Search found 316 matches

by Stewart Gordon
Thu Nov 04, 2021 8:18 am
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Hybrid Scrabble or Scrountdown
Replies: 6
Views: 2589

Re: Hybrid Scrabble or Scrountdown

This is a cool idea. You could actually make two different games. Yours seems to be Scrabble with countdown elements. You could also do Countdown with scrabble elements, like regular countdown but with the letter points from scrabble. You get points for the length of the word plus the letter values...
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:03 am
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: COLIN XVII- Countdown in Lincoln, 29-30 January 2022
Replies: 54
Views: 16037

Re: COLIN XVII- Countdown in Lincoln, 29-30 January 2022

...However, some things will be slightly different this year, as CoVid hasn't, well, gone away yet. There will be limited refreshments available on the day to avoid any risk of cross-contamination, so no mint imperials on the tables as with previous years. What are there going to be then - mint met...
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Sep 06, 2021 11:48 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 18th August 2021 (Series 81, Prelim 37)
Replies: 8
Views: 1528

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 18th August 2021 (Series 81, Prelim 37)

No idea what tcsquared is… http://tcsquared.azurewebsites.net/cohost Some of us use this at Lincoln-style* Co-events. It does have its limitations - there's no audible alarm option, and it can't solve numbers games. But when I eventually get round to writing an Android version of my solver, the lat...
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Sep 06, 2021 11:44 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 1st September 2021 (Series 84, Prelim 47)
Replies: 7
Views: 1183

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 1st September 2021 (Series 84, Prelim 47)

My solution to the final numbers game:
75 × 6 + 50 × 3 + 7 + 5 = 612

Indeed, my solver reports 19 solutions - which I guess is quite a lot for one that has "lots of dead ends"!
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Aug 23, 2021 9:53 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 18th August 2021 (Series 81, Prelim 37)
Replies: 8
Views: 1528

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 18th August 2021 (Series 81, Prelim 37)

No more ‘sedations’ x https://www.apterous.org/ticket_view.php?ticket=6223 That’s twice in a row now she ruled it invalid each time a contestant noted it (regardless whether they declare 8 or 9). https://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_5425 Sedation is clearly not countable in common sense. I wondered ab...
by Stewart Gordon
Wed Jun 30, 2021 6:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 30th June 2021 (Series 84, Prelim 3)
Replies: 5
Views: 1015

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 30th June 2021 (Series 84, Prelim 3)

It seems Anne's decided to change the rules. Jo declared 8 and Steve declared 7, but Jo was asked for her word first.
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:58 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: First impressions of Anne
Replies: 141
Views: 24509

Re: First impressions of Anne

Her line "Let's play Countdown" seems to be a carryover from her Weakest Link days. And when she asked Shelley where she's from I was reminded of Cilla Black (even though she didn't use the same words). But she seemed to do a good job of presenting the show on the whole. I struggled to dis...
by Stewart Gordon
Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 9th June 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 113)
Replies: 5
Views: 1264

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 9th June 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 113)

My original solution to the final numbers game was
75 × 3 + 100 ÷ 50 - 5 - 4
Then I randomly realised it can be done as a product of two primes:
(100 + 5 + 4) × (50 × 3 ÷ 75)
Though I think product of two primes solutions usually have addition/subtraction at all the second-level tree nodes....
by Stewart Gordon
Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:28 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 9th June 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 113)
Replies: 5
Views: 1264

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 9th June 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 113)

Interesting talk about whether Y is a vowel or a consonant. Strictly speaking, letters aren't vowels or consonants - phonemes are. But in practice, we tend to refer to letters as consonants or vowels. And of course, Countdown classifies letters as such. "You can't substitute the Y when it's use...
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Jun 07, 2021 8:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 7th June 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 111)
Replies: 3
Views: 873

Re: Spoilers for Monday 7th June 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 111)

I've been in a few quizzes with errors in them in my time. In one of my groups, the question "What is the tallest mountain?" came up, and the quizmaster's answer was Everest. Everest isn't the tallest mountain - only the highest. The tallest is Mauna Kea. Pedantry occurs quite a bit on Uni...
by Stewart Gordon
Mon May 24, 2021 9:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 21st May 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 100)
Replies: 5
Views: 1436

Re: Spoilers for Friday 21st May 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 100)

What dictionary is this that states that CATTLE is a mass noun? Lexico has it, correctly, as a plural noun.
by Stewart Gordon
Thu May 20, 2021 12:11 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 19th May 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 98)
Replies: 2
Views: 972

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 19th May 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 98)

John made a brief mention of one-letter place names. I knew that there are a handful of places called Å. And more recently I learned that, in Vietnamese, Italy is called Ý. It's a shame the Italians haven't returned the favour by giving Vietnam a one-letter name. Wikipedia used to have a list of int...
by Stewart Gordon
Tue May 18, 2021 12:25 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 17th May 2021
Replies: 3
Views: 900

Re: Spoilers for 17th May 2021

To me, the usual expression is "with a pinch of salt" rather than "with a grain of salt". Though I recall once coming across "with a huge grain of salt" - surely it would need to be more than a grain! (I've only just discovered the expression actually refers to the old ...
by Stewart Gordon
Thu May 13, 2021 7:37 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown Lookalikes?
Replies: 390
Views: 221849

Re: Countdown Lookalikes?

It seems nobody's mentioned me on this thread yet, which I'm surprised at considering the number of people I've been told I look like.
by Stewart Gordon
Thu May 13, 2021 7:35 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 12th May 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 93)
Replies: 3
Views: 930

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 12th May 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 93)

Interesting that the conundrum could have been MEDIATSAR and it would work equally well. Has anyone seen this before - where a variant spelling of a word in the scramble would lead to a variant spelling of the word that is the solution?
by Stewart Gordon
Tue May 04, 2021 11:18 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 27th April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 82)
Replies: 10
Views: 2901

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 27 April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 82)

But in all of the examples given, the scramble is a plural and it has been established that conundrums are no longer plurals. I would expect the policy is to never make conundrum solutions plurals (except pluralia tantum), but to count plurals nonetheless when checking that a solution is unique. Bu...
by Stewart Gordon
Tue May 04, 2021 11:03 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 4th May 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 87)
Replies: 1
Views: 721

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 4th May 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 87)

I would've thought it was "a myriad delights" or "one myriad delights", in parallel with "one hundred delights".
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Apr 27, 2021 10:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 27th April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 82)
Replies: 10
Views: 2901

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 27 April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 82)

Any clue where the pronunciation "ampyules" can have come from? It doesn't match with what Lexico says, and I'm not aware of any word in which 'ou' makes a 'yu' sound. I've a feeling I've heard the word mispronounced in the same way before.
by Stewart Gordon
Fri Apr 23, 2021 8:02 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 23rd April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 80)
Replies: 10
Views: 2759

Re: Spoilers for Friday 23nd April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 80)

When Nick asked why CHUTNEYS doesn't end in IES, I think a better explanation than the one Susie gave about it being a borrowed word is that words that end in vowel-Y generally just take an S. Indeed, Susie was talking nonsense. CHUTNEYS does follow the regular standard English plural, plainly and ...
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:13 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Easter Monday 5th April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 66)
Replies: 14
Views: 3772

Re: Spoilers for Easter Monday 5 April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 66)

Thomas Cappleman wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 10:00 am The Lexico entry says it's only in imperative or infinitive (i.e. an instruction, or "to beware" of something). So no present/past tense etc. and so no verb forms
As I look:
"[no object, in imperative or infinitive]"
No "only" there....
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Apr 05, 2021 6:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Easter Monday 5th April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 66)
Replies: 14
Views: 3772

Re: Spoilers for Easter Monday 5 April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 66)

Very surprised today to discover that UNFRIENDS is a word in the dictionary. I wonder whether the contestants had actually looked it up and discovered it to be in the dictionary before going on the show thought it would probably be in didn't think it likely to be in, but thought it was worth chancin...
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Mar 09, 2021 6:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: How do I know if my word is valid?
Replies: 57
Views: 59625

Re: How do I know if my word is valid?

It's weird. It seems that a "British" label means that the headword is both British and American but an alternative, specifically British form is being given (hence both are valid in Countdown). But OTOH, a "US" label seems to mean that the headword is British and not American. T...
by Stewart Gordon
Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:41 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: ROBINSON TO HOST COUNTDOWN!!
Replies: 60
Views: 14368

Re: ROBINSON TO HOST COUNTDOWN!!

Has anyone seen anything about a start date yet?
by Stewart Gordon
Wed Jan 27, 2021 1:48 am
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Fort Boyard
Replies: 2
Views: 3769

Re: Fort Boyard

I loved Fort Boyard back in the day. It appeared on Channel 5 during my college days (not long after Channel 5 itself did).

It would be good if it could be brought back with the original cast. The trouble is Leslie Grantham is no longer with us. :(
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Jan 23, 2021 11:55 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 21st January 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 14)
Replies: 2
Views: 1459

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 21st January 2021 (Series 83, Prelim 14)

Susie made a brief mention of the "I before E except after C" "rule", giving "forfeit" and "glacier" among words that break the rule. I was taught that the rule applies only when the "ie" or "ei" has an "ee" sound, meaning that &q...
by Stewart Gordon
Fri Nov 27, 2020 11:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 24th November 2020
Replies: 2
Views: 1040

Re: spoilers for Tuesday November 24th

Susie talked about surnames that are colours. Of which Brown, White and Green seem to be by far the most common ones, with Black not too far behind. I'd figured that Green as a surname probably came from "green" in the sense of a grassy area, as a description of where the person lives or h...
by Stewart Gordon
Fri Sep 18, 2020 9:09 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 14th September 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 113)
Replies: 4
Views: 2051

Re: Spoilers for Monday 14th September 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 113)

REVOLUTE - "botanical term for a leaf that is curled". Does that sound like a definition of a noun to you, thereby causing puzzlement that the leftover S wasn't commented on? (Not to mention the subtitling error.) But it's actually an adjective. Sometimes the wordings of definitions given ...
by Stewart Gordon
Wed Aug 26, 2020 12:14 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 20th August 2020
Replies: 7
Views: 3382

Re: Spoilers for 20th August 2020

Interesting chat at the beginning about the direction of time. It's weird that we use the terms "forward" and "back" both ways round. Earlier times at the front: school exercises telling you to put letters "in front of" a word to form another word bringing a scheduled a...
by Stewart Gordon
Thu Jun 25, 2020 12:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: CANCELLED - CO:WY 2020 - Countdown In West Yorkshire - Saturday 5th September 2020
Replies: 10
Views: 11106

Re: TBC - CO:WY 2020 - Countdown In West Yorkshire - Saturday 5th September 2020

Only decimated? I would have thought it had done much worse than that.

Anyhow, in all probability I'm in. Thank you James for setting the ball rolling (or should I say the Countdown clock ticking?) again. Hopefully we'll get a decent number of people.
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:27 am
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: *** EVENT CANCELLED *** Co Blackpool Saturday October 10th
Replies: 44
Views: 25918

Re: Co Blackpool Saturday October 10th

In all probability I'm in.
by Stewart Gordon
Sat May 16, 2020 8:16 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Friday 1st May 2020
Replies: 4
Views: 2329

Re: Spoilers For Friday 1st May 2020

Did anyone else notice in the OOW that the subtitler made a silly mistake - "entomologies" instead of "etymologies"? I would have thought the subtitlers would have learned the difference between the two words by now.
by Stewart Gordon
Sun May 03, 2020 9:22 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Thursday 16th April 2020
Replies: 2
Views: 1478

Re: Spoilers For Thursday 16th April 2020

I was surprised to hear BOWLINE pronounced /ˈbaʊlaɪn/ by both Gemma and Susie. Apparently it does derive from a ship's bow, but the actual pronunciation given in Lexico is /ˈbəʊlɪn/. Wikipedia gives either this or /ˈbəʊlaɪn/, which is how I've always thought it was pronounced. I'd always assumed it ...
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Apr 20, 2020 10:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 3rd April 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 67)
Replies: 9
Views: 3626

Re: Spoilers for Friday 3rd April 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 67)

Do you reckon the people in the studio noticed a certain word in round 2 and decided not to mention it?
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Apr 20, 2020 10:18 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 10th March 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 49)
Replies: 5
Views: 2132

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 10th March 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 49)

Can anyone advise how the following would be adjudicated: Spotted 'wheats' in one of the rounds, but on checking, it's a mass noun. Although a food I can't see it qualifies under the restaurant rule. However, the example sentences of 'wheat' include the words 'other feed grain wheats'. So it has to...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 26th March 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 61)
Replies: 2
Views: 1521

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 26th March 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 61)

This is interesting - the definition of "defragment" is given as to reduce the fragmentation of a single file. But that said, the example sentences on Lexico are somewhat contradictory with this.
by Stewart Gordon
Thu Mar 19, 2020 12:29 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 27th February 2020
Replies: 9
Views: 4850

Re: Spoilers for 27th February 2020.

David Williams wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:41 pmI think the restaurant rule does go too far, and you get some very contrived plurals.
Is "restaurant rule" the official name of this rule? I've always been inclined to call it the "portions rule", which I think reflects its scope more accurately.
by Stewart Gordon
Thu Mar 19, 2020 12:10 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 3rd February 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 22)
Replies: 6
Views: 3785

Re: Spoilers for Monday 3rd February 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 22)

Susie managed to misread the definition of POUNDAL . "A unit of force equal to that required to give a mass of one pound an acceleration of one foot per second." Which is of course nonsense. A foot per second is a unit of speed, not acceleration. Maybe she saw the end of the definition wh...
by Stewart Gordon
Thu Mar 19, 2020 12:07 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 27th February 2020
Replies: 9
Views: 4850

Re: Spoilers for 27th February 2020.

Susie said you couldn't put the S on MUTTON, which surprised me. Perhaps restaurants don't serve it any more? I don't get it either. Neither does it seem that the plural is something different. I thought the rule was that any noun denoting a kind of food or drink can be used as a count noun, denoti...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:59 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 3rd February 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 22)
Replies: 6
Views: 3785

Re: Spoilers for Monday 3rd February 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 22)

Susie managed to misread the definition of POUNDAL.

"A unit of force equal to that required to give a mass of one pound an acceleration of one foot per second."

Which is of course nonsense. A foot per second is a unit of speed, not acceleration.
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Jan 04, 2020 4:41 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Done gone done made a quiz
Replies: 26
Views: 20311

Re: Done gone done made a quiz

It took me a moment to realise that if the programme's name begins with "A" or "The", you have to omit it. It would be better if you'd programmed it to accept it either with or without the article where applicable.
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:57 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 3rd January 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 2)
Replies: 6
Views: 3493

Re: Spoilers for Friday 3rd January 2020 (Series 82, Prelim 2)

AMIRITE is basically a slang American spelling of "am I right" ... but it seems it doesn't count as an American spelling....
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Dec 01, 2019 9:16 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 1st November 2019 (Series 81, Prelim 89)
Replies: 11
Views: 6627

Re: Spoilers for Friday 1st November 2019 (Series 81, Prelim 89)

Susie tells us that "normal" comes from a Latin word for a carpenter's square. What she didn't mention is the still-used mathematical sense of a line perpendicular to a curve or a surface, which obviously comes from this. (There are other mathematical senses of the word, but that's an asid...
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Oct 21, 2019 5:04 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Baby Riley-Kovalev
Replies: 55
Views: 30142

Re: Baby Riley-Kovalev

Who is going to take over for maternity leave ? Might not be necessary. Countdown is recorded unusually far in advance of broadcast at the moment - usually it's a few weeks, currently it's a few months (perhaps for this very reason?). They've got so many episodes in the bank they could have a huge ...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Oct 19, 2019 9:29 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 19th September 2019 (Series 81, Prelim 58)
Replies: 5
Views: 3340

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 19th September 2019 (Series 81, Prelim 58)

I'm pretty sure Susie just said "pronounciation". I thought that too for a moment! But I listened to it again and now I'm not so sure. But on the whole it was an excellent piece by Susie. So "haitch" is a hypercorrection based on the idea that to say "aitch" is a dropp...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Oct 05, 2019 2:13 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Tuesday 3rd September 2019
Replies: 2
Views: 1988

Re: Spoilers For Tuesday 3rd September 2019

I recall Martin telling us previously that "2.9% interest", as opposed to "2.9% APR", means that 2.9% of the original loan amount will be charged per annum throughout the term of the loan. At first I thought this was the catch he was about to tell us about. But I am made to wonde...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Oct 05, 2019 11:38 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday 2nd September 2019
Replies: 2
Views: 1956

Re: Spoilers for 2nd September 2019

Susie tells us about the origins of phrases involving the word "dog". Interestingly, the Mbabaram word for "dog" is "dog", but the etymology is totally different. How anyone knows that the etymology is totally different when nobody seems to know the etymology of English...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Aug 10, 2019 8:46 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 17th July 2019 (Series 81, Prelim 12)
Replies: 1
Views: 1867

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 17th July 2019 (Series 81, Prelim 12)

OWARRI. I hadn't heard of that spelling before. There are many names/spelling variations - AWARI, WARI, OWARE, AWALE, MANCALA, BANTUMI just to name a few. There are also many variations of the game itself. It seems the distinction between a variation and a distinct game (played with the same basic e...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:29 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Religion
Replies: 548
Views: 140950

Re: Religion

Thanks. I've always defined atheist to mean you don't believe there is a god/god(s) and agnostic to mean you don't know whether to believe or not, and Wikipedia at least doesn't seem to contradict that. If some of you have grown up with different definitions, then just ignore those words and vote o...
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jul 02, 2019 10:08 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 5th June 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 96)
Replies: 9
Views: 5461

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 5th June 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 96)

MINOTAURS was quite obvious in round 1. I figured that it's probably capitalised, and indeed it seems to be according to Lexico. But I'm sure many would have been tempted to go for it!

That said, some online dictionaries including Wiktionary have it in lowercase.
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Jun 29, 2019 11:15 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday 3rd June 2019
Replies: 1
Views: 2319

Re: Spoilers for 3rd June 2019

Susie didn't mention the other meaning of "hobby horse": an early form of bicycle.
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:44 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Monday 20th May 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 84)
Replies: 1
Views: 2748

Re: Countdown recap for Monday 20th May 2019

Susie gives a number of names for the # symbol, about half of which I've heard of before. All of the names she listed apart from "diamond" are in the FOLDOC entry . But it really does my head in that some people call the symbol "hashtag". A hashtag is one of those markers beginni...
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:46 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 18th December 2018 (Series 79, QF 4)
Replies: 17
Views: 9917

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 18th December 2018 (Series 79, QF 4)

Peter Mabey wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 6:47 pm Here it may refer to LPG
As in that stuff that contradicts itself about whether it's a liquid or a gas?
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:41 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 14th May 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 80)
Replies: 8
Views: 5211

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 14th May 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 80)

So the whole phrase "on one's Tod Sloan" became rhyming slang for "alone". That's interesting. Usually the rhyme is formed from a phrase that has meaning in itself. But what pre-existing meaning would "on one's Tod Sloan" have had? According to both Wiktionary and what ...
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:04 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 3rd April 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 51)
Replies: 6
Views: 3331

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 3rd April 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 51)

Raj told us the story of the term "grandfather clock". I knew about the song being written by Henry Clay Work around that time. But I think Raj got the name of it wrong - according to WP it's My Grandfather's Clock . So the song is based on a true story. One is made to wonder whether there...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Apr 06, 2019 3:28 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Replacement Countdown mug
Replies: 3
Views: 4386

Replacement Countdown mug

Hi all,

My Countdown mug (as in, the one that's part of the goody bag, or at least was when I was on the show) became cracked a while ago.

Is there way I can obtain a replacement?

Stewart.
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 13th March 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 36)
Replies: 4
Views: 3126

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 13th March 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 36)

Nick said at the end, "Over the line, 109." I couldn't help but notice that that sounds like a bingo call!
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jan 01, 2019 5:52 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 18th December 2018 (Series 79, QF 4)
Replies: 17
Views: 9917

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 18th December 2018 (Series 79, QF 4)

I'm sure I've seen "autogas" used by one or two filling stations over here, obviously with a quite different meaning as the price given for it was noticeably lower than the price given for petrol or diesel.
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jan 01, 2019 1:44 am
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Introducing... the H2H-o-Matic!
Replies: 36
Views: 23850

Re: Introducing... the H2H-o-Matic!

Looks like I was wrong about CoStAl 2016 being missing - it has the wrong date stored for it. As do a few others. CoStAl3 was on 2016-07-02, not 2015-07-02 as given. CoChest2 was on 2012-10-13, not 2013-10-13. There are probably other wrong dates - I just noticed these as they are causing my events ...