Quite a nice little mention of the brilliant Dudley Doolittle, the warmup man for the last 18 years, who is retiring after this show.
(Nice also to see him and a shot of the audience including Zarte, Matty and Liam Shaw amongst others... )Countdown recap for Friday 21 December 2018.
C1: #1 Seed Martin "The Adlington Arrow" May (10 wins, 1,047 points.) A restaurant deputy manager from Adlington, Lancashire. He defeated #5 seed Tony Manwani 93-83 in his semi-final on Wednesday.
C2: #2 Seed Mike "The Hull Hammer" Daysley (10 wins, 987 points.) A restaurant deputy manager from Adlington, Lancashire. He defeated #6 seed Alan Duval 97-69 in his semi-final yesterday.
DC: Susie Dent and Phill Jupitus.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: R K X O E S T D U
R02: T C A I B M S A U
R03: 9, 6, 3, 4, 3, 1. Target: 584.
TTT: BADNUANCE - "It sounds like a large quantity of cakes had a disco."
R04: W F E O J V E S T
R05: I A I D S Q O S W
R06: 75, 7, 3, 3, 7, 1. Target: 306.
R07: E I D H S O P R C
R08: L R E I M D N A U
R09: 3, 6, 1, 7, 3, 7. Target: 518.
TTT: ACTAGEIST - "He would act in an ageist way towards his elders, and they'd severely reprimand him for it."
R10: Y R E I N R G A T
R11: S L R M E O I E A
R12: G T U O H R L A U
R13: V G N E O P D A N
R14: 50, 25, 6, 4, 3, 7. Target: 458.
R15: P H O T O F O R M (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: R K X O E S T D U
Martin: DETOURS (7)
Mike: ROUSTED (7)
DC: DUSTER (6) REDUX (5) DEXTROUS (8)
Score: 7–7 (max 8)
A couple of nice 7's here to start, while DC get the darrenic 8.
Round 2: T C A I B M S A U
Martin: MASTIC (6)
Mike: AUTISM (6)
DC: BASIC (5) AMBITS (6) BASMATI (7)
OT: ABACIST (7) CUMBIAS (7) MASTICA (7) MITSUBA (7) SAMBUCA (7) SUTIABA (7) TAMASIC (7)
Score: 13–13 (max 15)
Quite a lot of unusual 7's here, although DC go very nicey ricey with their pick of the bunch.
An ABACIST is a person who makes calculations using an abacus.
A CUMBIA is a dance to the cumbia, a kind of dance music of Colombian origin, similar to salsa.
MASTICA is an alcoholic liquor made from grain spirit or brandy flavoured with mastic gum, produced in Greece and elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean.
MITSUBA is a Japanese honewort, a small leafy perennial herb (Cryptotaenia japonica).
A SUITABA is a member of an American Indian people of western Nicaragua.
Round 3: 9, 6, 3, 4, 3, 1. Target: 584.
Martin: -
Mike: -
RR: 585. (7)
OT: 585. (6 - 1) x 9 x ((3 x 3) + 4) (7)
Score: 13–13 (max 22)
Martin goes for 6 small to try and get an advantage, but it doesn't do good for either in this impossible one....
Teatime teaser: BADNUANCE -> ABUNDANCE
Round 4: W F E O J V E S T
Martin: FEWEST (6)
Mike: FEWEST (6)
OT: VETOES (6)
Score: 19–19 (max 28)
The first maxes for the finalists come with the FEWEST being available...
Round 5: I A I D S Q O S W
Martin: QADIS (5)
Mike: SODAS (5)
DC: WADIS (5) OASIS (5)
OT: ADIOS (5) AIDOS (5) DOSAI (5) DOSAS (5) OIDIA (5) OSSIA (5) SIDAS (5)
Score: 24–24 (max 33)
These letters aren't being kind to the finalists so far...
AIDOS is the ancient Greek concept of shame, modesty, or reverence, especially as a motivating force.
In southern Indian cooking, a DOSA is a pancake made from rice flour and ground pulses, typically served with a spiced vegetable filling.
A SIDA is a plant of the mallow family, native to tropical and warm regions.
Round 6: 75, 7, 3, 3, 7, 1. Target: 306.
Martin: 306. ((7 - 3) x 75) + 7 - 1 (10)
Mike: 306. ((7 - 3) x 75) + 7 - 1 (10)
Score: 34–34 (max 43)
That's much better.
Phill does a poem which he dedicates to his former Never Mind The Buzzcocks teammate, Noel Fielding (who apparently watches Countdown regularly too.
Round 7: E I D H S O P R C
Martin: PRICED (6)
Mike: scopier
DC: COPIERS (7) CHIDES (6) PORCHES (7) SPHEROID (8)
OT: PERCOIDS (8)
Score: 40–34 (max 51)
Martin takes the lead, as both struggle, but Mike's declaration isn't in...
A PERCOID is a fish of a large group that includes the perches, basses, jacks, snappers, grunts, sea breams, and drums.
Round 8: L R E I M D N A U
Martin: UNMAILED (8)
Mike: UNMAILED (8)
DC: MAUNDER (7) MAUDLIN (7) UNRAILED (8)
OT: MUDARINE (8) MURAENID (8)
Score: 48–42 (max 59)
Definitely nerves coming out here, as both are dubious with their 8, but it's all fine.
MUDARINE is a bitter poisonous alkaloid present in the root-bark of mudar.
A MURAENID is a fish of the family Muraenidae; a moray eel.
Round 9: 3, 6, 1, 7, 3, 7. Target: 518.
Martin: 511.
Mike: 520. ((7 x 7) + 3) x (6 + 1 + 3) (7)
RR: 518. (((3 + 3) x 6) + 1) x (7 + 7) (10)
Score: 48–49 (max 69)
Martin tries to get a bigger lead with 6 small, but it backfires, and Mike gets the lead by a single point...
Teatime teaser: ACTAGEIST -> CASTIGATE
Round 10: Y R E I N R G A T
Martin: TARRYING (8)
Mike: REARING (7)
OT: RERATING (8) RETRYING (8)
Score: 56–49 (max 77)
Round 11: S L R M E O I E A
Martin: MORALISE (8)
Mike: MAILERS (7)
DC: MEASLIER (8)
OT: EMAILERS (8)
Score: 64–49 (max 85)
A brilliant double 8 from Martin sees his 1 point deficit swing to a 15 point lead
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of phrases to do with "five".
Round 12: G T U O H R L A U
Martin: RAGOUT (6)
Mike: OUTHAUL (7)
DC: laughtour OUTLAUGH (8)
OT: TURLOUGH (8)
Score: 64–56 (max 93)
Well, is the final back in the balance again....
A brilliant 7 gets Mike back into the match... Round 13: V G N E O P D A N
Martin: PANNED (6)
Mike: PANNED (6)
DC: PANGED (6) PONGED (6) PONDAGE (7)
OT: DOGVANE (7)
Score: 70–62 (max 100)
Well, this round was PANNED, wasn't it...
A DOGVANE is a small, light vane of thread, cork, and feathers, placed on a gunwale or shroud to indicate the direction of the wind.
Round 14: 50, 25, 6, 4, 3, 7. Target: 458.
Martin: 458. ((50 + 25) x 6) + 4 - 3 + 7 (10)
Mike: 458. ((50 + 25) x 6) + 4 - 3 + 7 (10)
Score: 80–72 (max 110)
Mike plays safe with 1 large, and after just getting it inside the 30 seconds, we now have ourselves a crucial conundrum for the THIRD series final in a row
Round 15: P H O T O F O R M
Mike buzzes on 6.5 seconds to say MOTHPROOF which is correct.
Final Score: 80–82 (max 120)
WOAH
After only being in the lead for a single round (and by a single point, no less), Mike comes in with the goods when it matters, and becomes the SERIES 79 CHAMPION!!! It was certainly very tense at times, just when it looked like Martin was going to pull away, Mike came back strongly thanks to OUTHAUL, and then got the conundrum to seal the deal.
So, that means that Countdown has finished for another year, and we congratulate our 2 new series champions, Zarte Siempre and Mike Daysley.
And the show will return on Wednesday 2 January, where Zarte and 15 other contestants from Series 73-78 will return for the Champion of Champions XV tournament
If it's anything like the last CoC, then we're in for a right royal blast So, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I'll see you on 2 January 2019!!
BYE FOR NOW!!!
Statistics Corner
Martin:
Total score - 80
Raw score - 91
Total % of max - 67
Raw % of max - 76
Total average score per round - 5.3
Raw average score per round - 6.1
Number of maxes - 7
Mike:
Total score - 82
Raw score - 96
Total % of max - 68
Raw % of max - 80
Total average score per round - 5.5
Raw average score per round - 6.4
Number of maxes - 6
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=79