Monday 4th March 2013 (Series 68, Prelim 1)

[Graeme Cole]

Countdown recap for Monday 4 March 2013.

C1: Champion and apterite Rachael Moran (3 wins, 238 points) won the last preliminary of series 67, and is back after nearly a three-month absence due to the 30th anniversary championship. She's an "aspiring writer" from Liverpool, or "writer" as Nick puts it.
C2: Challenger Zee Mitha is a property letting consultant from Preston. Her favourite place on earth is her mother's birthplace, the Seychelles.
DC: Susie Dent and Chris Packham.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: L P S R E U O N A
R02: W I E O T D L A R
R03: Y T P I O E N T D
R04: E A I P M S E D S
R05: 75, 100, 25, 50, 8, 4. Target: 373.
TTT: BROADALE - "Utterly lovely at the start of the alphabet."
R06: B X D O A R H I G
R07: N S B K O E A R W
R08: N M S I U E L C U
R09: M N T J A E A P T
R10: 50, 25, 5, 1, 10, 4. Target: 219.
TTT: TRUEFANS - "True fans of hot weather keep this handy."
R11: Q N R V E O I S F
R12: T O U E R Z A T R
R13: C G N S E A O E M
R14: 25, 50, 9, 1, 6, 4. Target: 865.
R15: A M B E R L O V E (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.


Round 1: L P S R E U O N A

C1: PERSONAL (8)
C2: AROUSE (6)
DC: PSORALEN (8)
OT: PURSLANE (8) SUPERNAL (8)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)

Rachael opens the series with an eight, and Susie gives its more exotic anagram. PSORALEN is a chemical compound used in perfumery. SUPERNAL is a literary term referring to the sky or the heavens, particularly in the sense of being above all other things. PURSLANE is a plant.


Round 2: W I E O T D L A R

C1: TRAILED (7)
C2: LEOTARD (7)
DC: IDOLATER (8)
OT: LEADWORT (8) TAILORED (8)
Score: 15–7 (max 16)

Zee's first scoring word is perhaps Countdown's favourite of all the old favourites, LEOTARD.


Round 3: Y T P I O E N T D

C1: POINTED (7)
C2: POINTED (7)
DC: TIPTOED (7)
OT: TINTYPE (7)
Score: 22–14 (max 23)

Sevens each. TINTYPE refers to a photograph taken on a thin tin plate as a positive image.


Round 4: E A I P M S E D S

C1: IMPASSE (7)
C2: IMPEDES (7)
DC: SEASIDE (7) PIES
OT: APSIDES (7) DEMISES (7) DESPISE (7) DISEASE (7)
Score: 29–21 (max 30)

Rachael wisely resists sticking a D on the end of IMPASSE. Chris comes up with PIES, remembering Nick's introduction about British Pie Week. In the introduction, Nick talked about pork pies being called "growlers" in Yorkshire, and how he loves a good growler. Other things that are called GROWLER include a person or thing that growls, a small iceberg, an old four-wheeled hansom cab, an American container for storing beer, and other meanings better suited to the Urban Dictionary than the ODE...


Round 5: 75, 100, 25, 50, 8, 4. Target: 373.

C1: 375. 8*50-25 (7)
C2: 375. 100*4-25 (7)
RR: 373. (100-8)*4+(75+50)/25 (10)
Score: 36–28 (max 40)

In Rachael's last game, her opponent Robert Wilson picked four large twice. It was Rachael picking up seven points on the second one when Robert made a mistake that won her the game. So she tries four large again. Easy enough to get two away, but Rachel shows us perfection.


Teatime teaser: BROADALE -> ADORABLE


Round 6: B X D O A R H I G

C1: BOARD (5)
C2: BOARD (5)
DC: RADIO (5) HOARD (5)
OT: HAIRDO (6)
Score: 41–33 (max 46)

Only one six available in this lot, and it went undiscovered, so Rachael maintains her eight-point lead.


Round 7: N S B K O E A R W

C1: BANKERS (7)
C2: BANKERS (7)
DC: BONKERS (7)
Everyone else everywhere: WANKERS (7)
OT: BORANES (7) KNOWERS (7)
Score: 48–40 (max 53)

You do have to wonder whether the contestants were encouraged not to go for the rude word that surely must be up there with LEOTARD and TANGELO in terms of its famously regular appearance in the show's history.


Round 8: N M S I U E L C U

C1: MINUSCULE (18)
C2: UNCLES (6)
Score: 66–40 (max 71)

Rachael finds the first nine of the series, and what a nine it is. It might seem more intuitive to spell it MINISCULE, but it comes from MINUS, not MINI. So MINUSCULE is the original spelling, and MINISCULE is a newer variant which is also valid but was only introduced into the ODE for the third edition in 2011.


Round 9: M N T J A E A P T

C1: PATTEN (6)
C2: MANTA (5)
OT: APEMAN (6) PATENT (6)
Score: 72–40 (max 77)

Another good word here. PATTEN is a type of shoe with a raised sole, intended for walking in mud. I wouldn't have banked on MANTA, as in "manta ray", being allowed on its own, but it's fine.


Round 10: 50, 25, 5, 1, 10, 4. Target: 219.

C1: 219. 4*50+25-5-1 (10)
C2: 219. (50+5)*4-1 (10)
Score: 82–50 (max 87)

Plenty of ways to do this one, and Rachael and Zee both find one.


Teatime teaser: TRUEFANS -> AFTERSUN

Round 11: Q N R V E O I S F

C1: VERSION (7)
C2: overfins
Score: 89–50 (max 94)

OVERFINS^ is a reasonable gamble from Zee, but Chris Packham hasn't heard of it and nor has the dictionary. So it's Rachael's darrenic VERSION that takes the round.


Round 12: T O U E R Z A T R

C1: TOURER (6)
C2: ROTTER (6)
DC: ROUTER (6) TORTURE (7)
Score: 95–56 (max 101)

And a draw in this round means victory is assured for Rachael.


Round 13: C G N S E A O E M

C1: GENOMES (7)
C2: CONGEES (7)
DC: SEANCE (6)
OT: ENCAGES (7) MANEGES (7) MANGOES (7) MENACES (7) MENAGES (7)
Score: 102–63 (max 108)

Sevens for everyone. CONGEES are Chinese rice-based dishes of broth or porridge.


Round 14: 25, 50, 9, 1, 6, 4. Target: 865.

C1: 875. (6-4)*2*50-25 (5)
C2: -
RR: 865. (25*6-50-4)*9+1 (10)
Score: 107–63 (max 118)

Two large again, and this is a tricky one. Zee's nowhere and Rachael is ten away. Once again, the other Rachel presents the exact solution.


Round 15: A M B E R L O V E

Rachael buzzes on 3 seconds to say REMOVABLE which is correct.
Final Score: 117–63 (max 128)

That conundrum solve takes Rachael to 117 points. It's the first episode of the series so it's hardly surprising that it's the series 68 high score so far, but it also beats the high score of series 67 as well. So she's now halfway to octochampdom with a total of 335 points.

If I recall correctly, Countdown encouraged Zee via Twitter to apply for the show, and I'm glad she looked like she enjoyed the experience, even if she didn't taste victory today.

If I've got my dates right, tomorrow we'll see a well-known member of this forum in the challenger's chair. Join Jack tomorrow to find out who. Next week between Tuesday and Friday Countdown has been shoved aside to make way for some mobile economy hamburgers circumnavigating a field, but Monday's Countdown is still on so there'll still be a Monday recap. In the event that Tesco get to the horses first and the racing gets cancelled, we might get finally get to see some of the specials we've been waiting for.


Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=68

[Brett R]

I was wondering if anyone has a copy of this episode, because I can't find it anywhere. Please let me know if anyone has it. Your help is much appreciated.