c4countdown

A possible big day is upon us. Tricia Pay has a chance today of becoming the first octochamp of the series. There's only one obstacle in her way today, but it could be a tough one. Apterite Dave Nicholson gets his chance to try to start his own long run today. Luckily Tricia will probably make the finals regardless of today's outcome, but the octochamp title would be nice icing on the cake. Can she get there, or will Dave start something good himself?

Join James for the recap later.

I wonder what this could mean... https://twitter.com/C4Countdown/status/ ... 1610262528

Bradley Cates wrote:I wonder what this could mean... https://twitter.com/C4Countdown/status/ ... 1610262528

Had me worried for about 10 minutes til I remembered what it refers to!

I wonder did they have to redo the DC bit for round 8?
Bill: Can you have EXCRETA?
Susie: Yes, that's a load of shit.

Round 4: Does Susie remember INVITE+R = VITRINE and not INVITER?

I've noticed Tricia seems to take quite a long time between solving the conundrum and actually buzzing. It only cost her once in her run, but come the finals?

Fred Mumford wrote:I've noticed Tricia seems to take quite a long time between solving the conundrum and actually buzzing. It only cost her once in her run, but come the finals?

There is a kind of nervousness when playing in the studio where you think before buzzing "Have I really got all the letters
for SWEETCORN in CREWONSET or am I going to look silly?"

Tricia didn't seem quite on her usual form today, but it was still a solid performance, and one that Dave can be pleased with keeping close to. Congrats to Tricia on an excellent run - if she brings her A-game to the finals, she could pose a threat to absolutely anyone.

PHEW! That wasn't too bad, wish I'd been sat in the champions chair to disguise the bald spot a bit though!

R3 I fudged, took a while to get it so my writing down was awful and ended with 975+1 but carelessly said 975 where I had 976. Would be my main advice for any apterous players going on CD, practise with pen and paper. Thanks to the prod team who edited out my look of absolute confusion until I realised what I'd done!

Very miffed I missed ODONATES too, swore at very least I'd get 'apterous' words, such as ODONATES or PADRINO. Tricia did have it though, she just declared the 100% safe 7 so wouldn't have affected the result much.

Definitely an experience I'd have been better at at a second attempt. That said, that's the skill of a champion, to win where the opponent has experienced it before. Also, massive respect to any Octochamp to concentrate for that long. Especially Tricia who at her age had travelled up, played a few games, slept badly in an uncomfy hotel bed and then played for 5 more games, she was exhausted playing me but still played well, even if not her best.

Seen a lot written on Tricia and held my tongue a bit to avoid spoilers or whatever.

Personally, I found her to be very friendly and talkative in the Green Room, speaking to me about playing online and after beating Tick spoke to him for a good half hour about playing scrabble and learning languages. Genuinely didn't think she had any prententions about her or rudeness so a shame to see her picked up on this IMO.

Seen the 'dodgy' rounds back over the last few days (only was present for the one shown yesterday) and I admit some look bad. She certainly was fiercly competitive, I'll let others decide if she ever pushed the boundaries too far and keep my opinions to myself. But, as I say I personally really liked her and have no issue with being competitive in a competition, I was competitive too, but just not as good as her! I think there are plenty of others gone before her (some may even frequent here and apterous!) who have been accused of being 'rude' where in reality were just concentrating to the best of their ability which I think is all Tricia did. She lost in her first game a few years ago and has been practising a lot for her second attempt, so wanted to perform. I remember that lass who was very friendly but was truly awful in the last series and people were critical of her too.

Had a great day, can't believe how genuinely nice Rachel, Suzy, Bill Turnbull and the backstage crew were. Obviously hope future apterites do very well but would love to see Tricia go all the way.

Innis Carson wrote:Tricia didn't seem quite on her usual form today, but it was still a solid performance, and one that Dave can be pleased with keeping close to. Congrats to Tricia on an excellent run - if she brings her A-game to the finals, she could pose a threat to absolutely anyone.

Thank you Innis.

You posted this as I posted my post below, but I think I should stress she was genuinely exhausted for this game, her 8th in a very long two days. I honestly didn't think she would play as well as she did as she was really struggling in the Green Room previously and was falling asleep as we left afterwards. Guarantee she'll be on form again for the finals but it could be a factor if she did get to the final after a long day.

In the battle between Scrabble player and Apterites it's another point for the Scrabble players!

R1: C1: YONDER C2: PONDER. In previous posts Had C1 gone second and not showed her pad to opponent she is deemed of cheating. Same situation here C2 goes second and offers a different word - not obliged to show opponent his pad. C2 not cheating so neither should C1 be tarred with the same brush. Just my opnion.

R10: Not a beater but got MULLER from the TREMBLE round. I suggest James protest strongly about the definition of the second meaning on ODO!

R11: Jessica and I spotted POUTINES (in the UNPOSTED^ round). It's Canadian. With the American/US rule in place just cannot decide whether it should be allowed or not?

R13: DC offered ODONATES. I can't remember correctly whether it was disallowed at COSTAL recently. Will check later.......

Well done to our first Octochamp for series 71.

Mauro

Dave Nicholson wrote:I think I should stress she was genuinely exhausted for this game, her 8th in a very long two days.

That's very understandable. I was exactly the same after I played my 8th game, which was the 5th game of the day. Playing 5 games in one day under studio conditions can take its toll on anyone.

szodiac wrote: R13: DC offered ODONATES. I can't remember correctly whether it was disallowed at COSTAL recently. Will check later.......

I think the controversy there was about ODONATA, and looking closer at the entry it appears to specify the uncapitalised form in one of the subdefinitions, so I'm pretty sure it's still fine. And ODONATES certainly is.

Well done to Tricia on becoming an octochamp, an excellent set of games there.

what was the amazing thing the twitter was on about

Very well done to Tricia, who has been superb throughout her run, even if she wasn't at her best today. Controversial or not, she is a deserving octochamp and will be a formidable opponent in the finals.

Good effort Dave, you kept it fairly close until the end and unlucky to come up against Tricia in her eighth game.

Matt Morrison wrote:what was the amazing thing the twitter was on about

Cindy Ritson had her final show.

Congratulations to Tricia for a great octorun. Well done to Dave too who played well and kept her to her lowest score yet, and preserved Jen's record too!

Bradley Cates wrote:

Dave Nicholson wrote:I think I should stress she was genuinely exhausted for this game, her 8th in a very long two days.

That's very understandable. I was exactly the same after I played my 8th game, which was the 5th game of the day. Playing 5 games in one day under studio conditions can take its toll on anyone.

Same as me too, had a quite frankly horrific night before with no sleep and that takes it's toll on you in studio conditions

Callum Todd wrote:Congratulations to Tricia for a great octorun. Well done to Dave too who played well and kept her to her lowest score yet, and preserved Jen's record too!

It's not really a proper record though. Only woman to have done x doesn't really count. I know Jen likes to say she broke multiple records, but I think she basically has one, although a pretty good one - highest percentage of the available points in her octorun.

Most centuries scored by a woman in preliminary games... happy now? It's a proper record.

I get what you mean about it not strictly being a "record", but when you consider the enormous disparity between gendered scores before Jen took Countdown history by storm, reducing the points gap between males and females by about 650%, and putting a female in at #3 in the list rather than somewhere in the 20s, I do think it is significant.

Also the whole points dropped thing, which is a record for everyone, not just females. And all of Jen's achievements on the show stand out regardless of gender too.

Zarte Siempre wrote:Most centuries scored by a woman in preliminary games... happy now? It's a proper record.

Well if you want but then who has the most centuries by a person with an x in their name? That's a "proper" record too. By proper record, I mean outright records that don't discriminate. Obviously you might have something like oldest/youngest contestant/champion or something, but then that's the thing being measured rather than a filter. So for my purposes proper = filter free.

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Zarte Siempre wrote:Most centuries scored by a woman in preliminary games... happy now? It's a proper record.

Well if you want but then who has the most centuries by a person with an x in their name? That's a "proper" record too. By proper record, I mean outright records that don't discriminate. Obviously you might have something like oldest/youngest contestant/champion or something, but then that's the thing being measured rather than a filter. So for my purposes proper = filter free.

She's the womaniest person to have scored 8 centuries in her prelims.

Oh and I know this situation is all kind of my fault, but can we please not turn this thread into a big debate? If it must be had, have it somewhere else please.

Callum Todd wrote:I get what you mean about it not strictly being a "record", but when you consider the enormous disparity between gendered scores before Jen took Countdown history by storm, reducing the points gap between males and females by about 650%, and putting a female in at #3 in the list rather than somewhere in the 20s, I do think it is significant.

Also the whole points dropped thing, which is a record for everyone, not just females. And all of Jen's achievements on the show stand out regardless of gender too.

I agree really. I don't view everything robotically and out of context (even if what I just replied to Zarte might make you think that). I sometimes myself go through the stats to see who the best female players are over the years, but I certainly wouldn't think of such records as having such importance that it mattered if someone equalled them. Especially most centuries in an octorun where you have a limit of 8 anyway, so something that is likely to end in a draw over time.

Callum Todd wrote:Oh and I know this situation is all kind of my fault, but can we please not turn this thread into a big debate? If it must be had, have it somewhere else please.

I've just changed sofa - happy?

Zarte Siempre wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Zarte Siempre wrote:Most centuries scored by a woman in preliminary games... happy now? It's a proper record.

Well if you want but then who has the most centuries by a person with an x in their name? That's a "proper" record too. By proper record, I mean outright records that don't discriminate. Obviously you might have something like oldest/youngest contestant/champion or something, but then that's the thing being measured rather than a filter. So for my purposes proper = filter free.

She's the womaniest person to have scored 8 centuries in her prelims.

True. It's lucky Tricia didn't score a century or we would have had to make a decision on who was more womany!

Zarte Siempre wrote:

Callum Todd wrote:Oh and I know this situation is all kind of my fault, but can we please not turn this thread into a big debate? If it must be had, have it somewhere else please.

I've just changed sofa - happy?

I'm on the sofa Zarte was originally on.

(I think we escaped without a full-on fistfight.)

Callum Todd wrote:Oh and I know this situation is all kind of my fault, but can we please not turn this thread into a big debate? If it must be had, have it somewhere else please.

Nah fuck that, let's have it. Give it a rest Gevin you prick, you are a fucking robot. And Zarte you can fuck off as well, get your oar out for a change.

Jon O'Neill wrote:

Callum Todd wrote:Oh and I know this situation is all kind of my fault, but can we please not turn this thread into a big debate? If it must be had, have it somewhere else please.

Nah fuck that, let's have it. Give it a rest Gevin you prick, you are a fucking robot. And Zarte you can fuck off as well, get your oar out for a change.

Says the record-holder of most cuntish octochamp.

Callum Todd wrote:reducing the points gap between males and females by about 650%

I'm not very good at sums, but if you reduce something by 650% . . . ??