Spoilers for Friday 10th June 2016

[James Robinson]

So, yet again we've reached the series finals, and with Euro 2016 also starting today, there's certainly plenty for the bookies to be dealing with today.

In terms of finding a good bet, past Countdown series don't give too much hope to the underdog today, as the last time a #1 seed lost their quarter-final was back in Series 55, when Steve Briers succumbed to Phil Watson, but if Leicester City can win league titles from ridiculous odds, then who knows what's possible....

Our #1 seed is our very own Paul "The Pinner Pulveriser" Erdunast, and his opponent is the #8 seed, a latecomer to the series, Tony "The Chalfont St. Peter Charger" Lock.

The stats certainly point to a win for Paul, but can Tony find a way round what the computer says

Statistics Corner:

Firstly, No.1 Seed Paul "The Pinner Pulveriser" Erdunast - 8 Wins, 925 Points. (Average: 115.63)
Highest Score: 130 vs. Ben Dali (3rd Game)
Lowest Score: 98 vs. Colin Mills (7th Game)
9's Achieved: 3/7
Total Points/Max/%: 925/1056 (88%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 579/659 (88%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 266/317 (84%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 80/80 (100%)

Secondly, No.8 Seed Tony "The Chalfont St. Peter Charger" Lock - 4 Wins, 384 Points. (Average: 76.8)
Highest Score: 90 vs. Jamie Lomas (1st Game)
Lowest Score: 42 vs. Robin McKay (5th Game)
9's Achieved: 1/5
Total Points/Max/%: 384/662 (58%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 249/412 (60%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 125/200 (63%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 10/50 (20%)

Join Anthony for the recap later.

[Johnny Canuck]

The scores of the two contestants so far are completely disjoint, with 8 points separating any overlap between them. This should be entertaining.

[Tony Atkins]

For those who don't know (which is probably most of us):

FIBREFILL (mass noun) Synthetic material used for padding and insulation in garments and soft furnishings such as cushions and duvets.

[Mark Kudlowski]

1st numbers alt : (100 - ((10 - 1) x 2)) x (5 + 2) = 82 x 7 = 574

[Jojo Apollo]

Very well played, Paul. Excellent standard as ever.

[Peter Mabey]

2nd numbers alt: (7+5)x9x4 = 432

[James Robinson]

For those who don't know (which is probably most of us):

FIBREFILL (mass noun) Synthetic material used for padding and insulation in garments and soft furnishings such as cushions and duvets.

I think I was the only one in the audience who even considered it as a possible answer, although whether I would consider going for it is another matter....

Also happy with my solution for the 3rd numbers game: ((100 / 4) - (6 / 3)) x 3 x 7 = 483

[Ray Wilding]

If FIBREFILL is a conundrum they're using for the quarterfinals, who knows how hard the final conundrum will be?

[Johnny Canuck]

Does anyone know whether the production team checks a conundrum's Apterous difficulty rating and whether it's in Ascension before it is used? This one was an Unobtainium.

I actually picked out FIBRE but it never occurred to me to add FILL at either end of the word, mainly because I was picturing the conundrum with only one L and two Es.

[James Laverty]

Don't think they check ratings but probably base it on the past conundrum record. Since Paul solved 8/8 they wanted to make it difficult

[Paul Erdunast]

I guess now all's been said and done I might as well comment on all of the ones I would have commented on, on the day.

Thank you very much for the kind compliments! Tony was a really great guy on the set and behind the scenes.

I was very nervous at the start, but I'm not sure it affected my play that much, as NEUROTIC, INTERCOM and SUSTAIN(S) are bogey words for me, and one of the numbers I didn't get at home, despite seeing it before (and missed it on 2nd and 3rd rewatches too). Was pleased with MORDIDA as I wasn't sure if it was MORDIDO^ - MORDITA and MORTIDO are ok, so you see the potential for confusion. MORDIDA is still not yet pencilled, if anyone fancies it...

I'll start off by saying that I'd rather they put FIBREFILL and SPIRULINA as conundrums for my quarter and semi than neither of them, as getting SPIRULINA was a very big confidence boost going into the final, as it too is non-ascension. To get an idea of their difficulty level and how known they are, FIBREFILL and SPIRULINA had only been seen once in all Apterous history, and neither had been solved on that one time, so I think they wanted to test me. FIBREFILL, it was explained to me after the show, was the term for the filling in duvets and pillows. Turns out, when I went to the local department store in Salford the next morning to chill out prior to what would be a busy day, all of the pillows and duvets were filled with HOLLOWFIBRE. So FIBREFILL seems to be a rare type of filling! No excuses though, it's in the dictionary and I didn't know it.

Since Countdown the show is now putting non-Ascension conundrums in the finals, I was wondering whether there would be any demand for creating a version of Ascension which has all the possible conundrums, including those with 2 alternate anagrams (but where one of the alternate shows so there can only be one answer), so that those who want to practise every single possible conundrum get the chance to do so. After all, as far as I'm aware that's the aim of Ascension in the first place. Interested in thoughts on this.

[Gavin Chipper]

Since Countdown the show is now putting non-Ascension conundrums in the finals, I was wondering whether there would be any demand for creating a version of Ascension which has all the possible conundrums, including those with 2 alternate anagrams (but where one of the alternate shows so there can only be one answer), so that those who want to practise every single possible conundrum get the chance to do so. After all, as far as I'm aware that's the aim of Ascension in the first place. Interested in thoughts on this.

There was a discussion here about including all nines in the general conundrum pool, and one of the objections was that it would make Ascension too long. But if it's a separate Ascension, maybe that could work.