Spoilers for Tuesday 27th April 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 82)

[Rhys Benjamin]

I wonder if something went on behind the scenes with the conundrum; can only think of one example of the conundrum already being a word before, ostensibly because of a cock-up.

[Toby McDonald]

PROFUNDA/PANDOURA in R5

R3 Alt.: (25*6-1)*(9-4) = 745

[Gavin Chipper]

I wonder if something went on behind the scenes with the conundrum; can only think of one example of the conundrum already being a word before, ostensibly because of a cock-up.

There was the SPANGLIER/RELAPSING example, which was a cock-up, but also the GERANIUMS/MEASURING one, which I think was intentional. Some discussion is available here.

[Gavin Chipper]

By the way that teatime teaser was a bit tenuous today:

IRONGOLD --> No iron or gold, it's all about ore. --> DROOLING

I suppose it's based on ore/awe being homophones, and if you're in awe of something you start drooling. (You don't but it's the only way this could make sense.)

[Sam Cappleman-Lynes]

I wonder if something went on behind the scenes with the conundrum; can only think of one example of the conundrum already being a word before, ostensibly because of a cock-up.

There was the SPANGLIER/RELAPSING example, which was a cock-up, but also the GERANIUMS/MEASURING one, which I think was intentional. Some discussion is available here.

There's also GANGLIONS/SINGALONG and ALLOCUTES/LACTULOSE, probably among others. These sorts of conundrum, while rarer than "normal" ones, are not horribly uncommon, especially in series finals.

[Stewart Gordon]

Any clue where the pronunciation "ampyules" can have come from? It doesn't match with what Lexico says, and I'm not aware of any word in which 'ou' makes a 'yu' sound. I've a feeling I've heard the word mispronounced in the same way before.

[Ray Wilding]

Any clue where the pronunciation "ampyules" can have come from? It doesn't match with what Lexico says, and I'm not aware of any word in which 'ou' makes a 'yu' sound. I've a feeling I've heard the word mispronounced in the same way before.

"/ˈampjuːl/" is the pronunciation of the US spelling(s) without the "o".

[Rhys Benjamin]

But in all of the examples given, the scramble is a plural and it has been established that conundrums are no longer plurals.

[Tom S]

But in all of the examples given, the scramble is a plural and it has been established that conundrums are no longer plurals.

https://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_7237 - here's an example of one where the scramble wasn't a plural.

[Stewart Gordon]

But in all of the examples given, the scramble is a plural and it has been established that conundrums are no longer plurals.

I would expect the policy is to never make conundrum solutions plurals (except pluralia tantum), but to count plurals nonetheless when checking that a solution is unique. But when a conundrum with multiple solutions slips through the net, either solution is accepted. But if the solution a contestant gives in this scenario happens to be a plural, is it still accepted?

Of course, the scramble isn't a valid solution even if it's a word. So this is why GERANIUMS wasn't accepted. Indeed, whenever two of the possible permutations are valid words, one of them has to be the scramble, such that the other one is the solution.

[James Robinson]

1st Numbers Alt.: ((9 + 4 - 1) x 6 x 10) + 25 = 745