Welcome to my third recap this week - James is away watching some football match or other, so I've stepped in today.
We kick off with a rant about the AA. Today they sent me a letter saying how they're going to renew my breakdown cover at a 25% discount, and they'll just be taking the money out of my account in three weeks, no questions asked. They went on to quote a renewal price that's £65 higher than what I paid last year, so either they're quite catastrophically bad at maths or they think I've got a short memory. Either way, words are going to be exchanged. Anyway, they included this picture in their letter which should at least please Michael Wallace.
Anyway, rant over. I think I was going to do some kind of recap.
C1: Champion Grant Waters (1 win, 96 points) triumphed yesterday with the crucial conundrum SUBMARINE on his first game. Today we'll see if he can make it two.
C2: Challenger Tom Larner is a student from Gosport. He's a collector of obscure football shirts.
DC: Susie Dent and Mark Foster.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: L D P N E A U O S
R02: F M A E B T K A R
R03: S S T R I E I L O
R04: M R Q M E I U T A
R05: 100, 10, 8, 6, 8, 1. Target: 502.
TTT: ANYLEADS - "Looked closely at the evidence for any leads."
R06: L R S R O I E D I
R07: N G A Z E O T W E
R08: C Y G I O I N S N
R09: S L P E I A R E J
R10: 75, 25, 9, 1, 10, 4. Target: 586.
TTT: MEDDLEUP - "Put up quite a plucky performance, perhaps?"
R11: H X S O A U O G D
R12: N T M P E A I R W
R13: T S F O A E D I G
R14: 50, 100, 7, 9, 6, 3. Target: 679.
R15: V I N O S D I R E (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: L D P N E A U O S
C1: UPLOADS (7)
C2: PLANES (6)
DC: NODULES (7) PEDALOS (7)
OT: POUNDALS (8)
Score: 7–0 (max 8)
In correctly counting the number of letters in their words, Grant and Tom have already both shown greater mathematical aptitude than the AA. A POUNDAL is an imperial unit of force. We use newtons nowadays.
Round 2: F M A E B T K A R
C1: EMBARK (6)
C2: MARKET (6)
OT: FERMATA (7)
Score: 13–6 (max 15)
Tom's off the MARK now. The darren FERMATA is a musical direction referring to a pause of unspecified length.
Round 3: S S T R I E I L O
C1: TOILERS (7)
C2: LOSERS (6)
DC: OILIEST (7) SORTIES (7) RISSOLE (7)
OT: LISTERS (7) LOITERS (7) LORISES (7) OSTLERS (7) RELISTS (7) RESTIOS (7) ROSIEST (7) SILTIER (7) STEROLS (7) STORIES (7) TORSELS (7) TRIOSES (7)
Score: 20–6 (max 22)
16 sevens to choose from here. Grant finds one of them to extend his lead.
Round 4: M R Q M E I U T A
C1: MARQUE (6)
C2: QUITE (5)
DC: ATRIUM (6) MARMITE (7)
OT: IMMATURE (8)
Score: 26–6 (max 30)
Grant finds MARQUE to go 20 points up. Susie finds MARMITE, which is a cooking pot depicted on the jar containing the spread of the same name. Everyone misses IMMATURE.
Round 5: 100, 10, 8, 6, 8, 1. Target: 502.
C1: 502. (6-1)*100+10-8 (10)
C2: 502. (6-1)*100+10-8 (10)
Score: 36–16 (max 40)
Not a hard numbers game. Ten points each. The AA were playing this round too, but could only reach 500, even after correcting themselves and starting again twice and still using one of the numbers three times. The down side is that they're also in charge of scoring, so they awarded themselves 50 points for this. Luckily they also added that up wrong so their score is now -87.
Teatime teaser: ANYLEADS -> ANALYSED
Round 6: L R S R O I E D I
C1: LORRIES (7)
C2: SOLDIER (7)
DC: IDOLISER (8)
Score: 43–23 (max 48)
Sevens for our contestants, but there's one eight in there and Susie spots it.
Round 7: N G A Z E O T W E
C1: GOATEE (6)
C2: WONGA (5)
OT: NEGATE (6) TOWAGE (6) TOWNEE (6)
Score: 49–23 (max 54)
Tom isn't sure about WONGA, but it's fine, it's a common slang term for money that's been in the dictionary for a while. It doesn't beat Grant's GOATEE, though.
Round 8: C Y G I O I N S N
C1: COINING (7)
C2: COINING (7)
DC: CONSIGN (7)
OT: COSYING (7) NOISING (7) NOSYING (7) SYNCING (7) YOGINIS (7)
Score: 56–30 (max 61)
Sevens again. A YOGINI is a woman who is proficient in yoga.
Round 9: S L P E I A R E J
C1: PRAISE (6)
C2: REPLIES (7)
DC: JAPERIES (8)
OT: ESPALIER (8) PEARLIES (8)
Score: 56–37 (max 69)
Tom closes the gap to 19 points with REPLIES as Grant can only find PRAISE. Susie comes up with JAPERIES for eight.
Origins of Words: If you're one of those terminally annoying people who says things like "Nick made supper for Rachel and myself", or worse, "Can I give this bag to yourself" or "Hello, is that the hotel, I've got a room booked with yourselves", pay attention to what Susie said today. The word you are looking for is "me" or "you". Saying "yourself" in these cases is not "more polite", it's not "more grammatical", it's not "more formal". It's just plain incorrect. Reflexive pronouns like "myself" and "yourself" should only be used for emphasis (e.g. "I made it myself") or when referring to the subject of the sentence (e.g. "you call yourself a linguist").
Round 10: 75, 25, 9, 1, 10, 4. Target: 586.
C1: 586. (9-1)*75-10-4 (10)
C2: 590.
Score: 66–37 (max 79)
Grant extends his lead again by spotting the numbers game. Tom's got some work to do now...
Teatime teaser: MEDDLEUP -> DEPLUMED
Round 11: H X S O A U O G D
C1: DOUGHS (6)
C2: GOODS (5)
DC: DOUGH (5)
Score: 72–37 (max 85)
Aptodic gives the thumbs-down to DOUGHS, but Susie's argument here is that you can have different types of dough. There's sourdough, and normal dough, and probably other kinds too. Interesting precedent to set, though. MAIZES was allowed a couple of years ago because the dictionary definition for MAIZE specifically mentions different varieties, but that's not true for DOUGH. You can also have different types of treacle, so should TREACLES now be allowed as well? Difficult call.
Round 12: N T M P E A I R W
C1: IMPART (6)
C2: TAMPER (6)
DC: MINARET (7) TAMPER (6) PERTAIN (7)
OT: MERANTI (7) PAINTER (7) PRIMATE (7) RAIMENT (7) REPAINT (7) TAWNIER (7) TINWARE (7) WARTIME (7) WIREMAN (7) WIRETAP (7)
Score: 78–43 (max 92)
A few sevens available here, but Grant and Tom both get sixes.
Round 13: T S F O A E D I G
C1: GODETIAS (8)
C2: oafiest
DC: STIFADO (7) FOISTED (7)
Score: 86–43 (max 100)
Tom's attempt isn't allowed - the adjective is OAFISH - and Grant spots the perennial Countdown favourite GODETIAS to seal a second win. Susie finds STIFADO, which is a kind of Greek foodstuff.
Round 14: 50, 100, 7, 9, 6, 3. Target: 679.
C1: 676.
C2: 679. 7*100-(9*3-6) (10)
Score: 86–53 (max 110)
Now it's Grant's turn to falter on the numbers as Tom takes the points, but unfortunately for him the game's already over.
Round 15: V I N O S D I R E
C1 buzzes on 29 seconds to say DIVISIONER which is incorrect.
C2 does not buzz.
The answer was DIVERSION.
Final Score: 86–53 (max 120)
Neither contestant can solve the conundrum so it's up to a member of the audience to give us the answer.
That win takes Grant on to 2 wins and 182 points, which puts him in fourth place on the finals table for now. Tomorrow we'll see if he can make it three.
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=67
