James is busy fighting crime or something, so I'm stepping in again to do his Thursday recap. It falls on the opening day of the World Cup, the second most eagerly-awaited sporting event after the Countdown finals, which happen to begin tomorrow.
C1: Champion James Wall (2 wins, 172 points) is a bank cashier from Redcar. He's also Chris Marshall's long-lost twin brother. Probably.
C2: Challenger Geoff Shaw is a product manager from Worcestershire. He's a keen geocacher.
DC: Susie Dent and Chris Packham.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: T N R I E O J L U
R02: P F A I R N E O P
R03: 10, 2, 8, 3, 5, 4. Target: 753.
TTT: LENLINDA - "Len and Linda chat the conventional way."
R04: H T M R I O U C S
R05: E O D L S E T Z D
R06: 75, 10, 6, 8, 10, 3. Target: 759.
R07: P B O S N A E R Q
R08: L S C I E T Y A E
R09: 75, 10, 1, 3, 6, 8. Target: 727.
TTT: PAMHANTS - "Pam may be in Hampshire, but you'll find this in Goole"
R10: S D F T I E A G S
R11: I N P W O R A G M
R12: K O E D V A G R L
R13: N T E M R O X D E
R14: 100, 3, 10, 2, 1, 4. Target: 272.
R15: R E D V E L O U R (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: T N R I E O J L U
James: OUTLIER (7)
Geoff: JOINER (6)
DC: ROUTINE (7) OUTLINER (8)
OT: JOINTURE (8)
Score: 7–0 (max 8)
James gets off to a good start. Susie had OUTLINER, which is a term from computer programming that I've never heard of outside of Countdown or apterous.
Round 2: P F A I R N E O P
James: PROFANE (7)
Geoff: PROPANE (7)
DC: PINAFORE (8)
Score: 14–7 (max 16)
Geoff is off the mark but James is still in front.
Round 3: 10, 2, 8, 3, 5, 4. Target: 753.
James: 754. Mistake in working.
Geoff: 757. (8*10-4)*5*2-3 (7)
RR: 752. 5*(8+4+3)*10+2 (7)
OT: 753. (((10-2)*8*4-5)*3 (10)
Score: 14–14 (max 26)
James declares 754, but his working only takes him to 752. This slip means Geoff draws level.
753 was tricky enough that even Rachel didn't get it. However, she does know who's going to win the World Cup, and has even made a video with Ladbrokes explaining her prediction.
Here's a puzzle for you, if you haven't watched Rachel's World Cup prediction yet... can you guess which team Rachel thinks is going to win, using only this screenshot from the first few seconds of the video?
The clue is there - look at the board with all the flags on it. One of the 32 teams is the odd one out, and that's Rachel's pick for 2014. You'll need to know what flag is what, so you may consult the world's foremost authority on vexillology (or at least the funniest). Other than that you don't need any special knowledge, just good observational skills.
Think you've cracked it? Watch the video to see if you were right...
Teatime teaser: LENLINDA -> LANDLINE
Round 4: H T M R I O U C S
James: CUSTOM (6)
Geoff: CHORUS (6)
DC: SCROTUM (7) HUMORIST (8)
Score: 20–20 (max 34)
Only Chris Packham has got the balls to offer a seven here.
Round 5: E O D L S E T Z D
James: TODDLES (7)
Geoff: TODDLES (7)
Score: 27–27 (max 41)
Both our contestants still toddling along, this time with the only seven letter word there.
Round 6: 75, 10, 6, 8, 10, 3. Target: 759.
James: 759. 75*10+3+6 (10)
Geoff: 759. 75*10+3+6 (10)
Score: 37–37 (max 51)
Next.
Round 7: P B O S N A E R Q
James: BARONS (6)
Geoff: BONERS (6)
DC: PERSONA (7)
OT: BORANES (7)
Score: 43–43 (max 58)
BARONS and BONERS mean the contestants are still level. Susie defines BONER as an American English term for a stupid mistake. And that's definitely all it means.
Round 8: L S C I E T Y A E
James: LACIEST (7)
Geoff: CLEATS (6)
DC: ELASTIC (7)
OT: ACETYLS (7) CATSEYE (7) CELESTA (7) LATICES (7)
Score: 50–43 (max 65)
James gets a breakthrough by spotting one of the sevens, as Geoff can only see CLEATS.
Round 9: 75, 10, 1, 3, 6, 8. Target: 727.
James: 727. (75-3)*10+6+1 (10)
Geoff: 727. (75-3)*10+8-1 (10)
Score: 60–53 (max 75)
CECIL likes his 700s today. It's a bit less straightforward than the last numbers round, but both contestants brush it to one side with ease.
Teatime teaser: PAMHANTS -> PHANTASM
Round 10: S D F T I E A G S
James: FASTED (6)
Geoff: FASTED (6)
DC: DIGESTS (7) FIDGETS (7)
OT: AGEISTS (7) AGISTED (7) FIESTAS (7)
Score: 66–59 (max 82)
DC found a couple of sevens, but the chance for James to pull away or for Geoff to equalise goes begging. There's very little to decide between these players.
Round 11: I N P W O R A G M
James: WARPING (7)
Geoff: WORMING (7)
DC: ROMPING (7)
OT: PINWORM (7) PORANGI (7) RAMPING (7) RAMPION (7) ROAMING (7) WARMING (7)
Score: 73–66 (max 89)
James still clings on to his lead, but nobody is ROMPING to victory yet. One of the unspotted sevens was PORANGI, a New Zealand term for crazy.
Round 12: K O E D V A G R L
James: LODGER (6)
Geoff: GRAVEL (6)
DC: LARKED (6) GLOVER (6)
OT: GALORE (6) GAOLED (6) GAOLER (6) GLARED (6) GLOVED (6) GRAVED (6) GROVEL (6) LARGED (6) LOADER (6) LOVAGE (6) ORDEAL (6) RELOAD (6)
Score: 79–72 (max 95)
Both James and Geoff negotiate the pancake round with ease.
Round 13: N T E M R O X D E
James: RODENT (6)
Geoff: MENTORED (8)
DC: REMOTE (6) OXTER (5)
Score: 79–80 (max 103)
Just when we thought James was going to stay seven ahead for the rest of the game, Geoff pulls out the darrenic MENTORED to put him ahead for the first time. Susie finds OXTER, which is a Scots and Northern English dialect term for the armpit.
Round 14: 100, 3, 10, 2, 1, 4. Target: 272.
James: 272. (100-10)*3+2 (10)
Geoff: 272. Mistake in working.
Score: 89–80 (max 113)
This was unexpected. Geoff declared 272, did (100-3*2)*(4-1) and stopped, thinking he'd arrived at the target. That's 282, so in fact he ended up 10 away with a 10 left over. It could be a costly mistake, but it should also be noted that it was a good show of sportsmanship not to hastily subtract the 10 after realising his mistake.
So James leads by only 9 points going into the crucial conundrum...
Round 15: R E D V E L O U R
No one buzzes. The answer was OVERRULED.
Final Score: 89–80 (max 123)
It's left to a lady in the audience to win a Countdown mug for OVERRULED, but it's James Wall who will be in the champion's chair for the first episode of next series. It was an unlucky stroke for Geoff though, who played just as well as James overall but was scuppered by his boner in the last numbers game. Yes, I mean sense 1 of the noun. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=70