Monday 18th July 2011 (Series 65, Prelim 31)

[Ryan Taylor]

Countdown recap for Monday 18 July 2011.

C1: Champion Mark Deeks (4 wins, 398 points.)
C2: Challenger Sarah Axcell.
DC: Susie Dent and Mark Durden-Smith.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: H A G T I U S C O
R02: P X N A E A M I L
R03: S R E U D C E T D
R04: W N L O A E S U D
R05: 25, 75, 100, 50, 6, 9. Target: 943.
TTT: OVALTRAY - "With the queen you've got a royal flush"
R06: R T H E A E F C O
R07: N I M T E A G J R
R08: Y D N I U A R S I
R09: D L E U T G E F S
R10: 25, 8, 2, 10, 6, 8. Target: 385.
TTT: GERSHWIN - "By George these people never stop moaning"
R11: R V A R E I T S O
R12: K B W O E O T S A
R13: D I G S E Z P A I
R14: 25, 6, 5, 2, 3, 6. Target: 429.
R15: S H E W I N C E S (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Mark Deeks is managing to average just under 100 points per game (99.5 to be exact) and seems to have his arse firmly placed in that seat. Will a weekend break have disrupted the basketball lover's flow or will he just continue as normal? Outside of Countdown Mark writes for the New York Times and seems to have a few blogs on the net.

It would seem that women are like buses on Countdown (no, not that they have large rears or that men get a ride from them) but the fact that you wait a long time for one and then two come along at once. Sarah Axcell becomes the second female of Series 65 and comes from Chelmsford, Essex. She works as an account handler at a recruitment agency although is currently on maternity leave looking after 8 month old Emily and her 3 year old Edward. And amazingly yet another Countdowner is found to like darts as she says she likes to watch the PDC with her favourite darts player being, you guessed it, my dad's cousin, Phil Taylor.

Mark Durden-Smith is back in DC for the second time. He is famous for being one of the two things to come out of, the 88th worst Briton, Judith Chalmers' vagina.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: H A G T I U S C O

C1: AGOUTIS (7)
C2: cutish
DC: GOTCHAS (7)
OT: GAUCHOS (7) GOATISH (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)

A nice selection for Mark means he can pick out the very common yet slightly obscure AGOUTIS to take an early lead.

Round 2: P X N A E A M I L

C1: EXPLAIN (7)
C2: EXPLAIN (7)
DC: PIEMAN (6) MENIAL (6)
OT: EPAXIAL (7) IMPANEL (7) LAMINAE (7) MANIPLE (7)
Score: 14–7 (max 14)

Mark and Sarah can do nothing more here than spot one of the many 7's on offer whilst Inferior Mark takes cheap shot at Jeff with PIEMAN.

Round 3: S R E U D C E T D

C1: seducted
C2: CRUDEST (7)
DC: SEDUCED (7) REDUCED (7) deduced CRUSTED (7)
OT: CRESTED (7) DEDUCES (7) DEDUCTS (7) RECUSED (7) REDDEST (7) REDUCES (7) RESCUED (7) SECURED (7) SEDUCER (7) TEDDERS (7)
Score: 14–14 (max 21)

Deeks looked unsure from the outset and unfortunately for him he was right to be. He loses his early lead after this malfunction.

Round 4: W N L O A E S U D

C1: UNLOADS (7)
C2: LOANED (6)
DC: NODULES (7)
OT: LOUDENS (7) UNLADES (7)
Score: 21–14 (max 28)

But the Deeks UNLOADS on Sarah and is back on top.

Round 5: 25, 75, 100, 50, 6, 9. Target: 943.

C1: 944. 9*100+50-6 (7)
C2: 944. 9*100+50-6 (7)
RR: 943. (75*6+9)*(100/50)+25 (10)
Score: 28–21 (max 38)

A bloody hard numbers game with just one possible solution means that nobody scores the 10 points. However both find the very easy way of getting 1 away whilst Rachel "solves" it exactly after the time.

DC Guest Time: Mark talks about animals.

Teatime teaser: OVALTRAY -> LAVATORY

Round 6: R T H E A E F C O

C1: HECTARE (7)
C2: FEATHER (7)
DC: CHEATER (7) TEACHER (7)
OT: FETCHER (7) OCHREAE (7) RETEACH (7) THEREOF (7) TROCHEE (7)
Score: 35–28 (max 45)

Round 6 proves to be as flat as Round 2 which is fine by everyone.

Round 7: N I M T E A G J R

C1: GARMENT (7)
C2: TEARING (7)
DC: MIGRATE (7) TANGIER (7) TEAMING (7)
OT: EMIGRANT (8)
Score: 42–35 (max 53)

Nobody seems to have learnt that RETAMING^/REMATING^ or whatever can make EMIGRANT which was the darren for this round. DC were close with MIGRATE, but not close enough. Quite interestingly at pretty much the half way point every single round so far has been won with 7 points (which means that you now know that the next round isn't going to be).

Round 8: Y D N I U A R S I

C1: SUNDRY (6)
C2: SUNDRY (6)
DC: RAISINY (7)
OT: DURIANS (7) DYSURIA (7) INDUSIA (7)
Score: 48–41 (max 60)

Sarah looks like she does a little bit of fudge to come up with SUNDRY but it didn't look too fudgetastic. Some nice 7's in this one, I'll let you look them up.

Round 9: D L E U T G E F S

C1: GUESTED (7)
C2: FLUTED (6)
DC: DELUGE (6) DELUGES (7) FLEDGES (7)
OT: TELEDUS (7)
Score: 55–41 (max 67)

Finally after 9 rounds Mark gets the breathing space he wanted and moves more than 10 points clear of Sarah.

Susie's Piece: I think Susie spoke about high jinks and jinx.

Round 10: 25, 8, 2, 10, 6, 8. Target: 385.

C1: 385. (8-2)*6*10+25 (10)
C2: 384.
Score: 65–41 (max 77)

And in just 2 swift rounds the Deeks seems to have full control over this game. Sarah is 24 points behind with just the last "half" to play.

Teatime teaser: GERSHWIN -> WHINGERS

Nice little clue and scramble on that TTT.

Round 11: R V A R E I T S O

C1: ARRIVES (7)
C2: stover
DC: VOTARIES (8)
OT: ROTARIES (8) SERVITOR (8) VARISTOR (8)
Score: 72–41 (max 85)

Sarah fails to score for the 3rd round in a row leaving her little hope of a teapot. She's just making stuff up now!

Round 12: K B W O E O T S A

C1: BOOST (5)
C2: BOOKS (5)
DC: swats BOATS (5) SABOT (5)
OT: BASKET (6) BESTOW (6) BETOOK (6) TABOOS (6) TWEAKS (6)
Score: 77–46 (max 91)

Mark Durden-Smith sounds like he says SWATS/SWOTS but there aren't two S's. A miserable round all round.

Round 13: D I G S E Z P A I

C1: PAGES (5)
C2: IDEAS (5)
DC: GASPED (6)
OT: AZIDES (6)
Score: 82–51 (max 97)

And another miserable round with a poor selection brings the letters rounds to a close for today and gives Deeks win #5.

Round 14: 25, 6, 5, 2, 3, 6. Target: 429.

C1: 429. (25*6-5-2)*3 (10)
C2: 426.
Score: 92–51 (max 107)

Time for him to shine with his mathematical mind.

Round 15: S H E W I N C E S

C1 buzzes on 5 seconds to say CHEWINESS which is correct.
Final Score: 102–51 (max 117)

And Deeks slam dunks home a 3rd century in his 5th win meaning he is averaging precisely 100 points now. I bet he did that on purpose. As for Sarah, she becomes the second female to be tossed aside by the Deeks and so we now count the number of days until the first time a female will win an episode in Series 65.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=65

[Liam Tiernan]

Susie's Piece: I think Susie spoke about hijinx(?)

High jinks and jinx.

[Ryan Taylor]

Susie's Piece: I think Susie spoke about hijinx(?)

High jinks and jinx.

Thank you!

[James Robinson]

Round 3: S R E U D C E T D

C1: seducted
C2: CRUDEST (7)
DC: SEDUCED (7) REDUCED (7) DEDUCES (7)
OT: CRESTED (7) CRUSTED (7) DEDUCTS (7) RECUSED (7) REDDEST (7) REDUCES (7) RESCUED (7) SECURED (7) SEDUCER (7) TEDDERS (7)
Score: 14–14 (max 21)

Best to switch those around as Mark actually said DEDUCED, which isn't there as there are only 2 D's, and Susie popped CRUSTED in late on.

Round 6: R T H E A E F C O

C1: HECTARE (7)
C2: FEATHER (7)
DC: CHEATER (7) TEACHER (7)
OT: FETCHER (7) OCHREAE (7) RETEACH (7) THEREOF (7) TROCHEE (7)
Score: 35–28 (max 45)

I don't recall hearing TEACHER either, unless I wasn't paying attention.

[Joseph Krol]

No, TEACHER was definitely said.

[Mark Deeks]

I had DURIANS and ROTARIES and just wussed out of saying them. Funny what the camera does to you.

No idea what was going on in the SEDUCTED round. Part of me was saying "come on, it's an obvious word that people use all the time." The other part was saying "no it isn't. Don't be a twat." Listened to the wrong part. Bit of a horror show there.

[Mark Deeks]

There's a third woman tomorrow, too.

[Mike Brown]

Round 13: D I G S E Z P A I

OT: AZIDES (6) ZAIDES (6)

ZAIDES looks like another typo that's been in JimDic right from the start, I'm afraid, so needs removing. Sorry and all that.