c4countdown

Clive Brooker

I remember once spotting Stavanger (a Norwegian town) early in a letters round, and thereafter finding it impossible to see anything else.

Clive Brooker

Clive Brooker wrote:This is a free download of what appears to be a complete COD8 in PDF format.

Any use?

Evidently not, although I've no idea what Gavin's comment meant.

Clive Brooker

I quite like your thinking Clive. But I think your method as stated would count 100*3+2+1 and 100*(2+1)+3 as separate solutions and I'm not sure I like that. Here are a couple of relatively non-trivial examples: 25*(8/2)*6 + 4 25*(8/2)*6 + 3 How would you deal with these? Undoubtedly you would make...

Clive Brooker

Isn't the idea though to make the solver mimic intuition as accurately as possible? That's the hard bit. I'm hoping something like this works. Suppose you have a solution to 747 written as (75/(10/2))*50-(8-5). Without replacing any of the numbers used, this can be reduced to 75*50*2/10+5-8, which ...

Clive Brooker

Not sure how much momentum the CoLon idea has built up yet. CoWor seemed to have some support. I've never been to a Co event but I will do so. I realise that doesn't make me an obvious choice for taking this on just now but I have an idea. Lydney Town Hall is about quarter of a mile from my house an...

Clive Brooker

WTP does some kind of "duplicate solution" suppression, but the principle is not explained. It is difficult to define exactly. I'm with you on the first point - I don't think I could create an algorithm if my life depended on it - but I thought WTP's method was clearly explained in his FA...

Clive Brooker

I didn't notice anything wrong at the time, but reviewing it on 4oD it definitely sounds like OUTSTEER. I'd be cautious about jumping to conclusions. For one thing, unless someone here was in the studio we can't know whether we saw the full picture. Perhaps Jay had both OUTSTARE and OUTSTEER written...

Clive Brooker

This is a free download of what appears to be a complete COD8 in PDF format.

Any use?

Clive Brooker

Plus and minus for me. It doesn't matter to me if others use different terms, though, apart from 'by' for 'times': wtf?? Dunno if it's generational, but I was at school in the 1960s and 70s, both in Lancashire and in Essex, if that helps your research! I'm 100% with you on "by". In 1970s ...

Clive Brooker

An example (of a word being used in a new way) would be of how 'tsunami' used to be used as a term for a massive tidal wave (still is, obviously) but now it also conjures distinct images of the natural disaster that occurred in Indonesia in 2004. The event of Boxing Day 2004 was a textbook tsunami....

Clive Brooker

Hi James. Welcome to the forum and well played. IMO commenting on your own games is good once your run is finished. Up to that I think you need to be careful - even posting to tell everyone your transmission date carries an implication that you didn't completely embarrass yourself - but now I'm sure...

Clive Brooker

In the little time I had available today I found a COD5 and a COD6 for a combined £2.49. So that was a near miss as far as Countdown is concerned. It does suggest that the relevant editions can be found with a little patience and for not too much money, although I would expect the (N)ODE editions to...

Clive Brooker

I think the rules on agent nouns, comparatives and superlatives, plurals of mass nouns etc. have changed over the years. I've just had a glance at my COD7, and the rules for comparatives and superlatives, although far more complex than those governing the current dictionary, are nevertheless explic...

Clive Brooker

Re Fluter/Flautist, James Galway once said "I don't have a flaut and I've never flauted." I think that drum, fife, bugle and trumpet are the only musical instruments that can be used as verbs and turned into agent nouns. All are musical instruments of war. Reason or coincidence, I wonder....

Clive Brooker

3rd numbers: ((5 x 7) + 3) x (9 + (4 x 2)) = 38 x 17 = 646 (I hope Rachel's solution wasn't the same - I vaguely heard it on in the bachground as I was typing.) I'm assuming this was outside the 30 seconds? Why would you assume that? If I say I used the same method and was within the time, do you a...

Clive Brooker

To my surprise, worldsnooker.com seems to answer my original question explicitly :oops: "14. Foul and a Miss The striker shall, to the best of his ability, endeavour to hit the ball on. If the referee considers the Rule infringed, he shall call FOUL AND A MISS unless only the Black remains on t...

Clive Brooker

One that I've wondered about is that a frame appears to be considered over when one player is more than seven points ahead and only the black ball remains. Is this a rule, or just a convention? If the white and black were in the jaws of the corner pockets on the same side of the table it would be a...

Clive Brooker

Snooker:

What happens when the cue ball comes to rest in the jaws of a pocket, and is prevented from being played into the open table by two or more other balls, none of which can be played legally as the next shot?

I've never seen this happen, but it must be perfectly possible.

Clive Brooker

Yes, that was my method. Clearly fantasy of course.

This reminds me of a somewhat less fanciful scenario which I'll post in the questions you've always wanted answered thread.

Clive Brooker

David Williams wrote:What is the lowest possible total points scored in a completed frame of snooker? All balls potted, including the black.

I think it's 31.

Clive Brooker

It's Rachel's 24th birthday today, and Jeff tells us that in Series 61, Rachel achieved 94% of the numbers games which were possible. Must see how that statistic compares some other series. I thought this seemed a bit high. I did some back-of-an-envelope calculations using Countdownwiki data and ca...

Clive Brooker

I should have checked more carefully first time.

I think I can get it down to 35.25%

By extending the first two sets won to a tie-break, the winner's minimum point-count is increased by 7 in each set, the loser's corresponding maximum by 13 in each set.

The total points are now 86 - 158

Clive Brooker

Risking embarrassment (tennis): Two sets are lost to 6 love games - 0-48 (2 of 0-24) in terms of points Four games in the three sets won are lost to love - again 0-48 in points (3 of 0-16) Six games in three sets are won to 30 (4-2) - 72-36 in points The total points tally is 72-132, the winner's pe...

Clive Brooker

Edwin Mead wrote:
Marc Meakin wrote:Films have The Oscars, television has the Emmys, music has The Grammies......countdown (or the C4C forum) should have The Charlies.
or The Cecils?

The Dickies?

Clive Brooker

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Clive Brooker wrote: A 20-round attack game would be a proper test.
Fair point.

As was yours. Because I'd been thinking of challenging games, I hadn't previously appreciated that pure typing speed alone might win one player a number of rounds. I'm not sure if that's necessarily bad, though.

Clive Brooker

That's not what I meant at all. Both players enter their solution as they do at the end of the 30 seconds on a standard numbers game. Whoever enters a valid solution and hits "done" first wins. For all I know it may already exist. So it's effectively a typing race for easy games? That's t...

Clive Brooker

I've often thought a "numbers conundrum" would be interesting. Presumably this would need some new electonics - something similar to "fastest finger first" on Millionaire. Most unlikely to happen on the show, but I would have thought it was possible on Apterous. Perhaps it's alr...

Clive Brooker

Weclcome Ciaran. I like the idea of a numbers puzzle once in a while. I've often thought a "numbers conundrum" would be interesting. Presumably this would need some new electonics - something similar to "fastest finger first" on Millionaire. Most unlikely to happen on the show, b...

Clive Brooker

Who's thinking of applying for series 62? I didn't think people applied for a particular series. I thought they applied, waited for an audition and then if they pass then wait to go on. Could take weeks, months or years. Is this not the case then? It certainly was for me - I sent in my application ...

Clive Brooker

I've allowed myself a bit of time to reflect on this. The best game I can remember, just eclipsing Wills/Williams (surely someone can upload this one). Yet again one of those enigmatic simple-looking 2 larges brings down the best! Bad luck Innis. Perhaps one day l'll be able to say I was beaten by a...

Clive Brooker

So 1 in 23 shows, is that a fair average :?: Suppose every player has one not written down solution per game (reasonable?). I was always useless at probability, but I think it's fair to say they would fall in the same round (assuming independence) once in every 14 games. On this basis 1 in 23 shoul...

Clive Brooker

James Robinson wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:
Clive Brooker wrote:I think we need a new spoilers thread. James?
Are you kidding?! Totally off-topic spoilers threads are the best!
I actually agree. Sorry, Clive.

In case it wasn't obvious, I was saying that I like your intros to spoiler threads.

Clive Brooker

Jon Corby wrote:Can you ease up a bit on the James-bashing guys?

I've just come back to say IAWTP to this (got distracted earlier). Late as usual.

Since this thread is now full of stuff which has nothing to do with today's game, I think we need a new spoilers thread. James?

Clive Brooker

Martin Smith wrote:I apologise to Damian if he feels that this thread is too negative.

Likewise. My last post seemed like a good idea at the time.

Clive Brooker

Editing out unsolved conundrums. This has happened twice to my knowledge, and presumably on many other occasions. As a principle I think that as far as possible we should watch the game that was actually played. Apart from anything else, omitting an unsolved conundrum means that some people will be ...

Clive Brooker

If neither writes their word down, we do ask both to do so then we retake the round coming off the clock. Does this apply to numbers rounds as well? If so, when did you start? Maybe always, not sure I can remember a round where neither play had it written down. Well I do have one kinda nagging at t...

Clive Brooker

D Eadie wrote:If neither writes their word down, we do ask both to do so then we retake the round coming off the clock.

Does this apply to numbers rounds as well? If so, when did you start?

Clive Brooker

David Williams wrote:Two simple things they could do.

There should be no hint as to the acceptability of the first player's word until the second player has given his.

If neither player has written their word down, then both should be asked to do so.

Clive Brooker

Does anybody agree that all answers should be written down before the time is up to eradicate the 'not written down' gambit? If I were designing the game today I'd agree, but this change would affect the character of the game enormously and I'm sure would be regarded as too risky. Declaring somethi...

Clive Brooker

If it were in the list, I'd go for the imbalance between letters and numbers rounds. 10-4-1 seems right to me, but I have of course spent many hours trying to find a satisfactory way to arrange the rounds and haven't managed it yet. Good one, but there's no point spending hours on it - the simple f...

Clive Brooker

If it were in the list, I'd go for the imbalance between letters and numbers rounds. 10-4-1 seems right to me, but I have of course spent many hours trying to find a satisfactory way to arrange the rounds and haven't managed it yet. There was an incredibly annoying feature whereby for about half a s...

Clive Brooker

Ali. Hands down. I confess that I don't understand why Ali features so highly in polls like this. I was a young teenager at the time of the "Rumble in the Jungle" so I certainly remember the glory days. According to Wikipedia, Ali is "generally considered to be one of the greatest he...

Clive Brooker

Charlie Reams wrote:Doesn't it seem a bit odd to you that one of those decades would have 9 years?

Very slightly, but I can live with it - far more easily than I can live with putting 1970 in the sixties. I can see no reason to be constrained 2000 years on by the fact that no year was designated as 0.

Clive Brooker

EDIT: Just double-checked, but did anyone else also notice that Jackie's nametag said JAQUELINE, rather than JACQUELINE. No, just you, because you are superior to everybody. I noticed that too (the missing "C", that is). I checked one of her episodes on Countdowngoofs and the "C"...

Clive Brooker

If you're going to call next year "Twenty-ten" rather than "Two-thousand-and-ten", then shouldn't you also have been calling this year "Twenty-0-nine"? The great Newsnight reporter and annoyer of politicians, Michael Crick has always referred to all the years in this c...

Clive Brooker

Howard Somerset wrote:
Ian Fitzpatrick wrote:I've already had communications planning for next year and described as TWENTY-TEN, ghastly!
Sounds just right to me. No different from describing the year 1990 as NINETEEN-NINETY.

I assumed Ian was referring to written communications!

Clive Brooker

I never use "The Noughties". As a play on words, using it would feel like recycling someone else's joke. If I want to refer to the current decade, I call it...the current decade. I'll be able to do the same in the coming decade, but I will need a name for the decade just gone. We could hav...

Clive Brooker

Sorry to take this thread off on a tangent but who would you rather: Jackie or Jan? That is an inappropriate comment for this forum, especially considering that one or both of these women could read it. How is it inappropriate to ask who you would rather play a game of Countdown with on a Countdown...

Clive Brooker

...i cannot think of any other event / competition / sport / pastime, where one player can have such a HUGE advantage over another, based on pure luck. The nearest i can think of is the side winning the toss at Test Cricket, but that isn't a strong enough comparison. It may not be quite the example...

Clive Brooker

:oops: Sorry Phil - not brilliant timing in view of the thread you'd just started, and which I've now seen! FWIW I think this place needs your style. In relation to Pointless, the serious issue I was hinting at is that in the first series there was wild inconsistency over what was judged close enou...

Clive Brooker

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Constellations (did they specify hemisphere?)
They didn't, but they wanted the Latin names - I was yelling "Crux Australis" all through the round.

I think you'd have been wrong with this. AFAIK it's simply "Crux".

Clive Brooker

Chancellors of the Exchequer since 1900 was in the last series, so Home Secretaries, Foreign Secretaries and Leaders of the Opposition must be a good bet. I think they might go for post war another time - if the players had known their stuff they could have had pointlesses with Cripps, Gaitskell, Bu...

Clive Brooker

Gavin Chipper wrote:O'Donnell didn't score in round 1 (unless this is flat scoring you're talking about).

Well spotted. I did think about which to use, and TBH I'd forgotten what I'd decided.

Something's just occurred to me. S53 - 32, S60 - 8. Shuffling.

Clive Brooker

My 20% should be a pretty robust estimate. I pulled out a load of data a few weeks ago from the Wiki (because I felt like it!) and have resolved most of the inconsistences. I have 11 instances of a minmax of 7 in series 61 (up to the end of October), 8 in series 60, rising to 32 in both series 53 an...

Clive Brooker

The letters were quite nice today. Here's one for the statto's: when was the last time, before today, that every letters round contained at least a 7 in the selection? Not a definitive answer, but it happened at least as recently as 24 July . It's difficult to be completely sure because the data be...

Clive Brooker

Did anyone else think we were watching a re-enactment of the Cold War today?

Clive Brooker

Also Clive, not sure what your list is supposed to contain, but Wayne Kelly, Series 28, didn't do an Octo-run. He had to leave studio to take an exam so i think he only played 6 heat games before retiring. I wouldn't have included a case like this had I known about it, but it's interesting none the...

Clive Brooker

There was another "did anyone else notice" moment in today's game.

R10, challenger's declaration: 100...16...plus them together.

Clive Brooker

Sue Sanders wrote:Yeah, and she played her game weeks ago. Not 'tomorrow'.

Even the great Kirk wished me retroactive luck for my first game. Is my comment really so incomprehensible?

Clive Brooker

[There is a lady who's been on twice before. First time about 1998, second time about 12-18 months ago. She failed to mention it on her application form that she'd been on previously, but i recognised her instantly. Can't remember her name at the moment. Edit - it was Margaret Read. Thanks Damian. ...

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