Well today is the day we have all been waiting for. It's always exciting when we get to the cusp of crowning an Octochamp, but today could see one of the most popular Octochamps of all time emerge. Tracey Mills has been one of the most prominent members of the forum, as well as apterous for quite a while now. She is also a regular in the audience at Media City, and has given her life to Countdown over the last few years. So it is only fitting she has reached this point, and I feel very privileged to be able to recap this game today.However, before Tracey can join the super elite, she has one final challenge to overcome. Wendy Cooke is hoping to spoil the party today.
Countdown recap for Friday 30 January 2015.
C1: Champion Tracey Mills (7 wins, 732 points.) An apterite and forumite, a housewife from Stockport, Greater Manchester.
C2: Challenger Wendy Cooke. A retired lecturer from Darwen, Lancashire. Has a passion for skuba diving.
DC: Susie Dent and Helen Skelton.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: R N R D A E A O T
R02: N J P U I E Z G A
R03: 10, 4, 7, 5, 6, 50. Target: 126.
TTT: HISOSCAR - "In his oscar acceptance speech, his language was very near the knuckle."
R04: S R N E A E U R P
R05: D M W L O A E S N
R06: 1, 3, 6, 5, 75, 100. Target: 583.
R07: R C X G I O U I A
R08: T S T O I E M K D
R09: 8, 7, 6, 6, 8, 25. Target: 736.
TTT: DEMANDED - "The people demanded answers, they were so enraged."
R10: S R D A O E R N T
R11: N Q G T A E O U C
R12: E I A L S T P I E
R13: D M G N I A E C O
R14: 4, 3, 1, 6, 5, 50. Target: 613.
R15: D I E S E L F I B (conundrum)
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Round 1: R N R D A E A O T
Tracey: NARRATED (8)
Wendy: RANTED (6)
DC: ERRAND (6) TARRED (6) TOAD
Score: 8–0 (max 8)
A great start for Tracey with NARRATED for 8. Wendy only manages 6 with RANTED.
Round 2: N J P U I E Z G A
Tracey: GUINEA (6)
Wendy: juping
DC: JAPING (6)
OT: AGNIZE (6) GUINEP (6)
Score: 14–0 (max 14)
How much is this round worth? Just a GUINEA to Tracey, but Wendy gets 'juping' disallowed.
Round 3: 10, 4, 7, 5, 6, 50. Target: 126.
Tracey: 126. (7 x 10) + 50 + 6 (10)
Wendy: 125.
Score: 24–0 (max 24)
A perfect 10 for Tracey with 126, but Wendy only gets 125.
Teatime teaser: HISOSCAR -> COARSISH
Round 4: S R N E A E U R P
Tracey: PREENS (6)
Wendy: spares
DC: REAPERS (7) RASPER (6)
OT: EARNERS (7) ERASURE (7) PARURES (7) PERUSER (7) PRUNERS (7) SPURNER (7) UPREARS (7)
Score: 30–0 (max 31)
Tracey gets PREENS for another 6, as Wendy sees a phantom s and declares the therefore invalid 'spares'.
Round 5: D M W L O A E S N
Tracey: MEADOWS (7)
Wendy: WOMEN (5)
DC: DAEMONS (7)
OT: ALMONDS (7) DOLMANS (7) DOLMENS (7) MASONED (7) WALDOES (7)
Score: 37–0 (max 38)
Tracey gets MEADOWS for 7, but Wendy fails to score with WOMEN. Never mind Wendy, I know the feeling
.Round 6: 1, 3, 6, 5, 75, 100. Target: 583.
Tracey: 583. (100 x 5) + 75 + 6 + 3 - 1 (10)
Wendy: -
Score: 47–0 (max 48)
Another perfect 10 for Tracey with 583, but Wendy doesn't come close this time.
Helen Skelton talks about when she went to football conferences.
Round 7: R C X G I O U I A
Tracey: GIAOUR (6)
Wendy: CIGAR (5)
DC: CORGI (5) COUGAR (6)
Score: 53–0 (max 54)
Tracey gets GIAOUR for 6, a regular Countdown word, as Wendy only gets CIGAR for 5.
Round 8: T S T O I E M K D
Tracey: TOTEMS (6)
Wendy: STOKED (6)
DC: DEMIST (6) KISMET (6)
OT: MODISTE (7) OMITTED (7)
Score: 59–6 (max 61)
And finally Wendy is off the mark. She STOKED up 6 points from this round. Tracey got TOTEMS to score 6 also.
Round 9: 8, 7, 6, 6, 8, 25. Target: 736.
Tracey: 743. (6 - (8 / 8)) x 6 x 25 - 7 (5)
Wendy: -
Rachel: 736 (25 - 6 - 6) x 7 x 8 + 8
Score: 64–6 (max 71)
Tracey is 7 away with this numbers game, but still gets 5 as Wendy is too far away to score.
Teatime teaser: DEMANDED -> MADDENED
Round 10: S R D A O E R N T
Tracey: ADORNERS (8)
Wendy: ROASTED (7)
DC: RODENTS (7) RETARDS (7) TRADERS (7) ERRANDS (7) ROADSTER (8)
Score: 72–6 (max 79)
Another 8 for Tracey with ADORNERS. Wendy got ROASTED for 7, but remains on just 6 points so far.
Round 11: N Q G T A E O U C
Tracey: NOUGAT (6)
Wendy: COUNT (5)
DC: QUANGO (6) COGNATE (7)
Score: 78–6 (max 86)
Tracey gets another 6 with NOUGAT. Wendy is out for the COUNT with just 5.
Susie Dent talks about riches and wealth.
Round 12: E I A L S T P I E
Tracey: EPILATES (8)
Wendy: pilates
Score: 86–6 (max 94)
Tracey gets EPILATES for 8. If only Wendy had put the other E in front of the disallowed 'pilates'.
Round 13: D M G N I A E C O
Tracey: COMEDIAN (8)
Wendy: CODING (6)
DC: DEMONIC (7)
OT: DAEMONIC (8) DEMONIAC (8)
Score: 94–6 (max 102)
Tracey gets another 8 with COMEDIAN. Wendy got CODING for 6.
Round 14: 4, 3, 1, 6, 5, 50. Target: 613.
Tracey: 613. (50 + 1) x (3 x 4) + (6 - 5) (10)
Wendy: 614.
Score: 104–6 (max 112)
Another perfect 10 for Tracey with 613. Wendy only got 1 away but not good enough to score again.
Round 15: D I E S E L F I B
No one buzzes. The answer was DISBELIEF.
Everyone looks on in DISBELIEF as both contestants miss the conundrum. An audience member spots it though and earns himself a mug.
Final Score: 104–6 (max 122)
So Tracey Mills becomes an Octochamp. She also storms to the number 1 seed position. Another fantastic performance by Tracey, coupled with a below parr performance by Wendy Cooke made this game rather one sided, but take nothing away from Tracey. She has been brilliant throughout and thoroughly deserves her place in the Quarter Finals. Whether she will end up as number one seed, nobody knows, but with a combined score of 836 I would be surprised to see her outside the top 3 or 4 seedings.
So as this chapter comes to an end, we start all over again on Monday. Andy McGurn will be recapping the first game in our search for the next great Countdown champion. Something tells me it won't be too long before we get back to the dizzy heights we have enjoyed recently. I'll be back next Friday. I hope you'll join me then. Thank you very much for reading, and goodbye.
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=72
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