Monday 11th February 2013 (30th Champs, Round 2, Game 1)

[Graeme Cole]

Countdown recap for Monday 11 February 2013.

C1: Series 63 quarter-finalist Tom Rowell (9 wins, 933 points from 10 games) is a prison worker from Husbands Bosworth. He beat Peter Lee in the first round a few weeks ago after neither player solved the crucial conundrum PAROTITIS for TOPIARIST.
C2: Series 66 runner-up Jonathan Rawlinson (12 wins, 1321 points from 13 games) is a Cambridge Maths student, and in Nick's words, the "Comeback Kid". In the preliminary round he beat series champion Ed McCullagh by solving the conundrum STONEWASH, and the subsequent tiebreak CRAFTSMAN, in a combined time of about 1.5 seconds. Then in the next round he beat Andrew Hulme on another crucial conundrum, PROPSHAFT. So in this tournament he's had three crucial conundrums in two games, and solved them all.
DC: Susie Dent and Ken Bruce.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: T D I L S O E A O
R02: E N A C I S D E O
R03: K Z L E A P R O G
R04: I R E L I S O P H
R05: 5, 4, 4, 2, 1, 2. Target: 477.
TTT: DRUBLOSE - "Might these rocks be associated with brass?"
R06: E D O F U W T I J
R07: E I S R G A S Y U
R08: A N I P E T L T I
R09: D N U O M R P A N
R10: 50, 3, 2, 8, 9, 3. Target: 876.
TTT: SPICEVAT - "You won't hear them uttering John Inman's catchphrase."
R11: B R G I I T U S T
R12: E L O R A W E D X
R13: O N C U A S R O G
R14: 25, 100, 75, 50, 5, 7. Target: 808.
R15: S L A P H E A D T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: T D I L S O E A O

C1: DIASTOLE (8)
C2: SODALITE (8)
DC: ISOLATED (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)

Kirk and Dan open up with DIASTOLE and SODALITE, leaving ISOLATED alone by itself. Hm? It's not Kirk and Dan? Oh yes, it's Tom and Jonathan. Silly me.


Round 2: E N A C I S D E O

C1: deaconise
C2: DIOCESAN (8)
DC: OCEANSIDE (18)
Score: 8–16 (max 26)

Jonathan is to declare first, and sticks with eight. He was thinking of OCEANSIDE, which is valid, but unfortunately for Tom his offering of DEACONISE isn't. So first blood to The Kid. Along with a chicken.


Round 3: K Z L E A P R O G

C1: GLAZER (6)
C2: PERGOLA (7)
OT: GEOPARK (7)
Score: 8–23 (max 33)

Smiley Rawlinson spots PERGOLA to go further in front.


Round 4: I R E L I S O P H

C1: POLISHER (8)
C2: SPOILER (7)
DC: REPOLISH (8)
Score: 16–23 (max 41)

But Tom is correct in reasoning that one can be a POLISHER, so he narrows Jonathan's lead.


Round 5: 5, 4, 4, 2, 1, 2. Target: 477.

C1: -
C2: 480. (2+1)*2*4*4*5 (7)
RR: 480. (7)
OT: 480. (7)
Score: 16–30 (max 48)

Okay, new CECIL, I know you're new and everything, but I just thought I'd mention something. Old CECIL had this kind of mischievous streak he liked to indulge in. For example, he might pick targets like 100 in Championship of Champions finals, or prefer to pick an odd target when all the numbers were even (40 out of 75 times). That sort of thing. Now, take this round. You've got six numbers all five or under. Wouldn't it have been funny if you'd smugly plonked a 999 down in front of the contestants? I've got the database here - six numbers 1-5 has only happened five times before, and old CECIL managed to pick a target in the 900s on three of those occasions, and the other two were also impossible to score on. You know, he made an effort. I'm not saying you shouldn't stamp your own personality on the role, it's just that people might miss the cheeky sense of fun the old random number generator had.


Teatime teaser: DRUBLOSE -> BOULDERS

Round 6: E D O F U W T I J

C1: WIDEOUT (7)
C2: WIDEOUT (7)
Score: 23–37 (max 55)

WIDEOUT is an American football term, and both Tom and Jonathan spot it.


Round 7: E I S R G A S Y U

C1: GASSIER (7)
C2: GASSIER (7)
OT: ARGUSES (7) GUISERS (7) SAUGERS (7) SAURIES (7)
Score: 30–44 (max 62)

ARGUSES are pheasants, butterflies or fish. A GUISER is a mummer (a kind of masked actor) in a folk play. SAUGERS and SAURIES are both fish.


Round 8: A N I P E T L T I

C1: PANTILE (7)
C2: TINPLATE (8)
Score: 30–52 (max 70)

Jonathan isn't sure about TINPLATE, but it is all there as one word. This puts him even further ahead.


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

C1: PARDON (6)
C2: AROUND (6)
OT: RANDOM (6)
Score: 36–58 (max 76)

Sixes each, and it's numbers time.


Round 10: 50, 3, 2, 8, 9, 3. Target: 876.

C1: 874.
C2: 876. 9*2*50-8*3 (10)
Score: 36–68 (max 86)

This wasn't a good time for Tom to slip up on numbers, as he's now 32 behind.


Teatime teaser: SPICEVAT -> CAPTIVES


Round 11: B R G I I T U S T

C1: BUTTS (5)
C2: GRITS (5)
DC: BRUITS (6)
OT: TURBITS (7)
Score: 41–73 (max 93)

For the first time in the game, Susie and Ken beat the contestants. Their word is BRUITS - to bruit about a rumour is to spread it widely. A TURBIT is a pigeon.


Round 12: E L O R A W E D X

C1: LEEWARD (7)
C2: LOWERED (7)
DC: RELAXED (7)
OT: OARWEED (7)
Score: 48–80 (max 100)

LEEWARD is a nautical term meaning the side of the ship sheltered from the wind. Jonathan maintains his lead.


Round 13: O N C U A S R O G

C1: CORONAS (7)
C2: COUGARS (7)
OT: CANOROUS (8)
Score: 55–87 (max 108)

The contestants only find sevens in this round, which means Smiley Rawlinson will become the tournament's first quarter-finalist. A CANOROUS song is one that is melodious or resonant.


Round 14: 25, 100, 75, 50, 5, 7. Target: 808.

C1: 806. Mistake in working.
C2: 810. (75+50+5)*7-100 (7)
RR: 807. (7)
OT: 808. (100+5)*7+75-50/25 (10)
Score: 55–94 (max 118)

Jonathan picks four large, both players declare two away, not written down, and Tom realises he's made a mistake. Even Rachel can only get one away on this one.


Round 15: S L A P H E A D T

C1 buzzes on 1 second to say ASPHALTED which is correct.
Final Score: 65–94 (max 128)

Wow, this is new. Jonathan being beaten on a conundrum! So it is possible!

Until today Jonathan was unbeaten on conundrums - he even solved all eight of them in his octorun. The last person before Jonathan to solve all eight heat game conundrums was Daniel Pati, and who was the first and only person to beat him on a conundrum? Tom Rowell again.

Still, just as against Daniel, this isn't enough to win the game for Tom, so it's Jonathan Rawlinson who will be playing Neil Zussman or Dave Hoskisson on 21st February's quarter-final. I'll be back next Monday for the match between two of the favourites for this tournament, Innis Carson and Kirk Bevins.


Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=-16

[James Robinson]

Round 3: K Z L E A P R O G

C1: GLAZER (6)
C2: PERGOLA (7)
Score: 8–23 (max 33)

As Jack Worsley mentioned in the spoiler thread, GEOPARK is OK too. The curse of the wrong dictionary again......................

[Kirk Bevins]

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: T D I L S O E A O

C1: DIASTOLE (8)
C2: SODALITE (8)
DC: ISOLATED (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)

Kirk and Dan open up with DIASTOLE and SODALITE, leaving ISOLATED alone by itself. Hm? It's not Kirk and Dan? Oh yes, it's Tom and Jonathan. Silly me.

Huh? I don't get the Kirk and Dan reference.

[Dan McColm]

I think he's talking about our tendency to offer obscure words!

[Graeme Cole]

I think he's talking about our tendency to offer obscure words!

[Thomas Carey]

No offence meant to anyone.

[James Robinson]

No offence meant to anyone.

Would you like to say who is who in the picture...........

[Andy Platt]

That is genius