the lead is almost guaranteed to fail. If you wanted a true sprint race like a 100 metres in athletics you'd probably need a straight track maybe 500 metres long...
by David Williams
Mon Jun 26, 2023 4:41 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623976

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

You don't normally see it for, say, a drop shot that just sneaks over. Touching the net doesn't make a lot of difference there. It's when a shot an inch higher would be an easy return from the back of the court, an inch lower would be in the net, but that precise unintentional shot is a winner. It's...
by David Williams
Sat Jun 10, 2023 1:58 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 9th June 2023 (Series 87, Heat 100)
Replies: 7
Views: 1033

Re: Spoilers for Friday 9th June 2023 (Series 87, Heat 100)

When I watch it, all I can see is C2 getting the right answer then being told it's wrong. Maybe there was more discussion or clarification we didn't see? When a contestant says something which sounds like both the correct answer and some made-up word in neither the dictionary nor the selection, it ...
by David Williams
Wed May 31, 2023 8:06 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623976

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

When Gary Fahrenheit was devising his temperature scale, what's with the random placing of the 0? I thought the intention was that 0 to 100 was the range between likely minimum and maximum possible temperatures wherever he lived. But he then needed to find something measurable that roughly coincide...
by David Williams
Tue May 30, 2023 7:39 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Politics in General
Replies: 1592
Views: 1635484

Re: Politics in General

I've had jobs where I've claimed expenses, and authorised other people's expenses. I once had someone come to me with a parking ticket. He was in a strange town, couldn't find anywhere to park, and rather than be late for a meeting he took a chance on a yellow line. I allowed it. If it had been, say...
by David Williams
Tue May 23, 2023 9:45 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 22nd May 2023 (Series 87, Heat 86)
Replies: 9
Views: 1151

Re: Spoilers for Monday 22nd May 2023 (Series 87, Heat 86)

23 years for the first 4082, only 18 for the second 4082.

I imagine there are some interesting Vorderman / Riley stats. Carol will have done more shows, but I guess Rachel has done more numbers games and put up more letters?
by David Williams
Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:44 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 13th April 2023 (Series 87, Heat 59)
Replies: 6
Views: 835

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 13th April 2023 (Series 87, Heat 59)

Gavin Chipper wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 10:15 am Final numbers was (100+9-50/25)×3=321 for the easy way. But Rachel went for the showboating option.
Maybe so, but it also had the virtue of being the not making the contestant look like an idiot option.
by David Williams
Sun Apr 02, 2023 11:36 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Type 2 diabetes
Replies: 23
Views: 1243

Re: Type 2 diabetes

I'm sure parkruns are marvellous for many people, but they won't engender more commitment than walking to work or owning a dog. You have to do them, rain or shine. And for someone who does 20,000 vigorous steps a day the extra won't make any difference. Try swimming or cycling, though my suspicion w...
by David Williams
Sat Apr 01, 2023 11:20 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Type 2 diabetes
Replies: 23
Views: 1243

Re: Type 2 diabetes

So the recommendation for someone who has a long walk to work through farmland that he finds so painful he is thinking of getting an escooter is that he should do parkruns, but walk?
by David Williams
Fri Mar 31, 2023 11:30 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 31 March (Series 87, Prelim 50)
Replies: 5
Views: 885

Re: Spoilers for Friday 31 March (Series 87, Prelim 50)

Also 9x8 - 8 for 64 is a whoopsie... 8x8 anybody? That's weird, because I did it exactly the same way - ((8*9-8)*2+3)*6=786. Presumably you start by multiplying the two biggest numbers. 72. If you multiply that by 6*2 you have 864. 78 to find, which is 6*13, so you need to get 8*9*2-13 and multiply...
by David Williams
Thu Mar 30, 2023 11:33 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: E Scooters
Replies: 9
Views: 1114

Re: E Scooters

My understanding is that you can't use them on public footpaths or bridleways, so you could only use them on the bits of farmland that you need permission to go on anyway. Whether anyone would actually stop you is another matter. Plenty of people cycle on public footpaths, though they shouldn't.
by David Williams
Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:11 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Politics in General
Replies: 1592
Views: 1635484

Re: Politics in General

I don't see any particular danger in having a drink with people that you work with. It's possible that deliberate lies were not told. But anyone stupid enough not to realise what it would look like, or not care what it looked like, shouldn't be running a country. Allegra Stratton told me all I need ...
by David Williams
Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:57 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Getting back on for a second go
Replies: 88
Views: 19376

Re: Getting back on for a second go

I don't think many people would have shelled out for something like the NODE. I think I used to have a ten year-old Concise Oxford Dictionary and a Collins Dictionary that pre-dated the invention of the aeroplane.
by David Williams
Mon Mar 20, 2023 2:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Getting back on for a second go
Replies: 88
Views: 19376

Re: Getting back on for a second go

I probably had a better chance of doing well pre apterous as the standards in the last 15 to 20 years have improved immensely Oh massively - apto has made the standard truly ridiculous. Some amazing players pre apto but it's genuinely night and day levels at the moment. Quite sad about that still! ...
by David Williams
Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:19 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 17th March 2023 (Series 87, Heat 40)
Replies: 8
Views: 1074

Re: Spoilers for Friday 17th March 2023 (Series 87, Heat 40)

My memory may be playing tricks, but I think that minerals were one of the categories that you could pluralise under the 'restaurant rule', and GRANITES was given as an example. Apparently there are different sorts of granite, but I don't think the dictionary gives any such information about granite...
by David Williams
Fri Mar 10, 2023 11:57 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 10th March 2023 (Series 87, Heat 35)
Replies: 12
Views: 1222

Re: Spoilers for Friday 10th March 2023 (Series 87, Heat 35)

TANGLIER is in the print dictionary. It seems doubtful to me that in recent years sufficient people have moved to saying MORE TANGLY that it's become necessary to remove it.
by David Williams
Wed Feb 22, 2023 5:37 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown adjudication dictionary
Replies: 103
Views: 12123

Re: Countdown adjudication dictionary

Thomas Carey wrote: Wed Feb 22, 2023 3:24 pm Yeah I hate when I'm watching football and the players are better than me.
If you equate watching football with watching Countdown, and your objective watching Countdown is to prove to your mum that you're better than the contestants, I'm inclined to believe this is true.
by David Williams
Wed Feb 22, 2023 2:17 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown adjudication dictionary
Replies: 103
Views: 12123

Re: Countdown adjudication dictionary

If I was the producer of Countdown I'd be trying to do two impossible and contradictory things. To remove all subjectivity, so there is no doubt about whether a word is valid or not. And to make it as difficult as possible to learn all the valid words. As an aside, I imagine it would be possible to ...
by David Williams
Tue Feb 21, 2023 9:52 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown adjudication dictionary
Replies: 103
Views: 12123

Re: Countdown adjudication dictionary

I've never been able to get away from the image of someone buying a quiz game and then spending many hours learning the answer to every single question. Amazing to watch them, but it does render the game pointless for their opposition, and fewer people will want to play them. I suggest that Countdow...
by David Williams
Sun Feb 19, 2023 8:46 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown adjudication dictionary
Replies: 103
Views: 12123

Re: Countdown adjudication dictionary

L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: Sun Feb 19, 2023 5:08 pm Maybe when Damian retires the new person will have the vision to make the change.
In similar news, Manchester City and PSG are hoping the next head of UEFA will have the vision to change the Financial Fair Play rules so that clubs without rich owners are disadvantaged in some way.
by David Williams
Thu Feb 16, 2023 8:41 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives Under ‘Derivatives’ Removed! *UPDATE: NOW FIXED*
Replies: 25
Views: 3573

Re: Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives Under ‘Derivatives’ Removed!

Is it definitely only an issue for comparatives and superlatives of derivatives, or one affecting derivatives generally? There used to be several aspects of derivatives needing some dictionary corner common sense input because there was no information in the dictionary. I remember coming across &quo...
by David Williams
Sun Feb 05, 2023 12:28 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives Under ‘Derivatives’ Removed! *UPDATE: NOW FIXED*
Replies: 25
Views: 3573

Re: Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives Under ‘Derivatives’ Removed!

It's not so much about whether the word is reasonable. If OAKIER and OAKIEST are not specified that isn't because the comparative and superlative are unreasonable, it's because they think that correct and common usage is MORE and MOST OAKY. Which is nonsense. In the olden days there was the situatio...
by David Williams
Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:20 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 2 February 2023 (Series 87, Heat 9)
Replies: 16
Views: 1758

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 2 February 2023 (Series 86, Heat 9)

Astonished that BEIGE is not an adjective. It's an adjective in my NODE, and a noun as a subsidiary meaning. It's also a count noun as well as a mass noun (matching fawns and beiges), so if there is more than one BEIGE, surely one thing can be BEIGER than another. It is also used to mean safe or bor...