c4countdown

Countdown recap for Monday 23 April 2012.



It's St George's Day, and RASPILLED day as well, but today is also another anniversary, which Google have alluded to in today's logo above - it's 30 years since the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was launched. In today's recap, we pay homage to the computer which helped the home computing era take off.

C1: Champion Monica Sutcliffe (1 win, 67 points). I'm surprised to learn she's 85, which must make her one of the oldest winners of the Countdown teapot. No doubt Mr Raspilled himself can tell us without even looking it up if this is the record.
C2: Challenger Megan Jephson is the person going for the teapot today. She's a freelance subeditor from High Wycombe.
DC: Susie Dent and Paul Zenon.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: M S L A I O B D A
R02: W N T E O I N P G
R03: D N S G E A O D I
R04: T R T E E U D D I
R05: 75, 2, 9, 9, 8, 1. Target: 167.
TTT: FASTMACH - "Doesn't matter how fast the car is if this is broken."
R06: S C P O E A N S U
R07: F J G A E A T R I
R08: U E P C N O M S I
R09: T R A K I Z O R E
R10: 75, 5, 10, 2, 7, 1. Target: 196.
TTT: HANKSSAD - "Hank is sad. The shop's run out of his favourite curries."
R11: V H N S I U O G A
R12: T W X P E A E Y D
R13: H F L S U A E R O
R14: 25, 100, 4, 4, 8, 10. Target: 628.
R15: D I S C O P E R M (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: M S L A I O B D A

C1: LAMBS (5)
C2: BALSAM (6)
OT: BIMODAL (7) LAMBDAS (7)
Score: 0–6 (max 7)

An awkward E-less selection to start with, but challenger Megan spots an unusual word BALSAM, an aromatic resinous substance from which we get balsamic vinegar.


Round 2: W N T E O I N P G

C1: TOWING (6)
C2: PIGEON (6)
DC: POINTE (6) OPENING (7)
OT: PONTINE (7) WONTING (7)
Score: 6–12 (max 14)

Monica's on the scoreboard now. Look.



See. Told you.


Round 3: D N S G E A O D I

C1: SADDEN (6)
C2: ANODISED (8)
DC: DIAGNOSED (18)
Score: 6–20 (max 32)

Megan spots the recurring Countdown word ANODISED which takes her further into the lead. Susie and Paul spot the nine.


Round 4: T R T E E U D D I

C1: UTTERED (7)
C2: TIERED (6)
DC: DUETTED (7) ERUDITE (7)
Score: 13–20 (max 39)

Monica's pulled back again with a seven. Paul points out that if you were ERUDITE you might have spotted one of the three maxes in the selection.


Numbers time...



Round 5: 75, 2, 9, 9, 8, 1. Target: 167.

C1: 167. 75*2+9+8 (10)
C2: 167. 75*2+9+8 (10)
Score: 23–30 (max 49)

Not a difficult one. Ten points each.


Teatime teaser: FASTMACH -> CAMSHAFT


Round 6: S C P O E A N S U

C1: POUNCES (7)
C2: PECANS (6)
DC: UNCASES (7)
OT: SUNSPACE (8)
Score: 30–30 (max 57)

Monica POUNCES to draw level while Megan goes nuts. I was messing about with SUNSCAPE^. Turns out you can't have that but you can have SUNSPACE, which seems to be a North American term for a glorified greenhouse.


Round 7: F J G A E A T R I

C1: greater
C2: FRIGATE (7)
Score: 30–37 (max 64)



I suppose if you're going to spot two phantom letters it's better to spot them in the same round. This mistake means Megan moves seven points in front.


Round 8: U E P C N O M S I

C1: INCOMES (7)
C2: INCOMES (7)
DC: POUNCES (7)
OT: CONSUME (7) MESONIC (7) PUMICES (7) SPUMONE (7) SPUMONI (7) UNICOMS (7)
Score: 37–44 (max 71)

POUNCES makes its second appearance of the day, but the contestants go for something else.


Round 9: T R A K I Z O R E

C1: TRIER (5)
C2: irrate
DC: triker TROIKA (6)
OT: ARTIER (6) KERRIA (6) OAKIER (6) OATIER (6) RIOTER (6)

A few sixes around, but this time it's Megan who makes the mistake - IRATE has only one R. Susie and Paul spot the name of a Russian horse-drawn vehicle and Norwegian chocolate bar.


Score: 42–44 (max 77)

Round 10: 75, 5, 10, 2, 7, 1. Target: 196.

C1: 195. Mistake in working.
C2: -
RR: 196. (((10-1)+75) / (5-2)) * 7 (10)
Score: 42–44 (max 87)

Megan's nowhere near the numbers target. Monica thinks she's one away, but actually she's got 197 - one away the other way. Rachel spots that 196 is seven thirds of 84 and takes us to the target.


Teatime teaser: HANKSSAD -> DHANSAKS

Round 11: V H N S I U O G A

C1: HOUSING (7)
C2: SHAVING (7)
DC: SHOVING (7)
OT: ANGUISH (7) VAGUISH (7) VOGUISH (7)
Score: 49–51 (max 94)

Lots of easy -ING sevens, and the gap remains two points.


Round 12: T W X P E A E Y D

C1: PAWED (5)
C2: EXPAT (5)
DC: TWEEDY (6)
OT: APEXED (6) PEDWAY (6) YAWPED (6)
Score: 54–56 (max 100)

Tricky round which still can't separate the contestants further. Paul finds TWEEDY.


Round 13: H F L S U A E R O

C1: HALOES (6)
C2: LOAFERS (7)
DC: FLASHER (7) REFUSAL (7)
OT: EARFULS (7) FERULAS (7) FLUSHER (7) HAULERS (7) OURSELF (7)
Score: 54–63 (max 107)

Megan goes nine in front with LOAFERS. Time for the last numbers game...


Round 14: 25, 100, 4, 4, 8, 10. Target: 628.

C1: 629. (10-4)*100+25+4 (7)
C2: 629. (10-4)*100+25+4 (7)
RR: 628. (4*8 + 25 + 100) * 4 (10)
Score: 61–70 (max 117)

Easy enough to get one away, but Rachel comes up with a nicely unintuitive solution.

Nine points the gap, ten points available...



So it's a crucial conundrum...

Round 15: D I S C O P E R M



C2 buzzes on 11 seconds to say COMPRISED which is correct.
Final Score: 61–80 (max 127)



So it's Megan Jephson who wins the first ever edition of 8-bit Countdown. Come back tomorrow, same time, same place...





Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=66

Best. Recap. EVER.

Agreed.

This was awesome! Kudos for the effort in doing this.

Wow. Very nice work, Graeme.

Absolutely fucking brilliant. Man I miss my ZX+3.

Awesomeness.

That was defo right up there with the best of them, Graeme.

This and Ryan's recap of Lesley Hines' special are defo 2 of the best of all time.

*LIKE*

And great memories of the ZX!