Monday 7th May 2012 (Series 66, Prelim 80)

[Graeme Cole]

Countdown recap for Monday 7 May 2012.

At the opening of this show, Rachel shows us a blonde-coloured hedgehog, who was hand-reared by an audience member when its mother died. The hedgehog is called Rachel, and this its first time on television.

C1: Champion Catherine Johnson (1 win, 71 points) deposed six-time champion Nick Hall on Friday.
C2: Challenger George Anderson, from Great Doddington in Northamptonshire, is trying for the teapot today.
DC: Susie Dent and Angela Rippon.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: O E A I S R T N R
R02: L D N B O E I S N
R03: A E I O R T W M T
R04: Z V A D I E L T I
R05: 25, 50, 2, 7, 6, 5. Target: 649.
TTT: YOURBITS - "Your bits might be cut open with this by a surgeon."
R06: N H L P A E O W A
R07: E U A E K R D R T
R08: D S L O I S E H D
R09: O A E A N R F N S
R10: 100, 3, 5, 8, 1, 7. Target: 414.
TTT: MONEYBAG - "No money in the answer, just a bit of fungus, perhaps."
R11: I E O U T P B C G
R12: M E F A R O S P U
R13: E O A I G X J L R
R14: 50, 4, 9, 6, 2, 3. Target: 766.
R15: B Y I T S T A I L (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: O E A I S R T N R

C1: NASTIER (7)
C2: TRAINERS (8)
DC: SERRATION (18)
Score: 0–8 (max 18)

The challenger opens the scoring with an eight. Susie and Angela spot SERRATION, which gets easier to spot when you've played a lot and declared ANTERIORS^ and NOTARISER^ a few times.


Round 2: L D N B O E I S N

C1: BLONDE (6)
C2: BLONDES (7)
OT: BENISON (7) BOLIDES (7) DOLINES (7) LINDENS (7)
Score: 0–15 (max 25)

Catherine wasn't sure you could put the S on the end of BLONDE, but you can - things that are blonde, be they human or hedgehog, are blondes. George goes further into the lead.


Round 3: A E I O R T W M T

C1: MATIER (6)
C2: TIMER (5)
DC: ROTATE (6) MATTER (6)
OT: AMORETTI (8)
Score: 6–15 (max 33)

Catherine scores her first points of the day and beats George's offering with it. The untouched darren AMORETTI is the plural of AMORETTO, which is a representation of Cupid in a work of art.


Round 4: Z V A D I E L T I

C1: DETAIL (6)
C2: TAILED (6)
DC: VITALIZED (18)
Score: 12–21 (max 51)

After Z and V came out to start with you wouldn't think there'd be a nine there. The contestants get six apiece, and dictionary corner spot VITALIZED.


Round 5: 25, 50, 2, 7, 6, 5. Target: 649.

C1: 650. (6+7)*50 (7)
C2: 650. Mistake in working.
RR: 649. (50+2)*(7+5)+25 (10)
Score: 19–21 (max 61)

Catherine shows us it's simple enough to get to 650, but George messes it up. Catherine is now only two behind.


Teatime teaser: YOURBITS -> BISTOURY

Round 6: N H L P A E O W A

C1: WHOLE (5)
C2: PHENOL (6)
OT: APNOEA (6) WEAPON (6)
Score: 19–27 (max 67)

Good spot by George - PHENOL is a term for a chemical extracted from coal tar.


Round 7: E U A E K R D R T

C1: TARRED (6)
C2: unknown 7
DC: RETREAD (7)
OT: RERATED (7) TREADER (7)
Score: 25–27 (max 74)

George starts to spell out his seven, K A R - then he realises he's gone wrong. We don't know what the other four letters were going to be. So it's six points to Catherine.


Round 8: D S L O I S E H D

C1: SHIELDS (7)
C2: SLOSHED (7)
OT: DILDOES (7) ISOHELS (7)
Score: 32–34 (max 81)

Catherine finds SHIELDS and George gets SLOSHED. Nobody mentions DILDOES.


Round 9: O A E A N R F N S

C1: REASON (6)
C2: FANNERS (7)
Score: 32–41 (max 88)

Turns out you can be a FANNER, and this puts George nine points in front.

Origins of words: Arabic influences on the language of business and mathematics today, specifically ALGEBRA. Same goes for ALGORITHM. But not LOGARITHM - that's Greek.

Round 10: 100, 3, 5, 8, 1, 7. Target: 414.

C1: 415. (5-1)*100+8+7 (7)
C2: 414. Mistake in working.
RR: 414. ((7-1)*5+8+100)*3 (10)
Score: 39–41 (max 98)

George thinks he's got it but he ends up using the 3 twice, so Catherine narrows the gap to two again. A straightforward way of doing it would have been (7-3)*100+8+5+1, but Rachel opts for a more interesting way.


Teatime teaser: MONEYBAG -> BOGEYMAN

Round 11: I E O U T P B C G

C1: BITE (4)
C2: POETIC (6)
DC: BIGOT (5)
OT: BOUGIE (6)
Score: 39–47 (max 104)

This was a difficult selection - Susie and Angela only had fives, so George did well to pull out one of the only two sixes available.


Round 12: M E F A R O S P U

C1: PROSE (5)
C2: FRAMES (6)
DC: SUPREMO (7)
OT: PROFUSE (7)
Score: 39–53 (max 111)

George goes further in front, and Susie and Angela give us SUPREMO.


Round 13: E O A I G X J L R

C1: JAILER (6)
C2: JAILER (6)
DC: GAOLER (6) GOALIE (6)
OT: GALORE (6) LOGIER (6)
Score: 45–59 (max 117)

Don't know which spelling of JAILER/GAOLER the contestants had, so I've guessed. DC had both spellings. George is 14 ahead now, so all he has to do is not mess up the numbers again...


Round 14: 50, 4, 9, 6, 2, 3. Target: 766.

C1: 764. 50*(6+9)+4*3+2 (7)
C2: 765. Mistake in working.
RR: 766. ((9-4)*50+6)*3-2 (10)
Score: 52–59 (max 127)

George messes up the numbers again. This time his working out was sound but he reached 764 when he declared 765. Catherine uses the same method but declared correctly, so we have a crucial conundrum.


Round 15: B Y I T S T A I L

C2 buzzes on 3 seconds to say STABILITY which is correct.
Final Score: 52–69 (max 137)

And George makes up for the slip-up by spotting the conundrum on just under three seconds. 69 might not look like a particularly impressive score, but he had a few good word spots today, and when you consider he could easily have had 24 more points on numbers games but for a few silly mistakes, if he sorts his numbers out he could be in the champion's chair for a few more days.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=66

[David Barnard]

I'll do todays recap when I come back from town, don't panic, I will do it

[David Barnard]

Gonna have to do the recap tomorrow morning, sorry for the inconvenience, I'm just really tired and will make a hash of it if I did it now