Search found 19 matches

by Wil Ransome
Wed Oct 18, 2017 4:49 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Cleverclogs
Replies: 16
Views: 8402

Cleverclogs

Sorry if this is old hat: I haven't been here for ages and don't intend to wade through all the posts to see if I'm repeating something. When I was on Countdown I was given a little list of instructions. One of them was: if you have two words of the same length, don't give them both. Nobody likes a ...
by Wil Ransome
Fri Oct 07, 2011 10:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Thursday 6th October 2011 (Series 65, Prelim 69)
Replies: 5
Views: 2064

Re: Thursday 6th October 2011 (Series 65, Prelim 69)

RACKETEER/CARETAKER: I remember a few years ago someone making the very same mistake; I suspect the same initial letters were used, but can't be sure. He was an ace crossword solver (D... McN... I think) and one would have expected him to win. But it was a crucial conundrum and he jumped in almost i...
by Wil Ransome
Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:34 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 7th April 2010 (Series 62, Prelim 58)
Replies: 7
Views: 2283

Re: Wednesday 7th April 2010 (Series 62, Prelim 58)

Those TTTs are so bad. Who does them? The first one yet again was a plural, thus ignoring the thousands of perfectly good eight-letter words that could be used; and, even worse, the clue says "It's where small pupils might go for a dip" yet the answer is in the plural, so it should have be...
by Wil Ransome
Fri Feb 12, 2010 12:32 am
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Thursday 11th February 2010 (Series 62, Prelim 24)
Replies: 45
Views: 6881

Re: Thursday 11th February 2010 (Series 62, Prelim 24)

If someone is less than 10 points behind at the final numbers game, the worst thing that can happen is that you lose 10 points on it and so have no chance when the conundrum comes. There is no great advantage in winning and gaining 10 points yourself, because come the conundrum you'll still be less ...
by Wil Ransome
Sat Sep 26, 2009 9:15 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: For
Replies: 13
Views: 2858

For

Of course if you watch Countdown every day some of the mannerisms of the presenters are going to stick out, and I have no wish to be particularly critical of Miss Riley, who is in my opinion doing an excellent job, but has anyone noticed how much she uses the word 'for'? It seems to me that she uses...
by Wil Ransome
Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ian Hyland Conspiracy
Replies: 10
Views: 2874

Re: Ian Hyland Conspiracy

What's the big deal? I've read in various newspapers at various times that those in DC are linked up to someone or something. And I can't see why they aren't open about it. If they don't want to be exposed for doing this then they deserve to be exposed.
by Wil Ransome
Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:01 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown words spotted in real life
Replies: 122
Views: 54718

Re: Countdown words spotted in real life

The tangelo appears in today's Independent crossword (Taste peeled melon and citrus fruit).
by Wil Ransome
Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:49 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Oops
Replies: 62
Views: 13910

Re: Rachel Riley at the numbers board

OK Charlie, I see what you're saying. But if she writes it down and explains it properly, pointing to different bits as she does so, surely it's easy. I'm pretty sure I could explain it so that everyone understood, but Countdown wouldn't want a bald old man for the job.
by Wil Ransome
Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Oops
Replies: 62
Views: 13910

Re: Rachel Riley at the numbers board

I think Rachel is doing very well, far better than Carol did in 1982. But what a missed opportunity; it is far more economical to say something like 100×(2×2 + 4) + 8×8 = 864 than to spell it all out laboriously as she does. This may be unfamiliar for some of the viewers, but it's really terribly si...
by Wil Ransome
Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:49 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: After Carol
Replies: 21
Views: 4828

Re: After Carol

I liked it when Ernie Wise was the celebrity. He wasn't going to be bothered with all this dishonest feeding of words, and offered his own, which were often fairly short, but you knew they were his own work. The only other person whose work is probably their own seems to be Jo Brand, whose made-up w...
by Wil Ransome
Mon May 12, 2008 10:09 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: When will he ever learn?
Replies: 9
Views: 2640

When will he ever learn?

When will Des ever learn how to subtract 20? Today before the last numbers game he said, when the losing contestant was 21 points behind and so had no chance of winning, that the numbers game was really important. And then after the numbers game, when both players scored 10 points, he said that that...
by Wil Ransome
Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:41 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Susie's Judgments
Replies: 23
Views: 3150

Re: Susie's Judgments

Neither Chambers nor the Shorter Oxford Dictionary say anything about one form being American and the other not. I have always thought that 'judgement' was a bit shoddy, although it might be just about OK.
by Wil Ransome
Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:29 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Susie's Judgments
Replies: 23
Views: 3150

Susie's Judgments

Is it right for Susie to pronounce on the acceptability of a word before contestant 2 has offered anything? It struck me today, when C1 offered GONNERS, and was told that there was only one n in gonners, that C2 now had the chance to offer a different word. Suppose that he had GONNERS and CONGERS an...
by Wil Ransome
Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:24 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: "That gives you the game"
Replies: 11
Views: 3306

Re: "That gives you the game"

I didn't explain myself very clearly. I wasn't talking about the way Des encourages the losing contestant, rather his amazing stupidity in saying "that gives you the game" when it doesn't give him the game: he has already achieved an unassailable lead a round or two earlier. You'd think it...
by Wil Ransome
Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:27 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: "That gives you the game"
Replies: 11
Views: 3306

"That gives you the game"

Is it just me, or do many people notice what strange things Des says just before the conundrum? Player A was 24 points ahead before the numbers game and so could not be caught by player B regardless of the result of the number game. In the event, only player A gets 10 points on the numbers and is no...
by Wil Ransome
Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:43 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: "...and a better one..."
Replies: 89
Views: 11149

Re: "...and a better one..."

Carol herself should be horsewhipped, because she encourages these people who say "and a better one please" by laughing as if the contestant has just said something original and witty. OK then, she's just being polite, but why does she feel she has to be? Personally, if anyone ever says &q...
by Wil Ransome
Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:00 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Teatime Teasers
Replies: 7
Views: 2243

Re: Teatime Teasers

What does "modus ponens" mean? It isn't in Chambers.
by Wil Ransome
Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:35 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Teatime Teasers
Replies: 7
Views: 2243

Teatime Teasers

Perhaps this has been talked about before, in which case my apologies, but why is it that, with any number of perfectly good 8-letter words that could surely be made into suitable teatime teasers, we are repeatedly fobbed off with pluralised 7-letter ones?
by Wil Ransome
Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: The Return of Susie
Replies: 23
Views: 5165

Re: The Return of Susie

There's one thing about Susie (who is in my opinion otherwise quite excellent and I'm glad she's back) that always irritates me: When player A has won with a 7-letter word and she disallows player B's 6-letter word, she tends to say things like "very bad luck". Has nobody told her how the ...