Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Monday 13 June 2016.
C1: #2 Seed Robin "The Basingstoke Bulwark" McKay (8 wins, 888 points.) An Apteforumite from Basingstoke, Hampshire.
C2: #7 Seed Sean "The Cork Crusader" Cooke (5 wins, 541 points.) A mechanical engineer from Cork, Republic of Ireland. Sean also mentions how he nearly caused an international incident at Manchester Airport after he left the show last time, as his paperweight clock from his goody bag was nearly confiscated off him for being a bomb
DC: Susie Dent and Richard Madeley.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: G U R O S I C E S
R02: D R L A I H O A X
R03: 25, 10, 2, 2, 7, 7. Target: 304.
TTT: LASHGREG - "Do they try and negotiate a better price for Marvin's gloves?"
R04: P T L R O E U D I
R05: S A N E R I B O U
R06: 75, 25, 100, 50, 5, 5. Target: 852.
R07: D I H E F I N A V
R08: G S T S U O E N I
R09: 75, 6, 4, 8, 8, 9. Target: 248.
TTT: CLADWEED - "This pussy's definitely not up to scratch."
R10: T P L T F A I E S
R11: P A L U G O R A W
R12: R M V T I O E U M
R13: N A C O T E P I K
R14: 25, 75, 50, 9, 2, 7. Target: 675.
R15: T A N T A N E L A (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: G U R O S I C E S
Robin: SCOURGES (8)
Sean: SOURCES (7)
DC: GROUSES (7) SERIOUS (7)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)
A fantastic darrenic 8 from Robin to begin today's game.
Round 2: D R L A I H O A X
Robin: HAIRDO (6)
Sean: RADIAL (6)
DC: LAIRD (5) DAHLIA (6)
OT: ADORAL (6) ADOXAL (6) HIROLA (6)
Score: 14–6 (max 14)
Some interesting 6's all round here.
ADOXAL is a rare term meaning absurd or illogical.
Round 3: 25, 10, 2, 2, 7, 7. Target: 304.
Robin: 303. ((10 + 2) x 25) + 2 + (7 / 7) (7)
Sean: 304. Mistake in working.
RR: 304. ((25 + 7) x 10) - (7 x 2) - 2 (10)
Score: 21–6 (max 24)
Oh dear, Sean messes up his working, letting Robin pull further clear...
Teatime teaser: LASHGREG -> HAGGLERS
Round 4: P T L R O E U D I
Robin: DIOPTRE (7)
Sean: TRIPLED (7)
DC: TRIED (5) POLITER (7) PLOUTED (7)
OT: DILUTER (7) DROPLET (7) ETOURDI (7) EUPLOID (7) LEPROID (7) OUTLIED (7) OUTLIER (7) OUTRIDE (7) PELTOID (7) PERIDOT (7) PETROIL (7) PILOTED (7) PLOITED (7) PLOUTER (7) POITREL (7) POULTED (7) POULTER (7) POUTIER (7) PROTEID (7) PROTIDE (7) PTEROID (7) RIDEOUT (7)
Score: 28–13 (max 31)
7's everywhere you see here....
An ÉTOURDI is a thoughtless, irresponsible, or foolish person (especially a man); a scatterbrain.
EUPLOID is an adjective meaning having an equal number of all the chromosomes of the haploid set.
PELTOID is an adjective meaning resembling a pelta, shield or a peltate leaf.
PETROIL is petrol to which has been added a small proportion of oil, used as a combined fuel and lubricant in some two-stroke engines.
POITREL (or PEYTRAL) is a piece of armour to protect the breast of a horse.
A PROTEID (or PROTEIDE) is a proteinaceous substance, a protein. Also: a protein combined with a sugar, phosphate, metal, or other atom or group.
PTEROID is an adjective meaning having the characteristics of a fern of the genus Pteris or the family Pteridaceae.
Round 5: S A N E R I B O U
Robin: URBANISE (8)
Sean: URBANISE (8)
DC: brainer BARONIES (8)
OT: BRUNOISE (8)
Score: 36–21 (max 39)
Great 8's by both players here.
BRUNOISE is a mixture of finely diced vegetables fried in butter and used to flavour soups and sauces.
Round 6: 75, 25, 100, 50, 5, 5. Target: 852.
Robin: 850. ((100 + 75) x 5) - 25 (7)
Sean: 850. ((100 + 50) x 5) + 75 + 25 (7)
RR: 852. ((5 + 5) x 75) + 100 + (50 / 25) (10)
Score: 43–28 (max 49)
A 4 large attempt from Sean, which maintains the status quo, thanks to both players being 2 away.
Richard talks about the legend about Jesus possibly visiting Cornwall.
Round 7: D I H E F I N A V
Robin: INVADE (6)
Sean: INVADE (6)
OT: AVIDIN (6) DIVINE (6)
Score: 49–34 (max 55)
Time for both players to INVADE
AVIDIN is a protein found in raw egg white, which combines with biotin and hinders its absorption.
Round 8: G S T S U O E N I
Robin: timeous
Sean: songiest
DC: STINGS (6) SUNSET (6) TONGUES (7)
OT: GOUTINESS (18)
Score: 49–34 (max 73)
Double oh dear, Robin mishears the N as an M, so gives a word that's unavailable, and Sean's guess is wide of the mark, and just to rub salt into the wound even further, there was even a 9 hidden in there too
Round 9: 75, 6, 4, 8, 8, 9. Target: 248.
Robin: 248. ((75 - 9) x 4) - (8 + 8) (10)
Sean: 249.
Score: 59–34 (max 83)
Robin pulls further clear again thanks to the deceptive looking numbers.
Teatime teaser: CLADWEED -> DECLAWED
Round 10: T P L T F A I E S
Robin: FLEAPITS (8)
Sean: FLEAPITS (8)
DC: FATTIES (7)
OT: FLATTIES (8)
Score: 67–42 (max 91)
Round 11: P A L U G O R A W
Robin: GOPURA (6)
Sean: GOPURA (6)
DC: AGORA (5)
OT: PARALOG (7) POLUGAR (7)
Score: 73–48 (max 98)
Double great words by both Robin and Sean. This game's not quite over yet......
In experimental linguistics, a PARALOG is a short verbal unit formed in accordance with the phonotactic and morphological systems of a particular language, used to test associations of sounds with meanings, etc.
In South India, a POLYGAR (or POLIGAR or POLUGAR) is the holder of a pollam or estate; a subordinate chief.
Susie's Origins of Words talks about the origins of some musical instruments.
Round 12: R M V T I O E U M
Robin: VOMITER (7)
Sean: REVOMIT (7)
DC: MITRE (5) MUTER (5) VOMIT (5)
Score: 80–55 (max 105)
Yuck....... Moving swiftly on...
Round 13: N A C O T E P I K
Robin: CAPTION (7)
Sean: PACTION (7)
DC: PICANTE (7)
OT: ACETOIN (7) ACONITE (7) APNOEIC (7) CAPITON (7) KENOTIC (7) KETONIC (7) NEPOTIC (7) OPACITE (7) PAEONIC (7) PATONCE (7) PENTOIC (7) PICONET (7)
Score: 87–62 (max 112)
Those 7's seal Robin's passage to the semi-finals, time just ran out for Sean here.
ACETOIN is a pale yellow to colourless liquid which solidifies just below room temperature and which gives butter its characteristic aroma.
Systematic name: 3-hydroxybutan-2-one; CH3C(O)CH(OH)CH3
CAPITON is a silk or linen flock.
PENTOIC is an adjective meaning denoting saturated fatty acids containing five carbon atoms in the molecule.
A PICONET is a small network consisting of between two or more (and typically no more than eight) computing or telecommunications devices or peripherals while these are interconnected using short-range radio technology such as Bluetooth.
Round 14: 25, 75, 50, 9, 2, 7. Target: 675.
Robin: 675. 9 x 75 (10)
Sean: 675. 9 x 75 (10)
Score: 97–72 (max 122)
NEXT
Round 15: T A N T A N E L A
Robin buzzes on 23.75 seconds to say ANTENATAL which is correct.
Final Score: 107–72 (max 132)
A super impressive spot by Robin to get him another century to add to his collection. Sean put up a great fight, but he didn't quite have the penetration to close in on Robin today.
So, Robin will be back in 10 days time for his semi-final, which will be against the winner of the next match, the #3 seed, Ann Dibben, or the #6 seed, Tim Down, who will play a week today, as this is the only Countdown this week, thanks to Royal Ascot.
Sean will be with you for that, but for now, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Robin:
Total score - 107
Raw score - 107
Total % of max - 81
Raw % of max - 81
Total average score per round - 7.1
Raw average score per round - 7.1
Number of maxes - 11
Sean:
Total score - 72
Raw score - 86
Total % of max - 55
Raw % of max - 65
Total average score per round - 4.8
Raw average score per round - 5.7
Number of maxes - 8
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=74