Well, let's see what happens. Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 27 June 2013.
C1: #2 Seed Andy "The Salford Superstorm" Platt (9 wins, 1,004 points.) An Apteforumite and bilingual telesales person originally from the Wirral. He defeated the #7 seed Chris Ball 115-29 in his quarter-final 10 days ago.
C2: #3 Seed Eileen "The Sydenham Superwoman" Taylor (9 wins, 840 points.) A retired personnel office and "People's Champion" from Sydenham, South London. She defeated the #6 seed Jill Hayward 86-81 in her quarter-final on Monday.
DC: Susie Dent and Myleene Klass.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: H S R L E O A I S
R02: A U A V M P T N O
R03: 25, 50, 100, 75, 10, 5. Target: 283.
TTT: THEGIRLS - "Lulu finally starts the fire"
R04: E I U S T C R T F
R05: G T W D E O E A E
R06: 50, 3, 6, 2, 10, 8. Target: 348.
R07: J R N H I U O N T
R08: E A O C R S N R T
R09: 25, 100, 50, 75, 3, 6. Target: 357.
TTT: MPSDIARY - "The MP's diary shows he's been to Egypt"
R10: A E I L W G D N S
R11: P B R V O E U A L
R12: O A E R K D H N S
R13: P Q D T I O I E S
R14: 75, 100, 50, 2, 3, 6. Target: 627.
R15: E R U P T M I N D (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: H S R L E O A I S
C1: SOLARISE (8)
C2: HAIRLESS (8)
DC: SLASHER (7)
OT: SLOSHIER (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)
Hehe, nearly had A**EHOLES coming out there. Would be interesting to see if that stayed in.... (Most likely, not.
) But, it's still a very good start for both players with 8 apiece, although you think that they should have switched offerings...... Round 2: A U A V M P T N O
C1: OUTMAN (6)
C2: AMOUNT (6)
DC: PANTOUM (7)
Score: 14–14 (max 15)
A switch of letters in the offerings from the contestants, but it's 6 each, while DC go for glory with the darrenic 7.
Round 3: 25, 50, 100, 75, 10, 5. Target: 283.
C1: 283. (((100 x 75) - 50) / 25) - 10 - 5 (10)
C2: 285.
Score: 24–14 (max 25)
I sat next to Jack Worsley in the audience during this game, and while I showed him my boring method ((75 x 5) - 100 + 10 + (50 / 25)), he showed me a super cool sky-high method, and lo and behold, Andy does it for the viewing public.
Teatime teaser: THEGIRLS -> RELIGHTS
Round 4: E I U S T C R T F
C1: CUTTERS (7)
C2: CUTTERS (7)
DC: FUSTIER (7)
OT: TURFIEST (8)
Score: 31–21 (max 33)
Nice 7 for both of the players, although sticking with Wimbledon again, there is a nice grassy 8 there.
Round 5: G T W D E O E A E
C1: GOATEED (7)
C2: goatweed
DC: goated
Score: 38–21 (max 40)
Ooooh, that was a brave gamble from Eileen there, and she is very unfortunate to miss out on that. So, Andy goes further ahead with the darrenic 7.
Round 6: 50, 3, 6, 2, 10, 8. Target: 348.
C1: 348. (50 + 8) x 6 (10)
C2: 348. ((10 - 3) x 50) - 2 (10)
Score: 48–31 (max 50)
Plenty of ways around to get this one.
Myleene talks about her hyperextended arms and her party piece of playing the piano backwards with them, although she has found no other use for them
Round 7: J R N H I U O N T
C1: JUNIOR (6)
C2: JUNIOR (6)
DC: UNJOINT (7)
OT: TINHORN (7)
Score: 54–37 (max 57)
A couple of JUNIORs in the studio, while carrying on from Myleene's hyperextension in the interlude, DC go UNJOINTed for 7.
Round 8: E A O C R S N R T
C1: SANTERO (7)
C2: TREASON (7)
DC: REACTORS (8) ANCESTOR (8)
OT: CREATORS (8) ENACTORS (8)
Score: 61–44 (max 65)
A few ordinary 8's, but they bypass our contestants who stick on 7.
Round 9: 25, 100, 50, 75, 3, 6. Target: 357.
C1: 357. ((50 - 3) x 6) + 75 (10)
C2: -
Score: 71–44 (max 75)
Another 4 large numbers, but this time with a simpler solution to his earlier 4 large game.
Teatime teaser: MPSDIARY -> PYRAMIDS
Round 10: A E I L W G D N S
C1: DEALINGS (8)
C2: SLEWING (7)
DC: SWINGLED (8)
OT: DEALIGNS (8)
Score: 79–44 (max 83)
Some good DEALINGS from Andy there, as he doubles his advantage within 2 rounds.
Round 11: P B R V O E U A L
C1: OVERLAP (7)
C2: OVERLAP (7)
DC: PROVABLE (8)
OT: POURABLE (8)
Score: 86–51 (max 91)
Some OVERLAPping by Andy and Eileen takes place, but DC are ready and ABLE with their 8.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "gospel" and "gossip".
Round 12: O A E R K D H N S
C1: DARKENS (7)
C2: SHANKED (7)
DC: HANKERS (7) REDSHANK (8)
Score: 93–58 (max 99)
Some good 7's, but Eileen's offering takes Susie onto the road of the darrenic 8.
Round 13: P Q D T I O I E S
C1: DEPOSIT (7)
C2: DEPOSIT (7)
DC: TOPSIDE (7)
OT: DOPIEST (7) POSITED (7)
Score: 100–65 (max 106)
Just anagrams of each other in this letters round, which not only gives Andy his 10th century, but also seals his place in tomorrow's grand final.
Round 14: 75, 100, 50, 2, 3, 6. Target: 627.
C1: 627. (100 x 6) + (75 / 3) + 2 (10)
C2: -
Score: 110–65 (max 116)
Eileen decides to have one last "T for Taylor" before she heads off into the sunset, but it seems to have got to her now, as she goes blank for the second numbers game running, which leaves Andy with the chance of equalling his best score of his run so far.
Round 15: E R U P T M I N D
C1 buzzes on 4 seconds to say IMPRUDENT which is correct.
Final Score: 120–65 (max 126)
And indeed he does with a reasonably quick conundrum solve, which might give Giles some serious worries ahead of tomorrow's final, of which a stunning spectacle is to be expected between the top 2 seeds.
But, before we look ahead, let's look back at the person of the series, Eileen Taylor. Ever since she came on and won with a last gasp effort against Jill Hayward on her 2nd début, she has captured the hearts of the nation and seeing her become the oldest octochamp in the 30 year history of the show has been a completely lovely change to the cool, nerdy word offerings and sky-high numbers solutions that we've been used to seeing in recent series. And she is someone who certainly won't be forgotten in a hurry, as proven by the rapturous round of applause she received from everyone at the end of the show.
So, while Eileen returns to South London, we'll be getting ourselves ready for the centrepiece that is the Series 68 Grand Final between the top 2 seeds, Giles Hutchings and Andy Platt. This has all the makings of a proper all-action final, and hopefully we won't be disappointed, whoever wins.
Join Thomas for that tomorrow, while I'll be back with a triple bill next week from Tuesday to Thursday with Jack on holiday, following on from Glen Webb's 8th game.
So, till then, have a great weekend everyone. Bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Andy:
Total score - 120
Raw score - 120
Total % of max - 95
Raw % of max - 95
Total average score per round - 8.0
Raw average score per round - 8.0
Number of maxes - 9
Eileen:
Total score - 65
Raw score - 79
Total % of max - 52
Raw % of max - 63
Total average score per round - 4.3
Raw average score per round - 5.3
Number of maxes - 3
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=68