Spoilers for Wednesday July 9th 2014 (S71 P8)

[Jordan F]

This is actually the last prelim of the week. I assume because of horses but you never know. What I do know is that Tim Gregory is on 2 wins, and is aiming for his 3rd today to take into next week. Can he do it?

Join James for the recap later.

[Tony Atkins]

Hurrah for an apterite in Ian Linton!

Managed a 14 max game today - struggling on the conundrum saddly.

Alts of GODETIAS in the ASTEROID round, DUIKERS in the SULKIER one, FALCONER in the FLORICAN round,
(75+8)x(5+1)=498.

[Philip Wilson]

Alts of GODETIAS in the ASTEROID round

It's the 2nd time in a few days that GODETIAS + R [or ASTEROID + G or STODGIER + A] has come up, and both times DC didn't mention godetias but did the other two. I hope they haven't fallen out of the dictionary!!
I think I'm right in saying Ian won when no U appeared in the round with the Q [4th from end] as it was then impossible for his opponent to get the 9 he needed. Therefore Ian could have sealed his win by choosing only 3 vowels instead of 4 that round. Not saying he should have done of course

[Graeme Cole]

I think I'm right in saying Ian won when no U appeared in the round with the Q [4th from end] as it was then impossible for his opponent to get the 9 he needed. Therefore Ian could have sealed his win by choosing only 3 vowels instead of 4 that round. Not saying he should have done of course

I wouldn't have minded if he had. I wouldn't say it was unethical or unsportsmanlike. Picking six consonants is within the letter and the spirit of the rules, and would be a perfectly reasonable and unremarkable thing to do at any other stage in the game.

[Adam Gillard]

For this coming Monday's show, I wonder if they filmed Dan Walker reacting to various possible scenarios for the World Cup final. "England beating Honduras 7-1 in the final - who'd have thought it?".

[Philip Wilson]

I think I'm right in saying Ian won when no U appeared in the round with the Q [4th from end] as it was then impossible for his opponent to get the 9 he needed. Therefore Ian could have sealed his win by choosing only 3 vowels instead of 4 that round. Not saying he should have done of course

I wouldn't have minded if he had. I wouldn't say it was unethical or unsportsmanlike. Picking six consonants is within the letter and the spirit of the rules, and would be a perfectly reasonable and unremarkable thing to do at any other stage in the game.

I wouldn't have thought it wrong to do so either tbh. With the last sentence I guess I just wanted to make the point that either way would have been fine. Certainly he was being very friendly to his opponent if he realised the situation. Looking back Ian chose 3, 4 and 5 vowels in his selections, so nothing can be deduced from that. The tactics of someone who had chosen 5 all along and then only 3 that round would have been more obvious.

[Gavin Chipper]

I think I'm right in saying Ian won when no U appeared in the round with the Q [4th from end] as it was then impossible for his opponent to get the 9 he needed. Therefore Ian could have sealed his win by choosing only 3 vowels instead of 4 that round. Not saying he should have done of course

I wouldn't have minded if he had. I wouldn't say it was unethical or unsportsmanlike. Picking six consonants is within the letter and the spirit of the rules, and would be a perfectly reasonable and unremarkable thing to do at any other stage in the game.

I wouldn't have thought it wrong to do so either tbh. With the last sentence I guess I just wanted to make the point that either way would have been fine. Certainly he was being very friendly to his opponent if he realised the situation. Looking back Ian chose 3, 4 and 5 vowels in his selections, so nothing can be deduced from that. The tactics of someone who had chosen 5 all along and then only 3 that round would have been more obvious.

There are words with Qs and no Us, but I'm not sure if there are any that would have fitted the letters that had come out so it could well have been sealed, although even after four vowels a fifth could have been picked which could have been a U. But more generally, if someone needs a 9, there would be combinations of the first x letters that make a nine impossible even without a Q. What's the lowest possible x, Graeme?

[Mark Murray]

Great debut Ian.. impressive number solves,as expected... especially the 6 smalls.. lonicera as alt to florican having just had chance to watch the show