c4countdown

David Williams

It's been amusingly shambolic so far, there couldn't really have been a worse start. They haven't exactly put a dream team together, have they? Mike Gapes, for chrissakes. Going to be interesting to see how it develops over the next few days, though, could be some others joining them. Very surprise...

David Williams

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:38 pm 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

Thought Rachel was showboating a bit there. If you start with (25+1)/2=13 it doesn't look quite so clever.

David Williams

Well not really - if you're past the point at which anyone else can make it, it's just formality. Although after Annie dropping out a few series back, someone ought to check the 8 with someone who was there each time. Posting a thread entitled "Julie lost today", which appears in the Acti...

David Williams

Ryan Lam wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 3:06 pm So, with just six Preliminaries of Series 79 yet to air as of the time of writing, we now know who are the final eight

The existence of this thread before the preliminaries are over is itself a spoiler.

David Williams

I don't know how and when you watch in Australia, but you may not appreciate how rigorous they are in 'pretending' it's a live show. Even though they record them in batches, sometimes months in advance, each one is for a specific date. Each celebrity does five shows, which is one day's filming. So w...

David Williams

I thought the odd thing was that he didn't look particularly nervous at all. And his performance really was spectacularly dreadful. A thought that has occurred to me in the past is that a better measure of performance than how many maximums you get is how many words there are better than what you de...

David Williams

I think the first stage is when people decide that it works better if you accept an amount of gold or silver for something you want to sell, and then use that to buy things that you want. Then people collectively decide that rather than lugging all that metal around they are prepared to have their g...

David Williams

Mark James wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 6:27 pm "The National Debt is NOT owed to us . . .

Google tells me this is a comment by Eric Stone of Saffron Walden. Credit where credit's due.

David Williams

If every country's economy has a fiscal deficit (and all major economies do) then who is the interest on their loans paid to? I hesitate to give the obvious answer, because you'll only start asking more questions that I won't know the answer to, but they (collectively) pay the interest to the pensi...

David Williams

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Fri Nov 16, 2018 4:23 pm Embarrassingly I work for John Lewis

A lot more embarrassing for them, I would think.

David Williams

Matt Morrison wrote: ↑Thu Nov 15, 2018 8:12 am A food processor (this will separate the grown ups and the children).

I'd love to have one of these. Ours just chops stuff up.

David Williams

Tom S wrote: ↑Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:20 pm No joy for Unstarted in R1....

Those of us who followed it with DISAGREER in R2 would have got off to a pretty poor start.

David Williams

Just out of interest, do you tell her at the end of the thirty seconds or at the beginning?

David Williams

Interesting that DC got UBIETY but missed DUBIETY. Also DUENNAS later on.

David Williams

That's what needs to be achieved. I hadn't got into the precise wording. Your link provides it. Mr Team?

David Williams

Seriously? I always thought "standard method" was just a little joke.

And this method works in 60% of cases, so 40% of the time it leaves you at least 25 away from the target?

David Williams

How many syllables in BANNED? Or BAND? (Actually a special Countdown rule that words like PAINED are considered to have two syllables is not a bad idea.)

David Williams

Tom S wrote: ↑Mon Aug 06, 2018 1:40 pm Bit surprised that Asocials is not allowed.

Well, I know what a social is. I'm struggling to imagine what form an asocial might take, but it sounds like my sort of party.

David Williams

As well as the lack of the excitement that football has, is the lack of tension that you get in, say, test match cricket. I'm not massively interested myself, but the current game must be excruciating if you are. Whereas basketball - one team scores, other team scores, first team scores again, ooh t...

David Williams

May I offer a reverse one.

There is a book called Schindler's Ark. There is a company called Schindler's that makes lifts. So one day Steven Spielberg gets into a Schindler's lift . . .

David Williams

I think anyone who knows what 8 x 75 is, and that he is going to take 74 or 76 off it, would be able fairly quickly to work out what 7 x 75 is. It's either a panicky last second spot, or he simply didn't see the 7. I've done both of those. Who hasn't? If you had contestants who were in the middle of...

David Williams

Elliott Mellor wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 7:56 pm It was nice to see Nick contribute in one of the rounds today - I wish he'd do this more often.

The difficulty is that, on the evidence of the contributions he does make, he is absolutely hopeless at Countdown.

David Williams

Annoying that ATAVISM is a thing, you can be ATAVISTIC, but there's no ATAVIST. Re the 553 numbers game, where Rachel says "You might kick yourselves . . ." I think it would be good if sometimes she would say something like "After you've made 525 you're looking for another 28, which i...

David Williams

One of the more influential among us used to be known as Womb Raider.

David Williams

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:32 am There was a cabbage that flew past her left ear at one point, but she wasn't the main focus of the camera at the time.

I think you may be mixing up Countdown with the Tour de France. Or did she take more than the permitted number of puffs on her inhaler?

David Williams

Lots of conjecture over the draw for the C of C. Conspiracy, fixing, agendas etc, when in truth, the only thing that was pre-ordained prior to the draw was keeping people apart from the same series they played in. Granted, there are some series winners who play each other in the first round, but so...

David Williams

Did John say GILTED? I wondered if something went wrong with the filming of this round and they edited it as best they could. Nick asked the player with the longer word to declare first, and nobody seemed to notice that someone had won the round. It was only when the score came up that I was sure w...

David Williams

There was a time when Series winners were kept apart in the first round.

David Williams

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Fri Jul 06, 2018 1:42 pm We Need To Talk About Gevin.

That is actually funny.

David Williams

I don't think I've ever seen an alternative/DC beater before that no-one else has posted. Today, I knew that my moment had arrived. Now it feels like I've just walked into a roomful of strangers and shouted 'Fellatio!' You have no idea how liberating that is. Yes, when Jon Culshaw said "There'...

David Williams

You're eight points ahead towards the end. Both playing just about faultlessly. Your opponent declares an eight. How likely does your dodgy nine have to be to make it worth risking? Probably all you geniuses know this already, but (making a few assumptions) I was quite surprised at just how worthwhi...

David Williams

I'm always a bit surprised there never seems to be a problem getting number eight seeds to turn up. You've already achieved what you hoped for, you've been on TV, you've enjoyed it, you've got your teapot. You've shown you're pretty good at Countdown. Indeed you're good enough to recognise that you ...

David Williams

I would assume that if you swallow a sandwich whole, you will get more flavour from grated cheese. But if you chew both varieties to the same consistency before swallowing, the slices will take longer, and so you will get less flavour from the grated cheese. In any case, they only grate it because i...

David Williams

I haven't actually paid enough attention to it to notice whose advert it is, but there's at least one running at the moment for people who just want a cup of coffee being patronised for not knowing, or caring, what a flat white is. Me too.

David Williams

Ever heard of this new-fangled Google thingy?
http://www.edmathshelp.com/about.html

David Williams

Elliott Mellor wrote: ↑Sun May 20, 2018 8:39 am Anyone know the whereabouts of Paul Gallen

He writes a weekly Scrabble column for The Times.

David Williams

I'm more interested in the more historic names - Harvey Freeman, Allan Saldanha, for example. Harvey Freeman was always a bit of an enigma, wasn't he? Nobody seems to know anything much about him at all. I've tried in the past to find out about his life outside of Countdown and have always turned u...

David Williams

One thing that Pete Cashmore overlooks is that viewing figures had declined massively even before Richard Whiteley died. At its peak (early 90's?) Countdown got over four million viewers and was the second most popular C4 programme after Brookside. By around 2002 it was well under two million and di...

David Williams

It's so genuinely weird to read stuff about Countdown that's written by people who grew up with Vorderman. In the few episodes I've seen with her in, she is *absolutely unbearable*, yet there's a whole generation that sees her as a presenting icon. Crazy. Objectively Countdown is much better than i...

David Williams

http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12275&p=174290&hilit=cashmore#p174290 Is this him? Anyone speak to him? He was definitely a contributor to this forum or one of its predecessors a while back. And I may be mis-remembering, but I think he incurred Damian's displeasure by t...

David Williams

As a small afterthought, after someone has thought for a while and gone for the 'safe seven', Susie will sometimes ask them what their 'dodgy eight' was. I'd like to see this more often. When they come up with a word it's interesting to find out if it's valid or not. If they don't have a word to off...

David Williams

The rules say that you can declare anything you've seen in the 30 seconds, whether you've written it down or not. But custom and practice seems to allow you to think for a while about whether to go for your safe seven or dodgy eight, whether you are declaring first or deciding whether to match your ...

David Williams

Interestingly, Tom's 134 comes almost exactly 2 years to the day that Jonathan Wynn compiled his 134, also in his semi final (on 22/12/2015). For almost 2 years no one matched or beat this. Seeing as it wasn't the exact day, high scores will often be achieved by the best players, finals are always ...

David Williams

Sources vary, but most would say that kryptonite is a fictional substance, normally green, that is lethal to Superman and other inhabitants of the planet Krypton. It may be cancerous to humans after long exposure. If it ever was humorous to describe the perspex mementos handed out in series finals a...

David Williams

All spots for the Series 77 finals are now claimed, and there are still seven heats left in the series. If someone wins the next six games and loses the seventh and last heat, and six wins proves to be enough to make it into the Series 78 finals, can this person be entered into the Series 78 finals...

David Williams

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2017 3:23 am Why do round door handles exist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdOcrUtE-UQ
Why aren't they compulsory?

David Williams

Always something unnerving about the Gyles and Susie sideshow. He invades her personal space and peers intensely, while she sits as far away from him as she can without actually falling off her chair. Not as bad as it used to be, when a younger Susie was clearly highly uncomfortable and there was so...

David Williams

I'll say again. Hesitate for a nanosecond and it's obvious you are trying to match your opponent's word after the time, so you're cheating. If you find yourself in that situation the only thing you can do is say "I'll stick with a safe seven", which at least makes it possible that you had ...

David Williams

If I saw a word after the 30 seconds, and I was 2nd to declare, would that be acceptable?, as I saw DISALLOW just as Graeme declared an 8. Been debated in the past. Many would say it was unacceptable. Personally I've always felt it was OK. But hesitate for a nanosecond and it's cheating. And, becau...

David Williams

Elliott Mellor wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:12 pm Have to chalk the 504 miss as being the worst I've ever seen....

Strangely, I went for (75-3)*7. Two solutions, between them using all six numbers once only.

David Williams

It probably belongs in the 'Really obvious things that you've only just realised' thread, but there's all these people who run past where I live when I'm out for my run on a Saturday morning. They stand around in a car-park for a quarter of an hour, then they do exactly the same course every week n...

David Williams

Why were both players gazing across the studio when the conundrum was on? There's an actual board there where the conundrum is officially revealed - the monitors are only a camera view of this. It's probably much comfier to stare at that than hunch over a monitor, but admittedly it looks puzzling t...

David Williams

Certainly unlucky. A search for SEEDINGS in this forum reveals 207 matches.

David Williams

I was pleased Nick asked Ben about the conundrum. He didn't seem the sort to Hansford, but buzzing in that quickly for BLAZEBOOM? I couldn't imagine what else he thought it could be other than BAMBOOZLE. But as he was given the chance to explain that he thought it was EMBLAZON, and realised immediat...

David Williams

Charlie Reams wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2017 8:10 pmMy girlfriend and I sleep in separate beds, in separate rooms, on separate floors

Are you absolutely sure you aren't reading more into this relationship than she is?

And ice skating? An impossible dream. I've never managed to stand unsupported with roller skates on.

David Williams

I'd rather assumed that financial education in schools might go to rather greater depth than working out this sort of thing. Mind you, the fact that Susie and Nick had no idea (and both got it wrong) would suggest otherwise.

David Williams

She might, of course have buzzed in because she saw WEAKENING, hesitated for a split second because she thought it might be AWAKENING, and gone with her original answer.

David Williams

Obviously you buzz in if you think you know the answer. Views as to how much latitude you have to change your mind and give a different answer vary from zero to minuscule.

David Williams

Bit of a change of mind on the conundrum? No objection from Nick.

David Williams

(9 x 7 - 5) x 8
Anything more than four numbers is making a meal of it.

And I assume he thought the conundrum was LITERALLY, buzzed, and realised his mistake. Not a true Hansford.

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