Thursday 24th January 2013 (30th Championship, R1 Game 5)

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Jack Worsley
Series 66 Champion
Posts: 979
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:32 pm
Location: Blackpool

Thursday 24th January 2013 (30th Championship, R1 Game 5)

Post by Jack Worsley »

Countdown recap for Thursday 24 January 2013.

Hello again, sorry I won't be providing a James Robinson style McCullagh v Rawlinson recap, I'm just standing in for him today, after he covered my usual Tuesday slot. Many thanks to him for that. Today we have two legends of Countdown going head to head, who will come out on top? :) :D :?:

C1: Series 43 semi-finalist David Williams (9 wins, 2 defeats, 748 points, all 9-rounders except one CoC game.) A retired actuary from Merseyside, he is a huge supporter of Liverpool FC. He also lives near manager Brendan Rodgers, who he tells us has an eight-foot fence around his garden. In 2000, he bacame an octochamp with 535 points, a record in the 9-round format, beating Harvey Freeman's record which stood for nearly 14 years. The run included solving all eight conundrums, one of just six players ever to do so. He lost his semi final against Matthew Turner but returned for the Champion of Champions in 2003. He lost 113-111 against Chris Wills, with his losing score being the highest ever until Matthew Shore lost with 117 against Mark Tournoff three years later.
C2: Series 61 champion Chris Davies (11 wins, 1 defeat, 1296 points, all 15-rounders.) A student at John Moores University in Liverpool, he is from The Wirral, which is pretty close to Liverpool. Nick refers to it as the battle of the scousers. He plays a keyboard in a band called "Chasing Amy" during weddings and functions. He won Series 61 in 2009 with some cracking games along the way. Most notably, he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in his semi final against Innis Carson by guessing the conundrum SLEEPSUIT with less than five seconds left. Many people regard this as the best game of all time. He became an octochamp with a total of a massive 892 points, the ninth highest of all time. His run included the second highest score ever, as he scored 139 against Ross Mackenzie in his fifth game. His only defeat came against Series 60 champion Kirk Bevins in a special.
DC: Susie Dent and Margaret Mountford.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: F T L V A I E G S
R02: L T U A Z V E S H
R03: G J X R A U E W R
R04: B N P E A T E S D
R05: 1, 10, 7, 1, 9, 4. Target: 684.
TTT: LINKPANG - "It's about lying down in the strangest of places"
R06: N F H U I N E P L
R07: M S G S O A U I Y
R08: R C O A N D O A L
R09: M N R N O E U D P
R10: 100, 10, 6, 5, 6, 1. Target: 381.
TTT: JANBOOTH - "Jan Booth sails around to get this"
R11: C Q T S A E I C T
R12: D R D O E M A I B
R13: G T R D E O A U S
R14: 75, 9, 8, 2, 1, 10. Target: 396.
R15: S C O U S A S I N (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: F T L V A I E G S

C1: FESTIVAL (8)
C2: FESTIVAL (8)
DC: GLAIVES (7)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)

A great darrenic start by both players. :D

Round 2: L T U A Z V E S H

C1: VALUES (6)
C2: VALETS (6)
DC: VAULTS (6) SUAVE (5) VESTAL (6)
OT: AVULSE (6) HALEST (6) HALVES (6) HASLET (6) HAZELS (6) HUSTLE (6) LATHES (6) LUTZES (6) SALUTE (6) SLEUTH (6)
Score: 14–14 (max 14)

Too flat for the experts.

Round 3: G J X R A U E W R

C1: WAGER (5)
C2: WAGER (5)
DC: ARGUER (6)
Score: 19–19 (max 20)

A horrible selection of letters, with both stuck on five and DC revealing the only six.

Round 4: B N P E A T E S D

C1: PEDANTS (7)
C2: ABSENTED (8)
DC: BEDPANS (7)
Score: 19–27 (max 28)

Chris isn't sure about his declaration but ABSENT is in as a verb and it's good enough for him to break the deadlock. The first three letters of the selection prompt an "oh dear" from Chris and some laughter from the audience.

Round 5: 1, 10, 7, 1, 9, 4. Target: 684.

C1: 688.
C2: 684. ((10 + 1) x 7 - 1) x 9 (10)
Score: 19–37 (max 38)

David attempts to make amends by asking for six small. However, it backfires completely and Chris has a healthy lead to take into the first break. Who would have thought that knowing your 76 times tables would ever be useful?

Teatime teaser: LINKPANG -> PLANKING

Round 6: N F H U I N E P L

C1: LUPINE (6)
C2: PINNULE (7)
Score: 19–44 (max 45)

Chris shows why he's a series champion as he extends his lead further by spotting the darrenic seven from a tough set of letters, which happens to be a botanical term. It can refer to the secondary division of a pinnate leaf or it can be a zoological term meaning a part or organ like a small wing or fin.

Round 7: M S G S O A U I Y

C1: IMAGOS (6)
C2: ISOGAMY (7)
DC: MAGUS (5) MOSSY (5)
OT: OUGIYAS (7)
Score: 19–51 (max 52)

Chris is simply unstoppable at the moment! He even says he's not sure how to pronounce his latest belter of a word and then says he lied about it. :lol: It refers to sexual reproduction by the fusion of similar gametes.
An OUGIYA is the basic monetary unit of Mauritiana, equal to five khoums.

Round 8: R C O A N D O A L

C1: CARDOON (7)
C2: CARDOON (7)
DC: LARDOON (7) CARLOAD (7)
OT: CALANDO (7) CALDRON (7) CORONAL (7)
Score: 26–58 (max 59)

David scores for the first time since round 3 but he's going to have to do something drastic to get back into this one.

Round 9: M N R N O E U D P

C1: POUNDER (7)
C2: MOURNED (7)
DC: UNROPED (7)
Score: 33–65 (max 66)

A simple seven each for all.

OoW: Susie talks about the origin of a "busman's holiday".

Round 10: 100, 10, 6, 5, 6, 1. Target: 381.

C1: 381. (10 - 6) x (100 - 5) + 1 (10)
C2: 380.
Score: 43–65 (max 76)

Well, I wasn't expecting that. Chris misses something for once and David takes advantage to narrow the gap to 22. It's still a long way back but will that knock the Series 61 champion's confidence?

Teatime teaser: JANBOOTH -> JOHNBOAT

Round 11: C Q T S A E I C T

C1: ECSTATIC (8)
C2: ECSTATIC (8)
Score: 51–73 (max 84)

Both will certainly be ECSTATIC with that superb darren.

Round 12: D R D O E M A I B

C1: BROMIDE (7)
C2: ADMIRED (7)
DC: BOARDED (7) RADIOED (7)
OT: BRAIDED (7) ROADBED (7) ROADIED (7)
Score: 58–80 (max 91)

Super flat. David needs a beater in the next round to stay in contention.

Round 13: G T R D E O A U S

C1: outgrades
C2: OUTRAGES (8)
DC: OUTRAGED (8)
Score: 58–88 (max 99)

Ouch, unlucky! David senses that it's a good time to gamble and who can blame him? His attempt at a nine is rejected by Susie though as you can't outgrade something and the game is over as a contest.

Round 14: 75, 9, 8, 2, 1, 10. Target: 396.

C1: -
C2: 396. (75 - 9) x (8 - 2) (10)
Score: 58–98 (max 109)

Chris makes no mistake with this numbers game, as it's David's turn to lose the plot.

Round 15: S C O U S A S I N

C2 buzzes on 1 second to say SAUCISSON which is correct.
Final Score: 58–108 (max 119)

A lightning fast conundrum solve earns Chris his century and caps a brilliant performance. He showed why he won his series so convincingly with some awesome words and that conundrum solve and on this evidence, he is capable of going a long way in this competition. David played very well too and the score was extremely harsh on his performance. He would have scored much more than 58 against less formiddable opposition. Chris will return three weeks tomorrow to face the winner of the clash between David O'Donnell and Tom Hargreaves, who battle it out a week on Monday.

Tomorrow, week 3 will conclude with a fabulous-looking tie between Series 61 semi finalist and apterous number one Innis Carson and Series 64 runner-up Adam Gillard. Join Heather for her version of events. Next week, I'm doing Wednesday's recap instead of Robbo and will be covering the game between David Hoskisson and Mike Whiteoak. Join me then, you be sure of it. ;)


Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=-16
Last edited by Jack Worsley on Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Kevin Thurlow
Acolyte
Posts: 209
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 11:08 am

Re: Thursday 24th January 2013 (30th Championship, R1 Game 5

Post by Kevin Thurlow »

"Round 13: G T R D E O A U S

C1: outgrades
C2: OUTRAGES (8)
DC: OUTRAGED (8)
Score: 58–88 (max 99)

Ouch, unlucky! David senses that it's a good time to gamble and who can blame him? His attempt at a nine is rejected by Susie though as you can't outgrade something and the game is over as a contest."

In the chess world, we would say (e.g.) that somebody graded 180 outgrades someone graded 150 (and would therefore hope/expect to win). But I have never heard it used anywhere else. Unless every competitive chessplayer in the country writes to the Oxford dictionary to get it changed, it will stay that way!
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James Robinson
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Re: Thursday 24th January 2013 (30th Championship, R1 Game 5

Post by James Robinson »

Jack Worsley wrote:Round 2: L T U A Z V E S H

C1: VALUES (6)
C2: VALETS (6)
DC: VAULTS (6) SUAVE (5) VESTAL (6)
OT: AVULSE (6) HALVES (6) HASLET (6) HAZELS (6) HUSTLE (6) LATHES (6) LUTZES (6) SALUTE (6) SLEUTH (6)
Score: 14–14 (max 14)
HALEST is also fine in this round. :geek:
Jack Worsley
Series 66 Champion
Posts: 979
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:32 pm
Location: Blackpool

Re: Thursday 24th January 2013 (30th Championship, R1 Game 5

Post by Jack Worsley »

James Robinson wrote:
Jack Worsley wrote:Round 2: L T U A Z V E S H

C1: VALUES (6)
C2: VALETS (6)
DC: VAULTS (6) SUAVE (5) VESTAL (6)
OT: AVULSE (6) HALVES (6) HASLET (6) HAZELS (6) HUSTLE (6) LATHES (6) LUTZES (6) SALUTE (6) SLEUTH (6)
Score: 14–14 (max 14)
HALEST is also fine in this round. :geek:
Cheers, updated. ;)
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