So, enjoy.
Countdown recap for Wednesday 20 June 2012.
C1: Champion Jonathan Rawlinson (7 wins, 749 points.) An Apteforumite from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. He's a gap-year student, waiting to head off to Cambridge University.
C2: Challenger Ceris Phillips. From Dwygyfylchi, Penmaenmawr, Conwy, North Wales. He's a season ticket holder for the Warrington Wolves rugby league club. He also competed in Radio 2's Popmaster last year (not with DC stalwart Ken Bruce, but the yummy Zoe Ball
), where he won an MP3 player. DC: Susie Dent and Penny Smith.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: A M E R U L I S E
R02: N Q T O I A D R E
R03: O B E P U T E M G
R04: R A E T S L I X M
R05: 75, 50, 100, 25, 8, 4. Target: 827.
TTT: THERASPS - "The rasp might be a tool in the box, but it's not this"
R06: S V N E O A P N S
R07: A N E G U T A O S
R08: A D N P E U C S E
R09: O R A T E W O R Y
R10: 50, 8, 1, 7, 7, 6. Target: 558.
TTT: USEHANDS - "If you use hands to block out the light, you need one of these"
R11: A M I R A W U T G
R12: I J T H A E C G L
R13: O N A B E D O T I
R14: 75, 8, 4, 7, 9, 10. Target: 221.
R15: S T I R P I L A U (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: A M E R U L I S E
C1: MEASLIER (8)
C2: REALISE (7)
NH: EMAILERS (8)
DC: MEASURE (7) REALISM (7) MISRULE (7)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)
Another good start from our octochamp-in-waiting. Already, he's at the #3 seed position, since all he needed to do to get that was win the game.
Even Nick gets in on the action with the other available 8. Round 2: N Q T O I A D R E
C1: ORDINATE (8)
C2: RATIONED (8)
DC: DERATION (8)
Score: 16–8 (max 16)
Nice and simple ADEINORT anagrams.
Round 3: O B E P U T E M G
C1: misdeclared 5
C2: TOUPEE (6)
OT: MEETUP (6) METOPE (6)
Score: 16–14 (max 22)
Oh dear, Jonathan makes a bit of a howler here by declaring a 5 with something that wasn't there..........
No matter, as he's beaten by Ceris' TOUPEE.A METOPE is any of the square spaces, either decorated or plain, between triglyphs in the Doric frieze.
Round 4: R A E T S L I X M
C1: REALIST (7)
C2: REALIST (7)
DC: MAILERS (7) MATRIXES (8)
Score: 23–21 (max 30)
DC go darrenic as the contestants keep it REAL.
Round 5: 75, 50, 100, 25, 8, 4. Target: 827.
C1: 827. ((100 + 4) x 8) - ((75 + 50) / 25) (10)
C2: 825.
Score: 33–21 (max 40)
The 4 larges that Jonathan have picked haven't been brilliant all the time, but he makes this one look easy.
Penny talks about more "things that mothers used to tell us", and how that if she hadn't eaten a whole plum, she wouldn't have eaten a bit of an iceberg that was formed in Medieval times while she was on holiday in New Zealand.
Teatime teaser: THERASPS -> SHARPEST
Round 6: S V N E O A P N S
C1: NOVENAS (7)
C2: OVENS (5)
DC: SOAPS (5) ONSENS (6)
Score: 40–21 (max 47)
Back in top gear now is Jonathan, or since he plays the violin, maybe top fiddle.
Round 7: A N E G U T A O S
C1: SOUTANE (7)
C2: ATONES (6)
DC: AGNATES (7) GATEAUS (7)
OT: NOUGATS (7) ONSTAGE (7) OUTAGES (7) OUTSANG (7) TANGOES (7) TONGUES (7)
Score: 47–21 (max 54)
Flatness all round.............., unless your name is Ceris.
Round 8: A D N P E U C S E
C1: UNCASED (7)
C2: ESCAPED (7)
DC: unspaced
OT: ENCASED (7) UPCASED (7)
Score: 54–28 (max 61)
A few -ED 7's here, but shockingly no unspaced
Those 7 points also now move Jonathan above Peter Lee on the leaderboard in terms of points, but he still needs to wrap this win up.Round 9: O R A T E W O R Y
C1: ORATORY (7)
C2: ORATOR (6)
DC: WATERY (6) TOWERY (6 - which Susie thought wasn't in
) ROOTER (6) ORATE (5) Score: 61–28 (max 68)
Another darren for Jonathan, but how did Ceris miss that one
Nice interesting bit in DC as Penny thinks she has TOWERY, but Susie thinks that it's very unlikely, but is proven WRONG. Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "mortgage".
Round 10: 50, 8, 1, 7, 7, 6. Target: 558.
C1: 557. Mistake in working.
C2: -
RR: 558. (((8 - 7 + 1) x 50) - 7) x 6 (10)
Score: 61–28 (max 78)
Oh dear, a nasty little numbers game crops up, which completely stumps Ceris and knocks Jonathan off his stride.
Teatime teaser: USEHANDS -> SUNSHADE
Round 11: A M I R A W U T G
C1: GUITAR (6)
C2: TRAUMA (6)
DC: GAMUT (5)
OT: ATRIUM (6) TAMARI (6) WARAGI (6)
Score: 67–34 (max 84)
Lol, the irony of a violin player getting GUITAR. That pun had no strings attached, I can assure you.
A TAMARI is a rich, naturally fermented soybean sauce containing little or no wheat and thicker than soy sauce.
WARAGI is a Ugandan alcoholic drink made from bananas.
Round 12: I J T H A E C G L
C1: LIGATE (6)
C2: LATHE (5)
DC: ALIGHT (6) ETHICAL (7)
OT: LICHGATE (8)
Score: 73–34 (max 92)
And there it is, those 6 points not only wrap up this game for Jonathan, but they confirm him as the #1 seed for the finals starting tomorrow. Let's hope he's not going to be too tired from playing 9 games on the trot
A LICHGATE is a roofed gate to a churchyard, formerly used as a temporary shelter for the bier during funerals.
Round 13: O N A B E D O T I
C1: OBTAINED (8)
C2: BOOTED (6)
DC: BANDITO (7)
Score: 81–34 (max 100)
And the perfect way to end the letters in the heats. The darrenic way.
Round 14: 75, 8, 4, 7, 9, 10. Target: 221.
C1: 221. ((10 - 7) x 75) - 4 (10)
C2: 225.
Score: 91–34 (max 110)
Oh dear, Ceris' maths is clearly not up to scratch, as it's 0 out of 30 from him today, and this one was the easiest by a long way........
But now, we head into the conundrum, where Jonathan will be hoping to get his 6th century, and maybe something else into the bargain too............
Round 15: S T I R P I L A U
C1 buzzes on 4.25 seconds to say SPIRITUAL which is correct.
Final Score: 101–34 (max 120)
And that conundrum spot means that Jonathan has completed the FULL SET
8 OUT OF 8 CONUNDRUMS He becomes only the 6th person to achieve that feat, and the first since Daniel Pati in Series 63. So, as probably predicted by many people when we heard that he was appearing on the show, Jonathan has become an octochamp and has probably made Jack Worsley a bit sad, as he has knocked him off the #1 spot which he had (literally) since the first episode of this series
But, Jack could yet get his revenge if they meet up in these finals, which begin in earnest tomorrow. But, he'll now be playing the #7 seed, Mark Murphy, in Friday's quarter-final, while we see Jonathan back in the hotseat tomorrow, against the #8 seed, Rob Gibney.
Join me tomorrow to see how that pans out.
So, till then, farewell, and see you all tomorrow. BE SURE OF IT!
Statistics Corner
Jonathan:
Total score - 101
Raw score - 101
Total % of max - 84
Raw % of max - 84
Total average score per round - 6.7
Raw average score per round - 6.7
Number of maxes - 11
Ceris:
Total score - 34
Raw score - 83
Total % of max - 28
Raw % of max - 69
Total average score per round - 2.3
Raw average score per round - 5.5
Number of maxes - 4
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=66