Hello great Countdowners! Sadly, due to a mixture of tedious racing (yet again)
and my imminent holiday, this will be my last recap for four weeks and last of the series. 
I'll try to make this a good one and luckily we have an apterite in very good form to make it more likely. 
C1: Champion Glen Webb (4 wins, 452 points) is in his second spell on the show after reaching the finals in 1992 and he's certainly not wasting it. He's been flying the flag for apterous as his average of a cool 113 points per game suggests.
Nick warns him that disaster could be just around the corner, let's see if there's any truth in this.C2: Challenger Martin Wilsdon works as a caterer in Preston Prison but he's from Bolton. The prison has a rolling population and working with the prisoners can be challenging but they need to get work out of them.
DC: Susie Dent and Dan Snow.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: N D P K E O E S W
R02: C S R I N A E L O
R03: 100, 7, 1, 6, 2, 7. Target: 140.
TTT: STUNKRED - "Stunk of red wine because he was this"
R04: F N S R U E I E H
R05: T D G N O E A R O
R06: 25, 75, 10, 1, 5, 10. Target: 751.
R07: Y M H Q U E E S R
R08: B A G E D S O T A
R09: 100, 5, 6, 8, 1, 9. Target: 528.
TTT: MICECOST - "Mice have often paid the cost of this industry's research"
R10: N U T P I M A R E
R11: L S Z F I E O U G
R12: D I N E T E R A X
R13: T R M N A O I E J
R14: 100, 50, 3, 10, 5, 1. Target: 556.
R15: O I L C O N S U L (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Enjoy the show.
Round 1: N D P K E O E S W
C1: SPOKEN (6)
C2: SPOKEN (6)
DC: SPONDEE (7)
Score: 6–6 (max 7)
Both players get off the mark with SPOKEN but DC shine with the only seven.
Round 2: C S R I N A E L O
C1: LONICERAS (18)
C2: LANCERS (7)
DC: CENSORIAL (18)
Score: 24–6 (max 25)
Glen uses all of his apterous experience to pull out one of the two nines and break the deadlock in devastating fashion.
A LONICERA is a plant of a genus which comprises the honeysuckles.Round 3: 100, 7, 1, 6, 2, 7. Target: 140.
C1: 140. 7 x 6 - 2 + 100 (10)
C2: 140. 7 x 7 - 6 - 2 - 1 + 100 (10)
Score: 34–16 (max 35)
Fairly easy as Glen gets it using only four numbers and Martin shows that he likes a bit of apterous omelette numbers attacks in his spare time.
Teatime teaser: STUNKRED -> DRUNKEST
Round 4: F N S R U E I E H
C1: REFINES (7)
C2: FURNISH (7)
DC: FRESHEN (7)
OT: FRESHIE (7) HEIFERS (7) HENRIES (7) INFUSER (7) INHERES (7)
Score: 41–23 (max 42)
Quite a flat round with nothing exciting.
Round 5: T D G N O E A R O
C1: DRAGOON (7)
C2: ORATED (6)
DC: DRAGONET (8)
OT: RATOONED (8)
Score: 48–23 (max 50)
Glen pulls further away from Martin with a good seven but there were a couple of eights lurking.
Round 6: 25, 75, 10, 1, 5, 10. Target: 751.
C1: 751. 75 x 10 + 1 (10)
C2: 751. 75 x 10 + 1 (10)
Score: 58–33 (max 60)
Next please!
Dan and his wife have recently started working in a Surrey prison and own a restaurant called "The Clink". Apparently the prisoners who dine there have only a 10 per cent reoffending rate compared with 75 per cent normally.
Round 7: Y M H Q U E E S R
C1: RESUME (6)
C2: QUEERS (6)
DC: MUSHER (6)
OT: HERESY (6) RHEMES (6) RHEUMY (6) RHYMES (6) SHMEER (6)
Score: 64–39 (max 66)
Round 8: B A G E D S O T A
C1: SABOTAGED (18)
C2: SEATED X
DC: BODEGAS (7)
Score: 82–39 (max 84)
And that's another nine for Glen!
He's on for a big score just past the half way stage. Let me remind you that the highest score this series is 130 by Giles Hutchings in his sixth game and the same guy recorded the second highest score of the series on his debut. The third highest is by Glen himself who scored 125 on his second debut. Can he break any of these scores? If anymore nines come out, he might have a chance of the all-time record.Round 9: 100, 5, 6, 8, 1, 9. Target: 528.
C1: 528. (100 + 6) x 5 - (9 - 8 + 1) (10)
C2: 528. (100 + 6) x 5 - (9 - 8 + 1) (10)
Score: 92–49 (max 94)
Slightly trickier than it looks but both players get there in the end.
Teatime teaser: MICECOST -> COSMETIC
Round 10: N U T P I M A R E
C1: RUMINATE (8)
C2: PRIMATE (7)
Score: 100–49 (max 102)
If Glen was good last week, he's even better this week! He may have missed RUMINATE in his second game but he makes no mistake this time. In doing so, he registers another century already with five rounds still to go. He's only the fourth (I think) person to have done it after ten rounds and the first with only two nines, although it is slightly easier with the new format. Can you name the other three?
Round 11: L S Z F I E O U G
C1: FOGIES (6)
C2: FILES (5)
DC: SOLIFUGE (8)
Score: 106–49 (max 110)
The sort-of favourite FOGIES appears again while DC get a very fine eight. Glen has mathematically wrapped up the game by spotting the former, now he can concentrate on getting a high score. A SOLIFUGE is a zoological term for a spun spider.
OoW: Susie talks about the history of kidnapping.
Round 12: D I N E T E R A X
C1: RETAINED (8)
C2: TIRADE (6)
DC: TRAINED (7) DEXTRAN (7)
OT: DETAINER (8)
Score: 114–49 (max 118)
RETAINED stems with eight consonants but sadly for Glen, X isn't one of them.
The chance of the all-time record will have gone unless he can find another nine in the final letters round.Round 13: T R M N A O I E J
C1: MINARET (7)
C2: TRAIN (5)
OT: AMNIOTE (7) JANITOR (7) JOINTER (7) MERANTI (7) MORAINE (7) RAIMENT (7) ROMAINE (7)
Score: 121–49 (max 125)
No nine available, just a load of sevens. Glen gets the favourite MINARET while Martin's stuck on TRAIN. Glen can get 20 points from the last two rounds, he'll break the record for the highest ever score in a preliminary game. The record is currently held by Chris Davies who scored 139 in his fifth game in Series 61. A warning to Glen though, in that game, Chris was on 122 after 13 rounds and his opponent picked four large and neither player could solve it, ending his chance of making 142. Will Martin be more generous?
Round 14: 100, 50, 3, 10, 5, 1. Target: 556.
C1: 556. 100 x 5 + 50 + 10 - 3 - 1 (10)
C2: 551.
Score: 131–49 (max 135)
Most people would say yes but personally, I despise two large and massively prefer four large, even if I'm only bothered about points. Luckily, this one's nowhere near as evil as most two large numbers games, although Martin loses the plot a bit with his five away. Glen clears another hurdle in his bid to reach 141 and has safely secured the highest score of the series and the format. Now can he make some sort of history?
Round 15: O I L C O N S U L
C1 buzzes on 1.5 seconds to say COLLUSION which is correct.
Final Score: 141–49 (max 145)
YOU BET HE CAN!!!!!!
After three conundrums last week that went down to the wire, someone seems to have told Glen that you're allowed to buzz in the first 25 seconds and how it's worked. This is his quickest one yet and it completes a formidable performance by the champ. So there you have it; 141, the highest score of the series, the format, in heat games and the fourth highest of all time! Nick announces it as the third but I think he means third different highest score, counting Julian Fell's and Conor Travers' 146's as one. Many congratulations to Glen on a fantastic performance and achievement and commiserations to Martin who was unfortunate to run into him on a day like this. Who can stop Glen? On this form, it'll take someone very impressive and James will take you through tomorrow's game to see if Glen can continue his red hot form. His run will be cut short one way or the other as Friday is the start of the series finals, so two more wins and Glen will have to carry on into next series. If not, he will enter the finals as number five seed, triggering speculation in another recap that he may be better off throwing a game before the end of the series. 
I'm sure he'd prefer to become an octochamp though.So that's it from me for this series.
As ever, it's been a pleasure to recap and I'll be back on 9th July for my next installment, by which time Glen will be out of the way. Many thanks to Andy Platt and James Robinson, who have agreed to recap Joe McGonigle's quarter final and the first Tuesday game of next series respectively in my place. See you all in four weeks! Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=68