So, enjoy.
Countdown recap for Wednesday 14 November 2012.
C1: Champion Heather Styles (5 wins, 470 points.) An Apteforumite from Sevenoaks, Kent. Her nephew, Matthew, will be watching the show intently we believe.
C2: Challenger Max Plaice. An economics and international development graduate from Weybridge, Surrey. He is currently temping as an administration assistant. He loves sport, pub quizzes, music and plays in his local 5-a-side team.
DC: Susie Dent and Connie Fisher.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: D S M L E I U A N
R02: D M S I A H M E N
R03: O E A I P S T P C
R04: X H T E I M R A T
R05: 100, 10, 3, 3, 8, 4. Target: 611.
TTT: FLYDINER - "The game means nothing, but it's not hostile"
R06: P D S E O L D I T
R07: K V R G E O I U D
R08: J F N R E A I N O
R09: A O I A S T R C E
R10: 25, 9, 8, 6, 10, 6. Target: 367.
TTT: SETMEALS - "Set meals, but these are strictly vegetarian"
R11: R G R C A E O A D
R12: R W S E I O N L P
R13: A E U O N T L S Q
R14: 3, 1, 3, 2, 9, 8. Target: 448.
R15: A N G R I N I P S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: D S M L E I U A N
C1: MISLEAD (7)
C2: snailed
DC: muslined MEDIANS (7) SUNDIAL (7) DISMAL (6)
OT: DENIALS (7) DUALISE (7) DUALISM (7) INSULAE (7) MAIDENS (7) MAUDLIN (7) MEDINAS (7) MENIALS (7) MIAULED (7) MISDEAL (7) SEMINAL (7) SIDEMAN (7) UNIDEAL (7) UNLADES (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)
Max seems to have snailed to nowhere in this round, although the bigger shock comes when Susie reveals that MUSLINED isn't in!!! My first thought was "Is it BIG-HEAD-gate, Part 2?" But no, Heather confirms to us in the spoiler thread that MUSLINED is now muslined.
An INSULA (plural INSULAE) is a group of convolutions situated at the base of the lateral fissure of the brain.
MAUDLIN is an adjective meaning tearfully or weakly emotional.
A MEDINA is the old Arab quarter of a North African city.
To UNLADE is to take the lading, load, or cargo from.
Round 2: D M S I A H M E N
C1: HANDIES (7)
C2: MASHED (6)
DC: SHAMED (6) MISNAMED (8)
Score: 14–0 (max 15)
Heather has clearly been memorising from her past games, remembering the offering that Philip gave in round 2 of her first game from a week ago.
Round 3: O E A I P S T P C
C1: TOPICS (6)
C2: PACIEST (7)
DC: COPITAS (7)
Me: APPOSITE (8)
Score: 14–7 (max 23)
A slight turn of events as Max gets back in it with his PACIEST offering, as I go in the APPOSITE direction to get the darrenic 8.
APPOSITE is an adjective meaning suitable, well-adapted, pertinent or relevant.
Round 4: X H T E I M R A T
C1: MATIER (6)
C2: thermat
DC: HATTER (6) MATTER (6) HERMIT (6) MATRIX (6)
OT: THERMIT (7)
Score: 20–7 (max 30)
Ouch, super unlucky for Max, as he either confuses or has mistakenly mixed up THERMIT with thermat. Either which way, he's very unlucky, as Heather pulls further away.
THERMIT (or THERMITE) is a mixture of aluminium powder and a metal oxide, such as iron oxide, which when ignited reacts with the evolution of heat to yield aluminium oxide and molten metal: used for welding and in some types of incendiary bombs.
Round 5: 100, 10, 3, 3, 8, 4. Target: 611.
C1: 611. ((10 - 4) x 100) + 8 + 3 (10)
C2: 610.
Score: 30–7 (max 40)
Oh dear, after the 611 miss on the anniversary show, it's another "not too hard" 611 here, which Max misses, so Heather goes into cruise control now.
In honour of Prince Charles' 64th birthday today, Connie talks about a "date" with an unnamed prince who had recently undergone an operation to do with piles............
Teatime teaser: FLYDINER -> FRIENDLY
Round 6: P D S E O L D I T
C1: SPOILED (7)
C2: DEPOSIT (7)
DC: SOILED (6) POSTED (6) TOPSIDE (7) LOPSIDED (8)
OT: DELTOIDS (8)
Score: 37–14 (max 48)
Following on from her SPOILER on her 2nd game, Heather has now SPOILED us with her wordly offerings.
Round 7: K V R G E O I U D
C1: ROUGED (6)
C2: VIGOUR (6)
DC: virgo
OT: DEVOIR (6) DEVOUR (6) DROGUE (6) DUIKER (6) GOURDE (6) GUIDER (6) ROGUED (6) VOGUED (6) VOIDER (6)
Score: 43–20 (max 54)
Plenty of 6's around in this one, so flatness reigns.
A DEVOIR is an act of civility or respect.
A DROGUE is a bucket or canvas bag used as a sea anchor.
A DUIKER is any of several small African antelopes of the Cephalophus, Sylvicapra, and related genera, the males and often the females having short, spikelike horns, some are endangered.
A GOURDE is a paper money and monetary unit of Haiti, equal to 100 centimes.
Round 8: J F N R E A I N O
C1: fejora
C2: FANNER (6)
DC: FEIJOA (6) noir INFERNO (7)
Score: 43–26 (max 61)
Ouchy, Heather's memory gets mushed with FEDORA mixing with FEIJOA to become the illegal fejora.
Round 9: A O I A S T R C E
C1: RACIEST (7)
C2: RACIEST (7)
DC: COASTER (7) EROTICA (7)
OT: ATRESIA (7) CARITAS (7) CRISTAE (7) OSTERIA (7) OSTRACA (7) RECOATS (7) ROSACEA (7) SCORIAE (7)
Score: 50–33 (max 68)
Flatness reigns supreme yet again.
An ATRESIA is the congenital absence, or the pathological closure, of an opening, passage, or cavity.
A CRISTA (plural CRISTAE) is a zoological term for a crest or ridge.
In Ancient Greece, an OSTRACON (plural OSTRACA) is a potsherd, especially one used as a ballot on which the name of a person voted to be ostracized was inscribed.
ROSACEA is a chronic form of acne affecting the nose, forehead, and cheeks, characterized by red pustular lesions.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "dressing gown", "slippers" and "negligee".
Round 10: 25, 9, 8, 6, 10, 6. Target: 367.
C1: 367. ((6 + 9) x 25) - 8 (10)
C2: 366.
Score: 60–33 (max 78)
Another "not terribly tricky" numbers appears, but Max can only get 1 away again, so Heather gets another 10 points dropped into her lap there.
Teatime teaser: SETMEALS -> MEATLESS
Round 11: R G R C A E O A D
C1: GRACED (6)
C2: roader
DC: CAGED (5) roadrace ARCADE (6)
OT: CORDAGE (7)
Score: 66–33 (max 85)
No roaders here for Max, in a way, it's sort of a car crash waiting to happen at this stage now...............
Round 12: R W S E I O N L P
C1: SPOILER (7)
C2: SLOWER (6)
DC: NOSIER (6) PROLINE (7) EPSILON (7)
OT: ORPINES (7) SNOWIER (7)
Score: 73–33 (max 92)
And Heather has wrapped the game up with yet another SPOILER!!!!
An ORPINE is a plant, Sedum telephium, of the stonecrop family, having purplish flowers.
Round 13: A E U O N T L S Q
C1: EQUALS (6)
C2: QUANTS (6)
DC: QUOTES (6) SOUTANE (7)
OT: ELUANTS (7) EQUANTS (7) ETALONS (7) LOQUATS (7) LUNATES (7)
Score: 79–39 (max 99)
Half a dozen 7's here, but can Heather complete a delicious 99
A LOQUAT is a small evergreen tree, Eriobotrya japonica, native to China and Japan, cultivated as an ornamental and for its yellow, plumlike fruit.
Round 14: 3, 1, 3, 2, 9, 8. Target: 448.
C1: 448. (((3 + 3) x 9) + 2) x 8 (10)
C2: -
Score: 89–39 (max 109)
Hmmm, a 6 small offering appears from Max unexpectedly, although maybe expectedly, he messes up and declares nil, while Heather carries on from her impressive 998 solve yesterday to get a well deserved 10 points.
Round 15: A N G R I N I P S
C2 buzzes on 4 seconds to say SPRAINING which is correct.
Final Score: 89–49 (max 119)
But, Max has the final word with the conundrum solve to keep Heather on 89.
So, Heather now has 559 points from her 6 wins, which should put her in line with a place on #2 on the leaderboard, if she maintains her average for 2 more shows.
With her wide range of impressive words and number solves, you definitely wouldn't bet against her making it there.
Join me tomorrow to see if she can better her mum, Phyllis, by reaching 7 wins.
So, till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Heather:
Total score - 89
Raw score - 95
Total % of max - 75
Raw % of max - 80
Total average score per round - 5.9
Raw average score per round - 6.3
Number of maxes - 7
Max:
Total score - 49
Raw score - 75
Total % of max - 41
Raw % of max - 63
Total average score per round - 3.3
Raw average score per round - 5.0
Number of maxes - 3
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=67