Monday 2nd July 2012 (Series 67, Prelim 1)

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 9:30 pm

Countdown recap for Monday 2 July 2012.

It's the first show of series 67, and Nick's second series. An aged-looking football sits on the desk in front of Nick as he introduces the show. Just as we're wondering whether it's there for a reason or someone just left it there accidentally, we find out that it's England's world cup winning ball from 1966. Nick mentions there's something rattling inside it. Maybe it was a transmitter from an early experiment in goal-line technology.

As you probably remember, in the last preliminary of series 66, Jonathan Rawlinson won his eighth game to take him straight into the finals immediately afterwards, which means today we start with two new contestants.

C1: Challenger Carol Coley is a retired school secretary from Whetstone, Leicestershire.
C2: Challenger Alex Forster is a civil enforcement officer from Lymington. Nick enquires as to what a "civil enforcement officer" is. Turns out in this case it means "traffic warden".
DC: Susie Dent and Tim Vine, the punslinger, one of our favourite DC guests.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: N J T I A N E D I
R02: R N S A E D W U S
R03: M H T O E K S I P
R04: B R E F U E Z L I
R05: 100, 6, 4, 8, 4, 5. Target: 377.
TTT: BIGALIAS - "In days gone by they were old maids."
R06: D L S O A N P O R
R07: B H V A E A C E T
R08: S X L A E P S T O
R09: R N G R A E A N U
R10: 100, 50, 6, 8, 4, 5. Target: 193.
TTT: SETCRIED - "Be confidential if you talk bad about a Greek island."
R11: G L E A N I T D M
R12: G P S O E L R A D
R13: Q O E T R T U N O
R14: 75, 25, 6, 6, 3, 2. Target: 164.
R15: I N A I L M U M U (conundrum)

And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: N J T I A N E D I

C1: INTEND (6)
C2: DETAIN (6)
OT: DINNAE (6) ENDIAN (6) INDENT (6) INDITE (6) INNATE (6) INTEIN (6) TAJINE (6) TANNED (6) TANNIE (6) TIENDA (6) TINNED (6) TINNIE (6)
Score: 6–6 (max 6)

First pancake of series 67.

Round 2: R N S A E D W U S

C1: SANDER (6)
C2: assunder
DC: UNDRESS (7)
OT: DANSEURS (8) SUNWARDS (8)
Score: 12–6 (max 14)

Carol goes six in front thanks to a dodgy spelling of ASUNDER by Alex.

Round 3: M H T O E K S I P

C1: TEMPOS (6)
C2: POKIEST (7)
OT: HOKIEST (7) HOMIEST (7) MOPIEST (7) PHOTISM (7) STOMPIE (7)
Score: 12–13 (max 21)

Alex isn't sure about POKIEST but it's in. He takes the advantage back

Round 4: B R E F U E Z L I

C1: REFUEL (6)
C2: FRIEZE (6)
DC: FEBRILE (7)
Score: 18–19 (max 28)

I can *never* remember which way round the I and E go in FRIEZE. Turns out the often-wrong "I before E" rule holds in this case, and Alex maintains his lead. Susie finds FEBRILE, which means having or showing the symptoms of a fever.

Round 5: 100, 6, 4, 8, 4, 5. Target: 377.

C1: 378. 4*100-5*6+8 (7)
C2: 380.
RR: 377. (100-4)*4-8+(6-5) (10)
Score: 25–19 (max 38)

Neither contestant can nail the first numbers game but Carol is closer, which gives her seven points and the lead again.

Talking of numbers, here's a numbers puzzle Matt Bayfield gave me after CoHUD. It's a Countdown numbers game with a difference. You get four starting numbers, which are 8, 8, 3, 3. The target is 24. Looks easy, doesn't it? The twist is that it's Omelette rules, so you have to use all four numbers. Also, your intermediate results don't have to be integers. This isn't a trick question - there's no "put the 3 and 8 together to make 38" nonsense or anything like that - there's a genuine, but difficult, solution.

Teatime teaser: BIGALIAS -> ABIGAILS

Round 6: D L S O A N P O R

C1: SPOOR (5)
C2: PARDONS (7)
DC: LARDONS (7) LARDOONS (8)
Score: 25–26 (max 46)

The lead changes hands once again as Alex spots PARDONS. Susie finds LARDO(O)NS, which are bits of bacon.

Round 7: B H V A E A C E T

C1: beach (misdeclared as 6)
C2: BEHAVE (6)
OT: CHAETAE (7)
Score: 25–32 (max 53)

Carol's misdeclared word could also have been BEECH, but it doesn't matter, either way it's got five letters and not six. Alex goes further ahead. The darrenical CHAETAE is the plural of CHAETA, which is a zoological term for a stiff bristle made of chitin.

Round 8: S X L A E P S T O

C1: TOPLESS (7)
C2: PASTELS (7)
DC: APOSTLES (8)
Score: 32–39 (max 61)

Good sevens for our contestants, but Susie and Tim find APOSTLES. Alex is still seven points ahead.

Round 9: R N G R A E A N U

C1: ARRANGE (7)
C2: ARRANGE (7)
OT: GUNNERA (7)
Score: 39–46 (max 68)

Both players get the max in this round and the gap remains seven points. A GUNNERA is a South American plant.

Origins of Words: Chinese words today. A lot of words we use that have their origin in China come from names for food - KUMQUAT literally means "golden orange", and DIM SUM means "touch the heart". TOFU, for its part, means "rotten beans".

Round 10: 100, 50, 6, 8, 4, 5. Target: 193.

C1: 193. Mistake in working.
C2: 193. 100+50+8*6-5 (10)
Score: 39–56 (max 78)

Argh - Carol starts with 4*50-6 and it looks like she has it, but she does 6-5 for the 1 instead of 5-4, which means she used the six twice. Alex goes 17 ahead.

How are you doing with Matt Bayfield's numbers puzzle? Still messing about with 64s and 11s? Not even close. Seven points if you've got (8*8/3)+3 for 24 and a third, but there is an exact solution. And no, "8*3=24, 8*3=24, look I've solved it twice" isn't allowed.

Teatime teaser: SETCRIED -> DISCREET

Round 11: G L E A N I T D M

C1: MINGLED (7)
C2: MANGLED (7)
DC: LIGAMENT (8)
OT: DELATING (8) MALIGNED (8)
Score: 46–63 (max 86)

MINGLED and MANGLED in round 11 for seven each. Tim and Susie find LIGAMENT. Carol needs to start hitting some maxes if she's going to come back from here.

Round 12: G P S O E L R A D

C1: LOADERS (7)
C2: GLARED (6)
DC: LEOPARDS (8)
OT: PERGOLAS (8) PLEDGORS (8) PRELOADS (8)
Score: 53–63 (max 94)

LOADERS brings Carol to within ten as Alex can only find GLARED. LEOPARDS was there, but as Tim notes, it's difficult to... spot.

Round 13: Q O E T R T U N O

C1: NUTTER (6)
C2: unquote
DC: TENUTO (6)
OT: ROQUET (6) ROTTEN (6) TOOTER (6) TORQUE (6) TORTEN (6) TOUTER (6) UNROOT (6)
Score: 59–63 (max 100)

Susie says that Alex's offering of UNQUOTE is probably not in the dictionary. It is, but that's academic as there's only one U in the selection. Carol spotted one of the nine sixes. Susie finds TENUTO, which is a musical term referring to a note held for its full time value or slightly more. It comes from the Italian verb tenere meaning to hold. That's also the origin of words like TENURE and TENABLE.

Round 14: 75, 25, 6, 6, 3, 2. Target: 164.

C1: 168. 2*75+6*3 (7)
C2: 164. Mistake in working.
RR: 164. (25+2)*6+6/3 (10)
Score: 66–63 (max 110)

This time it's Alex who messes up the numbers, and Carol goes in front for the first time since round 5. This means that the first game of the series will be decided by a crucial conundrum...

Round 15: I N A I L M U M U

C1 buzzes on 15 seconds to say ALUMINIUM which is correct.
Final Score: 76–63 (max 120)

Carol spots it on 15 seconds to finish with 76 points, the teapot, and another game tomorrow. By the way, if anyone at Countdown is reading this, One Direction haven't received their prizes from the final yet. Still, it's early days - it took Geoff Hurst three decades to get his hat-trick winning ball after Helmut Haller nicked off with it.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=67