Search found 1123 matches

by Peter Mabey
Sat Dec 16, 2023 9:58 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Strange things you used to believe as a child
Replies: 32
Views: 6007

Re: Strange things you used to believe as a child

I thought "fr." under the name of each recipe in my mum's copy of Mrs Beeton meant "fried" - even though that seemed really weird sometimes. (she did rely on her frying-pan for using leftovers)
by Peter Mabey
Thu Jul 06, 2023 2:48 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 6th July 2023 (Series 88, Heat 5)
Replies: 5
Views: 736

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 6th July 2023 (Series 88, Heat 5)

Is SEDULITY ok instead pf 'Yuletides' ? - Collins has it but as American.
by Peter Mabey
Wed Apr 19, 2023 4:19 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 19th April 2023 (Series 87, Heat 63)
Replies: 4
Views: 498

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 19th April 2023 (Series 87, Heat 63)

Sorry about not fixing mistypes before posting :oops:
by Peter Mabey
Wed Apr 19, 2023 4:04 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 19th April 2023 (Series 87, Heat 63)
Replies: 4
Views: 498

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 19th April 2023 (Series 87, Heat 63)

First numbers alt: (50-4)x(10-8+1)=876
second: (8+9)x(10+6)=3
4th was 9x(75-2) but I didn't write details down
by Peter Mabey
Sat Feb 25, 2023 4:03 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 24th February 2023 (Series 87, Heat 25)
Replies: 7
Views: 1100

Re: Spoilers for Friday 24th February 2023 (Series 87, Heat 25)

Smithers is Montgomery Burns' "assistant". Suuuuure. Waylon Joseph Smithers, Jr. (better known as "Mr. Smithers", "Waylon Smithers" or simply "Smithers") (born December 25, 1954 in 1989; 1987 in 2022) is a recurring character on The Simpsons. He is also a min...
by Peter Mabey
Thu Dec 15, 2022 4:09 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623903

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

I also remember gold-top Channel Islands milk - extra creamy - which now seems to have disappeared thanks to the present obsession with lo-far diets :(
by Peter Mabey
Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 14 November (Series 86, Heat 106)
Replies: 6
Views: 688

Re: Spoilers for Monday 14 November (Series 86, Heat 106)

Philip A wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 6:06 pm
Peter Mabey wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 5:31 pm R2 ALGORISMS
Alas, not valid, as it only appears as algorism stone in Oxford Dictionaries Premium. What a shame.
I thought dictionary.com was good for validation. :cry:
by Peter Mabey
Fri Nov 11, 2022 4:52 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 30th March 2022 (Series 85, Preliminary 63)
Replies: 1
Views: 263

Re: Wednesday 30th March 2022 (Series 85, Preliminary 63)

R3 alt.:100x(9+2)/(1-6)=275
R6 alt.:(8+3)x(3x25+1-3)=803
by Peter Mabey
Wed Sep 07, 2022 1:40 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Overpopulation
Replies: 16
Views: 1451

Re: Overpopulation

Marc Meakin wrote: Wed Sep 07, 2022 1:35 pm As massive as the population is, shoulder to shoulder everyone can fit into Los Angeles
... but can they stand on Zanzibar?
by Peter Mabey
Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:54 am
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Monday 29th August 2022 (Series 86, Preliminary 51)
Replies: 1
Views: 240

Re: Monday 29th August 2022 ( Series 86 Prelim 51 )

R14 alt: (75-8)x(9+7-2-1) - prime product to please Rachel :)
by Peter Mabey
Thu Aug 25, 2022 1:42 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Things we will never see in our lifetimes
Replies: 6
Views: 449

Re: Things we will never see in our lifetimes

Fair elections
by Peter Mabey
Fri Jul 29, 2022 1:22 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623903

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

Remember Princess Diana? The one person wearing a seatbelt survived.
by Peter Mabey
Thu Apr 21, 2022 2:53 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 20th April 2022 (Series 85, Preliminary 78)
Replies: 2
Views: 579

Re: Wednesday 20th April 2022 ( Series 85 Prelim 78 )

Differently:
R3: (25+6)x(10+3)
R6: 25x3 + 9x8 - 1
by Peter Mabey
Tue Apr 19, 2022 9:55 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Tuesday 19th April 2022 (Series 85, Preliminary 77)
Replies: 1
Views: 622

Re: Tuesday April 19th 2022 Series 85 ( Prelim 77)

Alt to standard method
R6: (50+25+6-4)x2x2
R9: (6+8)x75-100
by Peter Mabey
Thu Oct 28, 2021 12:50 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 27th October 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 87)
Replies: 2
Views: 867

Re: Wednesday 27 October 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 87)

Disallowing UNTIMED was a surprise - especially as when having a quick game of solitaire in the ad-break I was offered the choice between timed and untimed.
by Peter Mabey
Tue Oct 12, 2021 2:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown on All 4
Replies: 21
Views: 3770

Re: Countdown on All 4

The loss of subtitles means I'm missing most of what's being said - for example Anne starts with "today is (????) (?????) day" and Rachel responds, but I can't make out what it's about. Also, unless I've already thought of it, I hardly ever get what dictionary corner have found if Rachel d...
by Peter Mabey
Fri Oct 01, 2021 12:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Thursday 30th September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 68)
Replies: 1
Views: 667

Re: Thursday 30 September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 68)

A very different solution for R9: (100-2x9)x(4-1)-9 :)
by Peter Mabey
Wed Aug 18, 2021 12:37 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Tuesday 17th August 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 36)
Replies: 1
Views: 661

Re: Tuesday 17 August 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 36)

In R1, could SHOOTED^ be used to describe a plant which has shoots?
by Peter Mabey
Mon Jul 26, 2021 1:15 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Cricket
Replies: 196
Views: 33640

Re: Cricket

I've found that the graphics go to the extremes of the screen, so the first digits of the scores and last of balls and wickets aren't visible, so they're useless for telling me the state of play :(
by Peter Mabey
Thu Jul 22, 2021 12:34 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 21st July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 17)
Replies: 1
Views: 777

Re: Wednesday 21 July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 17)

In R2, Florence could have been caught out by fact that OVATING is valid in Scrabble (back-formation from OVATION)
by Peter Mabey
Mon Jul 12, 2021 12:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Friday 9th July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 10)
Replies: 3
Views: 1280

Re: Friday 9 July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 10)

Sam Cappleman-Lynes wrote: Fri Jul 09, 2021 6:26 pm
Peter Mabey wrote: Fri Jul 09, 2021 2:57 pm R14 alt: 9x8x4 = 288, then either 5-2x2 or 2/2, so it's actually pretty easy :)
The target was 285, and you seem to have gotten 287 twice, so apparently not! :lol:
Oops - I'd misread target as 289 (should have enlarged display) - getting 285 from there is even easier! :oops:
by Peter Mabey
Fri Jul 09, 2021 2:57 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Friday 9th July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 10)
Replies: 3
Views: 1280

Re: Friday 9 July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 10)

R14 alt: 9x8x4 = 288, then either 5-2x2 or 2/2, so it's actually pretty easy :)
by Peter Mabey
Wed May 19, 2021 4:40 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 19th May 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 98)
Replies: 1
Views: 795

Re: Wednesday 19 May 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 98)

I'm surprised that although Susie went on at length about "the bee's knees" as referring to something trivial, she didn't mention the alternative origin, from a jokey pronunciation of "it's the business" i.e. it's excellent!. (eetz zee beezneez)
by Peter Mabey
Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:21 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623903

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

Why don't the Three Musketeers ever use (or even carry) their muskets?
by Peter Mabey
Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:10 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Lingo
Replies: 10
Views: 6732

Re: Lingo

I put this on for a few minutes the other day and had to turn it off solely because of the contestants. Stuff like this being fairly typical: M E A L <- M is in the right place, no other letters Contestant: MEAN? M E A N <- M is in the right place, no other letters Contestant: MEAT? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...
by Peter Mabey
Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:22 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Special Spoilers for Wednesday 23rd December 2020 (Special S49)
Replies: 17
Views: 5152

Re: Special Spoilers for Wednesday 23 December 2020

Ali 1st numbers: (75-8)x(6+5-4)=469
by Peter Mabey
Thu Dec 17, 2020 3:09 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Obscenity democracy
Replies: 205
Views: 30645

Re: Obscenity democracy

I had the 1947 edition of the Oxford Companion to Music as a birthday present, which has a section on 'Nicknamed Compositions'. It unashamedly includes Dvorak's "Nigger quartet", so the word's unprintability is pretty recent. :o
by Peter Mabey
Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:07 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 18th November 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 160)
Replies: 7
Views: 2884

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 18 November 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 160)

0
Rhys Benjamin wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:25 pm I BEAT RACHEL. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Round 3: (100 x 50 + 75) / 25 x 2 x 2
I make that 50.75 - I guess you mean ((100x50+75)/25)x2x2
by Peter Mabey
Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:06 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Politics in General
Replies: 1592
Views: 1635344

Re: Politics in General

Keir Starmer has just said that Corbyn won't be returning as a Labour MP . But anyway, to summarise the issue, from that article: Sir Keir Starmer said those who think the issue had been "exaggerated" should "be nowhere near the Labour Party". But later, Mr Corbyn released a sta...
by Peter Mabey
Thu Nov 12, 2020 3:30 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1609
Views: 623903

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

Marc Meakin wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 4:31 am Apropos to nothing in particular, a young ( 20ish) worker at Waitrose, yesterday, thought the 2 minutes silence was for 9/11
It's easy to forget that 9/11 there isn't the 9th of November, but September 11th :?
by Peter Mabey
Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 27th August 2020
Replies: 10
Views: 4267

Re: Spoilers for 27th August 2020

VOLTAIC to beat COITAL
by Peter Mabey
Mon Aug 17, 2020 2:50 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday 17th August 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 93)
Replies: 6
Views: 2977

Re: Monday 17th August 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 93)

I see that Dr Phil still isn't having his bit broadcast - as I've been reading his Private Eye articles, I guess his views are too 'political' for the bosses at C4

Alt. 1st numbers: (4x10+8-1)x3
by Peter Mabey
Mon Aug 17, 2020 2:48 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday 17th August 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 93)
Replies: 6
Views: 2977

Spoilers For Monday 17th August 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 93)

Corrected replacement follows, as couldn't delete this :?
by Peter Mabey
Thu Jun 25, 2020 2:40 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Thursday February 28th 2013
Replies: 49
Views: 11628

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Thursday February 28th 2013

Has SULPHATED been added to the dictionary used now ? (It is in Collins, and OK for Scrabble, but not Lexico) :?
by Peter Mabey
Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:28 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Thursday February 7th 2013
Replies: 33
Views: 8607

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Thursday February 7th 2013

I did (25-2)x(50+7)/3 = 437, as I saw it as 19x23 immediately
by Peter Mabey
Mon May 04, 2020 10:00 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: REALLY obvious things you've just realised
Replies: 627
Views: 273939

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Similarly, "Mersey Docks and Harbour Board" - familiar to Liverpudlians is exactly like "mairzy dotes and dozy dotes" and so needs "and little lamzy tivy" to follow :)
by Peter Mabey
Fri May 01, 2020 2:10 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Joke Items
Replies: 250
Views: 82480

Re: Joke Items

Ties
by Peter Mabey
Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:24 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 13th March 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 52)
Replies: 7
Views: 4403

Re: Spoilers for Friday 13th March 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 52)

2nd numbers alt.: ((6x8)/3+3)x7
3rd numbers alt.: (100+4)x9+10+7
by Peter Mabey
Thu Mar 12, 2020 3:07 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: REALLY obvious things you've just realised
Replies: 627
Views: 273939

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

That reminds me that "Mersey Docks and Harbour Board" goes exactly to this : https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/3629230/Th ... irzy+Doats