Search found 895 matches

by Innis Carson
Thu Sep 26, 2013 12:12 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Octochamp Conundrum Difficulty (The Unauthorized Sequel)
Replies: 10
Views: 3814

Re: Octochamp Conundrum Difficulty (The Unauthorized Sequel)

None of these can really be described as easy, on the whole they definitely seem harder than the ones in the old thread. Very hard to choose one, I ended up picking Heather's even though it included the pretty nasty GALLSTONE. It would be interesting if Charlie or Raccoon could perform their stats m...
by Innis Carson
Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:10 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Getting good at apterous/Countdown
Replies: 17
Views: 7342

Re: Getting good at apterous/Countdown

I still maintain what I said on that thread from years ago - fun is the key. Unless you have near-superhuman self-motivation, you're not going to get very far solely through staring at some lists. You'll learn so much more efficiently if it's in the context of an enjoyable hobby, and that's what mak...
by Innis Carson
Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:16 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For 8/10 Cats Does Countdown (S1, E6 - 20 Sep '13)
Replies: 2
Views: 1617

Re: Spoilers For 8/10 Cats Does Countdown (S1, E6 - 20 Sep '

Giles wrote:Out of all the conundrums they could have had (FRUITCAKE, maybe?) they go with OMNIBUSES? A plural? Ehh
All in the 80s spirit of course!
by Innis Carson
Tue Aug 20, 2013 3:28 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683967

Re: Ask Graeme?

Kirk didn't have anything disallowed in his octorun either (well, not counting HEDARIM). There could be quite a few more too, it's something pretty much anyone could have achieved.
by Innis Carson
Thu Aug 15, 2013 3:54 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: De Chiffres et Des Lettres live on France 3
Replies: 10
Views: 4042

Re: De Chiffres et Des Lettres live on France 3

What time of day is this on in France, then? 4.10pm? Are there any early-morning repeats like we have here? Might try to catch un épisode while I'm en France. Yep, 4:10pm on France 3. No repeats as far as I'm aware though. Definitely recommend watching one if you haven't already, it makes for inter...
by Innis Carson
Thu Aug 08, 2013 4:23 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday August 6th 2013 (Series 69 Prelim 23)
Replies: 43
Views: 11356

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday August 6th 2013 (Series 69 Prelim 2

It's a shame for Zarte of course, but it's only right that situations like this should be a possibility. It would be hard to tell someone who's been put up against a 900+ octochamp in their eight game that it's "just luck of the draw" if apterites weren't subject to the same risk.
by Innis Carson
Sat Aug 03, 2013 3:41 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 308117

Re: Is Apterous down?

Works absolutely fine for me, and quite a few other people.
by Innis Carson
Sun Jul 14, 2013 4:18 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Some unfinished games
Replies: 2
Views: 1903

Re: Some unfinished games

Even if their trial membership has expired, they'll still be able to finish games they'd already started.
by Innis Carson
Sat Jul 06, 2013 12:05 am
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Logic Puzzle: The Case of the Missing Countdown Episodes
Replies: 22
Views: 8582

Re: Logic Puzzle: The Case of the Missing Countdown Episodes

Thomas Carey wrote:
Graeme Cole wrote:
[*] "Mark Foster was the dictionary corner guest that week. He tweeted this picture at the end of one of the games, and, as you can see, the champion's score is 89."
Are you sure that's not meant to be 'challenger's'?
'Champion's' is right - the puzzle can be solved as written.
by Innis Carson
Fri Jul 05, 2013 11:04 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Logic Puzzle: The Case of the Missing Countdown Episodes
Replies: 22
Views: 8582

Re: Logic Puzzle: The Case of the Missing Countdown Episodes

Woop! Cheers for this, a fun and satisfying distraction.
by Innis Carson
Fri Jul 05, 2013 10:54 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Logic Puzzle: The Case of the Missing Countdown Episodes
Replies: 22
Views: 8582

Re: Logic Puzzle: The Case of the Missing Countdown Episodes

This is just brilliant, I love it. Can't imagine where you would even start with trying to put together something like this! Took me a lot of time and scribbling, and I got myself stuck in a dead end more than once, but I'm pretty sure I've got it now - will PM you my answer to check.
by Innis Carson
Fri Jun 28, 2013 4:27 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Grand Final Spoilers For Friday June 28th 2013
Replies: 50
Views: 11129

Re: Grand Final Spoilers For Friday June 28th 2013

So tense! It was clear you were both feeling the pressure, which made the game all the more exciting to watch. And with that in consideration, you both managed to keep up a very good standard of play (MANGONEL was lovely) in a game with some very daunting rounds. Knowing Andy's 4L powers, the game w...
by Innis Carson
Thu Jun 27, 2013 10:30 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: What would you put in a letter to Oxford Dictionaries?
Replies: 25
Views: 6070

Re: What would you put in a letter to Oxford Dictionaries?

Great e-mail, there isn't anything I can think of to add to it, either in terms of content or style. I might just paraphrase it and send it to them again just to make it harder to ignore.
by Innis Carson
Wed Jun 19, 2013 2:51 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: De Chiffres et Des Lettres live on France 3
Replies: 10
Views: 4042

Re: De Chiffres et Des Lettres live on France 3

I watched today for the first time in a while and missed the opening, but I had a strange feeling I'd seen the current champion (Arnaud) before. Here's where. Has there any been any explanation as to why he's appearing now despite having already been on the show and winning 5 games only a few years ...
by Innis Carson
Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:01 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Friday June 14th 2013
Replies: 22
Views: 3373

Re: Spoilers For Friday June 14th 2013

Well I for one didn't think it was COMMOTION. I didn't get the answer, but still, that's something.

Congrats to both Giles and Peter, you both did great, and it was a very exciting contest to watch. Even with the disappointing lack of hair flips.
by Innis Carson
Fri Jun 07, 2013 5:35 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday June 7th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 51)
Replies: 13
Views: 3565

Re: Spoilers for Friday June 7th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 51)

Is it just my imagination, or can someone in the audience be heard shouting "YES!" just after Richard says UMPTEEN?
by Innis Carson
Thu Jun 06, 2013 4:20 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday June 6th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 50)
Replies: 9
Views: 2065

Re: Spoilers for Thursday June 6th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 50

Maiden appearance of a new (in ODE3) 9 in R1: SINGLEDOM.
by Innis Carson
Wed Jun 05, 2013 8:18 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday June 5th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 49)
Replies: 16
Views: 4664

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday June 5th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 4

I think it's nice to see they've become so much more open to past contestants, it'll certainly help them keep application numbers high enough. There must be tons of people who were unlucky to lose their first or second game in the 9-round era and would love to have another go. No doubt lots of viewe...
by Innis Carson
Mon Jun 03, 2013 3:28 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday June 3rd 2013
Replies: 20
Views: 4432

Re: Spoilers For Monday June 3rd 2013

Don't we talk about 'the pathetic bleatings of politicians'? I've certainly heard 'bleatings' used in this way. So if this was an attempt to override the dictionary in favour of 'common sense' (which is questionable in itself), it wasn't even a successful one. Just hope those 18 points don't end up...
by Innis Carson
Mon Jun 03, 2013 2:38 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday June 3rd 2013
Replies: 20
Views: 4432

Re: Spoilers For Monday June 3rd 2013

Is BLEATING marked as a mass noun in ODE3 then? I don't remember Susie actually saying so (though I might just not have heard her) and it wasn't in ODE2r. If she's disallowing a plural of a count noun just because she 'doesn't think' it sounds right, that's pretty questionable to say the least.
by Innis Carson
Fri May 17, 2013 3:41 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Sports puzzles
Replies: 50
Views: 10311

Re: Sports puzzles

PS A total clearance is a TOTAL clearance of all 21 balls that ends the game. Even by this definition you could have a 'total clearance' of 0, if you twice fail to hit a red on the opening shot, and on the third attempt, pot all 21 balls having hit the pink first. By failing three times to hit the ...
by Innis Carson
Fri May 17, 2013 12:25 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Dictionary corner....
Replies: 16
Views: 4177

Re: Dictionary corner....

I'm pretty sure it's been confirmed that Dictionary Corner will sometimes keep quiet about their longest words at the producers' discretion, possibly either to avoid making the contestants feel like they're doing badly or to let Penelope believe she's 'winning'.
by Innis Carson
Thu May 16, 2013 8:13 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Sports puzzles
Replies: 50
Views: 10311

Re: Sports puzzles

What if someone pots all the balls on the first shot and then immediately concedes the frame?
by Innis Carson
Thu May 09, 2013 4:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: De Chiffres et Des Lettres live on France 3
Replies: 10
Views: 4042

Re: De Chiffres et Des Lettres live on France 3

Excellent, I'd actually been looking for a way to watch this. Cheers Mauro!
by Innis Carson
Wed May 01, 2013 11:50 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Countdown in Edinburgh 2 - Sat 2nd November
Replies: 83
Views: 29240

Re: Countdown in Edinburgh 2 - Sat 2nd November

Great to hear that this is happening again, needless to say I'll be there.
by Innis Carson
Wed May 01, 2013 10:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683967

Re: Ask Graeme?

CDB says that John Hunt was 69, so he must be a likely candidate for oldest.
by Innis Carson
Fri Apr 26, 2013 2:22 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683967

Re: Ask Graeme?

Julian Fell never had a word disallowed all the way up until his CoC quarter-final, where it would cost him dearly.
by Innis Carson
Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:47 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday April 24th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 32)
Replies: 21
Views: 4987

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday April 24th 2012 (Series 68 Prelim

Very good game indeed, was so hard to decide who to support. In the end I think I was happier to see Eileen avenge herself, but I'm really hoping Jill makes it into the quarters. With her total score she's bound to be the top of the 3-time winners, so it's a definite possibility.
by Innis Carson
Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:30 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683967

Re: Ask Graeme?

Yes it is wrong, look at games 2 and 8 of Jack's octorun. His 'nines' entry is wrong too (should be 6 of 7) - I'm guessing these stats were input manually and subject to human error.
by Innis Carson
Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:18 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683967

Re: Ask Graeme?

Further, I got the same number of conundrums right as Jack (Hurst) and the same number of nines. Was my score larger than his just because of more favourable letters (and of course the format change)? Jack 'only' got 6 conundrums actually, whereas you got 7. This plus the format change is more than...
by Innis Carson
Tue Apr 16, 2013 2:42 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday April 16th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 26
Replies: 17
Views: 5652

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday April 16th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 2

Hard luck with that conundrum Giles. I know the feeling. 965 is still a unbelievably good score. I was rather bored last night and I decided to work out what Jack Hurst's score would been if you scaled his letters/numbers scoring rates in line with the new format, and if memory serves it worked out ...
by Innis Carson
Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:38 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday April 15th 2013
Replies: 14
Views: 3452

Re: Spoilers For Monday April 15th 2013

I think I remember FOLLOWING being a conundrum quite recently, possibly with the same scramble, but for some reason I get no results at all when I search "following" in the Countdown Wiki. It's definitely been a conundrum in the past, does anyone know what's going on there? Anyway, great s...
by Innis Carson
Fri Apr 12, 2013 11:25 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Predictions for Giles'
Replies: 18
Views: 3798

Re: Predictions for Giles'

Going roughly by what we've seen so far, I predict one more nine and one more zero-scoring round in his remaining two games. This would leave him on something like 971, which is ridiculously good, and surely far enough above 946 to dispel any idea that he only broke the record because of the new for...
by Innis Carson
Mon Apr 08, 2013 2:39 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday April 8th 2013
Replies: 17
Views: 4127

Re: Spoilers For Monday April 8th 2013

Not often I get to see the show at broadcast time, so that was nice. Great play again Giles, if you can keep anything like this level of scoring up then an insane 8-game score could well be coming.
by Innis Carson
Wed Apr 03, 2013 3:38 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday April 3rd 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 19)
Replies: 25
Views: 5768

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday April 3rd 2013 (Series 68 Prelim

Every bit as good as I expected, Giles. Great show. 129 sets a good benchmark for top score in the new format - assuming you don't annihilate it next week!
by Innis Carson
Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:00 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday March 28th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 15)
Replies: 34
Views: 5094

Re: Spoilers for Thursday March 28th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim

Are you sure that was a mistake? They did the same thing in Innis and Kirk's game after both of them got the conundrum wrong. No, not 100% and in all honesty I can't remember exactly what happened but there was definitely some confusion in the studio. I seem to remember Nick asking the audience if ...
by Innis Carson
Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday March 28th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 15)
Replies: 34
Views: 5094

Re: Spoilers for Thursday March 28th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim

Dave Preece wrote:Strange ending RE conundrum too???
Indeed, looks like there was a fair amount of editing in that round. I liked Bob's quip though.

Very impressive run Andy, congrats! Been quite a while since there's been an octochamp score as high as that.
by Innis Carson
Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:52 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday March 26th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 13)
Replies: 34
Views: 6791

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday March 26th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 1

Well, even when they do put apterites up against each other theres still several apterites in the finals but theres also room for non-apterites as well. If they had kept all the apterites separate in series 64 and 66 (the two series in which an octochamp had beaten 4 other apterites) then all the f...
by Innis Carson
Tue Mar 26, 2013 2:23 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Talented Non-Apterous Contestants
Replies: 50
Views: 31735

Re: Talented Non-Apterous Contestants

On the list of octochamps by number of maxes in the Ask Graeme thread, the winner amongst non-apterite octochamps in the 'apterous era' (which I would define as Series 60 onwards) is actually Shane Roberts, though he's only very narrowly ahead of some others. Obviously there are plenty of people hig...
by Innis Carson
Tue Mar 26, 2013 12:36 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Talented Non-Apterous Contestants
Replies: 50
Views: 31735

Re: Talented Non-Apterous Contestants

Peter Godwin and Brian Selway both showed glimpses of very strong form, but were plagued by inconsistency which ultimately prevented them from posing any serious threat to the apterites in their series. Carl seems pretty much the clear winner in terms of finals success. It was striking that after Br...
by Innis Carson
Wed Mar 20, 2013 5:32 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: The Mystery of Time and Space
Replies: 8
Views: 4081

Re: The Mystery of Time and Space

Andy Platt wrote:What music?

(that kind of answers the question I guess)
Indeed. Shame, it's not the same without it.
by Innis Carson
Wed Mar 20, 2013 5:16 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: The Mystery of Time and Space
Replies: 8
Views: 4081

Re: The Mystery of Time and Space

I played through this like 10 years ago and I remember really liking the music, but for some reason the music isn't working now. Anyone else having this problem?
by Innis Carson
Fri Mar 15, 2013 11:39 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Game of the Year (GotY) 2012 - voting
Replies: 29
Views: 6338

Re: Game of the Year (GotY) 2012 - voting

Congrats Conor, couldn't have been anyone else this year really. Thanks for running this Adam, I'd definitely be interested to see the points breakdown.
by Innis Carson
Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:59 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: How good would...
Replies: 4
Views: 1269

Re: How good would...

Would be interesting to see. There's no reason to believe she'd be exceptionally good at the letters just because of her linguistic knowledge, anagramming is an almost completely unrelated skill, but I still expect she'd be better than most contestants, since she'll know a lot of the classic 'Countd...
by Innis Carson
Wed Mar 13, 2013 5:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Best ever contestants
Replies: 509
Views: 352030

Re: Best ever contestants

[Kirk Bevins was a step up because he was the first to get to a level where a max game became a serious possibility I suppose this is the main bit I'd take issue with. He was certainly the first to make a max game an actuality (in the 15-round era), but I don't think he was playing any better than ...
by Innis Carson
Mon Mar 11, 2013 6:27 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Dictionaries
Replies: 10
Views: 3144

Re: Dictionaries

The 20-volume OED has far more words in it but they're mostly very obscure or outdated. The smaller one (ODE) only includes words they deem to be in common use.
by Innis Carson
Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown in the news
Replies: 217
Views: 63308

Re: Countdown in the news

I won series 41 , not Scott Mearns. Everyone knows that. Also, I was only 10 years old and therefore all this stuff about Conor being the youngest series champion is nonsense. Haha, wondered if you would see that! I have no idea where they got that from, I described you to them as "a runner-up...
by Innis Carson
Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:24 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683967

Re: Ask Graeme?

I can remember one striking example from my series: John Drinkwater. I'd expect this to be the highest, and surely the biggest slump from one game to the next.
by Innis Carson
Mon Mar 04, 2013 10:12 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown Goody Bag
Replies: 27
Views: 6112

Re: Countdown Goody Bag

There's quite a bit of variability in what the goody bag contains I think. I didn't get either the board game or the clock when I was on, but other people before and since me have been given both. Also some people (Oliver Garner springs to mind) were given a different dictionary for some reason.
by Innis Carson
Mon Mar 04, 2013 1:23 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: 30BC Grand Final Spoilers For Friday March 1st 2013
Replies: 132
Views: 36836

Re: 30BC Grand Final Spoilers For Friday March 1st 2013

Just watched this back now, and as a finale to this series it was even more beautiful than I remembered. It may not have been as close a contest as many of the others in the later stages, but in that way it symbolised Conor's solo ascension to all-time greatness, culminating in that iconic score of ...
by Innis Carson
Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:04 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown for Comic Relief
Replies: 205
Views: 46106

Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Mark and innis... what time did use get up on thursday?? and what time did use fall asleep in the early hours of today?? also how long use sleep for?? im just extremely nosey!! :D I was up until 5am on Thursday morning to get my Megabus down to London, intending to get a decent sleep on the bus, wh...
by Innis Carson
Sat Mar 02, 2013 7:51 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: A massive thanks !
Replies: 44
Views: 14423

Re: A massive thanks !

I've had one or two people say to me about learning all the words being against the spirit of the game... So has my dad. He thinks that the conundrums are "unfair" because they can instantly recognise the word as they've seen the scramble before (he got really annoyed on SPOILERS - Kirk's...
by Innis Carson
Wed Feb 27, 2013 6:09 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown for Comic Relief
Replies: 205
Views: 46106

Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Yep, I'll be hanging around in London beforehand from about 5pm until 8, so if you or anyone else is up for meeting up with me and possibly Zarte for a while it would be much welcomed. Midnight to 8am on Saturday morning works for me too!
by Innis Carson
Tue Feb 26, 2013 11:17 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: 10 ways to improve Countdown Viewing Figures
Replies: 61
Views: 10659

Re: 10 ways to improve Countdown Viewing Figures

If Richard did any of the things you deride Nick for (and I expect he did a fair amount of them) you'd call it charming.
by Innis Carson
Sat Feb 23, 2013 1:35 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Friday February 22nd 2013
Replies: 81
Views: 18025

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Friday February 22nd 201

Jono's performance has to go down as one of the all-time greats, and actually makes a very strong case for greatest. To pull off a max game in a contest as heated as that is unprecedented in itself, and the difficulty of the rounds just makes it all the more amazing. Phenomenal display of skill and ...
by Innis Carson
Thu Feb 21, 2013 12:56 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Lotto Probability
Replies: 5
Views: 2147

Re: Lotto Probability

In that case yeah, pretty sure Michael's right. So you should expect a jackpot win once every 11,000 years or so. Not too surprising that it's lasted 4!
by Innis Carson
Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:52 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Lotto Probability
Replies: 5
Views: 2147

Re: Lotto Probability

Do you choose 4 normal numbers, and then another one which is designated as the bonus ball? Or just 5 interchangeable numbers?
by Innis Carson
Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:14 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Monday February 18th 2013
Replies: 52
Views: 13264

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Monday February 18th 201

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. I'm entirely happy with my performance here, and the fact that it still wasn't enough just says it all about the standard of this competition. Even if I had spotted VENDETTA (which I was nowhere near, very well done on that one Kirk) it still inevitably would ...
by Innis Carson
Sat Feb 16, 2013 12:36 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Friday February 15th 2013
Replies: 48
Views: 12719

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Friday February 15th 201

Have to echo the comments that GARBOLOGY was an excellent conundrum for this game - it created a scenario very different to the standard buzzer race, and one that was a fitting ending to a contest as tense and exciting as this. Of course it must have made the result even more of a blow for Chris, wh...