c4countdown

At risk of stating the obvious, 30 seconds gives 3 times as long to work at it. The exam analogy isn't really relevant, as there's relatively little possibility of doubt in Countdown - you've either got a solution or you haven't, and if you haven't, the extra time to find one can only be useful. Num...

All I can suggest is to read my above post again, I think it was pretty clear. I agree it's fairly mindboggling stuff, most things that involve infinity in some way are, but it all follows logically. I don't really have time to spend all night deconstructing your counterexamples, but the argument b...

Totopoly, or Buccaneer, depending on mood. Either way, it's "other".

It certainly stopped you concentrating on penalty shoot-outs, Lee. Up the Clarets!

Hello Kai. I've only just seen this thread, or I'd have answered before, but I really think as a Chelsea fan you deserve to know who I support.

Shall we put it this way, I've gone to the Turf today to get my tickets for the Arsenal match in the fifth round.

Definitions are important on Countdown. If a word doesn't have a meaning, it's not a word, just a collection of semi-random letters. It's interesting to know what the word means, even if you've forgotten it 30 seconds later.

She's better looking than Jo Brand.

And you can't ban politicians just for being politicians - if they did that, Gyles Brandreth would never come back!



(Hmmmm.)

My idea with "un-" wasn't that all adjectives can use it, just that a list should be included in the dictionary. Many old dictionaries had such a list, with a note saying they meant the opposite of the root, but modern ones tend not too. The point of leaving out the superfluous definitions...

A list of "un-" words. Most "un-s" have the exact opposite meaning to the original, with the same inflexions, and so a straight list of words would take up very little room as they wouldn't need defining. So that words such as "unplaited" wouldn't be disallowed costing ...

Is this the official "post your result against Blackpool" thread? If so:

BURNLEY 2 BLACKPOOL 0.

Thank you.

Katharine Apanowicz.

Big help to write the letters down. I do consonants on top, vowels underneath. But that's unusual, and numbers are my strong point anyway. When you're actually on the show, write the letters down at least twice, maybe three times, as they come out. Then if you want to check a word is all there, or y...

I believe they change it every 6 months or so, so you should be OK. (Even if they didn't, they will now! )

What's wrong with Q anyway? I quite like having it there, especially if there's no U, because it restricts the letter options and makes the round slightly easier. Stand up for Q!

Hello, Jennifer. Welcome to the forum. Sorry about the fairly unpleasant welcome you've received - maybe someone's had a bad day. We aren't all like that - at least I hope not. The "ignore" button isn't that difficult to find, if needed - click on someone's name and select "foe"....

There's definitely a flaw in this argument, David. And it relates to the highly specific conditions of the problem. Your example referes to a finite group of 11 people, and it's certainly true that in that case the 11th man has a 1/11 chance of being the tallest, etc. HOWEVER, if the 11th man is sud...

Your arguments sound very plausible, but it still doesn't feel right to me. Maybe it's the artificiality of the question - the way John has made absolutely no observation about the actual heights of the people he was observing. Ah well, one of us is wrong, and it might be me (though I'll NEVER admit...

You've posed two different questions here. 1. What is the probability of a random individual being in the bottom 6 of 11 individuals ranked in order of height? 2. What is the probability of a random individual being in the bottom 6 of 11 individuals ranked in order of height, given that 4 of the top...

I'll just say to anyone who thinks it's 5/9 . . . What would your answer be if all nine were taller than him, or when he'd only met one person? David I would say that his best estimate based on the available data would be that there is a 9/9 chance the next person is taller than him. With, of cours...

I'll just say to anyone who thinks it's 5/9 . . . What would your answer be if all nine were taller than him, or when he'd only met one person? David I would say that his best estimate based on the available data would be that there is a 9/9 chance the next person is taller than him. With, of cours...

Unless my memory's going, Susie has allowed plurals of primary colours (eg. reds, blues) but not allowed secondary colours (eg. mauves).

Maybe Patrick Moore's xylophone is made out of original moon plastic?

I lke Richard Digance, keep him coming on. Also Geoffrey Durham, Paul Xenon, Alistair Stewart, Tim Rice, Catherine Apanowicz are among the list of people that might make me decide to watch when I've got something else I ought to be doing.

James Whittaker isn't on that list.

You'd expect them to spot "tallest" in round 6. I ran my video back to check I'd got the letters down right!

"Consents" definitely, because consent is a verb. I'll leave the rest to the experts.

I believe that picture was painted by J.F. Kennedy, who faked his own death so that he could go on to fake the moon landings.

If the picture's a fake and no-one's been to the moon, how do we know it isn't made out of plastic?

In 2001 I wanted to wear a Burnley football shirt - that was the year we didn't have a shirt sponsor. There was a manufacturer's logo on the chest, though. I was told it would have been acceptable BUT - it was too shiny and reflective for the cameras.

You can get the number of contestants very close by number of episodes + number of octochamps. [On second thoughts, you need to deduct 7 x number of series to allow for series finals; and then all the C of C games; and that whole series where 64 champions were invited back. Not quite so simple.] The...

I've always assumed that as long as you can read out the solution in a mathematically correct form, you'd be OK. If you think you're getting lost, just dictate "((75 x 25 - 1) x 50)) / 100" and let Carol write it down in that format, and work out the details afterwards.

Bring back Catherine Clarke! Even though she did disallow "unplaited"!

(I remember Richard Samson - I think he emigrated to New Zealand, didn't he? - but came back for 1 week as a special.)