Monday 14th January 2013 (30th Birthday Championship, P6)

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Graeme Cole
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Monday 14th January 2013 (30th Birthday Championship, P6)

Post by Graeme Cole »

Countdown recap for Monday 14 January 2013.

C1: Series 6 champion Darryl Francis is something of a Countdown veteran, having appeared on the show 17 times before. He's won on 13 of those occasions. As well as winning series 6 back in 1985 he reached the semi-final of the third CoC in 1987 and played two games in 1996's Supreme Championship. According to our Wiki he was a computer manager from Isleworth, but he's now retired and lives in Brampton, Cumbria. Darryl qualified for this tournament (which ukgameshows have named the "Supreme Championship II") after the withdrawal of Robert Richland, who I'm pleased to say we'll be seeing on Pointless soon.
C2: Series 22 semi-finalist David Webb from Harpenden. He happens to be a Scrabble Grandmaster, and he's represented England at the World Scrabble Championships. I get a slight suspicion that this guy might be quite good at Scrabble. On Countdown in 1991 he reached the semi-finals, winning 6 out of 8 games in total.
DC: Susie Dent and Martin Lewis.
RR: Rachel Riley, who's caught the cold that everyone else seemed to be catching back in November when this was recorded. Somehow this has made her sound like a smurf on helium.
OT: Other words or solutions, e.g. POT (3) KETTLE (6).

R01: M N P R A E I A H
R02: C O Z I L E S I G
R03: N T N L U E U A F
R04: V E R O S E Y A P
R05: 75, 10, 2, 7, 4, 3. Target: 927.
TTT: GAGAMIND - "Your mind will go gaga if you end up doing this to it."
R06: R I G O D U W O R
R07: N F T L A I E C O
R08: R A D O T E N A S
R09: R S C G E O I A P
R10: 100, 8, 10, 1, 3, 5. Target: 927.
TTT: COOSRUDE - "There's nothing rude about this word, it's quite the opposite."
R11: S T Q N U I E O B
R12: N A T U V E R I G
R13: B S M W A E U S D
R14: 75, 2, 9, 2, 7, 5. Target: 503.
R15: A M I C R O F L U (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: M N P R A E I A H

C1: HEPARIN (7)
C2: HAMPER (6)
DC: PIRANHA (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)

Good start from Darryl. At first I thought HEPARIN would be one of those Scrabbley words which aren't in the ODE, but it's fine - it's a compound which occurs in the liver.


Round 2: C O Z I L E S I G

C1: logicizes
C2: logicise
DC: LOGICS (6)
OT: COLIES (6) GLOZES (6) LOCIES (6)
Score: 7–0 (max 13)

And this is one of those Scrabbley words which aren't in the ODE.

I think David was thinking -IZE words would be disallowed for being too American - actually they're fine - but the plausible-sounding "logicise", in either spelling, isn't in the ODE. I can see why they went for it, as there wasn't much else to pick from. Martin Lewis finds LOGICS. apterous takes the view that this is invalid, and it's only shown as a mass noun, but that oft-referred-to page xiii of the front of the dictionary says that some subjects can be pluralised, e.g. "musics" meaning different systems of music, or "Englishes" for different dialects of world English. And since "logic" can mean "a system or set of principles...", there's a reasonable argument for allowing the plural - there's Boolean logic, propositional logic, predicate logic, etc.


Round 3: N T N L U E U A F

C1: FLUENT (6)
C2: ANNULET (7)
DC: TUNEFUL (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 20)

David equalises with ANNULET, which is a ring-shaped architectural element encircling a column.


Round 4: V E R O S E Y A P

C1: OVERPAYS (8)
C2: OVERPAYS (8)
Score: 15–15 (max 28)

Money-saving expert Martin Lewis was having nothing to do with this one.


Round 5: 75, 10, 2, 7, 4, 3. Target: 927.

C1: 925. (10+2)*(75+3)-7-4 (7)
C2: 930.
RR: 927. (75*4+2+7)*3 (10)
Score: 22–15 (max 38)

Both miss the numbers target, but it's Darryl who goes back in front.


Teatime teaser: GAGAMIND -> DAMAGING


Round 6: R I G O D U W O R

C1: RIGOUR (6)
C2: RIGOUR (6)
DC: GOURD (5)
Score: 28–21 (max 44)

Apparently they've started using the Countdown board game, so six is the best it gets. Darryl even put his pen down after about ten seconds.


Round 7: N F T L A I E C O

C1: CONFLATE (8)
C2: CONFLATE (8)
OT: FALCONET (8) FLECTION (8)
Score: 36–29 (max 52)

That's more like it. Three eights to choose from, and our Scrabble experts both spot one.


Round 8: R A D O T E N A S

C1: TREASON (7)
C2: SENATOR (7)
DC: DONATES (7)
OT: ROASTED (7) RODENTS (7) SANTERO (7) SNORTED (7) STANDER (7) TORSADE (7)
Score: 43–36 (max 59)

Martin Lewis speculates that there's a nine hidden away in there, and it looks like there might be, but sevens is the best it gets. Darryl stays in front.


Round 9: R S C G E O I A P

C1: SOAPIER (7)
C2: geocarps
DC: PROSAIC (7) SCRAPIE (7)
OT: CARGOES (7) COPIERS (7) CORSAGE (7) PICAROS (7) PORGIES (7) SCORIAE (7) SPACIER (7)
Score: 50–36 (max 66)

GEOCARPS^ isn't valid, neither in the ODE nor in CSW. David might have been thinking of GEOPARK, which is basically the global version of the UK's "national park" status. This means Darryl goes further in front.


Round 10: 100, 8, 10, 1, 3, 5. Target: 927.

C1: 927. (100+3)*(10-1) (10)
C2: 927. (8+1)*(100+3) (10)
Score: 60–46 (max 76)

CECIL decides to let our two contestants have another go at 927, and they get it this time.


Teatime teaser: COOSRUDE -> DECOROUS


Round 11: S T Q N U I E O B

C1: QUESTION (8)
C2: QUESTION (8)
DC: BOUNTIES (8)
Score: 68–54 (max 84)

Two eights available in this one. Scrabble instinct kicks in and both players use the one with the Q in it.


Round 12: N A T U V E R I G

C1: AVERTING (8)
C2: AVERTING (8)
DC: VINTAGER (8)
Score: 76–62 (max 92)

Another pair of eights available. David needs to pull something out of the bag soon to keep the game alive...


Round 13: B S M W A E U S D

C1: BEAMS (5)
C2: ABUSED (6)
DC: MEDUSAS (7)
OT: ASSUMED (7)
Score: 76–68 (max 99)

And he does. Darryl can only find a five, so David moves to within eight points.


Round 14: 75, 2, 9, 2, 7, 5. Target: 503.

C1: 504. Mistake in working.
C2: -
RR: 503. (75-2)*7-(9-5)*2 (10)
Score: 76–68 (max 109)

David was nowhere on this, so it looked like Darryl might have won the game on this round, but 73*7 is actually 511 and not 509 as he expected. This means that to decide who goes into the first round proper, we have a crucial conundrum...


Round 15: A M I C R O F L U

C1 buzzes on 2.5 seconds to say FORMULAIC which is correct.
Final Score: 86–68 (max 119)

Darryl's got a good record on conundrums - he's one of a very small number of octochamps to have solved every conundrum in his eight heat games. It takes him just two and a half seconds to spot FORMULAIC and earn himself a place against Jackie McLeod or Barry Grossman on 7th February. Some of you have already spotted that this conundrum is a rare beast indeed - there's an (unintended) alternative solution. FUMAROLIC would also have been acceptable; it's the adjective relating to an opening in or near a volcano from whence sulphurous gases emerge.

So what else can we look forward to this week? Tomorrow, Jack recaps a rematch of the Series 21 final. Scrabble expert Jackie McLeod and "Countdown 'Tache of the Year 1991" Barry Grossman do battle to find out who gets to play Darryl. Then on Wednesday and Thursday the Robinson Recaps cover the last two matches in the preliminary round, which are Andrew Hulme v Steve Briers and Ed McCullagh v Jonathan Rawlinson. Friday sees the opening game of the last 32, which is between Peter Lee and Tom Rowell.

Next week's recap order has been subtly but prudently poked about with, so see you again on Wednesday 23rd for Martin Bishop against Chris Wills.


Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=-16
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Adam Gillard
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Re: Monday 14th January 2013 (30th Birthday Championship, P6

Post by Adam Gillard »

Graeme Cole wrote:that oft-referred-to page xiii of the front of the dictionary
I think you and I are the only ones, Graeme.
Mike Brown: "Round 12: T N R S A E I G U

C1: SIGNATURE (18) ["9; not written down"]
C2: SEATING (7)
Score: 108–16 (max 113)

Another niner for Adam and yet another century. Well done, that man."
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Graeme Cole
Series 65 Champion
Posts: 2025
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 9:59 pm

Re: Monday 14th January 2013 (30th Birthday Championship, P6

Post by Graeme Cole »

Adam Gillard wrote:
Graeme Cole wrote:that oft-referred-to page xiii of the front of the dictionary
I think you and I are the only ones, Graeme.
Yes, but I find myself referring people to it often.
Nick Deller
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Re: Monday 14th January 2013 (30th Birthday Championship, P6

Post by Nick Deller »

Graeme Cole wrote:Countdown recap for Monday 14 January 2013.
Round 9: R S C G E O I A P

C2: geocarps

GEOCARPS^ isn't valid, neither in the ODE nor in CSW. David might have been thinking of GEOPARK, which is basically the global version of the UK's "national park" status. This means Darryl goes further in front.
I was just about the only Apterite who saw the game recorded, and was puzzled by this round at the time as it rang no bells at all with me. Having investigated further, I reckon the source of David's error was probably the Scrabble-only GEOCARPY^/GEOCARPIES^. Only someone with a huge word knowledge would be in a position to make the error!
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Ronan M Higginson
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Re: Monday 14th January 2013 (30th Birthday Championship, P6)

Post by Ronan M Higginson »

I noticed ADORNATES is one that has since been added.
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