Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 11 April 2013.
C1: Champion Giles Hutchings (4 wins, 483 points.) An Apteforumite from Farnham, Surrey.
C2: Challenger Mark Witney. A lab technician for a soft drinks company from Bradford, West Yorkshire. He married his wife twice and has 4 children with her too.
DC: Susie Dent and Richard Madeley.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: D P R I U A N O C
R02: E A T S S D G E N
R03: 75, 6, 6, 10, 5, 7. Target: 499.
TTT: NICEBATS - "It sounds like you caught a fish with your helmet"
R04: O E L N K T O N I
R05: R S R E O I P T E
R06: 75, 1, 5, 7, 10, 7. Target: 106.
R07: I A E X T Q U S D
R08: E A T C M E J P A
R09: 50, 1, 7, 6, 9, 8. Target: 234.
TTT: WARDEBTS - "If you needed to sleep, this would have to get stuffed"
R10: E A A R S V B R O
R11: A I E N D F A H R
R12: E O E T R B M S O
R13: L R A O M G A I N
R14: 5, 7, 3, 6, 7, 5. Target: 673.
R15: D E A D C E R T T (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: D P R I U A N O C
C1: PICADOR (7)
C2: DRAIN (5)
DC: AROUND (6) CANDOUR (7)
OT: CANDIRU (7) PADRINO (7) PARODIC (7) PONIARD (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)
A very good 7 from Giles, as Mark goes down the DRAIN to start with.
A CANDIRU (Vandellia cirrhosa) is a scaleless, parasitic catfish of the family Trichomycteridae found in the Amazon River region.
A PONIARD is a small, slender dagger.
Round 2: E A T S S D G E N
C1: SENSATE (7)
C2: NEGATES (7)
DC: SEDATES (7) STANDEES (8)
OT: ASSENTED (8) ENDGATES (8) SANGEETS (8)
Score: 14–7 (max 15)
A few 8's around here, but it's 7 apiece for the contestants.
An ENDGATE (or TAILBOARD) is the tailgate, especially of a wagon or truck.
Round 3: 75, 6, 6, 10, 5, 7. Target: 499.
C1: 499. ((75 - 5) x 7) + 10 - (6 / 6) (10)
C2: 498.
Score: 24–7 (max 25)
Giles' maths brain is already working well, being a maths student, and he's proved it here.
Teatime teaser: NICEBATS -> BASCINET
Round 4: O E L N K T O N I
C1: NOTION (6)
C2: LOTION (6)
DC: TINKLE (6) KILOTONNE (18)
Score: 30–13 (max 43)
Weirdly, while watching this I was hoping for an I to come out at the end for KILOTON, then seconds later I realised that there was another N and an E there for the proper spelling
Round 5: R S R E O I P T E
C1: PORTIERES (18)
C2: stripes
DC: RIPOSTE (7) SPORTIER (8)
Score: 48–13 (max 61)
That might have already closed the curtain on this game, as Giles get another nice 9 to his collection, which despite his big scores is pretty small at 3, after his "back-to-back" 9's of INFLATERS and DOMINATES.
Round 6: 75, 1, 5, 7, 10, 7. Target: 106.
C1: 106. (5 x 7) + 75 - (10 - (7 - 1)) (10)
C2: 106. (5 x 7) + 75 - (10 - (7 - 1)) (10)
Score: 58–23 (max 71)
Definitely going round the houses with this one. ((10 + 5) x 7) + 1 seems to be the simplest way I can see.
Richard talks about his time at Yorkshire Television with the late, great Richard Whiteley. He specifically mentions the time that he was doing a bulletin about the town "PENISTONE" (which is a valid word on here, in case you weren't aware.
). There's also an amazing mention of the 2 Richards in Paris seeing a recording of Des chiffres et des lettres to see if a show could be made in this country from that show. Not sure what happened with that............ 
Round 7: I A E X T Q U S D
C1: QUIETS (6)
C2: QUIETS (6)
DC: TAXIED (6)
OT: ADIEUS (6) ADIEUX (6) AUDITS (6) DIQUAT (6) DUTIES (6) EQUIDS (6) SAUTED (6) SUITED (6)
Score: 64–29 (max 77)
It's all so QUIETS. Sssshhh.
A DIQUAT is a yellow crystalline substance, C12H12Br2N2, used as a selective postemergence herbicide to control weeds on noncrop land and for aquatic weed control.
An EQUID is any of various hoofed mammals of the family Equidae, which includes horses, donkeys, and zebras. Equids have muscular bodies with long, slender legs adapted for running and a single hoofed digit at the end of each limb.
Round 8: E A T C M E J P A
C1: TEAM (4)
C2: PEACE (5)
DC: EJECTA (6)
Score: 64–34 (max 83)
WOAH! WOAH!! WOAH!!! That's the first time that Giles has failed to score in a letters game since he's been in the studio.
Round 9: 50, 1, 7, 6, 9, 8. Target: 234.
C1: 234. ((6 - 1) x 50) - 9 - 7 (10)
C2: 234. ((6 - 1) x 50) - 9 - 7 (10)
Score: 74–44 (max 93)
Nice and simple numbers again. Giles is surely on for another century now..............
Teatime teaser: WARDEBTS -> BEDSTRAW
Round 10: E A A R S V B R O
C1: BRAVOES (7)
C2: BRAVOES (7)
DC: BRAVOS (6)
OT: VARROAS (7)
Score: 81–51 (max 100)
Some BRAVOS for the BRAVOES there. The second ones being types of thug.
A VARROA is a small mite, Varroa jacobsoni, that is a parasite of the honeybee.
Round 11: A I E N D F A H R
C1: HANDIER (7)
C2: HANDIER (7)
DC: AIRHEAD (7)
OT: ARANEID (7)
Score: 88–58 (max 107)
Some HANDIER 7's here, along with the reappearance of ARANEID, which like it's plural yesterday, has no appearance on the show.
Susie's Origins of Words talks about the origins of the word "dude".
Round 12: E O E T R B M S O
C1: METEORS (7)
C2: BOOSTER (7)
DC: REMOTES (7) MOBSTER (7)
OT: BOOMERS (7) BOOTEES (7) EMOTERS (7) REBOOTS (7)
Score: 95–65 (max 114)
Flatness reigns in this round.
Round 13: L R A O M G A I N
C1: ALARMING (8)
C2: ROAMING (7)
DC: MARGINAL (8) ANGIOMA (7)
OT: MAGNOLIA (8) MANORIAL (8) MORAINAL (8)
Score: 103–65 (max 122)
It's an ALARMING offering, but it's not that ALARMING, as it not only gives Giles his century, but it seals the game for him too.
Round 14: 5, 7, 3, 6, 7, 5. Target: 673.
C1: 675. 5 x 5 x ((7 x 3) + 6) (7)
C2: -
OT: 672. (7 + 7) x 6 x (5 + 3) (7)
Score: 110–65 (max 129)
Just for variety, Mark decides to bring out a 6 small, which has him completely flummoxed, while Giles gets to within 2, but as Rachel says, "it's impossible".
Round 15: D E A D C E R T T
C1 buzzes on 0.5 seconds to say DETRACTED which is correct.
Final Score: 120–65 (max 139)
After being egged on by Nick to improve on his speed after yesterday's "slow" response of 1.75 seconds, Giles "makes amends" with a half second buzz.
So, this amazing run continues. Just to put it into perspective, Giles has scored 603 points in his 5 games, which maintains his average of 120 points per game. Assuming he will become an octochamp, needs to average around 115 in his last 3 games to overhaul Jack Hurst's 946 total from Series 63.
Are we in for a record breaking run
Join Thomas Carey, as he returns to recapping fold tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow for the 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown recap, then on Wednesday, when come what may, Giles will be gone.
So, till then, bye bye for now.
Statistics Corner
Giles:
Total score - 120
Raw score - 124
Total % of max - 86
Raw % of max - 89
Total average score per round - 8.0
Raw average score per round - 8.3
Number of maxes - 12
Mark:
Total score - 65
Raw score - 84
Total % of max - 47
Raw % of max - 60
Total average score per round - 4.3
Raw average score per round - 5.6
Number of maxes - 6
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=68