Thursday 18th June 2009 (Series 60, Semi-Final 2)

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Jon Corby
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Thursday 18th June 2009 (Series 60, Semi-Final 2)

Post by Jon Corby »

Countdown recap for Thursday 18 June 2009.

C1: Champion Hamish Williamson (5 wins, 515 points.)
C2: Champion Jimmy Gough (9 wins, 865 points.)
DC: Susie Dent and Dr Phil Hammond.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: R S O P A L P O N
R02: N E T O B E N I T
R03: I A T C A S N O R
R04: L A B I R E M A Q
R05: 100, 2, 6, 1, 1, 6. Target: 123.
TTT: TATMOVIE - "The man in the fancy leotard might do this to you"
R06: L E K I P A C E A
R07: R F E W I S O N M
R08: T E C I S E L I R
R09: G N E I L D E R S
R10: 50, 4, 5, 7, 10, 8. Target: 595.
TTT: CONSHERO - "Have a glass of sherry now rather than later"
R11: G T O T E S U V A
R12: S E F A H A R E D
R13: T O Y R I J N E M
R14: 100, 2, 1, 9, 10, 6. Target: 866.
R15: N I C E G R O O M (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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I won't waffle about where the guys are from, as we're very familiar with them both by now. The seedings^ (Jimmy is 3, Hamish is 7) suggest that Jimmy should comfortably have the edge, but obviously to get this far Hamish has already ousted the number 2 seed (Cate) so it's all pretty meaningless really. Jimmy has played solidly throughout his career while Hamish is a little inconsistent (particularly on the numbers), but has flashes of sheer brilliance - if a few fall in one game it's often enough to win it. The winner faces the daunting task of facing Kirk in tomorrow's series final, but if that's a disincentive there is now the runner-up prize of £1k to sweeten the deal. Dr Phil quips that Hamish looks like Father Jack (an observation first made on the forum by Phil Reynolds, I think) and we're underway...

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: R S O P A L P O N

C1: POPLARS (7)
C2: parols
DC: PROPOSAL (8)
OT: PROPANOLS (18)
Score: 7–0 (max 18)

Propanol is a mass noun chemical, but apparently Susie said she would allow it (via Charlie's hotline). Edgy start from Jimmy gives Hamish first blood.

Round 2: N E T O B E N I T

C1: BONNET (6)
C2: BONNET (6)
DC: EBONITE (7)
OT: BENTONITE (18)
Score: 13–6 (max 36)

Bentonite is a kind of absorbent clay formed by breakdown of volcanic ash. It's also a mass noun, so Charlie probably should get the pluralisation of this one cleared up for those chumps and chumpettes compiling the extended dictionary for Hyper/Unlimited.

Round 3: I A T C A S N O R

C1: ACTIONS (7)
C2: CORTINAS (8)
DC: RAINCOATS (18)
Score: 13–14 (max 54)

A rather more straightforward 9 (ie I've heard of it) passes the contestants by, meaning they're now a dismal 40 points shy of the max. Appalling, what kind of semi-final is this? CORTINAS is a nice spot by Jimmy to give him a slender lead.

Round 4: L A B I R E M A Q

C1: AMIABLE (7)
C2: AMIABLE (7)
DC: BALMIER (7)
Score: 20–21 (max 61)

A final C, D or N would have given us another nine, but alas it wasn't to be...

Round 5: 100, 2, 6, 1, 1, 6. Target: 123.

C1: 122.
C2: 123. (6-2)*6-1+100 (10)
Score: 20–31 (max 71)

This pretty much became a Junior numbers game with a target of 23... a disappointing (but not entirely uncharacteristic) miss from Hamish gives Jimmy an eleven point lead going into the first break.


Teatime teaser: TATMOVIE -> MOTIVATE

Round 6: L E K I P A C E A

C1: PICKLE (6)
C2: PLAICE (6)
DC: PLICAE (6)
OT: APICAL (6) APIECE (6) EPICAL (6) KELPIE (6) PELIKE (6) PALACE (6) PALEAE (6)
Score: 26–37 (max 77)

I'm not looking all those sixes up.

Round 7: R F E W I S O N M

C1: MONIES (6)
C2: SNOWIER (7)
DC: FERMIONS (8)
OT: ENSIFORM (8)
Score: 26–44 (max 85)

Jimmy is beginning to pull away now, Hamish needing a nine just to draw level. Fermions are subatomic particles and ensiform means 'sword blade shaped'.

Round 8: T E C I S E L I R

C1: STERILE (7)
C2: SELECT (6)
DC: ELICITS (7) RECITES (7)
OT: RETICLES (8) SCLERITE (8) TIERCELS (8) SERICITE (8)
Score: 33–44 (max 93)

Hamish eats into Jimmy's lead with one of a few sevens available. Reticle is a North American alternative to graticule, which is a network of lines on which a map or plan can be represented. A Sclerite is a component section of an exoskeleton, a tiercel (also tercel) is a male hawk and sericite is a fine-grained fibrous variety of muscovite, found chiefly in schist. Keep an eye out for it :?

Round 9: G N E I L D E R S

C1: residing
C2: REEDLINGS (18)
DC: ENGIRDLES (18)
Score: 33–62 (max 111)

Hamish obviously hasn't been studying Kirky's heats closely enough, and you've got to think this excellent niner from Jimmy has probably killed the game as a contest... A reedling is a bearded tit (insert your own jokes here) while engirdle means surround/encircle.

Round 10: 50, 4, 5, 7, 10, 8. Target: 595.

C1: 595. (4+8)*50-5 (10)
C2: 595. (4+8)*50-5 (10)
Score: 43–72 (max 121)

Teatime teaser: CONSHERO -> SCHOONER

Round 11: G T O T E S U V A

C1: GAVOTTES (8)
C2: OUTAGES (7)
Score: 51–72 (max 129)

A brilliant darren spot by Hamish - was I too quick in writing him off earlier? A gavotte is a French dance, or the music accompanying such a dance.

Round 12: S E F A H A R E D

C1: seafared
C2: SHARED (6)
DC: SHEARED (7)
OT: ADHERES (7) HEADERS (7) AFEARED (7) SHEAFED (7)
Score: 51–78 (max 136)

Ouch - Hamish had to declare first and took a punt on a risky 8 - it would have been pretty annoying for him if he had any of the 7s to then hear Jimmy declare 6.

Round 13: T O Y R I J N E M

C1: JOINERY (7)
C2: monetry
OT: ENORMITY (8)
Score: 58–78 (max 144)

A second misspelling of the day from Jimmy gives Hamish a glimmer of hope - although he will have to best Jimmy on the numbers to take advantage of it....

Round 14: 100, 2, 1, 9, 10, 6. Target: 866.

C1: 866. Mistake in working.
C2: 866. (100-10+6)*9+2 (10)
Score: 58–88 (max 154)

...and it's just an ask too much as Jimmy wraps up the game with a neat solution.

Round 15: N I C E G R O O M

No one buzzes. The answer was ERGONOMIC.
Score: 58–88 (max 164)

Commiserations to a very magnanimous Hamish; with 4 nines available you'd have fancied him to grab at least one considering his excellent niner-spotting up to this point, but it wasn't to be as Jimmy ran out a worthy winner. He won't need me to tell him that he'll have to raise his game a bit from this performance if he wants to give Kirk as much of a scare tomorrow as Julie and Neil have already done at these finals... on this kind of form you can't see the title heading home with anyone other than the Kirkulator (I'm mainly just tossing this in because I said the same about Neil, and look what [nearly] happened there!)

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=60
Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Thursday 18th June 2009 (Series 60, Semi-Final 2)

Post by Kevin Thurlow »

Hmm, PROPANOLS? There is a propan-1-ol and a propan-2-ol, so I suppose they are propanols! And I missed bentonite as well.
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Jon Corby
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Re: Thursday 18th June 2009 (Series 60, Semi-Final 2)

Post by Jon Corby »

Kevin Thurlow wrote:Hmm, PROPANOLS? There is a propan-1-ol and a propan-2-ol, so I suppose they are propanols! And I missed bentonite as well.
I didn't have PROPANOLS in my electronic version of the dictionary, and the recap writer didn't suggest it either, but the debate on the spoiler thread says it's valid (according to Susie herself).
Matt Bayfield
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Re: Thursday 18th June 2009 (Series 60, Semi-Final 2)

Post by Matt Bayfield »

I felt supersmug for seeing BENTONITE after about 20 seconds - it must have been on my mind as I was writing a drilling report earlier yesterday, and bentonite is used for weighting drilling mud (in the oil & gas production industry).

I missed the other three nines, though, and would have been trounced overall by Jimmy, so I'm not about to get lofty ideas of my ability anytime soon.
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