Search found 37 matches

by JJ Smith
Sun Feb 19, 2017 10:39 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown Goody Bags through the ages.
Replies: 22
Views: 15458

Re: Countdown Goody Bags through the ages.

Early development stages - about 20 years before its release. http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/xECUrlnXCqk/hqdefault.jpg A screenshot from an episode of the Simpsons, a scene in which Rainier Wolfcastle appends a punchline with "That's the joke", necessary, as it was unclear to the audience that th...
by JJ Smith
Sun Feb 19, 2017 10:25 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterites who have yet to appear on Countdown
Replies: 50
Views: 35985

Re: Apterites who have yet to appear on Countdown

I doubt Countdown is desperate for yet another apterous-trained word geek to apply for the show. (Obviously, I like watching the word geeks, but I think Countdown's core audience prefer contestants of a standard they can play along with.) --MB Interesting comment. As a (mere) viewer, I always prefe...
by JJ Smith
Sun Feb 19, 2017 10:02 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: 2017 upgrade!
Replies: 36
Views: 62893

Re: 2017 upgrade!

It's true that I extend to fit the content of your posts.

Winking face
by JJ Smith
Sun Feb 19, 2017 9:42 am
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: CO:parkrun Recaps
Replies: 579
Views: 287484

Re: CO:parkrun Recaps

The closest Parkrun to the Manchester event is my home race, South Manchester. Anyone coming?
by JJ Smith
Sat Aug 20, 2016 5:52 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: IRC Countdown...in 2016?
Replies: 36
Views: 13008

Re: IRC Countdown...in 2016?

Just played a game. The con was SLIDEWAYS which is a plural noun. Also had RURALIZE disallowed. It's actually not that bad. But I spent about a minute trying to figure out what was wrong with my numbers solution (x instead of *) and it still gave me the points. Hope it doesn't do that when you play ...
by JJ Smith
Sat Aug 06, 2016 5:57 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Has Countdown ever helped you with your career?
Replies: 8
Views: 5585

Re: Has Countdown ever helped you with your career?

I reckon the people I work with think I'm smarter than they would otherwise. Especially people who I ordinarily have less interaction with.
by JJ Smith
Sat Aug 06, 2016 5:46 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: CO:parkrun Recaps
Replies: 579
Views: 287484

Re: CO:parkrun Recaps

I did 20:40 today. I should be there for Huddersfield and I'm aiming for 19:30.
by JJ Smith
Sat Jul 02, 2016 8:19 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Mondegreens
Replies: 127
Views: 33224

Re: Mondegreens

In Everything in its Right Place (the best song ever) I thought he was singing 'Yesterday I woke up sucking on my mum' instead of a lemon. Changed the song a bit for me when I found that out. Another line in that song, I thought was "There are arctic colours in my head". I like my version...
by JJ Smith
Sun Jun 26, 2016 8:34 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: EU Referendum
Replies: 182
Views: 47218

Re: EU Referendum

Corbyn could promise pretty much anything and he would have no effect outside of yer luvvy cities - popular as he may be to a very particular set of voters, many others on the left - neither Blairites or Corbynites - are alienated by and disenchanted him, so God only knows who will vote for him if ...
by JJ Smith
Sun Jun 26, 2016 11:02 am
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: CO:parkrun Recaps
Replies: 579
Views: 287484

Re: CO:parkrun Recaps

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/southmanchester/results/athletehistory/?athleteNumber=2448698 21:24 (and I had to tie my shoelaces at 0.5k, really annoying). My course is very flat and I don't have any tech so I don't know how long it actually is. My best time on a treadmill is 22:45, is that common? I t...
by JJ Smith
Sat Jun 25, 2016 11:18 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: CO:parkrun Recaps
Replies: 579
Views: 287484

Re: CO:parkrun Recaps

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/southmanchester/results/athletehistory/?athleteNumber=2448698 21:24 (and I had to tie my shoelaces at 0.5k, really annoying). My course is very flat and I don't have any tech so I don't know how long it actually is. My best time on a treadmill is 22:45, is that common? I th...
by JJ Smith
Sat Jun 25, 2016 10:20 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown mentions on other shows
Replies: 315
Views: 136773

Re: Countdown mentions on other shows

It was my game against Angus Eady. Showed me picking letters and him declaring PANTIES. Then I choose 6 small and Rach solves it with 57 x 13 or something like that. Someone said it showed me getting the conundrum but I didn't see that. The jokes were: the kids not understanding the rules, how smart...
by JJ Smith
Thu Jun 23, 2016 10:25 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Wednesday June 22nd 2016
Replies: 13
Views: 5417

Re: Spoilers For Wednesday June 22nd 2016

Interesting tactics for Conrad's last numbers game. I thought he would play it safe(ish) and go for 1 large and have the shootout on the conundrum because it would still be one if he got the target and Paul didn't, then again the conundrum may have been so tough that neither got it and Conrad would...
by JJ Smith
Mon Jun 20, 2016 5:50 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday June 20th 2016
Replies: 13
Views: 4727

Re: Spoilers For Monday June 20th 2016

I don't know if I fell asleep (which I doubt because this was a game to keep you awake), but did Phil Hammond have a slot today? It's normally after the second numbers isn't it? Anyway, great game - maybe somewhat spoilt by someone saying beforehand that they thought it was the best quarter final e...
by JJ Smith
Mon Jun 13, 2016 10:44 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday June 13th 2016
Replies: 12
Views: 4497

Re: Spoilers For Monday June 13th 2016

Really good performance by Sean, a lot of great spots in the letters rounds.
by JJ Smith
Tue May 03, 2016 8:54 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 3 May 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 65)
Replies: 15
Views: 4197

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 3 May 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 65)

I don't think tie-breaks should be included in cumulative scores or as part of the total game scores, and I doubt many people would. I don't even really like the ten points being added to the score to demonstrate who won, I think there should be some notation, like how a football scoreline won on pe...
by JJ Smith
Tue May 03, 2016 6:24 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 3 May 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 65)
Replies: 15
Views: 4197

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 3 May 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 65)

He was seeded above Tim in the finals.
by JJ Smith
Mon May 02, 2016 9:14 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 26 April 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 60)
Replies: 6
Views: 2387

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 26 April 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 60)

I was just thinking about asking Graeme that actually (haven't read through the whole thread yet).
by JJ Smith
Thu Apr 14, 2016 6:48 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday April 12th 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 50)
Replies: 13
Views: 6678

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday April 12th 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 50)

Peter Clarke wrote:I got the first numbers, by doing ((((100+1)*3)*75)-50)/25 for 907.
Me too, and I was so proud
by JJ Smith
Fri Apr 01, 2016 6:43 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 1st April 2016
Replies: 13
Views: 4291

Re: Spoilers for Friday 1st April 2016

He scored 124 but also won a game with only 67, a range of 57 points. I wonder what the largest range is.
by JJ Smith
Tue Mar 29, 2016 8:03 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday March 29th 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 42)
Replies: 11
Views: 2950

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday March 29th 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 42)

After personally experiencing degrading online sexual objectification after my appearance, I proudly refuse to mention anything about how cute Heather is, or how painfully in love with her I am, or her stray hair that I rescued from the green room, or the number of screencaps I printed out today for...
by JJ Smith
Tue Mar 29, 2016 6:43 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 23rd March
Replies: 15
Views: 5505

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 23rd March

I would say your last game was the closest. Not perhaps by the final score but by how long it was before someone broke ahead. I don't think you came across as smug, mainly because you didn't do one thing that some players have done in the past, which I think Is smug. I had to see all your games bef...
by JJ Smith
Mon Mar 28, 2016 2:30 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Welcome! - Post here first
Replies: 1961
Views: 1020047

Re: Welcome! - Post here first

And rounding off the pantheon of best training practices for each Countdown discipline... it's very useful to learn all 9-letter words that are plurals, present-tense -S verbs, capitalised, not in the ODO or obscene to train for conundrums. In daily life I tend to avoid using these words, so they a...
by JJ Smith
Mon Mar 28, 2016 2:24 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Welcome! - Post here first
Replies: 1961
Views: 1020047

Re: Welcome! - Post here first

Another thing that can help is, after spotting a normal word like EMO or RAG, looking at the remaining letters to see if there is a prefix or suffix that might extend it (-TION and -STONE for those examples).
by JJ Smith
Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:52 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Welcome! - Post here first
Replies: 1961
Views: 1020047

Re: Welcome! - Post here first

Also, something I've found useful is to learn all the prime numbers up to 1000, so you can know if a target is indivisible or not.
by JJ Smith
Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:45 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Welcome! - Post here first
Replies: 1961
Views: 1020047

Re: Welcome! - Post here first

Instead of learning words that are in the dictionary, try to learn every conceivable word that isn't in the dictionary. Then you'll never misdeclare a word.

When you get good enough at this, you can max every game by process of elimination.
by JJ Smith
Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:00 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Consistency
Replies: 10
Views: 5196

Re: Consistency

I wouldn't worry too much about the ratings fluctuations, because ratings changes are weighted by your current rating. So now you will have bigger ratings increases when you beat players and smaller decreases when you lose. That all balances out over time. The main thing is you enjoy playing, becaus...
by JJ Smith
Wed Mar 23, 2016 9:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 23rd March
Replies: 15
Views: 5505

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 23rd March

Thank you everybody! It took me a day or so to realise I was in the 800 club. I never thought about being an octochamp until afterwards, let alone an octototal, I had prepared myself to lose the first game and went into every other game thinking about losing. Looking back I think I could have got a ...
by JJ Smith
Tue Mar 22, 2016 12:25 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday March 14th 2016
Replies: 9
Views: 3691

Re: Spoilers For Monday March 14th 2016

mark swayland wrote:C'est La Vie, maybe one day I'll return for that elusive teapot

I've managed to find apterous and we'll have to have a rematch at some point :).
Definitely do return.

And definitely challenge me whenever you see me.
by JJ Smith
Mon Mar 21, 2016 7:50 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday March 21st 2016
Replies: 7
Views: 2822

Re: Spoilers For Monday March 21st 2016

I wonder how much sleep Conrad had overnight? I suspect none (I didn't get any). The 21:00 finish followed by 09:15 start the next day is really a killer and he did well to struggle through to win, despite all the yawning and head holding. What do you mean? I had a whole week's break from the racin...
by JJ Smith
Mon Mar 14, 2016 7:53 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday March 14th 2016
Replies: 9
Views: 3691

Re: Spoilers For Monday March 14th 2016

And 2 points off if he didn't miss EXPANDS. He was a bit irritated that he didn't know about Apterous, if he had done a bit of practice he probably would have beaten me this game. I forgot how good he was until I just saw the wiki recap. He should definitely practice a little bit and return for a te...
by JJ Smith
Mon Mar 14, 2016 7:48 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday March 14th 2016
Replies: 9
Views: 3691

Re: Spoilers For Monday March 14th 2016

I thought it was a little mean of Susie to make Mark spell out FLUORIDE, she obviously knows it's one of those words that's commonly misspelt, so correctly guessed he had misspelt it, she could easily have let it go. After the round was over, I said "Why did you make him spell it!" But I ...
by JJ Smith
Sat Mar 12, 2016 12:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 11th March 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 35)
Replies: 9
Views: 3385

Re: Spoilers for Friday 11th March 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 35)

When I heard Erica was a keen Scrabble player and Crossword buff, I thought we might have a competitive game today. Me too, I was worrying. But I think I had a fairly tough run overall, this was the only one I felt secure about. I got ALONGSIDE after the round was over. I should have got the number...
by JJ Smith
Sat Mar 12, 2016 12:27 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 10 March 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 34)
Replies: 11
Views: 4306

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 10 March 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 34)

Ah thanks everyone! And thanks for that James, I'm quite self-obsessively trying to find tweets about me, good and bad. Twitter has become a shit site recently though, search function and timelines are poor. The other thing that people keep saying to me is that me and Rachel are flirting! I think th...
by JJ Smith
Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:16 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 10 March 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 34)
Replies: 11
Views: 4306

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 10 March 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 34)

Looking at the wiki cap, I think the 8 I was toying with was CALORIED X. I should have got SUGARS or AUGURS, and I don't know what I did to mess up the numbers but I should have got 7 points from that. But 15 off the max isn't bad. Decent con. It really means a lot that I would have been on crucials...
by JJ Smith
Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:57 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 8 March 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 32)
Replies: 15
Views: 4499

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 8 March 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 32)

Gavin Chipper wrote:Have they whitened the sides of the letters tiles?
I think there were new tiles. They kept falling off when Rach put them up so they had to stop the show loads of times that afternoon.
by JJ Smith
Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:54 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 8 March 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 32)
Replies: 15
Views: 4499

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 8 March 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 32)

Thanks Tracey! Does anyone ever listen to what Dictionary Corner say? The contestants didn't, as PELAGE was there in round 5 after it was given as an alt in round 4. Another alt in R13 for all the RETAINS+ fans is ARTESIAN (amongst many other 8s). Anagram of ANTISERA. I definitely wasn't listening t...