We have reached the 30th game of 40 in the 30th Birthday Championship, and the standard of play seems to be ascending steadily towards the stratosphere.
Last Friday two series runners-up battled it out for a place in the quarter-finals, and now the quality is cranked up another notch as two series champions – Series 58 winner David O’Donnell and Series 61 supremo Chris Davies – face the limelight.
In the hours before the broadcast, pundits speculated that this game would be a good one. “This game is definitely going to be one of the most exciting and unpredictable matches to date,” commented James Robinson. “Dis gon b gud,” remarked Jon Corby – spoken like a true rap star.
Before play commences, Rachel Riley wishes Nick Hewer “happy soixante-neuf”, in reference to his forthcoming 69th birthday!
In the champion’s chair is Chris Davies, with an impressive track record of 13 games, 12 wins and 1,404 points. In Round 1 of this championship, he defeated David Williams by 108 points to 58, including a one-second conundrum solution (SAUCISSON). Chris is a student at Liverpool John Moores University, and plays in a band called ‘Chasing Amy’.
And in the challenger’s seat we have David O’Donnell, who has no fewer than 14 games, 13 wins and 1,480 points to his name. In his Round 1 match, he prevailed against Tom Hargreaves by 111 points to 86, thanks in no small part to spotting FORTALICE. David is a complaints control analyst from Northern Ireland, living in Cardiff, and he plays the guitar.
So, let’s find out how these two musicians perform with letters and numbers.
DC: Susie Dent and Ken Bruce.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: D N R E U L A I R
R02: E A U M L M R T A
R03: X O J E I S G S G
R04: E O E C N R D T R
R05: 6, 7, 2, 10, 7, 1. Target: 910.
TTT: REALDODO - "You can find everything here, except a dodo, of course"
R06: A E A N S Y T O K
R07: Q S C I A N U P T
R08: O E I R F W B H L
R09: V P U R T I E A D
R10: 50, 100, 75, 25, 2, 1. Target: 107.
TTT: LIFEGENT - "A quick glance at a group of ships, perhaps?"
R11: P S W I T E O F I
R12: A E O M D N R I Z
R13: T D R O A E S T I
R14: 25, 75, 100, 50, 10, 1. Target: 567.
R15: P A T R A N G M E (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: D N R E U L A I R
Chris: LAUNDER (7)
David: LAUNDER (7)
DC: RANDIER (7) LURDANE (7)
OT: DIURNAL (7) DRAINER (7) LARDIER (7) NURDIER (7) RUDERAL (7) UNAIRED (7) UNIDEAL (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 7)
Both contestants get off to a clean start. ‘Lurdane’ is a variant spelling of ‘lurdan’ (defined in ODE3 as “noun an idle or incompetent person” and “adjective lazy; good-for-nothing”).
Round 2: E A U M L M R T A
Chris: MALAMUTE (8)
David: ARMLET (6)
Score: 15–7 (max 15)
Chris overtakes David with ‘malamute’, which can also be spelled ‘malemute’, meaning “a powerful dog of a breed with a thick, grey coat, bred by the Inuit and used to pull sledges.” So, a malamute is like a husky, but worth three more points!
Round 3: X O J E I S G S G
CHRIS: SIXES (5)
David: SIXES (5)
OT: GESSO (5)
Score: 20–12 (max 20)
The contestants both declare ‘sixes’, for five points each.
Round 4: E O E C N R D T R
Chris: ENCODER (7)
David: CENTRED (7)
DC: CORNERED (8)
Score: 27–19 (max 28)
Seven apiece for Chris and David, while Dictionary Corner, appropriately, gets ‘cornered’.
Chris asks for six small numbers. What effect will this have on the scores?
Round 5: 6, 7, 2, 10, 7, 1. Target: 910.
Chris: 910. (7 + 6) × 7 × 10 (10)
David: 910. (7 + 6) × 7 × 10 (10)
Score: 37–29 (max 38)
Both contestants reach the target by the same method, and it’s time for them to take a breather.
Teatime teaser: REALDODO -> ELDORADO
Round 6: A E A N S Y T O K
Chris: ATONES (6)
David: ATONES (6)
DC: TOKENS (6) SNEAKY (6)
OT: ASKANT (6) KANATS (6) KAYOES (6) SNAKEY (6) SONATA (6) TANKAS (6) TOKAYS (6) YENTAS (6)
Score: 43–35 (max 44)
Six for one and half a dozen for the other, and Chris maintains his lead.
Round 7: Q S C I A N U P T
Chris: QUINTAS (7)
David: QUANTICS (8)
Score: 43–43 (max 52)
David draws level with a mathematical term; quantic is defined as “a homogeneous function of two or more variables having rational or integral coefficients”.
Round 8: O E I R F W B H L
Chris: BLOWIER (7)
David: BLOWIER (7)
Score: 50–50 (max 59)
A double darren brings Chris and David to 100 points in total.
Round 9: V P U R T I E A D
Chris: DURATIVE (8)
David: DURATIVE (8)
Score: 58–58 (max 67)
A delightful exchange between the contestants:
Chris: “Eight.”
David: “I’ll chance an eight, but I’m not convinced.”
Chris: “Durative.”
David: “I’m convinced.”
Will the next numbers game break the tension? David opts for four large.
Round 10: 50, 100, 75, 25, 2, 1. Target: 107.
Chris: 107. (75 + 50) ÷ 25 + 1 + 100 (10)
David: 107. 75 ÷ 25 × 2 + 1 + 100 (10)
Score: 68–68 (max 77)
The game remains in deadlock.
Teatime teaser: LIFEGENT -> FLEETING
Round 11: P S W I T E O F I
Chris: WIFIES (6)
David: POSTIE (6)
DC: POSITIF (7)
OT: SWIFTIE (7)
Score: 74–74 (max 84)
It’s still neck and neck. A ‘positif’ is a musical term, and the ODE3 definition reads: “(in some organs) a separate division of stops with its own manual, similar to a choir organ”.
Round 12: A E O M D N R I Z
Chris: RANDOMIZE (18)
David: RANDOMIZE (18)
OT: ROMANIZED (18)
Score: 92–92 (max 102)
Eighteen more points each for Chris and David, and still nothing separates their scores. There’s another nine, ‘romanized’, a typographical term (‘romanize’ means “put (text) into the Roman alphabet or into roman [non-italicized] type”).
Round 13: T D R O A E S T I
Chris: STORIATED (18)
David: STORIATED (18)
Score: 110–110 (max 120)
The contestants both reach cloud nine for the second round in a row! Is this going to be the best joint score of the championship so far? David chooses four large again.
Round 14: 25, 75, 100, 50, 10, 1. Target: 567.
Chris: 569. (50 - 1) × 10 + 75 + 100 ÷ 25 (7)
David: 569. ((100 + 75) ÷ 25 + 50) × 10 - 1 (7)
OT: 567. (75 - 1) × (10 - 100 ÷ 50) - 25 (10)
Score: 117–117 (max 130)
Chris and David are both two away from the target, taking their joint score to 234. Well, what have we here? A crucial conundrum!
Round 15: P A T R A N G M E
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Chris buzzes on 12.25 seconds to say “It’s a complete guess, but is it pargetman?” Incorrect.
David does not buzz.
The answer was PENTAGRAM.
Fingers on buzzers again, and let’s reveal the tie-break conundrum, to determine who will play Jack Hurst in the quarter-finals:
B A G O G L O R Y
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David buzzes on 14.25 seconds to say “Just to make Chris panic… garbology?” Correct!
So, David has won, Chris has equalled the highest losing score in the history of the game, and between them they have set a new joint score record of 244. Three cheers for them, and three cheers for Countdown!
Final Score: 117–127 (max 140)
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=67