)Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Wednesday 17 October 2012.
C1: Champion Rose Boyle (2 wins, 189 points.) An forumite from Dublin, but formerly from Arranmore Island, County Donegal. She enjoys tennis and tag rugby, and is also a keen dressmaker.
C2: Challenger Nick Turner. Originally from Horsted Keynes, West Sussex, but now lives in Drimoleague, County Cork. He has retired after working in the coach industry, but does still run a local model village train in the local area. He's also a volunteer driver for Cancer Connect.
DC: Susie Dent and Dr. Phil Hammond.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: P B N A U E L R A
R02: N V E I S T O M A
R03: H S L I O E R M H
R04: G T O I D N E S I
R05: 75, 5, 2, 8, 2, 10. Target: 862.
TTT: TILEVOTE - "It sounds like Popeye's wife swallowed his fishing tackle"
R06: Z D A E T S O F A
R07: S H W E O U D T J
R08: G Y E A N R I S E
R09: C P D A I E C F L
R10: 100, 50, 4, 4, 6, 3. Target: 300.
TTT: MURALIST - "It's not all about you, it's all about others"
R11: W B T O U O S C A
R12: R L E I R T A G E
R13: M X G I I N T E S
R14: 75, 9, 9, 1, 8, 2. Target: 394.
R15: D E A D V I T A L (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: P B N A U E L R A
C1: UNREAL (6)
C2: PARABLE (7)
DC: PLEURA (6)
OT: NEBULAR (7) PARABEN (7)
Score: 0–7 (max 7)
A good start by our newbie with that PARABLE there.
A PARABEN is any ester of parahydroxybenzoic acid, some of which are used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and have been found in breast cancer tumours.
Round 2: N V E I S T O M A
C1: moaniest
C2: MOVIES (6)
DC: VOMITS (6) AMNIOTES (8)
Score: 0–13 (max 15)
Oh dear, Rose makes the recurring error of thinking that moaniest is in, where in fact the word that is in with those letters is AMNIOTES.
Round 3: H S L I O E R M H
C1: HOLIER (6)
C2: MOREISH (7)
DC: HEROISM (7)
Score: 0–20 (max 22)
Hmmmm, now that is a MOREISH offering from Nick. Is our champion in trouble here
Round 4: G T O I D N E S I
C1: DIGESTION (18)
C2: DIGESTION (18)
DC: EDITIONS (8) SEDITION (8)
Score: 18–38 (max 40)
Rose gets off the mark and with a 9 too
Unfortunately, Nick gets it too, so she's still got some catching up to do.Round 5: 75, 5, 2, 8, 2, 10. Target: 862.
C1: 862. ((10 + 2) x 75) - ((8 x 5) - 2) (10)
C2: 862. Mistake in working.
Score: 28–38 (max 50)
Well, well, well. All seems to be going smoothly in this numbers game, but as soon as Rose finishes her method, Nick drops a bombshell by saying that he hasn't written down his method
The words "Oh", "my" and "God" spring to mind.
Dr. Phil talks about another one of his favourite books, Need Your Doctor Be So Useless?, by Andrew Malleson from 1973. He then follows up by talking about his new career with children and adolescents who have chronic fatigue syndrome.
Teatime teaser: TILEVOTE -> OLIVETTE
Round 6: Z D A E T S O F A
C1: FASTED (6)
C2: FEAST (5)
OT: DEFATS (6)
Score: 34–38 (max 56)
And that 6 means that the comeback is definitely on now!!!
Round 7: S H W E O U D T J
C1: SHOUTED (7)
C2: JOUSTED (7)
OT: SOUTHED (7)
Score: 41–45 (max 63)
Nice and easy 7's here.
Round 8: G Y E A N R I S E
C1: resaying
C2: SEARING (7)
DC: SYRINGE (7)
OT: ENRAGES (7) ERASING (7) GAINERS (7) GREISEN (7) REGAINS (7) SIGNARY (7) SYRINGA (7)
Score: 41–52 (max 70)
Well, that's put the brakes on a bit, as that risky 8 returns Nick's lead into double figures.
GREISEN is a hydrothermally altered rock of granitic texture composed chiefly of quartz and mica, common in the tin mines of Europe.
A SYRINGA (or MOCK ORANGE) is any of various shrubs belonging to the genus Philadelphus, of the saxifrage family, especially Philadelphus coronarius, a widely cultivated species having fragrant white flowers.
Round 9: C P D A I E C F L
C1: FLACCID (7)
C2: FACILE (6)
DC: IPECAC (6)
Score: 48–52 (max 77)
But Rose returns immediately with a superb darrenic 7.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "conkers".
Round 10: 100, 50, 4, 4, 6, 3. Target: 300.
C1: 300. 3 x 100 (10)
C2: 300. 3 x 100 (10)
Score: 58–62 (max 87)
NEXT..............
Teatime teaser: MURALIST -> ALTRUISM
Round 11: W B T O U O S C A
C1: BOATS (5)
C2: BOOST (5)
DC: cabots SABOT (5)
OT: BASUCO (6) TABOOS (6)
Score: 63–67 (max 93)
Oh dear, just 5's here, and shockingly DC miss TABOOS too
A BASUCO is coca paste mixed with other substances and highly addictive when smoked.
Round 12: R L E I R T A G E
C1: RETAILER (8)
C2: glarier
DC: LITREAGE (8)
Score: 71–67 (max 101)
Now, we have a complete turn of events, as Nick gives an illegal offering, and Rose gets a brilliant 8.
Round 13: M X G I I N T E S
C1: MINGIEST (8)
C2: mixings
DC: EXISTING (8) sexting
OT: TIMESING (8)
Score: 79–67 (max 109)
A risk from Rose, and safety from Nick. Or so it seems.............. In fact, Nick's 7 isn't pluralisable and Rose's 8 is perfectly acceptable.
Round 14: 75, 9, 9, 1, 8, 2. Target: 394.
C1: 393. ((8 - 2 - 1) x 75) + 9 + 9 (7)
C2: -
OT: 395. ((75 - 9) x (8 - 2)) - 1 (7)
Score: 86–67 (max 116)
A bit of a nasty numbers to finish with, but because Nick throws in the towel, Rose has the game wrapped up.
Round 15: D E A D V I T A L
C2 buzzes on 6.25 seconds to say VALIDATED which is correct.
Final Score: 86–77 (max 126)
But, Nick finishes off the game with a good conundrum solve to lose by NINE points, meaning that his forgetting to write down his numbers method has cost him the match.
So, Rose, by the skin of her teeth has managed her 3rd win, and if you look at her performance after the first 3 rounds, it's quite an impressive feat that she maxed 9 out of the last 11 rounds letters and numbers rounds. Can she make it to half-octochampdom tomorrow
Join me for that. But till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Rose:
Total score - 86
Raw score - 98
Total % of max - 68
Raw % of max - 78
Total average score per round - 5.7
Raw average score per round - 6.5
Number of maxes - 9
Nick:
Total score - 77
Raw score - 88
Total % of max - 61
Raw % of max - 70
Total average score per round - 5.1
Raw average score per round - 5.9
Number of maxes - 7
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=67