Words one individual is unfamiliar with is a pretty small sample.Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Jun 10, 2022 8:45 am You can't judge a conundrum on such a small sample size.
Search found 1269 matches
- Fri Jun 10, 2022 9:32 am
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 9th June 2022 (Series 85, QF1)
- Replies: 23
- Views: 1517
Re: Spoilers for Thursday 9 June 2022 (Series 85, QF1)
- Fri Jun 10, 2022 7:37 am
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 9th June 2022 (Series 85, QF1)
- Replies: 23
- Views: 1517
Re: Spoilers for Thursday 9 June 2022 (Series 85, QF1)
Fwiw, disbursal isn't that obscure to me. Plenty of usage in finance related fields Yeah, I got it pretty quickly and I'm pretty terrible at conundrums For me, a bad conundrum is one that is either so hard neither player gets it (what was the point?) or so easy both get it instantly (a test of reac...
- Wed Jun 08, 2022 6:34 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Absolutely terrible claims to fame/celebrity spots
- Replies: 74
- Views: 29921
Re: Absolutely terrible claims to fame/celebrity spots
I slide tackled Paul Reaney once. I thought this was a terrible claim to fame but he's a bit more famous than I realised, as he's come up in some recent articles as the first non-white bloke to play football for England. I certainly think of Paul Reaney as famous, and I didn't know that. Over 700 g...
- Fri May 20, 2022 7:40 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
- Replies: 1617
- Views: 743699
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
There are 10 pints of blood in the human body. It's perfectly possible to drink 10 pints of beer in an hour or two. I don't think your blood becomes that heavily diluted. I thought the small intestine extracted the liquid that it needed and passed the rest to the large intestine, which extracts the ...
- Thu May 19, 2022 9:22 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
- Replies: 1617
- Views: 743699
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
My layman's knowledge of the digestive system is that it essentially takes what it needs (and some things it doesn't) and rejects the rest. I don't think it expels them into the blood. I thought that liquids found their way to the bladder mainly through the kidneys, and also extracted by the solidif...
- Thu May 05, 2022 10:49 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Politics in General
- Replies: 1646
- Views: 1816950
Re: Politics in General
I think it's pretty insane how Shell have made record profits . Shell's profits were expected to be big. The price of oil and gas, already high at the end of last year, surged higher after the Russian invasion of Ukraine threatened disruption and eventual boycotts of one of the world's biggest supp...
- Wed May 04, 2022 7:39 am
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Anne Robinson to leave Countdown
- Replies: 110
- Views: 12557
Re: Anne Robinson to leave Countdown
It took me seconds to look up that Anne-Marie received a Masters degree from Oxford in Mathematics and Computer Science at the age of 20 , one of the youngest people ever to do that. This is a bit like saying Conor Travers can't play Countdown. It's more like saying, say, Salman Rushdie can't play ...
- Tue May 03, 2022 11:13 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Anne Robinson to leave Countdown
- Replies: 110
- Views: 12557
Re: Anne Robinson to leave Countdown
Ditch the host. Just Rachel and Susie. You could say the same for Pointless: ditch the co-host and just have Xander read the facts. But, I think ditching the host would make the programme feel lonelier and colder. If Rachel and Susie were co-presenters I can't imagine anyone saying that the program...
- Tue May 03, 2022 1:14 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Anne Robinson to leave Countdown
- Replies: 110
- Views: 12557
Re: Anne Robinson to leave Countdown
Ditch the host. Just Rachel and Susie. Brief interchange between the two of them at the start. One of them introduces the players. Celebrity is required to contribute their own anecdote, not just turn up unprepared and respond to prompting. Or ditch the celebrity altogether. Rachel could contribute ...
- Thu Apr 21, 2022 12:59 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 20th April 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 78)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 969
Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 20 April 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 78)
I'm sure there must be plenty of people like me who couldn't live with Matt, but got a seven in round 13 and would have whitewashed the challenger. Low scores aren't particularly related to whether the winner is faultless, it's much more to do with the ability of the loser. If you get a maximum in a...
- Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:32 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Monday 4th April 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 66)
- Replies: 6
- Views: 768
Re: Spoilers for Monday 4 April 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 66)
Nice.
I thought Rachel struggled not to say anything when the contestant used all four numbers to make 16 out of 8 7 4 4.
I thought Rachel struggled not to say anything when the contestant used all four numbers to make 16 out of 8 7 4 4.
Re: Scrabble
I've still got a set of Scrabble tiles I won from Stewart for being the only one on the forum who knew the 8-letter carriage that is an anagram of the plural of another carriage. Kindergarten stuff these days, I imagine.
- Fri Mar 18, 2022 2:04 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Wordle
- Replies: 81
- Views: 14799
Re: Wordle
I noticed a few people failed on yesterday's Wordle (CATER). They got the ATER and ran out of guesses for the first letter. I went for WHEEL. Took out WATER, HATER and LATER in one go. That's how you're supposed to play, losers. I went for something like CHUMP, which takes out (or confirms) four le...
- Thu Mar 17, 2022 8:12 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Veganism Discussion
- Replies: 117
- Views: 11706
Re: Veganism Discussion
So you'd defend the right of a restaurant (or a council) not to offer any vegetarian option? This shouldn't be about veganism good, Jeremy Clarkson bad, case closed. Nothing to stop them changing their menus gradually and no-one notices, but the motivation seems to be to get into the history books a...
- Wed Mar 16, 2022 3:20 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: What TV programmes have you been watching lately?
- Replies: 774
- Views: 685714
Re: What TV programmes have you been watching lately?
Not watched it yet, but if the lead character is called Harry Palmer that's one major difference from the book.Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Wed Mar 16, 2022 12:09 pm Watching the Ipcress file.
Very faithful adaptation of the book.
- Mon Mar 14, 2022 5:26 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: What Makes a Good Countdown Presenter?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1040
Re: What Makes a Good Countdown Presenter?
Four million people tuned in to see Richard Whiteley, and he had virtually no interaction with the contestants. Maybe that's the answer.
- Mon Mar 07, 2022 12:36 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Fact or Bullshit
- Replies: 27
- Views: 2368
Re: Fact or Bullshit
This, of course, is essentially what a plane flying from London to the Aleutian Islands does. If they wanted to go the long way, anyway. What witchcraft is this? That's why I put the word 'essentially' in what I posted! If you ignore the fact that the earth is going round the sun, which I don't thi...
- Mon Mar 07, 2022 8:44 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Fact or Bullshit
- Replies: 27
- Views: 2368
Re: Fact or Bullshit
Another factoid from my childhood. If a plane could leave the earth's atmosphere and hovered it could return to earth getting to Australia direct in around 12 hours due to earth's rotation. This sounds feasible but probably not practicle Maybe this answers my own question but an interesting read an...
- Thu Feb 24, 2022 5:38 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 24th February 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 39)
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1011
Re: Spoilers for Thursday 24 February 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 39)
Does anyone have an up-to-date copy of the rules they could share? What I've got is a real ragbag, with quite a few words that are count nouns or verbs (silk, steel, solder, clay, fluoride, soil etc.) and some I don't think you'd ever be allowed (ginghams?). Plurals of actions or processes such as L...
- Thu Feb 24, 2022 5:24 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Monday 21st February 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 36)
- Replies: 6
- Views: 763
Re: Spoilers for Monday 21 February 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 36)
That is all true, but there's still the question as to why Oxford insist on what was correct 500 years ago being correct today. The dictionary is supposed to be of current usage, which I would say is overwhelmingly -ISE. In fact I imagine the few people who do use -IZE only do it because Oxford say ...
- Mon Feb 21, 2022 10:26 am
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Wordle
- Replies: 81
- Views: 14799
Re: Wordle
Judging by the demand for Countdown folk like Jack and Ollie to talk about it on radio, it seems the Wordle hype train is still rolling! Surprised it's been this longaevous. Personally I got bored of it the day before it moved to the New York Times; a happy coincidence. I do occasionally like a sta...
- Mon Feb 14, 2022 9:02 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Anyone Going To Watch The Superb Owl?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 598
Re: Anyone Going To Watch The Superb Owl?
When American football was first on TV here I was quite interested, but the half-time show is a real killer. The game starts at 11:30, it takes them till 01:00 to get to half-time, so there's still an hour and a half to go - and everything stops. That must be bedtime for a lot of people in the UK. I...
- Tue Feb 08, 2022 12:22 am
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Monday 7th February 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 26)
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1052
Re: Spoilers for Monday 7 February 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 26)
If you had to make 881 out of 75 25 9 4 2 1, can you think of any way of doing it that doesn't involve multiplying 98 by 9? And if you were writing the solution on the board, would you actually have to pause and work out that it made 882?
- Tue Feb 08, 2022 12:16 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
- Replies: 1617
- Views: 743699
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
On this general topic, the Six Nations rugby is going on at the moment, but also the BBC have been going on about Scotland winning the Calcutta Cup with no explanation. But having looked it up, it seems that the winner of the Engalnd/Scotland Six Nations game also wins the Calcutta Cup. I don't thi...
- Mon Feb 07, 2022 7:54 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
- Replies: 1617
- Views: 743699
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
On this general topic, the Six Nations rugby is going on at the moment, but also the BBC have been going on about Scotland winning the Calcutta Cup with no explanation. But having looked it up, it seems that the winner of the Engalnd/Scotland Six Nations game also wins the Calcutta Cup. I don't thi...
- Mon Feb 07, 2022 7:46 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
- Replies: 1617
- Views: 743699
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
On a similar subject, will Queen Camilla become the Queen Mother when Charles dies? Even apart from the obvious, when George V died his wife became the Queen Mother, but simply carried on being called Queen Mary. When George VI died that was a bit of a problem, because there would have been two Que...
- Thu Jan 27, 2022 12:25 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 26th January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 18)
- Replies: 9
- Views: 788
Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 26 January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 18)
Having selected a host calculated to annoy the viewers, they are now selecting guests calculated to annoy the host. If it's supposed to be evening things up from the viewer's perspective, it's not working for me.
- Thu Jan 20, 2022 11:37 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 20th January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 14)
- Replies: 9
- Views: 1228
Re: Spoilers for Thursday 20 January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 14)
Continuing yesterday's theme. Last numbers. Target 847. Numbers include 100, 9, 6 and 1. Contestant "100-6=94". Anne-Marie repeats and writes it out. Contestant "Multiply that by 9". Anne-Marie writes down the 6, slight pause, writes down the 8, longer pause, writes down the 4. T...
- Thu Jan 20, 2022 1:46 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 19th January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 13)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 1219
Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 19 January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 13)
You also don't need to be great at mental arithmetic to be able to do Countdown numbers games. Except occasionally in 6 small I very rarely find myself "doing mental arithmetic". If you've watched Countdown as long as we have you know your 75 times table, but that would be mental arithmet...
- Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:50 am
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 19th January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 13)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 1219
Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 19 January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 13)
Another thing that you've never thought of till someone else is doing it. Sometimes you know that the board is going to be quite full because there are going to be two near misses plus the actual solution, sometimes there isn't going to be much at all. But Rachel tends to use the available space pre...
- Mon Jan 17, 2022 11:36 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Monday 17th January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 11)
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1109
Re: Spoilers for Monday 17 January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 11)
https://www.lexico.com/definition/mileage She actually said that she was looking to see if the dictionary gave any examples of MILEAGES. Maybe she should have had a look at this, which has the plural in each of the first ten More Example Sentences. I'm also always irritated when there's a suspicion ...
- Fri Dec 17, 2021 2:59 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 16th December 2021 (Series 84, QF 2)
- Replies: 12
- Views: 1780
Re: Spoilers for Thursday 16th December 2021 (Series 84, QF 2)
From what I remember the closest you could get was 585 away. Is this a record?Thomas Cappleman wrote: ↑Thu Dec 16, 2021 8:01 pm Great game there. Ruth had commented at the end of the last numbers that there seemed to be a lot of concentration for a clearly impossible one. Glad to see Stu had been making good use of it
- Wed Nov 17, 2021 8:30 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
- Replies: 1617
- Views: 743699
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
If whoever decided on the Greenwich Meridian and the International Date Line had had a sense of humour, they would have reversed them. Not only would East Anglia have been further west than Wales, it would also have been a day ahead.
- Fri Oct 29, 2021 11:51 am
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Premium VS Lexico (Countdown’s dictionaries)
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1332
Re: Premium VS Lexico (Countdown’s dictionaries)
The ‘restaurant rule’ is still there; it is based on around ordering a portion/unit of something. In fact it's never really been about restaurants. It covers all sorts of things other than food items. But even a few years ago when I checked through the list of examples they gave, an awful lot of th...
- Thu Oct 28, 2021 11:23 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Premium VS Lexico (Countdown’s dictionaries)
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1332
Re: Premium VS Lexico (Countdown’s dictionaries)
Yes, interesting.
It made me wonder if there are many plurals left that are allowed only because of the restaurant rule, because there is no count noun sense in examples in Premium or Lexico.
It made me wonder if there are many plurals left that are allowed only because of the restaurant rule, because there is no count noun sense in examples in Premium or Lexico.
- Tue Oct 19, 2021 11:18 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
- Topic: Tuesday 19th October 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 81)
- Replies: 2
- Views: 711
Re: Tuesday 19 October 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 81)
I thought she gave him a second too long if anything. Incidentally, whose job is it to call time on a contestant? Colin Murray would have stopped it sooner than Rachel did. Anne doesn't involve herself.
- Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:54 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
- Topic: Wednesday 15th September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 57)
- Replies: 1
- Views: 469
Re: Wednesday 15 September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 57)
<<< Given today's standards, I'm surprised WIMPED wasn't expunged as well. >>>
Not to mention GIMP, even if Pam did give a meaning I wasn't familiar with. RETARD has a perfectly acceptable meaning as well.
Not to mention GIMP, even if Pam did give a meaning I wasn't familiar with. RETARD has a perfectly acceptable meaning as well.
- Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:45 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
- Topic: Thursday 16th September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 58)
- Replies: 2
- Views: 631
Re: Thursday 16 September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 58)
<<< I'm not quite sure what Mike was thinking of >>>
Mike used to work in the City of London, where there is a road and a pub called The Minories, which I have been in. When he said it, my first thought was that it would be OK, even if I had no idea what it meant.
Mike used to work in the City of London, where there is a road and a pub called The Minories, which I have been in. When he said it, my first thought was that it would be OK, even if I had no idea what it meant.
- Fri Sep 03, 2021 9:48 am
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 1st September 2021 (Series 84, Prelim 47)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1205
Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 1st September 2021 (Series 84, Prelim 47)
Not a fan of Johnny Vaughan. You can never really be sure, but one suspects that he's one of the best guests ever at spotting words. If he was taking it seriously he would be a match for all but the very best contestants. Or maybe they just all hate him so much they feed him invalid words through h...
- Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:10 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Words and expressions that grind your gears
- Replies: 108
- Views: 22108
Re: Words and expressions that grind your gears
I get so angry at expresso. I've left a restaurant because it had expresso on the menu, it's completely irrational. If I had to choose between taking a kick to the bollocks every single day for the rest of my life, or hearing the word "expresso" once - I'm taking the no kids option. https...
- Tue Aug 10, 2021 4:37 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
- Topic: Monday 9th August 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 30)
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1092
Re: Monday 9 August 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 30)
R14 7 x 8 x 9 - 75 - 2
You should never pass over a 504 opportunity.
You should never pass over a 504 opportunity.
- Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:54 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Track and Field (and Road) Athletics
- Replies: 252
- Views: 67369
Re: Track and Field Athletics
I've always thought that athletics short-changes itself compared to other sports. If swimming was done the same way, you'd only have one 100 metre event. But if you can have backstroke and butterfly, why doesn't athletics have running backwards and bunny-hop events? My rule of thumb has always been ...
- Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:35 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Olympics 2020
- Replies: 135
- Views: 18089
Re: Olympics 2020
Japan doing really well to come 3rd. It does seem like the host nation tends to do better than they normally would. And this time it can't be down to home support. I'm guessing some events confer some inbuilt home advantage (familiarity with the track/venue, or conditions) but mostly is because the...
- Sat Jul 31, 2021 12:14 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
- Topic: Friday 30th July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 24)
- Replies: 1
- Views: 711
Re: Friday 30 July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 24)
Is it only me who was a bit taken aback by all the "young Liberace" stuff? Especially when it got to being "far too sensible to be upset", which I don't imagine was a reference to Liberace apparently not being particularly good at playing the piano. (Younger readers may need to c...
- Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:26 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
- Topic: Tuesday 27th July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 21)
- Replies: 1
- Views: 713
Re: Tuesday 27 July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 21)
It wouldn't have crossed my mind otherwise, but there can't have been many games ever that were easier to max than this one. I was quite pleased to see RHETORIC, but nothing else was very special
- Mon Jul 26, 2021 8:01 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Why do ?.....
- Replies: 21
- Views: 7870
Re: Why do ?.....
Even worse is "We'll see you after the break". I'm pretty confident TV doesn't work like Zoom.
- Fri Jul 23, 2021 7:18 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Is Banter With Contestants to be Encouraged?
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1069
Re: Is Banter With Contestants to be Encouraged?
Banter. The playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks. An exchange requires the recipient to respond in kind.
"You're an accountant. Is that as exciting as it sounds?"
"Maybe not. I've never been sacked for being drunk, for example."
Looking forward to it.
"You're an accountant. Is that as exciting as it sounds?"
"Maybe not. I've never been sacked for being drunk, for example."
Looking forward to it.
- Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:42 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: First impressions of Anne
- Replies: 141
- Views: 25618
Re: First impressions of Anne
Her approach really falls flat if you get contestants like the last couple. I'm sure you could have a decent conversation about bee-keeping or rowing, but her questioning is more like brow-beating, trying to shame or embarrass them. Fine on Watchdog, but these people have nothing to be ashamed or em...
- Fri Jul 16, 2021 7:34 am
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 15th July 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 14)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 2043
Re: Spoilers for Thursday 15th July 2021 (series 84 )
504 thing for R3 numbers - 9*8*7+1 = 505 I was surprised Rachel missed that actually. I think she started with 9*8, but then went off a different (less good) way. I suspect Rachel's first thought is to factorise. Mine with six small has always been to multiply the largest two together, divide the p...
- Fri Jul 09, 2021 11:45 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: The C4C Football Thread
- Replies: 1265
- Views: 215629
Re: The C4C Football Thread
Am I the only person in the country able to actually remember the 1966 World Cup? Did anyone watch The Last Tommy ? There'll be a thing like that soon for people who remember the 1966 World Cup. I did sort of mean remember what it was really like. Until the semi-final England were dire, and the gen...
- Thu Jul 08, 2021 11:30 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 8th July 2021
- Replies: 12
- Views: 1556
- Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:01 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: The C4C Football Thread
- Replies: 1265
- Views: 215629
Re: The C4C Football Thread
Am I the only person in the country able to actually remember the 1966 World Cup? So far, from an England perspective, 2021 is so much better. A bit like this time, England were pretty pedestrian in the qualifying group. They played with a winger, Ball and Peters alternated, Hurst was very much thir...
- Wed Jun 30, 2021 11:40 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: First impressions of Anne
- Replies: 141
- Views: 25618
Re: First impressions of Anne
I didn't follow the Mensa thing. She asks Steve if he is in Mensa. If he says he isn't, but he could be, then "We'll be the judge of that" is a nice putdown. But when he says he isn't clever enough, it's a compliment, isn't it? Yet she still delivered it as a putdown, almost as if she wasn...
- Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:30 am
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: First impressions of Anne
- Replies: 141
- Views: 25618
Re: First impressions of Anne
Sorry, but I thought it was "Bring your granny to work day". A pale imitation of the Anne Robinson I remember, and I always thought that was a bit stilted. Calling an accountant boring is not exactly original, and Shelley from Newcastle clearly wasn't expecting to be told the countryside w...
- Fri Jun 25, 2021 2:58 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 24th June 2021 (Series 83, Second Semi Final)
- Replies: 15
- Views: 2568
Re: Spoilers for Thursday 24 June 2021 (Series 83, Second Semi Final)
I think James probably felt obliged to go for the 9, as he'd have been over 40 pts behind if Underbets was valid and he'd not gone for it. I daresay that's true, but at 23 points behind you have a chance to be either 15 points behind or 41. Against an opponent who really isn't likely to give you th...
- Fri Jun 25, 2021 11:11 am
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 24th June 2021 (Series 83, Second Semi Final)
- Replies: 15
- Views: 2568
Re: Spoilers for Thursday 24 June 2021 (Series 83, Second Semi Final)
Surely the tactic when you're well behind, your opponent declares a nine, and you don't have anything cast iron, is to go for a definite eight or a seven? UNRESTED for me.
- Tue Jun 22, 2021 10:54 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd June 2021 (Series 83, Fourth Quarter Final)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 3513
Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22 June 2021 (Series 83, Fourth Quarter Final)
Nearly all these things are Countdown trying to make the best of inconsistencies in the dictionary, of course. If you're going to print lots of examples of a word being used in a count noun sense, it should specify that it can be used as a count noun as well as a mass noun. As they increasingly do f...
- Tue Jun 22, 2021 10:33 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd June 2021 (Series 83, Fourth Quarter Final)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 3513
Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22 June 2021 (Series 83, Fourth Quarter Final)
Allowing PICRITES was slightly controversial I think but it didn't make a difference in the end. I would have agreed it was slightly controversial, were it not that eleven days ago we were told VASELINE would not be allowed, despite the fact that it was lower case in all the examples. http://www.c4...
- Sat Jun 12, 2021 9:16 am
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Friday 11th June 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 115)
- Replies: 19
- Views: 3258
Re: Spoilers for Friday 11th June 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 115)
It would be great if CD just switched to the Scrabble word list and be done with it. The reason they didn't do that in the first place is that they didn't want an elite group of contestants who would be so well prepared that ordinary mortals wouldn't stand a chance. I guess that ship sailed a while...
- Fri Jun 11, 2021 11:45 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Friday 11th June 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 115)
- Replies: 19
- Views: 3258
Re: Spoilers for Friday 11th June 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 115)
Interesting. Mind you, the reasoning is pretty bizarre. Words and their meanings get into a dictionary by being in common usage. I don't see why that excludes the internet. And they didn't just arrive in the dictionary by accident. The OUP selected them. I wonder if we will see fewer mass noun plura...