Spoilers for Thursday July 25th 2013 (Series 69 Prelim 19)

[Jordan F]

Zarte Siempre got a very impressive 118 in his first game yesterday. Can he keep up the momentum with another?

Join James for the recap later.

[Tony Atkins]

Equallers in R4 GREYISH, in R8 MEGATONS and 2 beaters in R10 - the one I got was GOOPIEST (persume Zarte didn't risk
it).

Sad to say I too only made 284 - but I think 286 is possible....

[Tony Atkins]

Go Zarte!

Mind you, not sure it is correct to put one of the players' names as the conundrum mix though, even if he
didn't know his own anagram.

[Zarte Siempre]

Go Zarte!

Mind you, not sure it is correct to put one of the players' names as the conundrum mix though, even if he
didn't know his own anagram.

I was in 2 minds about that, I thought it was a genuinely lovely touch, but I do agree with you, that he might have known his own anagram, and that would be an advantage.

[szodiac]

Go Zarte!

Mind you, not sure it is correct to put one of the players' names as the conundrum mix though, even if he
didn't know his own anagram.

Go Zarte !!!!

Agreed Tony. When you consider Jessica and I studied all the PRATESI+2 combinations if a conundrum came up with PRATESI+2 it would have been solved in less than a second.

Funny how without the big chair behind Zarte it appears as though he is floating behind the desk. We still think he looks better as a pirate Also it shows how many times Zarte has a habit of touching his nose!

Zarte 'vencer' siempre

Mauro/Jessica

[Zarte Siempre]

You've got me really conscious about my nose now, I didn't even realise I did it!

[Dave Preece]

Well done today,1/4 of the way to an all century-scoring octo-run, hope you do it.

[szodiac]

You've got me really conscious about my nose now, I didn't even realise I did it!

I think it's just a natural reaction wanting to get the best out of the selections every time and being in the studio knowing you are going to get judged on performance. You probably hardly ever do it under normal situations. "I'm sure of it!"

Well done and hope to see more of you in the coming days - although I did see an ad for Horse Racing at Goodwood starting on Tuesday before the program.

Mauro

[James Robinson]

Sad to say I too only made 284 - but I think 286 is possible....

You're telling me Me, Jonathan and Chris Davies (who had joined us by this point) were still trying to work it out by the end of the game!! Even Rachel gave up and we had a 5 minute break between part 1 and 2............ I was well shocked when I got back and found that it was only a 67% difficulty

There were loads of brill funny stuff too, just about all of it cut out, unsurprisingly, including the 2nd T of BATTALION falling off when it was revealed the first time (Although, you wait till tomorrow's conundrum, it might bring back some memories...............)

CAPONIER in round 1 and UNBAKED in round 2.

But, well done, Zarte, and 11 maxer to go with your 10 from yesterday!! Nicely done.

[Jack Worsley]

I think I've got 286 now, only about four hours out of time.

(50-6)x8-75+9 = 286

Another strong performance from Zarte!

[Graeme Cole]

There were loads of brill funny stuff too, just about all of it cut out, unsurprisingly, including the 2nd T of BATTALION falling off when it was revealed the first time

There should be an official Countdown DVD of Zarte's appearances, including deleted scenes and gallery commentary as an optional audio track.

(Although, you wait till tomorrow's conundrum, it might bring back some memories...............)

Interesting. I wasn't there, but I bet it's going to be RASPILLED.

Well played again, Zarte. Regarding IANTALBOT -> BATTALION, I liked that touch, and in this case no harm was done, but had it been crucial and Ian had got it, it would have been a bit of a kick in the face to Zarte to lose to someone because they were given their own name as a conundrum. Perhaps they had a different conundrum set aside to use had it been crucial? Also, what if someone had quipped during the course of the show, or in the green room, "hey, Ian, do you know your name is an anagram of BATTALION?" Would they have changed it?

[Zarte Siempre]

There were loads of brill funny stuff too, just about all of it cut out, unsurprisingly, including the 2nd T of BATTALION falling off when it was revealed the first time

There should be an official Countdown DVD of Zarte's appearances, including deleted scenes and gallery commentary as an optional audio track.

(Although, you wait till tomorrow's conundrum, it might bring back some memories...............)

Interesting. I wasn't there, but I bet it's going to be RASPILLED.

Well played again, Zarte. Regarding IANTALBOT -> BATTALION, I liked that touch, and in this case no harm was done, but had it been crucial and Ian had got it, it would have been a bit of a kick in the face to Zarte to lose to someone because they were given their own name as a conundrum. Perhaps they had a different conundrum set aside to use had it been crucial? Also, what if someone had quipped during the course of the show, or in the green room, "hey, Ian, do you know your name is an anagram of BATTALION?" Would they have changed it?

There was also Susie having to take about 15 attempts to read out the definition of GLORIOLE after Jay the floor manager alerted her to what it was very close to. Nick telling Susie to "release herself" also let to quite a few takes.

One day, when I stop being too lazy to start doing comedy again, and I end up on the 8 out of 10 cats version *raises eyebrow at own optimism* - you'll see more of my thought process coming out.

Also, no, it's not RASPILLED

[szodiac]

Interesting. I wasn't there, but I bet it's going to be RASPILLED.

I think it should be "RESIEMPRE". Just for Zarte (RE as in king!) Then we'll see how quickly it gets solved.

Mauro

[Zarte Siempre]

Interesting. I wasn't there, but I bet it's going to be RASPILLED.

I think it should be "RESIEMPRE". Just for Zarte (RE as in king!) Then we'll see how quickly it gets solved.

Mauro

Lovely thought, but PREMIERES is a plural and so couldn't be used as a conundrum

[Jon Corby]

Well played Zarte, a very convincing victory.

I too lolled at GLORIOLE, and moreso when COTTAGE turned up two rounds later

Also agree about the conundrum thing, and hope they wouldn't have used it in a crucial. It seems odd to me that somebody would go on Countdown not realising their name was a conundrum, but then I guess I'm forgetting that everybody else isn't as nerdy as us. Well, you.

[Zarte Siempre]

but then I guess I'm forgetting that everybody else isn't as nerdy as us. Well, you.

Sorry, what was that? I can't hear what you're saying over the muck spreader that's shifting your bullshit around...

(but in general, cheers mate )

[Mark Deeks]

Let's play ZarteDown!

ZARTEISON
ZARTEISIN
ZARTEISUP
ZARTEQUIT
ZARTEMIKE
ZARTEINNY
I, SHY ZARTE
ZARTE'S OIL
CUSS ZARTE BOGIE
CO:ZARTESHITINACAR (the next Co:event)
CALM ZARTE NOT IN GIMP
CLUE: ZARTE NIPAIDS
REASONING? I LOVE ZARTE

[Zarte Siempre]

Notarizes

[Zarte Siempre]

Also, compartmentalizing?

[Mark Deeks]

Might be. I forgot.

[Jon Corby]

Agreed Tony. When you consider Jessica and I studied all the PRATESI+2 combinations if a conundrum came up with PRATESI+2 it would have been solved in less than a second.

I bet she's cursing that you weren't called Mauro Tudgeman or something.

[Grant Waters]

Just watched this show Zarte. You are doing very well so far.

I was very surprised to read about the conundrum being the other guy's name as I did not notice that at all, but then I think I subconsciously block out the scramble in case I fixate on it and lose the solution. In that sense, contrary to others' suggestions that it might have been an advantage to Ian, I reckon it could have been a disadvantage to him.

I deleted the episode so can't watch it back but was there a reaction from Ian re the Conundrum, or any other discussion about it at the time, broadcast or cut?

[Countdown Team]

Re IAN TALBOT / BATTALION......

The idea was always going to be that if the conundrum were crucial then it would be changed to something else.

It's not every day we get the opportunity to do something like that, so it wasn't going to be passed up.

[Mark Deeks]

Fair fucks.

[Zarte Siempre]

Great stuff, presumed as much, and means it was definitely just a nice touch