Friday 23 January 2009-C of C XIII Q Final 2

[Allan Harmer]

Countdown recap for Friday 23 January 2009.

Here is the eagerly awaited Varsity rematch between Series 59 Champion Junaid and Runner Up Charlie, the two PhD students. Junaid is studying Maths at Oxford and Charlie Computer Science at Cambridge.

The two both have impressive records, both averaging 98. Their Final was too close to call and Jeff reminds us that DoD was unbeaten on 12 wins prior to his defeat by Steve Briers yesterday.

Jeff speculates if that could be an omen for this match so let's find out what happened in this Heavyweight contest.

C1: Champion Junaid Mubeen (12 wins, 1178 points.)
C2: Champion Charlie Reams (11 wins, 1170 points.)
DC: Susie Dent and Alistair Stewart.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: L S R C O A I A E
R02: S R S C I A E I Z
R03: S Y R S E E O M S
R04: J T L T I O E P H
R05: 5, 3, 7, 1, 6, 2. Target: 400.
TTT: SOLARSPA - "They might come in handy at a solar spa"
R06: S M R M I O E A T
R07: D N W S I A I A U
R08: K N T H O E U I G
R09: F N D T E A E I A
R10: 8, 1, 5, 3, 5, 75. Target: 321.
TTT: HEATSPAN - "Must be cooking something up"
R11: L F D V O I O A N
R12: B B R G E U E N X
R13: D C N D U E O I A
R14: 1, 5, 8, 3, 4, 50. Target: 209.
R15: L E G A L S I R S (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

Charlie gets in another cheeky plug for C4COUNTDOWN and Jeff advises us tongue in cheek (in Charlie's words) 'Let the grudge match begin' and we are off and running.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: L S R C O A I A E

C1: CALORIES (8)
C2: CARIOLES (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)

Round 2: S R S C I A E I Z

C1: SCARES (6)
C2: CRAZIES (7)
DC: CRISIS (6)
OT: CISSIER (7)
Score: 8–15 (max 15)

Charlie takes an early lead in the opening exchanges with a good spot in a tricky selection.

Round 3: S Y R S E E O M S

C1: messers
C2: messers
DC: MESSY (5)
OT: MESSES (6) MOSEYS (6) MOSSES (6) YESSES (6)
Score: 8–15 (max 21)

Both players take a chance on MESSERS and come unstuck. Then Dictionary Corner fails to spot MESSES despite getting MESSY

Round 4: J T L T I O E P H

C1: HOPLITE (7)
C2: HOPLITE (7)
Score: 15–22 (max 28)

HOPLITE is a good Countdown word and well spotted by both contestants. It is a heavily armed Greek soldier.

Round 5: 5, 3, 7, 1, 6, 2. Target: 400.

C1: 400. 7X6=42-2=40X(3-1)=80X5 (10)
C2: 400. 7X3=21-1=20X((6-2)X5) (10)
Score: 25–32 (max 38)

Teatime teaser: SOLARSPA -> PARASOLS

Round 6: S M R M I O E A T

C1: AMORTISE (8)
C2: MARMOSET (8)
DC: ATOMISER (8)
OT: MARMITES (8)
Score: 33–40 (max 46)

Round 7: D N W S I A I A U

C1: UNSAID (6)
C2: NAIADS (6)
OT: INDUSIA (7)
Score: 39–46 (max 53)

Indusia is a botanical term meaning 'An enclosing membrane, as that covering the sorus of a fern' I am surprised that no one got that!!

Round 8: K N T H O E U I G

C1: noughtie
C2: KNIGHT (6)
DC: TOUGHEN (7)
OT: HOUTING (7) TOUGHIE (7)
Score: 39–52 (max 60)

An excellent try by Junaid but unfortunately NOUGHTIE is only allowed in the plural so Charlie takes a double digit lead.

Round 9: F N D T E A E I A

C1: DEFIANT (7)
C2: FAINTED (7)
DC: FEINTED (7)
OT: TAENIAE (7)
Score: 46–59 (max 67)

TAENIAE is a narrow band or ribbon for the hair that was worn in ancient Greece

Round 10: 8, 1, 5, 3, 5, 75. Target: 321.

C1: 321. 75-8-3=64X5=320+1 (10)
C2: 320.
Score: 56–59 (max 77)

A tricky numbers selection which brings Junaid's maths expertise to the fore and he reduces the lead to 3 points.

Alistair Stewart (Is it me? but I find him impossibly pompous) compliments the skill of the CD competitors this week and tells us how he will have to get back to his day job as a newsreader after CD. He then gives us an amusing insight as to what newsreaders say to each other when the mic. goes down.
Firstly, he advises us that Reggie Bosanquet used to say to Anna Ford things like 'Your place or mine?'
Then he recalls the time he told Katie Derham how clever, beautiful, stunning and sexy she is and she advised him that her husband is a good lip reader!
Jeff then bemoans the dreaded autocue and relates the tale of a colleague who announced that Nick Faldo had 'Bog Eyed' the last (bogied).

Teatime teaser: HEATSPAN -> PHEASANT

Round 11: L F D V O I O A N

C1: DOLINA (6)
C2: DOLINA (6)
DC: VINDALOO (8)
OT: FLAVONOID (18)
Score: 62–65 (max 95)

FLAVONOIDS is a biological term referring to a class of plant secondary metabolites - and no one got it. tut tut!

Round 12: B B R G E U E N X

C1: GREEN (5)
C2: BUNGEE (6)
DC: BURGEE (6)
OT: BERGEN (6) GUBBER (6)
Score: 62–71 (max 101)

Charlie extends his lead to 9 with a good spot in BUNGEE in yet another tricky selection.

I recall that my dad had to carry a 40lb BERGEN (large rucksack with a frame) on military exercises with the SAS when he was in the TA.

Round 13: D C N D U E O I A

C1: INDUCED (7)
C2: CANDIED (7)
OT: DECIDUA (7) DUODENA (7) UNAIDED (7)
Score: 69–78 (max 108)

Susie tells us briefly about the origins of the phrase 'Taking the biscuit' as we build up to the climax of this titanic encounter.

Round 14: 1, 5, 8, 3, 4, 50. Target: 209.

C1: 209. 4X50=200+8+1 (10)
C2: 209. 4X50=200+8+1 (10)
Score: 79–88 (max 118)

Round 15: L E G A L S I R S

C1 buzzes on 29 seconds to say GRISSALES which is incorrect.
C2 buzzes on 29 seconds to say NOTHING which is incorrect.
The answer was SALESGIRL.
Score: 79–88 (max 128)

Wow! An extremely difficult Conundrum to finish with and Charlie hangs on to his lead to come out a worthy winner for the 'Light Blues' this time.

Charlie looked very relaxed today and from Round 2 always held the advantage. Junaid never let him get that far ahead and it went right down to the wire again.

Congratulations to Charlie and Junaid for producing another excellent match following yesterday's nail biter. The standard is unbelievable and if it is maintained, as I think it will, we will start to run out of superlatives!

Well done Charlie and commiserations to Junaid - I for one would love to see the decider between these two.

So Jeff's suggestion that winning 12 out of 12 matches could be a bad omen for Junaid after yesterday's defeat for DoD proves to be very prophetic! Cue X Files music!

Alistair Stewart signs off for the week by praising the competitors for their sportsmanship, which I wholly endorse. Their congratulations have always been very sincere and the respect they have for each other is very evident.

The camaraderie between the players has also been a pleasure to see throughout the tournament and the interaction between them when checking the scores is a good innovation in my opinion.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=-15

[Howard Somerset]

Love the recap, Allan. I agree with all your comments about the way Junaid and Charlie played this game.

Just one thing, two of Junaid's words, SCARES and GREEN, were valid, and as such should be in capitals. It's only invalid words or misdeclarations that go in lower case.

[Allan Harmer]

Just one thing, two of Junaid's words, SCARES and GREEN, were valid, and as such should be in capitals. It's only invalid words or misdeclarations that go in lower case.

Duly corrected Howard - Thanks for pointing it out.

Sorry I still have my L plates up.

Al

[Junaid Mubeen]

Very nice recap Alan, thanks for the kind words. I think I was on 1178 points prior to the game but I'm happy to get that bumped up a bit! I initially couldn't stand Alastair Stewart but after realising he is genuinely enthusiastic I'm now won over by him and think he's great for the show.

[Gavin Chipper]

C1: Champion Junaid Mubeen (12 wins, 1266 points.)

I make it 1178.

[Dinos Sfyris]

Excellent recap Allan

[Allan Harmer]

Very nice recap Alan, thanks for the kind words. I think I was on 1178 points prior to the game but I'm happy to get that bumped up a bit! I initially couldn't stand Alastair Stewart but after realising he is genuinely enthusiastic I'm now won over by him and think he's great for the show.

Sorry Junaid - I took the Octochamp # from CDB and added on GF's + the CoC to make 1266. When you add each individual score I agree it comes to 1178 so I will amend it to that.

Using the same principle, I calculated Charlie's aggregate to be 1170, giving them both an average of 98.

Thanks for pointing it out Junaid and Gavin.

Cheers Al