c4countdown

Ben Pugh

GELATOMAN deserves to be in the OED.

And they did say MANDATED.

Ben Pugh

None so far.

Ben Pugh

Matthew Green wrote:No TRAMPIER in round 2?

No, it's not in the OED, Conor and DoD both said at the time that they were surprised it's not in the dictionary.

Ben Pugh

Friday would be best for me as I've got an essay to write on Wednesday, although I can play then if absolutely necessary.

Ben Pugh

Ginger Jono wrote:I think that one's another dictionary error.

While we're there, what about INDOORSES and, for that matter, INDORSES?

And how about the lack of POOEY?

Ben Pugh

The MORTICIAN is UNABASHED about the SUPERACID.

Ben Pugh

Joe Denniss wrote:Out of interest, is EMIRATE allowed?

Yes.

Ben Pugh

When are you going on the show, Mr. Pugh, because you appear to spotting almost every single spoiler? Not right now, I've got too much on my plate right now with exams, coursework, university applications etc. Besides, these threads make me look better than I am, I post the times I spot a reasonabl...

Ben Pugh

ENTOMB

Ben Pugh

STERADIAN

Ben Pugh

ARANEIDS

That's come up a couple of times recently I think, but it's never spotted.

Ben Pugh

MATERIEL

Ben Pugh

dinos_the_chemist wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:Is it CASTRATIONS?
Surely you mean CASTRATED?

No, CROISSANT.

Ben Pugh

Ben, when are you free? I am a bit busy this week but will be on msn in certain daytimes (what is your msn address? mine is bevins_69@hotmail.com - dont send email there as i dont check it), such as Tuesday day time and Thursday day time. Evenings are busy this week with darts and getting drunk (as...

Ben Pugh

Kirk Bevins wrote:While on the topic of place name anagrams, obviously MAIDSTONE could not be used as a conundrum due to more than 1 solution.

What actually is a STAMINODE?

Ben Pugh

OATMEAL.

Ben Pugh

Michael Wallace wrote:also ASTEROID, right (round 5), DC weren't asked...

(obviously I mean round 6...no funny comments about "how did you get a word in a numbers round?!" please... >_>)

And HOARIEST as well, HASTIER + any vowel makes an 8.

Ben Pugh

CRUISIE.

Ben Pugh

Ben, when are you free? I am a bit busy this week but will be on msn in certain daytimes (what is your msn address? mine is bevins_69@hotmail.com - dont send email there as i dont check it), such as Tuesday day time and Thursday day time. Evenings are busy this week with darts and getting drunk (as...

Ben Pugh

Is it possible to watch?

Ben Pugh

Charlie Reams wrote:However he nailed me by solving STAGDROOP in one second to take the game.

That was on TV very recently.

http://thecountdowncorral.com/cd/recap.asp?recap=1237

Ben Pugh

Did they get LACTONES?

Ben Pugh

2. Does anyone else think that the start of numbers games is a bit rushed? In letters games, you have all the time in the world to write down the letters as they come up, but in numbers games, Carol puts the numbers up very quickly and then almost immediately afterwards the target is selected. If y...

Ben Pugh

You all make me sick.

Ben Pugh

Drew Carey is a black hole for humour.

The other people on WLIIA US are an entirely different matter.

Ben Pugh

I have one contention with the ODE: ONLIEST.

Ben Pugh

Andy Hamilton.

Ben Pugh

Julian wrote:if you start allowing PEACES, MANKINDS etc. you're getting into Scrabble territory, I for one wouldn't want to see that, and imagine the letters you'd get from irate old ladies...

PEACES should be allowed. Think of the Peace of Westphalia and the Peace of Prague, 2 PEACES.

Ben Pugh

Martin Smith wrote:Would 'taxiing' be valid?

Yes.

Ben Pugh

Malcolm James wrote:It's Chambers, but if you google "palatised consonants" you get loads of hits. They can't all be using a non-existent word. and I've heard it used a number of times before in this context.

Then it's one of about a billion words that 'exist' but aren't in the OED.

Ben Pugh

No.

It's not really a weekend thing.

Ben Pugh

I thought the champion was going to get FAVOURITE in the first round after she went for the 5th vowel.

Ben Pugh

As a lookahead to a new thing I'm working on for the Corral, have a look at the following list of words: 1. DEISTIC 2. CRUIZED 3. POPJOYING 4. INCHOATES 5. CONSENTS 6. STUDDED 7. ANODIZED 8. DEPLUMED 9. SPADILLIO 10. CANOPYING 11. LAUDIBLY 12. DYEABLY 1, yes 2, no (assuming it's substituting the S ...

Ben Pugh

dinos_the_chemist wrote:% of max scored: 53.3%

% of max scored: 20.0%

I'm not sure if this is right, I think '% of max scored' is contestant's score/maximum score x 100%, rather than no. of maxima/15 x 100%.

Ben Pugh

They can't do much worse than James Whitaker today, who is what you get if you breed a human with a worm.

Ben Pugh

I've been on Teachers TV.

Ben Pugh

David O'Donnell wrote:Round 2: D F A I S T O I S
C1: STIFADO (7)
C2: foids
DC: FATSO (5)
OT: No stifados apparently
Score: 7–7 (max 14)

Does it not count under the mass noun rule for food? What if you were at a restaurant and you and your guest both wanted stifado? Or if you were a judge at a stifado cook-off?

Ben Pugh

ben_wilson wrote:The twist is though, there will be wild card places, so if you want in on the action (even if you're as crap as Soo Reams), you will have that chance!

I'd like to have a go.

Ben Pugh

I also thought he was shit. He missed several easy nines, plus he only got that conundrum today because his opponent virtually told him what it was. While 880 is a fairly good score, it will surely haunt David that he could have got much higher just by being a bit better. I wouldn't be surprised if...

Ben Pugh

Games 3 and 4, and a table of myself, Kirk and Dinos... ROUND 1: D R N E I U L E D C1: ? possibly inruled C2: nerdled DC: UNDERLIE (8) OT: REDLINED & UNRIDDLE for 8 0-0 (MAX 8) Nerdled? Were you possibly thinking of nurdled, the tiddlywinking term for a wink which has landed so close to the pot...

Ben Pugh

As for David Mitchell, did anyone see him on Have I Got News For You- hilarious. However, he definately upstaged Carol on that 25th Anniversary quiz and she might not be glad to see him back. Is that why then Carol wasn't on the Big Fat Quiz of the Year then, because Carol was on that last year and...

Ben Pugh

I think Jono's octochamp run proves that if you can nail your opponent on the numbers then you can afford to make shit up in about half of the letters rounds and still win comfortably. But joking aside, if you are the champion you only choose once, and it's very likely that the other two games will...

Ben Pugh

Letters definitely.

I used to prefer the numbers but I'm not as good as I used to be since I dropped maths a few months ago.

Ben Pugh

Charlie Reams wrote:Sorry Ben, what do you mean?

My mistake. I thought you were saying that the contestant's word must have been COARSE.

Ben Pugh

Charlie Reams wrote:
Round 12: Z A O E A S C S R

C1: ROSACES (7)
C2: ACROSS (6)
DC: COURSE (6)
Must've been COARSE or there's a letter wrong in the selection.

ACROSS is there.

Ben Pugh

Ben Pugh

Lots of successful baseballers are black. Lots are disgraced drug cheats are white. So maybe there's a special kind of racism which discriminates against Barry Bonds and not any other sportsman, or maybe Bonds lied to a Grand Jury and people (who would be critical of that at the best of times) are ...

Ben Pugh

Also I don't see how you could attribute a vast difference in treatment down to racism in such a racially diverse group as the American public. Racism still exists in America, it's less than 50 years since the Civil Rights Act, you only have to go back a few years to Hurricane Katrina to see how st...

Ben Pugh

You certainly have a talent for stating the obvious, Martin. Also the main difference between Craig Beevers and Barry Bonds is that only one of them is a cheating bastard. And one is the victim of racism. Are you sure about that? Yes. Look at the vast difference in the treatment of Barry Bonds and ...

Ben Pugh

Charlie Reams wrote:You certainly have a talent for stating the obvious, Martin. Also the main difference between Craig Beevers and Barry Bonds is that only one of them is a cheating bastard.

And one is the victim of racism.

Ben Pugh

225 - 2 + 2 + 5 = 9. 225 and the answer to your problem are both divisible by 9. So if the number is just made up of 1's and 0's, there have to be at least 9 1s. I just stuck 9 1s in a row and put a 0 after them, 1111111110 is not divisible by 225, 11111111100 is so I guessed that that was the answer.

Ben Pugh

Is it 11111111100?

Ben Pugh

Corby wrote:Also Julian's suggestion that you leant over to tell Hazel she could have had WIELDERS made me lol!
(You didn't, right?!)

That's what I thought as well, looking at her reaction.

Ben Pugh

HYPOCRITE.

Ben Pugh

Lowest score ever? 111 - 13 final score.

Des and Richard Digance didn't half enjoy sticking the boot in.

Ben Pugh

DOGMATISE.

Ben Pugh

Pick a number and then if the first number revealed is bigger than that number, say the second one is smaller and vice versa. If the two numbers are either both bigger or both smaller than the number you've picked, then there's a 50/50 you've won, if it's in the middle, then you've definitely won. S...

Ben Pugh

I'm not sure that this is a sensible problem to be honest. I assure you it's a sensible problem! But in any case, it should be symmetrical around zero. So I would say higher for a negative number and lower for a positive number. But that's quite a boring answer. There is no requirement for symmetry...

Ben Pugh

David O'Donnell wrote:No sign of Ben yet with today's recap. If you are having diffs Ben then let us know, or I can do the recap as I back home now.

Tuesday's not the best day for me as I have a music lesson after school, but it's up now. What happens to my cherry now?

Ben Pugh

Countdown recap for Tuesday 29th January 2008. C1: Champion David O'Donnell, from Omagh, Co. Tyrone (3 wins, 299 points.) C2: Challenger Bill Barrack, from Bramhope, Leeds. DC: Alison Heard and Trudi Goodwin. CV: Carol Vorderman. OT: Other words or solutions. R01: E A E R K H N O Z R02: I O E L D G ...

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