Monday 6th August 2012 (Series 67, Prelim 21)

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Graeme Cole
Series 65 Champion
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Monday 6th August 2012 (Series 67, Prelim 21)

Post by Graeme Cole »

Countdown recap for Monday 6 August 2012.

The series left off with Chris Marshall winning his eighth game two weeks ago, so today we've got two new contestants. This one was filmed straight after last week's special, so the flange of apterites were still there. Ed and I found some spare chairs amongst them by compressing everyone else.

C1: Anthea Rata is a school technician from Surbiton. She's also been a campanologist for nearly 50 years.
C2: Kevin Geoghegan is her opponent; he's a civil servant from Preston, and a supporter of Preston North End.
DC: Susie Dent and Mark Foster.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: V D R O U E N L O
R02: R C S T A U O N L
R03: G F Q L A E I T O
R04: S P R U A D M E S
R05: 50, 100, 10, 4, 3, 6. Target: 872.
TTT: RESTCHEF - "The chef can rest while these people get him what he needs"
R06: O U C V N E O S D
R07: S G M P I E A C N
R08: R L T O E W A B I
R09: N D L G T E O E A
R10: 25, 3, 7, 3, 10, 10. Target: 177.
TTT: IFIREGUN - "I fire gun at the statuette."
R11: S T E O H P M A E
R12: A E I B T S A N T
R13: R H Y R D U E I G
R14: 100, 1, 9, 4, 6, 5. Target: 847.
R15: R E D C A T T L E (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: V D R O U E N L O

C1: ROUNDEL (7)
C2: lounder
DC: UNLOVED (7) OVERLOUD (8)
Score: 7–0 (max 8)

Good start from Anthea who goes in front immediately after a dodgy risk by Kevin.


Round 2: R C S T A U O N L

C1: COUNTS (6)
C2: CASTOR (6)
DC: CONSULAR (8)
Mark Deeks: CALUTRONS (18)
OT: CONSTRUAL (18)
Score: 13–6 (max 26)

Sixes each for Anthea and Kevin. Susie and Mark Foster come up with CONSULAR. When Mark Deeks said he had CALUTRONS I thought he was making it up. So much so I didn't believe him until Innis, who was still being used as the flange-appointed dictionary, confirmed it was in. It turns out that a CALUTRON is a device used to enrich uranium.


Round 3: G F Q L A E I T O

C1: GLOAT (5)
C2: FLOAT (5)
DC: GELATO (6) FOLIATE (7)
OT: FOLIAGE (7)
Score: 18–11 (max 33)

Our contestants match each other again, but it's only fives; FOLIATE and FOLIAGE were there for seven.


Round 4: S P R U A D M E S

C1: DAMPERS (7)
C2: DUMPERS (7)
DC: SPASMED (7) ASSURED (7)
OT: ASSUMED (7) MASSEUR (7) MEDUSAS (7) REMUDAS (7) SPREADS (7)
Score: 25–18 (max 40)

Seven is the best available here, and Kevin and Anthea spot one each. Still a reasonably balanced game.


Round 5: 50, 100, 10, 4, 3, 6. Target: 872.

C1: 870. Mistake in working.
C2: -
RR: 872. (100+50-3)*6-10 (10)
Score: 25–18 (max 50)

First-game nerves mean Anthea first declares 930, then corrects it to 970, then 870. Then she realises she's used the three twice.

Mark Foster shows us some of the medals he's won for swimming. He's won a lot more than the two he showed us, and I seem to remember he brought those along as well but couldn't remember what they were all for.

Teatime teaser: RESTCHEF -> FETCHERS


Round 6: O U C V N E O S D

C1: OUNCES (6)
C2: OUNCES (6)
DC: SECOND (6) DUNCES (6)
OT: SECONDO (7)
Score: 31–24 (max 57)

A weight six for both players. A SECONDO is the second or lower part in a duet.


Round 7: S G M P I E A C N

C1: CAMPING (7)
C2: CAMPING (7)
DC: SCAMPING (8)
OT: ESCAPING (8)
Score: 38–31 (max 65)

CAMPING for each of our contestants. Nick asks about SCAMPING, which is fine - it means to do something in a perfunctory or inadequate way. See, it's very easy to not put an extra letter in and miss out on eight points.


Round 8: R L T O E W A B I

C1: BLOATER (7)
C2: BLOATER (7)
OT: WRITABLE (8)
Score: 45–38 (max 73)

Sevens again. A BLOATER is a kind of cured herring. WRITABLE was the maximum here. (No, WRITEABLE isn't valid. Smartarse.)


Round 9: N D L G T E O E A

C1: ELONGATED (18)
C2: GLOATED (7)
Score: 63–38 (max 91)

After a series of tied rounds, Anthea finally extends her lead with ELONGATED.

Origins of words: today we look at plural forms from various languages. Some words that come from Latin use the Latin plural (e.g. BACTERIUM -> BACTERIA), and some use an English plural (e.g. VIRUS -> VIRUSES). By the way, anyone who tries to look clever by saying "octopi" instead of "octopuses" should be pointed and laughed at. The plural is octopuses, and even if you were to give it the plural form of its original language, the word is Greek not Latin so it would be "octopodes".


Round 10: 25, 3, 7, 3, 10, 10. Target: 177.

C1: 177. 7*25+3/3+10/10 (10)
C2: 176.
Score: 73–38 (max 101)

Anthea goes ten further in front as Kevin can only get one away.


Teatime teaser: IFIREGUN -> FIGURINE

Round 11: S T E O H P M A E

C1: THEMES (6)
C2: STOMP (5)
OT: APOTHEMS (8)
Score: 79–38 (max 109)

And THEMES gives her an almost unassailable lead. An APOTHEM is a line which crosses the centre of a regular polygon and intersects one of the sides at right angles.


Round 12: A E I B T S A N T

C1: ABSTAIN (7)
C2: bastian
DC: BASINET (7) absentia
OT: ASTATINE (8) BASANITE (8)
Score: 86–38 (max 117)

Kevin misspells BASTION, which means Anthea will get the chance to defend her place in the champion's chair tomorrow. Susie and Mark offer ABSENTIA, but that's not valid - it's only in the dictionary as "in absentia". There ought to be someone in the studio waving a red flag like they do in the long jump for this sort of thing.


Round 13: R H Y R D U E I G

C1: RIDGE (5)
C2: HURRIED (7)
OT: DHURRIE (7)
Score: 86–45 (max 124)

Kevin takes the consolation achievement of beating Anthea on the last letters round, but the game's over for him now. One for the stemmers: D+HURRIES = DHURRIES. A DHURRIE is a type of Indian rug, and joins the list of "stems that are just the letter put on the end or beginning of an existing word but are surprisingly easy to miss", like STAMPED+E, JAVELIN+A, PROTEGE+E, S+CAMPING and SECOND+O.


Round 14: 100, 1, 9, 4, 6, 5. Target: 847.

C1: 849. 9*100-(6+4)*5-1 (7)
C2: -
RR: 847. (100-6)*9+1 (10)
Score: 93–45 (max 134)

Kevin's weakness seems to be the numbers rounds, as Anthea beats him on numbers again. Anthea has the chance to get a century on her debut as we go into the conundrum...


Round 15: R E D C A T T L E

No one buzzes. The answer was CLATTERED.
Final Score: 93–45 (max 144)

But neither could get it, so Anthea claims the teapot with a worthy score of 93. Her opponent tomorrow is our very own Grant Waters, and it'll be my pleasure to recap that one as well. See you then.



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