c4countdown

Rhys Benjamin

As BBC Four fell off the air just after the results of Semi Final One came in (can't the BBC do anything right about Eurovision this year? First they give us 3 horrible songs to pick, then Sophie Ellis-Bextor gets sacked from the jury...) I got 8/10 qualifiers correct - did not think Belarus or San ...

Rhys Benjamin

Lesley Hines. And me.

Rhys Benjamin

Ah, yes, I see who you mean now. I'll leave it for others to guess.

Rhys Benjamin

Yeah, that game was very much my basis for thought as Xicount + CoC is between 13 and 15 games (depending on which CoC it was), so you're also looking for someone who did either the SC, 30BC, or both, and probably a Masters game / special...

Rhys Benjamin

Conor would be one of course. Allan Saldanha and Darryl Francis? Very close. Conor Travers and Allan Saldanha are two of the three, but Darryl Francis only played 20 games. The remaining one is someone obscure enough that when I saw the name I didn't immediately recognise it and had to look it up o...

Rhys Benjamin

Well my performance at home fell apart in the second half of that, having actually maxed the first half... Would not have got that conundrum in a week, so well done to Zarte. It's also matching Conor's record of 20 wins on-screen now, although Zarte did have two bites at the cherry in getting to the...

Rhys Benjamin

Surprisingly, only Tom Carey predicted a Zarte/Bradley final.

Rhys Benjamin

Alexa, define “looks harder than it is”.

“I found 7 8 2 10 10 6 —> 982.”

Rhys Benjamin

Well it beats Glen Webb's 141.

Rhys Benjamin

Ah, I've only just noticed that incorrect predictions have been interpreted as a scale rather than a number... is this right? For instance, Jen's predicted a 17-point win for Stephen against 'Maus, but there's an argument to say this should be interpreted as "2 away + incorrect result" (36 pts), not...

Rhys Benjamin

Well I beat both contestants on the second numbers - first and probably only time this CoC...

975 for me, (75 + 2 + 1) x 25 x 50 / 100

Rhys Benjamin

"Internal server error."

Rhys Benjamin

I think it says than an aeluroid is part of the aeluroidae family, rather than being its singular as such...?

Rhys Benjamin

I got to 845 very easily with (75 + 8 + 8 - 6) x 10 - 5. Surprised Tom didn’t see this!

Rhys Benjamin

It’s in the OP. I just wish I hadn’t understated the margins... maybe I should use a different margin method next time. The Appropriate Result Statistics Equation (ARSE) is still working, despite one wrong result so far... I’m quitely confident because it will just take one game where I get the winn...

Rhys Benjamin

What I meant was the contestant could be put in a position where they go, internally, "well, Graeme and Jon will know this, and I have to phone a friend, but since Graeme will cost me more than Jon, I'll go with Jon."

Rhys Benjamin

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑
Thu Jan 10, 2019 9:33 pm
"AEROGEL"

"Sorry, what the fuck? I've never encountered that word before, nor have I ever heard a Scottish person speak."

That was a bit weird.

Susie had trouble understanding my declarations at times (LIPASE eg). Your point is?

Rhys Benjamin

I'd just find the appropriate number of real friends instead. Certainly I'd ask for something, but as a gesture of goodwill rather than make it a condition of my vocal appearance. If I were called for the £32k question on a 10% "tariff" as per Fowler's suggestion but I am then ignored and they get i...

Rhys Benjamin

Round 2: “I’ll stick with an eight.”

What was the (presumably invalid) nine you were chickening, Bradley?

Rhys Benjamin

Sadly, yes. The Labour antisemitism thing keeps rumbling on. At first, I thought the Lab leadership was being nice but dim and not understanding, but given some of the things Corbyn has said I'm not sure. The problem is that a lot of people conflate "Israel" and "Jews" since Israel is the only Jewis...

Rhys Benjamin

Probably because "Ask The Expert" never really took off in the US version, which was basically a second phone-a-friend lifeline except the "friend" was an academic or someone like that. They video called them on Skype and had minutes of conversing with them. There was just no point, especially when ...

Rhys Benjamin

Now’s the time when I can go into crazy detail about my predictions: I did predictions for Series 63 and 64 when I was a lot younger and these were more-or-less correct, so I’d use the same method, which I’m keeping semi-secret, for predicting the winner. Predicting the margin was a lot harder. I th...

Rhys Benjamin

Not financially viable for me this year I’m afraid.

Rhys Benjamin

Daily Mirror shitposting. It was never good, but somehow, them, the Mail (cricket articles aside), and the Express have somehow got even worse recently.

Rhys Benjamin

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑
Sun Sep 16, 2018 5:38 am
Whilst I was running analysises (analyses?) of the CoC contestants I came across a contestant whose TB con was included in their score. As you speculated at the time of my game (that spoilers thread is burnt into my brain!!) does that mean all TB cons are now “in”?

Was I drunk when I wrote this?

Rhys Benjamin

RARE PENIS in Round 12.

Rhys Benjamin

I’d have liked to have seen everyone’s individual predictions, a league table, you know, the whole shebang...

Rhys Benjamin

Lauren Hamer and Keli Richards were on Only Connect on NYD. A very easy Only Connect according to the Radio Times.

Rhys Benjamin

I got 922 in that one, (75 - 1) x 25 x 50 / 100 - 3.

Rhys Benjamin

PATIENT as an equaller in Round 1, surely? Can't believe the studio missed that.

Rhys Benjamin

Or just get a close family member to go on the show...

(If you're reading this, dad...)

Rhys Benjamin

IMPLORES as an equaller in R7.

Rhys Benjamin

I believe the official rule is no, but then again there are several returnees in recent years, so much so that it has de facto become such a rule. I would personally leave at least 15-20 years between appearances, and I am very surprised Zarte was allowed back on.

Rhys Benjamin

I also really enjoyed these at the time, not least because of the respect I have for Geoff Marshall, one of the contestants, in the transport world. Geoff, I have to say, is quite a divisive figure amongst some so this series didn't particularly go down well with some of my friends who have a grudge...

Rhys Benjamin

I'm not a huge fan of structuring the draw so that same-series players are kept apart. Re-drawing that person would be far better. Zarte vs Paul in the first round is tough shit, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. COC10 aside (when K Ogilvie and S Mearns had to be given byes because they o...

Rhys Benjamin

Do you even need to have a third person for Edinburgh-style? I don't see why that's a necessity and why it can't be done between two? Technically you don't but you'd need to draw each round separately , and the event would only be as fast as your slowest table. This has been known to be a hassle at...

Rhys Benjamin

Do you even need to have a third person for Edinburgh-style? I don't see why that's a necessity and why it can't be done between two?

Rhys Benjamin

Elliott Mellor wrote: ↑
Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:27 am

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑
Sat Sep 22, 2018 8:23 am
Whilst I actually remember (and can't quite believe it hasn't come up) - Annie Humphries, was she invited?
I think she was invited but declined.

Yeah, that's what I'm asking. Did she say no, or was she never asked? Either way, shame.

Rhys Benjamin

Whilst I actually remember (and can't quite believe it hasn't come up) - Annie Humphries, was she invited?

Rhys Benjamin

I will probably give it some more detailed thought over the next few months, but a date I wanted to work towards was late 2019 or maybe early 2020. I know that the Amex stadium hire rooms out (since it's where I took my exams in my first year at University) but I haven't been able to find anything i...

Rhys Benjamin

Essentially the question was, what if what's shown on TV isn't the same as what happens in the studio. C1 and C2 are level going into the conundrum. Nobody gets it. They're given a tiebreak, and C1 gets it. The first conundrum is cut out for some reason. Does it count as a tiebreak? I think this is...

Rhys Benjamin

Q: in event of a TB which is cut from broadcast (such as my first show), will this go down as a margin of 10 or a TB?

(I scored 7 on the last numbers to tie at 68-68, and we missed two conundrums, both of which - both - were cut, giving the impression my GADWINNER solve was not a TB.)

Rhys Benjamin

I've always wanted to host a Co-event, but have no idea as to the overheads (which can vary, having looked around Brighton a little), the "best" format to use (Edinburgh? Bristol? QFs or just GF? Group and knockout?), how much organisation needs to go into the event, how many to expect (and thus how...

Rhys Benjamin

To be honest, I can see both points of view here. Not that that helps.

Rhys Benjamin

I did initially think of that but that wouldn't explain why the title sequence is "correct".

For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU3VuZyCExQ

Rhys Benjamin

Something that struck me recently watching a few episodes on YouTube from the mid-90s is that the clock music was occasionally a quarter-tone too low. It’s most notable on the 1500th episode special (ep 1523, to be precise).

How did this happen?

Rhys Benjamin

I’m going to say something very controversial here. Very controversial.

Top 5 Bond themes (exc. the main theme):
5 Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)
4 Skyfall (Adele)
3 For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton)
2 Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey)
1 GoldenEye (Tina Turner)

Rhys Benjamin

Haven’t noticed that “apply now!” ad before... desperate?

Rhys Benjamin

I find it very odd how SMEARING and FAILURES came out, almost like it was set up...

Rhys Benjamin

Controversy in the Countdown studio as Mr Zarte Siempre deliberately lost his crucial conundrum today so as to gain a perfect score in his predictions competition...

I'll take a strictly mathematical approach to this, so my predictions won't be in for a while.

Rhys Benjamin

It's down again.

Rhys Benjamin

It's a real shame Scott Mearns was never invited back for the 30BC.

Rhys Benjamin

I dreamt that Dylan Taylor was the Tory candidate in my constituency at the next general election. What happened next is not appropriate for this board.

Rhys Benjamin

Well it's really one-and-a-half syllables, isn't it? I mean, a word like "milk" is clearly not one syllable, but neither is it a full two either.

Rhys Benjamin

I should maybe put on record that I don’t really have a problem with Susie deciding these as long as she is consistent. Especially now that she is the only lexicographer and it’s no longer as whimsical as it was in the old days (SCREES being an example: initially disallowed by Damian as lex but over...

Rhys Benjamin

It seems so. It's also invalid on Apterous, which surprises me, since you'd expect Apterous to more rigidly follow the rules For the avoidance of doubt in future shows, we've decided from now on that ALL 1-syllable adjectives can be extended with -er and -est, even though it'll be difficult to unde...

Rhys Benjamin

This is a good summary of DOND sequence-gate.

Rhys Benjamin

The only one reservation is that the uptake could well be ridiculously large. If it's open to any and all televised contestants you could well end up at a figure approaching 4,000. I assume you've changed your tune on drugs, because there's no way anyone is actually this fucking dumb. Glad to see y...

Rhys Benjamin

The only one reservation is that the uptake could well be ridiculously large. If it's open to any and all televised contestants you could well end up at a figure approaching 4,000.

Rhys Benjamin

So if it doesn't make sense, does that mean that -er and -est is decided on a whim by Susie?

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