Monday 27th May 2013 (Series 68, Prelim 48)

[Graeme Cole]

Countdown recap for Monday 27 May 2013.

C1: Champion Joe McGonigle (7 wins, 622 points) is a croupier from Stockport who's already done enough to reach the quarter finals. He hasn't got a century yet, but today he has the chance of becoming the series' fourth octochamp.
C2: Challenger Rachael Bagot is a civil servant from Lytham St Annes. She was one of the first 22 people in the world to have laser eye treatment.
DC: Susie Dent and Jo Brand.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: T U N E L A R O I
R02: B S E G U A R S O
R03: 25, 50, 3, 3, 8, 1. Target: 608.
TTT: VINORISE - "It's what all good students should do before the exam."
R04: N I V E Q B A D E
R05: R I T O S E G A D
R06: 100, 8, 7, 9, 5, 5. Target: 942.
R07: R E P I S E K S W
R08: L E P H A E S F I
R09: 100, 50, 9, 3, 1, 6. Target: 378.
TTT: CITYFANS - "The answer to this is holy appropriate."
R10: T A S M I M E O T
R11: Z G R A E I M T L
R12: N A D X E N O T I
R13: R E V O N I S E T
R14: 50, 3, 7, 2, 3, 6. Target: 957.
R15: T R E A D H E E L (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: T U N E L A R O I

C1: RELATION (8)
C2: RELATION (8)
DC: OUT ORIENTAL (8) OUTLINER (8)
OT: TENURIAL (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)

RELATION and its cousin ORIENTAL appear, and both players immediately get off the mark.


Round 2: B S E G U A R S O

C1: BRASS (5)
C2: oranges
DC: seagrub AROUSES (7) GROUSES (7)
OT: ABUSERS (7) ARGUSES (7) BORAGES (7) BOURSES (7) BROGUES (7) BURGESS (7) GASEOUS (7) RUGOSAS (7) SAUGERS (7)
Score: 13–8 (max 15)

Plenty of sevens available here, but Rachael uses a phantom N, so Joe is the first to go in front.


Round 3: 25, 50, 3, 3, 8, 1. Target: 608.

C1: 608. (50+25)*8+3*3-1 (10)
C2: -
Score: 23–8 (max 25)

Rachael's nowhere on the numbers so Joe takes a commanding lead before the first break.


Teatime teaser: VINORISE -> REVISION


Round 4: N I V E Q B A D E

C1: INVADE (6)
C2: DIVE (4)
DC: dave ENVIED (6)
OT: BEANED (6) BEANIE (6) DEVEIN (6) ENDIVE (6) VEINED (6)
Score: 29–8 (max 31)

Joe extends his lead even further, and Jo offers DAVE^. Some names have made it into the dictionary with a lowercase initial (e.g. JONES), but not this one.


Round 5: R I T O S E G A D

C1: ROASTED (7)
C2: GRATES (6)
DC: sagitoe EDITORS (7) TOERAGS (7) STODGIER (8)
OT: ASTEROID (8) GODETIAS (8)
Score: 36–8 (max 39)

Joe's ROASTED beats Rachael's GRATES (or GREATS). GODETIAS is a useful one to know, especially if you know that the only letter it takes to make a nine is M, for DOGMATISE.


Round 6: 100, 8, 7, 9, 5, 5. Target: 942.

C1: 942. (100+5)*9-(8-5) (10)
C2: 942. 9*100+8*5+7-5 (10)
Score: 46–18 (max 49)

Rachael's numbers pick, and 10 points for both.


Round 7: R E P I S E K S W

C1: SKEWERS (7)
C2: PESKIER (7)
DC: WIPERS (6) SWIPER (6) SPEWERS (7)
OT: KEWPIES (7) PRESSIE (7) SWIPERS (7)
Score: 53–25 (max 56)

The W in this round is actually an upside-down M. At first I thought they'd accidentally put it in the pack the wrong way round, but looking at the other letters for this game, there are no other Ws. There weren't any Ws on Friday, either. So perhaps they've lost the W tiles, or used them for the conundrums, and inverted an M to compensate?


Round 8: L E P H A E S F I

C1: PLEASE (6)
C2: PHASE (5)
DC: pieflash PHIALS (6)
OT: ALEPHS (6) ASLEEP (6) ELAPSE (6) ELFISH (6) ESPIAL (6) LIPASE (6) PALISH (6) PILAFS (6) PILEAS (6) SAPELE (6) SHEILA (6)
Score: 59–25 (max 62)

Jo Brand offers PIEFLASH^, which is an amusing effort but not valid. Joe's lead gets even wider.


Round 9: 100, 50, 9, 3, 1, 6. Target: 378.

C1: 380. Mistake in working.
C2: 378. Mistake in working.
RR: 378. ((100/50)*3+1)*6*9 (10)
Score: 59–25 (max 72)

Whenever Rachel says "could be tricky", CECIL usually conspires to offer an easy target. Not this time - both players think they've got somewhere near it, but both make a mistake. So Rachel uses the 100 and the 50 in an unconventional way to take us to 378.


Teatime teaser: CITYFANS -> SANCTIFY


Round 10: T A S M I M E O T

C1: STEAM (5)
C2: TIMES (5)
DC: tommies MIMOSA (6) ATOMISE (7) TOASTIE (7)
OT: TOTEMISM (8)
Score: 64–30 (max 80)

You might think TOMMIES^ would be in, but it's only there with a capital T. TOTEMISM was there for eight though.


Round 11: Z G R A E I M T L

C1: MIGRATE (7)
C2: GRAZE (5)
DC: RAGTIME (7)
OT: GLAZIER (7) MALTIER (7)
Score: 71–30 (max 87)

Another max for Joe, and with his victory all but assured, now he's got the target of his first century to aim at.


Round 12: N A D X E N O T I

C1: NATION (6)
C2: unknown 6
DC: OX OXIDANT (7) ANOINTED (8)
OT: ANTINODE (8)
Score: 77–30 (max 95)

Rachael declares six then says she's made a mistake when asked for her word, so Joe takes the round, and the game, with NATION.


Round 13: R E V O N I S E T

C1: VERSION (7)
C2: TROVES (6)
DC: revnotes INVESTOR (8) NERVIEST (8)
OT: EVERSION (8) OVERSITE (8) REINVEST (8) SEROTINE (8)
Score: 84–30 (max 103)

"Rev notes" is music played by the vicar, according to Jo. EVERSION is a biological term meaning the act of turning something inside out, especially an organ or structure. An OVERSITE is a layer of concrete underneath a house. A SEROTINE is an insectivorous bat.


Round 14: 50, 3, 7, 2, 3, 6. Target: 957.

C1: 957. (6*3+3-2)*50+7 (10)
C2: -
Score: 94–30 (max 113)

Joe makes a perfect numbers round, which means he only needs the conundrum to get into three figures.


Round 15: T R E A D H E E L

Rachael buzzes on 6 seconds to say LEATHERED which is correct.
Final Score: 94–40 (max 123)

But it's Rachael who spots LEATHERED to take her score to 40. Nevertheless, Joe gets a deserved victory and becomes 4th seed for the quarter finals, and also becomes the third highest-scoring octochamp after Nick Wainwright and David von Geyer never to score a century in a heat game. So two new contestants will play tomorrow. Although there are only twelve heat games left until the quarter-finals, at the moment only two wins are needed to get in to the top eight, so there's still the possibility of some new faces in the finals.


Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=68

[Guy Barry]

(round 10)

You might think TOMMIES^ would be in, but it's only there with a capital T.

By the way, the name that everyone was groping for was Tommy Atkins:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Atkins