Friday 22nd March 2013 (Series 68, Prelim 11)

[Graeme Cole]

Countdown recap for Friday 22 March 2013.

C1: Champion Andy Platt (3 wins, 334 points) is an apterite and a bilingual telesalesperson from Salford. So far he's got three centuries from three games.
C2: Challenger Carl Anderson is a "vocal entertainer" from Eccles. Nick clarifies that this means "singer".
DC: Susie Dent and Jon Culshaw.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: N R C L A I E F O
R02: B T N C M S U E A
R03: W N S V I E A D T
R04: Q N P R D N U E O
R05: 25, 100, 50, 75, 2, 7. Target: 520.
TTT: RAINHARD - "It sounds like two boys' names, but it's one old woman."
R06: V R S L W G A E E
R07: S P R D O E I A C
R08: S Z T T H U G O A
R09: P S Y T I E A N X
R10: 50, 100, 25, 75, 4, 7. Target: 905.
TTT: DADWHINE - "Dad will definitely whine if he has to cycle into this."
R11: R R F L E I O R E
R12: R G L M K R U A I
R13: B M D N A E O P T
R14: 50, 75, 25, 100, 7, 4. Target: 666.
R15: E U N O C H S I D (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: N R C L A I E F O

C1: LONICERA (8)
C2: FLARE (5)
DC: FALCONER (8)
OT: FLORICAN (8)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)

Andy makes a perfect start with LONICERA, which is a plant. A FLORICAN is a small Asian bustard.


Round 2: B T N C M S U E A

C1: STAMEN (6)
C2: AMUSE (5)
DC: ACUMEN (6) BEAUTS (6) BUTANE (6) NUTCASE (7)
OT: BATSMEN (7) NUMBATS (7) NUMBEST (7) SANCTUM (7) SUNBEAM (7)
Score: 14–0 (max 15)

Carl's stuck in fiveville, and Andy goes further ahead. A NUMBAT is an Australian termite-eating marsupial.


Round 3: W N S V I E A D T

C1: INVADES (7)
C2: STAINED (7)
DC: WAISTED (7) DEVIANTS (8)
Score: 21–7 (max 23)

Wouldn't have expected Andy to miss DEVIANTS, but it means Carl gets his first points of the game.


Round 4: Q N P R D N U E O

C1: UNROPED (7)
C2: PRUNE (5)
DC: POUNDER (7)
Score: 28–7 (max 30)

Carl sticks with his six-consonants, three-vowels pattern. Seven more points for Andy, and no prizes for guessing what numbers selection is coming up.


Round 5: 25, 100, 50, 75, 2, 7. Target: 520.

C1: 520. 75*7-(100+25)*2/50 (10)
C2: 525.
Score: 38–7 (max 40)

So far Andy's unbeaten on numbers, and that trend continues.


Teatime teaser: RAINHARD -> HARRIDAN

Round 6: V R S L W G A E E

C1: REGALES (7)
C2: WAGERS (6)
DC: REVEALS (7) WEAVERS (7)
OT: GALERES (7) GRAVELS (7) GREAVES (7) LEAVERS (7) SELVAGE (7) SEVERAL (7) VERGLAS (7)
Score: 45–7 (max 47)

SEVERAL sevens in this selection. If you had to assign numbers to vague quantities like "several", what numbers would you pick? The correct answer is 3 for "a few", 7 for "several" and 18 for "umpteen". Because I say so. On a related subject, how long is a "moment"? Well, in medieval English it was 1/40 of an hour, or 90 seconds.


Round 7: S P R D O E I A C

C1: IDOCRASE (8)
C2: SPARED (6)
DC: SPORADIC (8) PARODIES (8)
OT: DIASPORE (8) PERCOIDS (8) PICADORS (8)
Score: 53–7 (max 55)

When I had PARODIES and Andy sat back and started sipping from the glass of water, I assumed he had a nine that I couldn't see. Turns out he just knew that IDOCRASE only stems with V. Casual.


Round 8: S Z T T H U G O A

C1: TAUTOGS (7)
C2: GOATS (5)
DC: ztt
Score: 60–7 (max 62)

TAUTOGS are fish. GOATS aren't. Jon Culshaw mentions ZTT, which is a record label founded in 1983.


Round 9: P S Y T I E A N X

C1: PANTIES (7)
C2: stains
DC: ANXIETY (7) PASTY (5)
Nick: SYNTAX (6)
OT: EPITAXY (7) SAPIENT (7)
Score: 67–7 (max 69)

Andy offers a "cheeky seven", and Carl's seeing double. Carl's numbers pick next, though.


Round 10: 50, 100, 25, 75, 4, 7. Target: 905.

C1: 906. ((7-4)*(100*75+50))/25 (7)
C2: 854.
RR: 906. (7)
OT: 904. (25-7)*50+4 (7)
Score: 74–7 (max 76)

The most interesting thing in this round is not Andy's solution which goes via 22,650, but that Carl picked four large, the selection Andy has been demonstrating his mastery of all week. As tactical picking goes, that's what we call an "interesting" choice.


Teatime teaser: DADWHINE -> HEADWIND


Round 11: R R F L E I O R E

C1: LOERIE (6)
C2: rifler
OT: RELIEF (6)
Score: 80–7 (max 82)

The plausible-sounding RIFLER^ is given the thumbs down by the ODE, and the completely implausible LOERIE is fine. This gives Andy victory with four rounds still to play.


Round 12: R G L M K R U A I

C1: MURAL (5)
C2: GRAM (4)
DC: GRAIL (5)
OT: GLAIR (5) GULAR (5) KARRI (5) KAURI (5) MALIK (5) MARRI (5) MIAUL (5) MULGA (5) MURRI (5) RAULI (5) RURAL (5) UGALI (5) UMIAK (5) URIAL (5)
Score: 85–7 (max 87)

Looks like a pretty flat round, but I'd say MURAL, GRAIL and RURAL are the only ones most players would spot.


Round 13: B M D N A E O P T

C1: BOATMEN (7)
C2: BATON (5)
DC: DAEMON (6) ABDOMEN (7) NOTEPAD (7) TAMPONED (8)
Score: 92–7 (max 95)

TAMPONED comes up for the second time in two days.


Round 14: 50, 75, 25, 100, 7, 4. Target: 666.

C1: 667. (100-4)*7-(50+75)/25 (7)
C2: -
RR: 666. (75+4)*(100/25)+7*50 (10)
Score: 99–7 (max 105)

Really not understanding Carl's four large pick. Anyway, Andy does well to get one away, but Rachel finds it spot on. It's a few minutes after the time, but it's still a difficult solution to spot. According to Crossword Tools this is the "most intuitive solution". The least intuitive solution, well, that's so unintuitive it involves a cauliflower and some backflips.


Round 15: E U N O C H S I D

Andy buzzes on 3 seconds to say CUSHIONED which is correct.
Final Score: 109–7 (max 115)

Andy spots his second conundrum out of four, and his fourth century. It was a bit of a baptism of fire for Carl though, having been brought to the studio at short notice to take the place of someone who couldn't make it, and then thrust into a game against the person who's now number one seed and must surely end up one of the favourites to take the series. On any other day Andy would have spotted DEVIANTS in R3, and while I'm rooting for him I'm glad he didn't, as nobody wants to see somebody score zero. So Carl goes back to Eccles in the knowledge that while he's equalled the record for the lowest 15-round score, it may yet be beaten.

In the very first 15 rounder, which I happen to remember watching, Richard Whiteley introduced the episode by saying the new format would stay "for the foreseeable future". As it happens, the foreseeable future was over 11 years and over 2500 episodes. But from next Monday, things are going to be a bit different: LLN LLNLLN LLLLNC. So I get the honour of recapping the last game in the old format and the first game in the new format. Nobody's ever played two preliminaries of differing formats in the same run, so if Andy wins another four he'll have a unique octorun.


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