(Well, sort of......... 
)The series itself will resume properly on Monday, but for today and tomorrow, we have 2 specials to serve up for you lucky viewers and readers.
Tomorrow, we have a husband and wife special between Mr. & Mrs. X, but today, we have a matchup between what Nick calls "The Strong Women".
They are both female winners from the last series, with a combined 379 points in their 5 games. Can they show more of the stuff they showed the first time they were on, I wonder............
Let's find out.
Countdown special recap for Thursday 13 September 2012.
C1: Champion Gerri Kostrzewa (2 wins, 219 points.) From Leeds, West Yorkshire. She used to run Red Rhino Records, with her husband, which launched Pulp's career..
C2: Champion Kerry-Anne Alcock (1 win, 160 points.) An Apteforumite from Birmingham. She works as a short breaks co-ordinator for children with autism. She also likes to do comics about her alter-ego, Ruby Firecracker. She has also shown more of her creative side by making little dolls of Nick, Rachel & Susie.
DC: Susie Dent and Alistair McGowan, who gets things going with his impressions of Moira Stuart, Jo Brand, Clare Balding and Sarah Millican.
RR: Rachel Riley, who quite sensibly hasn't changed her name to Rachel Gilbert.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: F E T I D S A P S
R02: N G E T O V I M C
R03: N U W T S I E R O
R04: Q J I H A D I N E
R05: 75, 50, 5, 3, 6, 4. Target: 246.
TTT: GOTTHERE - "They got there with each other"
R06: S R O S A T E G D
R07: U C P A O N L Z L
R08: N R E N I S A D E
R09: M K R I O U E T R
R10: 100, 25, 8, 7, 6, 2. Target: 233.
TTT: LENTRIES - "Len tries to be attentive with his ears"
R11: I O E P D T R H A
R12: M L I W E D I S A
R13: Y T S O U E M N A
R14: 100, 75, 25, 50, 4, 2. Target: 710.
R15: M O R B I D E E R (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: F E T I D S A P S
C1: PASTIES (7)
C2: PASTIES (7)
OT: APSIDES (7) FIESTAS (7) PATSIES (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 7)
A nice and delicious flat start with PASTIES galore.
Round 2: N G E T O V I M C
C1: MOTIVE (6)
C2: COVETING (8)
DC: EMOTING (7)
Score: 7–15 (max 15)
A super impressive darrenic spot by Kerry-Anne there. Had me stumped.
Round 3: N U W T S I E R O
C1: STONIER (7)
C2: WINTERS (7)
DC: ROUTINES (8)
Score: 14–22 (max 23)
Well, the max game has already gone, ironically meaning that we're back into the old ROUTINES.
Round 4: Q J I H A D I N E
C1: JIHAD (5)
C2: JIHADI (6)
OT: JEHADI (6)
Score: 14–28 (max 29)
It's now time for a "Spot the Spelt Out Word" round.
Unfortunately, Gerri decides to only go up to 5, letting Kerry-Anne nick in with the 6.Round 5: 75, 50, 5, 3, 6, 4. Target: 246.
C1: 246. (50 x 5) - 4 (10)
C2: 246. (50 x 5) - 4 (10)
Score: 24–38 (max 39)
Nice and easy start to the numbers. We don't want to give Rach much of a workout after her honeymoon.
Alistair talks about his busy summer at Wimbledon, and then treats to an impression of Roger Federer in English, French AND German. Tres kühl.
Teatime teaser: GOTTHERE -> TOGETHER
Round 6: S R O S A T E G D
C1: GRASSED (7)
C2: misdeclared 8
DC: ASSORTED (8)
OT: TORSADES (8)
Score: 31–38 (max 47)
Oh dear, Kerry-Anne admits to seeing another phantom R, so Gerri has halved her lead.
A TORSADE is a twisted cord.
Round 7: U C P A O N L Z L
C1: CAPON (5)
C2: CAPON (5)
DC: CUPOLA (6)
OT: CALLOP (6) CLONAL (6) COPULA (6) POLLAN (6)
Score: 36–43 (max 53)
Just a group of odd 6's here, although it's almost time for the contestants to play round 2 of "Spot the Spelt Out Word".
A CALLOP is another word for the GOLDEN PERCH, a freshwater food fish, Plectroplites ambiguus, that inhabits inland waters of Australia.
A COPULA is something that connects or links together.
A POLLAN is any of several varieties of the whitefish Coregonus pollan, that occur in lakes in Northern Ireland.
Round 8: N R E N I S A D E
C1: NEARSIDE (8)
C2: DENIERS (7)
DC: ARSENIDE (8)
OT: ANSERINE (8) ENSNARED (8)
Score: 44–43 (max 61)
And we now have a role reversal, as Gerri takes the lead thanks to her NEARSIDE offering, while DC explain to Kerry-Anne that her word is OK, but only with a French twang.
Round 9: M K R I O U E T R
C1: MURKIER (7)
C2: MURKIER (7)
DC: ROUTIER (7)
Score: 51–50 (max 68)
Now it's Alistair's turn to go and make a randomly cool guess with a French twang.
Meanwhile, the words seem to be getting MURKIER for the contestants, but it's still very high scoring, which we like. Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "accolade".
Interestingly, soon after OoW, Nick says that "Kerry" is in the lead. Easy mistake to make.
Round 10: 100, 25, 8, 7, 6, 2. Target: 233.
C1: 233. (100 x 2) + 25 + 8 (10)
C2: 233. ((7 + 2) x 25) + 8 (10)
Score: 61–60 (max 78)
Nice and simple yet again.
Teatime teaser: LENTRIES -> LISTENER
Round 11: I O E P D T R H A
C1: HARPED (6)
C2: PAROTID (7)
DC: ATROPHIED (18)
Score: 61–67 (max 96)
And now Kerry-Anne has turned the tables yet again, by returning into the lead thanks to her PAROTID. An impressive 9 by DC there, which as anyone knows, is also an anagram of APHRODITE.
Round 12: M L I W E D I S A
C1: MILDEWS (7)
C2: MISLAID (7)
DC: MILADIES (8)
OT: IDEALISM (8)
Score: 68–74 (max 104)
Some very good 7's from the ladies, whereas DC go better with MILADIES.
This game is still very tight. Round 13: Y T S O U E M N A
C1: OUTMANS (7)
C2: AMNESTY (7)
DC: AMOUNTS (7)
Me: SEAMOUNT (8)
Score: 75–81 (max 112)
2 more super 7's. This time the darren is missed by all, except me.
A SEAMOUNT is a submarine mountain rising several hundred fathoms above the floor of the sea, but having its summit well below the surface of the water.
Round 14: 100, 75, 25, 50, 4, 2. Target: 710.
C1: -
C2: 702. (((75 / 25) + 4) x 100) + 2 (5)
RR: 710. ((100 + 75 + 2) x 4) + (50 / 25) (10)
Score: 75–86 (max 122)
Well, that was a trump card that I wasn't expecting from our little firecracker, but impressive nonetheless, and it got her the win too, as it left Gerri completely flummoxed, while Rachel needed a bit of extra time to solve it.
(As I said earlier, blame it on the honeymoon. )Round 15: M O R B I D E E R
No one buzzes. The answer was EMBROIDER.
Final Score: 75–86 (max 132)
A little bit of a tricky conundrum for the ladies, so it's up to a man with glasses in the audience to solve it. But, it's no ordinary man with glasses, it just happens to be Mauro Pratesi.
(Although, he did admit to using a solve to solve it, so a bit of cheating there, but we'll let him off this time. ) Interestingly, his daughter, Jessica, will be appearing on our screens in a couple of weeks time, carrying on with the Pratesi tradition it seems. So, we have a very entertaining match today, and even though the winner in these matches doesn't normally matter that much, it's nice to see one of our own on the winning side, so very well done to Kerry-Anne, meaning that she is now equal in the number of wins to Gerri.
Thomas will be with you all tomorrow for the 2nd special. I'll be back on normal service on Wednesday.
So, till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Gerri:
Total score - 75
Raw score - 92
Total % of max - 57
Raw % of max - 70
Total average score per round - 5.0
Raw average score per round - 6.1
Number of maxes - 5
Kerry-Anne:
Total score - 86
Raw score - 93
Total % of max - 65
Raw % of max - 70
Total average score per round - 5.7
Raw average score per round - 6.2
Number of maxes - 6
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=-14