But, we've now reached the series finals, so this will surely cheer you guys and girls up.
Here we go, enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 21 June 2012.
C1: No.8 Seed Rob "The St. Albans Sniper" Gibney (4 wins, 486 points.) An Apterite from St. Albans, Hertfordshire.
C2: No.1 Seed Jonathan "The Sheffield Superkid" Rawlinson (8 wins, 850 points, NOT 860 as Nick said.) An Apteforumite from Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
DC: Susie Dent and Penny Smith.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: O E I Z K L A S N
R02: E W A H U D I S O
R03: N T R C I E A I R
R04: O F E L U T I S O
R05: 25, 3, 8, 5, 9, 4. Target: 707.
TTT: AFIBLUST - "This person has a lust for telling fibs"
R06: I R E D O E F S I
R07: L V P N D E A E A
R08: I S O X A N E H U
R09: R C J M G A E I E
R10: 100, 50, 75, 25, 2, 6. Target: 535.
TTT: EATSUSHI - "It's like taking a break and then another, and then another"
R11: D N W Y A O G R E
R12: O T E N I L U P E
R13: M C T R A O S I E
R14: 100, 4, 3, 3, 2, 10. Target: 889.
R15: S O U L T R A I N (conundrum)
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: O E I Z K L A S N
C1: zoinks
C2: SNAKE (5)
DC: KAOLIN (6)
OT: ALIENS (6) ALKIES (6) ALSIKE (6) ANKLES (6) ANOLES (6) AZINES (6) ENOKIS (6) INSOLE (6) KAIZEN (6) KELSON (6) KINASE (6) KOINES (6) LESION (6) LIANES (6) LIKENS (6) SALINE (6) SILANE (6) SILKEN (6) SLEAZO (6) ZANIES (6)
Score: 0–5 (max 6)
CRIKEY BLIMEY!!!! Is this seriously the start of the finals
21 sixes available here, but all our contestants can muster up is a 5 and an invalid 6............ 
ALSIKE is a European clover, Trifolium hybridum, having pink flowers, grown in the U.S. for forage.
An ANOLE is any of numerous chiefly insectivorous New World lizards of the genus Anolis, related to the iguana, that have the ability to change the color of their skin among a wide range of green and brown shades.
An AZINE is any of a group of six-membered heterocyclic compounds containing one or more nitrogen atoms in the ring, the number of nitrogen atoms present being indicated by a prefix, as in diazine or triazine.
An ENOKI (or ENOKIKADE) is a thin, long-stemmed and tiny-capped white mushroom, Flamma velutipes, native to the northern mountain ranges of Japan and prized as a food.
KAIZEN is a philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices that underlies total quality management and just-in-time business techniques.
A KELSON (or KEELSON) is any of various fore-and-aft structural members lying above or parallel to the keel in the bottom of a hull.
A KINASE is a transferase that catalyzes the phosphorylation of a substrate by ATP.
A KOINE is an amalgam of Greek dialects, chiefly Attic and Ionic, that replaced the Classical Greek dialects in the Hellenistic period and flourished under the Roman Empire.
Well, before you all start to leave, let's get back to the game.
Round 2: E W A H U D I S O
C1: WASHED (6)
C2: SHOWED (6)
DC: HIDEOUS (7)
Score: 6–11 (max 13)
A reasonably simple darren is missed by both here. Must be early round nerves.
Round 3: N T R C I E A I R
C1: CERTAIN (7)
C2: INERTIA (7)
DC: CRITERIA (8) CENT (4)
Score: 13–18 (max 21)
And there's a slightly trickier one missed by the contestants, but not by DC.
Round 4: O F E L U T I S O
C1: OUTFLIES (8)
C2: OUTFLIES (8)
DC: FOOTSIE (7)
Score: 21–26 (max 29)
There, that's more like it.
(COS, THAT'S THE WAY, UH-HUH, UH-HUH, I LIKE IT, UH-HUH, UH-HUH!!!) Woah, not sure what happened there. Round 5: 25, 3, 8, 5, 9, 4. Target: 707.
C1: 708. (((9 x 3) + 5 - 4) x 25) + 8 (7)
C2: 706. (((5 x 4) + 8) x 25) + 9 - 3 (7)
RR: 707. (9 x 3 x 25) + (8 x 4) (10)
Score: 28–33 (max 39)
A tricky looking 1 large, especially with no 7 in sight, so 1 away will do for both Rob & Jonathan, but not for Nick, so Rachel is called up to sort it out.
Penny talks about the time where she was at a friend's house while wearing rubber gloves all the time.
Teatime teaser: AFIBLUST -> FABULIST
Round 6: I R E D O E F S I
C1: FIRESIDE (8)
C2: misdeclared 6
Score: 36–33 (max 47)
Deary me, Jonathan seems to be in dreamland, as he forgets his word for the 2nd show running
Rob, meanwhile, is all fired up thanks to his darren, and he takes a shock lead 
Round 7: L V P N D E A E A
C1: VANDAL (6)
C2: DEPLANE (7)
Score: 36–40 (max 54)
Well, that didn't last long, did it
Jonathan has clearly woken up from his short-haul snooze and DEPLANEd to darrenically take the lead back. 
Round 8: I S O X A N E H U
C1: ANXIOUS (7)
C2: ANXIOUS (7)
OT: HEINOUS (7)
Score: 43–47 (max 61)
Crikey, even I'm starting to feel ANXIOUS about this game, and I'm on my lovely sofa worrying about something that happened about 6 or 7 weeks ago
Round 9: R C J M G A E I E
C1: CAGIER (6)
C2: MIRAGE (6)
DC: GRIMACE (7)
Score: 49–53 (max 68)
Eeeeek, I'm well amazed that neither of them managed a GRIMACE here. I'll do it instead.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "who's she, the cat's mother?"
Round 10: 100, 50, 75, 25, 2, 6. Target: 535.
C1: 533.
C2: 535. ((100 + 2) x 6) - (50 / 25) - 75 (10)
Score: 49–63 (max 78)
Following on from yesterday, the 4 large comes good for Jonathan again, and he now has a good bit of daylight between him and Rob now.
Teatime teaser: EATSUSHI -> HIATUSES
Round 11: D N W Y A O G R E
C1: DOWAGER (7)
C2: DOWAGER (7)
DC: WAGONER (7) WORDAGE (7)
OT: GROANED (7) ORANGEY (7) WRONGED (7)
Score: 56–70 (max 85)
Plenty of flatness around. This tension is starting to get too much now. I can only imagine what it was like in the studio at the time.
Round 12: O T E N I L U P E
C1: OUTLINE (7)
C2: EELPOUT (7)
DC: PILOT (5) OPULENT (7)
OT: ELUTION (7) PETIOLE (7) POUTINE (7) TOLUENE (7)
Score: 63–77 (max 92)
Yet more 7's. Crikey, there's not been a crucial in the first quarter-final match since Series 56. Is it going to happen today I wonder..........
A PETIOLE is the slender stalk by which a leaf is attached to the stem; leafstalk.
A POUTINE is a Canadian dish of chipped potatoes topped with curd cheese and a tomato-based sauce.
TOLUENE is a colourless, water-insoluble, flammable liquid, C7H8, having a benzenelike odour, obtained chiefly from coal tar and petroleum: used as a solvent in the manufacture of benzoic acid, benzaldehyde, TNT, and other organic compounds.
Round 13: M C T R A O S I E
C1: COASTER (7)
C2: AMORIST (7)
DC: SCREAM (6) ATOMISER (8) AMORTISE (8) MATRICES (8)
OT: MORTICES (8)
Score: 70–84 (max 100)
Crikey, the pressure is clearly mounting, as both of them miss the straightforward 8's here. Jonathan is being stretched here, but he just needs to get through this numbers game to give himself a long-deserved 6 day break. (Or in real life, just less than 24 hour break.
)Round 14: 100, 4, 3, 3, 2, 10. Target: 889.
C1: 888. (100 x 3 x 3) - (10 + 2) (7)
C2: 890. (3 x 3 x 100) - 10 (7)
RR: 889. ((100 + 10) x 2 x 4) + (3 x 3) (10)
Score: 77–91 (max 110)
Jonathan hopes for an easy 1 large, he declares 1 away, Rob adds tension by saying, "eight,.........., eight,............. eight". Relief to Jonathan I'm sure as that now ends Rob's valiant effort. One wonders if Jonathan was fully charged up, would it have been the same result.............
Round 15: S O U L T R A I N
C2 buzzes on 7.75 seconds to say INSULATOR which is correct.
Final Score: 77–101 (max 120)
Well, Jonathan might not be on top top form, but if he can still score a century on his "day off", just think what he can do when he's fully on his game
So, normal service has been resumed, but Rob deserves great credit for his effort today, because the first quarter-final in most of the recent series have been "non-events" quite frankly, so it was nice to see a super competitive #1 vs #8 for a change.
So, Jonathan will return to our screens on Wednesday for the first semi-final, which will be against either the #4 seed, Suzi "The Market Harborough Marvel" Purcell, and the #5 seed, Nick "The Stratford Scorcher" Hall.
Thomas will be with you tomorrow for the 2nd quarter-final between the #2 seed, Jack "The Blackpool Bazooka" Worsley, and the #7 seed, Mark "The Edinburgh Extravagant" Murphy.
So, till next week, have a good weekend, and bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Rob:
Total score - 77
Raw score - 90
Total % of max - 64
Raw % of max - 75
Total average score per round - 5.1
Raw average score per round - 6.0
Number of maxes - 5
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 - 7
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=66
