Monday June 15th 2015 (series 73, prelim 1)

[Andy McGurn]

Countdown recap for Monday 15 June 2015.

C1: Champion James Judge (3 wins, 262 points) James Judge- A retired voluntary worker from Cheshire who won the last three preliminary games of series 72.


C2: Challenger Rhys Benjamin. A sixth form student from Harrow who completed the tube challenge at the age of fourteen in a time of 17 hours, 18 minutes and 18 seconds. I played Rhys at this years COLIN, certainly a memorable character.


DC: Susie Dent and Colin Murray.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: H K A N I T R E S
R02: L R S I O U P E I
R03: 3, 7, 10, 1, 9, 25. Target: 686.
TTT: MORERAYS - "the two ladies names come together to make one"
R04: B T N A E I F C S
R05: T A D M U T R E H
R06: 4, 9, 25, 50, 75, 100. Target: 763.
R07: N S O Q G E P I R
R08: N T R U A O G E R
R09: 3, 2, 9, 10, 7, 50. Target: 791.
TTT: NAMEITEM - "the intervening period in Greenwich perhaps"
R10: C P S A I E J A T
R11: Y N O R N U R T A
R12: D L B E O U V I A
R13: M I F G O S E M V
R14: 6, 2, 25, 75, 100, 50. Target: 455.
R15: G A D W I N N E R (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: H K A N I T R E S

James: RANKEST (7)
Rhys: RETAINS (7)
DC: RETHINKS (8) HAIRNETS (8) NARKIEST (8)
OT: INEARTHS (8) THERIANS (8) THINKERS (8)
Score: 7–7 (max 8)

Rhys maybe the first apterite on the show not to know the RETAINS stem. Whilst stemming is not considered a great tactic, almost everyone knows RETAINS.



Round 2: L R S I O U P E I

James: PRISE (5)
Rhys: PILES (5)
DC: PERILOUS (8)
Score: 12–12 (max 16)

Neither contestant impresses here as its just fives when there was a pretty common eight available


Round 3: 3, 7, 10, 1, 9, 25. Target: 686.

James: 690. (((1+3)*7)*25)-10 (7)
Rhys: 690. (((1+3)*7)*25)-10 (7)
RR: 686. ((3*9)*25)+10+1 (10)
Score: 19–19 (max 26)


Rhys looked to be scribbling frantically throughout the clock. The end result is that both are four away and Rachael is needed to get it spot on.


Teatime teaser: MORERAYS -> ROSEMARY

Round 4: B T N A E I F C S

James: FANCIEST (8)
Rhys: FAINTS (6)
DC: CABINETS (8)
OT: BASCINET (8)
Score: 27–19 (max 34)

First lead goes to James with FANCIEST. In DC Colin spots Benfica, its not in the dictionary but he uses this to share a fact about Eusebio who apparently carried tobasco sauce wherever he went.



Round 5: T A D M U T R E H

James: MATTER (6)
Rhys: MUTATED (7)
OT: MATURED (7)
Score: 27–26 (max 41)

Rhys wins his first round of the day with his first max and cuts James’s lead to a single point


Round 6: 4, 9, 25, 50, 75, 100. Target: 763.

James: 767. ((75*9)+100)-((50/25)*4) (7)
Rhys: 761. Mistake in working.
RR: 763. (100+9)*((75/25)+4) (10)
Score: 34–26 (max 51)

Rhys goes for the common apterite pick of four large, but he messes up his method for two away and it gives James back his eight point lead. Rachel demonstrates that this was not a difficult one.


DC Guest – Colin talks about a time when Paulo Di Canio sportingly picked up the ball during a West Ham/ Everton match instead of shooting at an open goal when the Goalie was down injured. Then interviewing him a few years later Di Canio told Murray he would be annoyed if a player he was managing did the same.


Round 7: N S O Q G E P I R

James: SPONGIER (8)
Rhys: PONGIER (7)
DC: REPOSING (8)
Score: 42–26 (max 59)

Sportingly Rhys applauds his opponents word, which is especially good as Rhys himself is surely disappointed as he just didn’t notice he could’ve added the S to the start of his word to get the max.


Round 8: N T R U A O G E R

James: OUTRAGE (7)
Rhys: OUTRAGE (7)
DC: GRUNTER (7) GROANER (7) OUTRANGE (8)
Score: 49–33 (max 67)

Second round in a row that Rhys could have just added one letter to his word to get the max.



Round 9: 3, 2, 9, 10, 7, 50. Target: 791.

James: 792.
Rhys: 791. ((9+7)*50)-10-(3-2) (10)
Score: 49–43 (max 77)

Rhys maxes a numbers round for the first time and keeps himself in the game as he cuts James’s lead to six points.


Teatime teaser: NAMEITEM -> MEANTIME

Round 10: C P S A I E J A T

James: PACIEST (7)
Rhys: capitas
OT: ASEPTIC (7)
Score: 56–43 (max 84)

James gets the max with PACIEST but Rhys’s word is disallowed, and he slips to a double digit deficit again after having just got back to within striking distance.


Round 11: Y N O R N U R T A

James: TARRY (5)
Rhys: TANNOY (6)
OT: NATRON (6) NONARY (6) NOTARY (6) OUTRAN (6) ROTARY (6) TRANNY (6) TURRON (6)
Score: 56–49 (max 90)

Its like the game has been up, down, up down for Rhys but its definitely an up in this round as he spots the word that, we hear, Susie thought neither contestant would get.


OoW – Susie talks about the origins of the word ANECDOTE which stems from ancient Roman times


Round 12: D L B E O U V I A

James: DOUBLE (6)
Rhys: BAILED (6)
DC: VOIDABLE (8)
Score: 62–55 (max 98)

The game remains in the balance as the contestants match each other.


Round 13: M I F G O S E M V

James: FOGIES (6)
Rhys: FOGIES (6)
DC: MOVIES (6) EGOISM (6)
OT: GIMMES (6) MIMEOS (6) OGIVES (6)
Score: 68–61 (max 104)

James declares first and says 6, leading Rhys to say he’ll have to try a six. It turns out they have the same word. If Rhys had declared first here he may have only said five, but as it is the game stays close.


Round 14: 6, 2, 25, 75, 100, 50. Target: 455.

James: 453.
Rhys: 456. ((100+50+75)*2)+6 (7)
OT: 455. (75*6)+(((100+25)*2)/50) (10)
Score: 68–68 (max 114)

Surprising four large choice by Rhys given the score, but he is the nearer of the two and pulls level as we reach the final round. Rachael misses the solution as well.

Its been an exciting and close start to the series. With the scores level lets see who can get the conundrum and the first win of the series.


Round 15: G A D W I N N E R

Rhys buzzes on 6 seconds to say WANDERING which is correct.
Final Score: 68–78 (max 124)


An it’s well done to Rhys who takes the day with the conundrum spot. That’s the second great result for him in little more than a month.

WANDERING was actually the third conundrum of the game but neither Rhys nor James managed to spot the other two which were both edited out.

Rhys was a bit up and down today but settling into the studio is tough, if he can become a bit more consistent he has chances to win a few games.

This is the only countdown this week so I’ll be recapping Rhys again on Monday of next week. Good luck mate (I know its already been recorded so retro good luck).

Hope this is another good series.



Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=73

[Andy McGurn]

The recap is now edited to mention the fact that there were three conundrums in the game.

[Gavin Chipper]

WANDERING was actually the third conundrum of the game but neither Rhys nor James managed to spot the other two which were both edited out.

BOLDPAPER -> DROPPABLE
HONEYPLOX -> XYLOPHONE

(No-one buzzed either time.)