Tuesday 9th December, S59 QF4

[Dinos Sfyris]

Countdown recap for Tuesday 9 December 2008.

C1: Champion Kai Laddiman, Seed 4 (8 wins, 756 points, 8/8 conundrums.)
C2: Champion Debbi Flack, Seed 5 (6 wins, 600 points, 2/7 conundrums)
DC: Susie Dent and Jo Brand.
CV: Carol Vorderman.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: R R A O S L A I F
R02: M R L E A I R S O
R03: E N G I R K N A E
R04: R W D O A M C O E
R05: 25, 100, 9, 5, 9, 3. Target: 834.
TTT: NAMESLUR - "Caesar's way of counting his exes maybe."
R06: N S N Z A E U T D
R07: T Y P E N O I B S
R08: E A T R Q E A S P
R09: E A T G I T H E S
R10: 25, 75, 2, 1, 5, 5. Target: 947.
TTT: LOVERREV - "It spins like a record label"
R11: J E S L I N O S I
R12: F N T I E D D O E
R13: C P O U C D H A E
R14: 25, 50, 8, 9, 4, 2. Target: 277.
R15: C L A S S R I D E (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: R R A O S L A I F

C1: FOILS (5)
C2: SOLAR (5)
DC: SOLARIA (7)
OT: ROSARIA (7) SAILOR (6)
Score: 5–5 (max 7)

SOLARIA is the plural of SOLARIUM

Round 2: M R L E A I R S O

C1: MORALISE (8)
C2: MORALISE (8)
DC: MORALISER (18) Unrisked by (I presume) both our players!
Score: 13–13 (max 25)

Round 3: E N G I R K N A E

C1: RANKING (7)
C2: NEARING (7)
DC: ginreak (it begins) REEKING (7) KNEEING (7)
OT: EARNING (7) ENGRAIN (7) GRANNIE (7) KEENING (7) KERNING (7) NARKING (7)
Score: 20–20 (max 32)

Round 4: R W D O A M C O E

C1: CROWED (6)
C2: CAROMED (7)
OT: CAMWOOD (7) COMRADE (7) MERCADO (7) (KB) WOOMERA (7)
Score: 20–27 (max 39)

First blood to Debbi here.
COMRADE/MERCADO are useful anagrams of the billiards term CAROMED (Des: Wah!?) as they are pluralisable.

Round 5: 25, 100, 9, 5, 9, 3. Target: 834.

C1: 834. 100x9-3x25+9 (10)
C2: 834. 100x9-3x25+9 (10)
Score: 30–37 (max 49)

Teatime teaser: NAMESLUR -> NUMERALS

Round 6: N S N Z A E U T D

C1: STUNNED (7)
C2: DAUNTS (6)
DC: SUNDAE (6)
OT: DUENNAS (7) (Me!)
Score: 37–37 (max 56)

And Kai draws level. Exciting stuff!

Round 7: T Y P E N O I B S ok NOIBS, there

C1: BONIEST (7)
C2: OBESITY (7)
DC: nobesity (ok this one was quite funny)
OT: BIOTYPES (8) (PM) impressive spot here!
Score: 44–44 (max 64)

Round 8: E A T R Q E A S P

C1: AERATES (7)
C2: REPEATS (7)
DC: pasteear SEPARATE (8)
Score: 51–51 (max 72)

Our two champions are still level-pegging!

Round 9: E A T G I T H E S

C1: ATHEIST (7)
C2: EIGHTS (6)
DC: HESITATE (8) GESTATE (7)
Score: 58–51 (max 80)

A great 7 from Kai puts him ahead in the game.

Round 10: 25, 75, 2, 1, 5, 5. Target: 947.

C1: 949. (75+1)/2x25-5/5 (7)
C2: -
CV: 948. not explained (7)
OT: 947. (75x25-1)/2+5+5 (10) According to the numbers solver this game is in the top percentile of hardest games to solve!
Score: 65–51 (max 90)

Teatime teaser: LOVERREV -> REVOLVER

Round 11: J E S L I N O S I

C1: INSOLES (7)
C2: OILINESS (8)
DC: JO (2)
OT: ELISIONS (8) (PR) ISOLINES (8) LIONISES (8) (KB and me)
Score: 65–59 (max 98)

Round 12: F N T I E D D O E

C1: DENTED (6)
C2: FEINTED (7)
DC: DEFINED (7)
OT: DENOTED (7) (PJ)
Score: 65–66 (max 105)

Round 13: C P O U C D H A E

C1: POACHED (7)
C2: POACHED (7)
DC: (co)POUCHED (7)
OT: COACHED (7) COUCHED (7) PACHUCO (7)
Score: 72–73 (max 112)

And Debbi steals back the lead again...

Round 14: 25, 50, 8, 9, 4, 2. Target: 277.

C1: 277. (9-4)x50+25+2 (10)
C2: -
Score: 82–73 (max 122)

...Only to lose it on a pretty easy numbers. There were in fact 43 solutions and you missed them all Debbi! Including the rather intuitive 9x25+50+2.

Round 15: C L A S S R I D E

No one buzzes. The answer is LASERDISC.
Score: 82–73 (max 132)

Quite possibly the most difficult conundrum of all time. In fact this one even cropped up on the Countdown Calendar a few weeks back which I remembered from the scramble but still couldn't solve! Kai heads into the semis against number 1 seed Charlie Reams tomorrow...

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=59

[Joseph Bolas]

Round 15: C L A S S R I D E

C1 buzzes to say LASERDISC which is correct.
Score: 92–73 (max 132)

Quite possibly the most difficult conundrum of all time. In fact this one even cropped up on the Countdown Calendar a few weeks back which I remembered from the scramble but still couldn't solve!

Sorry for sounding pedantic, but you've put this as Kai getting the conundrum, thus adding 10 extra points onto his overall score.

[Kai Laddiman]

Round 15: C L A S S R I D E

C1 buzzes to say LASERDISC which is correct.
Score: 92–73 (max 132)

Quite possibly the most difficult conundrum of all time. In fact this one even cropped up on the Countdown Calendar a few weeks back which I remembered from the scramble but still couldn't solve!

Sorry for sounding pedantic, but you've put this as Kai getting the conundrum, thus adding 10 extra points onto his overall score.

I lol'd at that!

[Dinos Sfyris]

OOPS. Thats a major mistake and not just pedantry! Sorry Kai I'm taking the points away again!

[Howard Somerset]

Great recap, Dinos.

Still gotta insert a bit of chatty blurb later so dont read it yet for full effect of the whole recap will be wasted upon you!

Does this mean that there's even more bits of chatty blurb to come?

C2: Champion Debbi Flack, Seed 5 (... 2/7 conundrums IIRC.)

YRC. They were in her first and final games in the heats.

[Michael Wallace]

Round 11 - is JO really not allowed? I know it is in Scrabble, but a) can't be bothered to check my Countdown dictionary, and ii) can't remember if your words have to be at least 3 letters long.

[Ben Wilson]

Jo is fine, as are 2-letter words and, indeed, 1-letter 'words'.

[Dinos Sfyris]

Thanks Howard, I was gonna add a bit more background to the contestants but then had to go to a lecture (which I ended up not going to!) Reeeeally can't be bothered now and I suspect everyone's more interested in the final anyway.

Yes I thought JO might be valid, but couldn't be arsed checking for the sake of a 2 point word.

[Kai Laddiman]

ANFSCD. Just a little note to Charlie: the description of this forum says The Countdown Databasel.

[Charlie Reams]

ANFSCD. Just a little note to Charlie: the description of this forum says The Countdown Databasel.

It's been that way for ages, and I'm quite attached to it now.