Birthday Championship Spoilers For Monday January 14th 2013

[James Robinson]

So, after the brilliance that was the first week, it's time to get yourselves prepared for another 7 weeks of absolute Countdown brilliance by our select legends.

The next 2 days will see us return to a more quiet age, as all our next 4 contestants took part back in the 9 round era, all of them making their débuts over 20 years ago

First up today is the battle between a man who took part in the 12th episode of Countdown, back in 1982, but was allowed back to become the champion of Series 6, that's Darryl Francis.

And his opponent is a Scrabble Grandmaster and Series 22 runner-up, and even took part in the final of the 2009 National Scrabble Championships, losing to a certain Craig Beevers, that's David Webb.

Here are the stats:

Firstly, Series 6 Champion & CoC III Semi-Finalist Darryl Francis - 15 Games, 13 Wins, 818 Points (Average: 54.53) (All 9 rounder games, except one 14 rounder, and I've not included his Masters game)
Highest Score: 72 vs. Adam Gilinsky (Semi-Final)
Lowest Score: 24 vs. Allan Saldanha (Supreme Championship Group Semi-Final (that was Saldanha's record-breaking 9 rounder score of 83 in that game))
9's Achieved: 0/1
Total Points/Max/%: 818/1124 (73%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 516/647 (80%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 192/317 (61%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 110/160 (69%)

Secondly, Series 22 Semi-Finalist David Webb - 8 Games, 6 Wins, 421 Points (Average: 52.63)
Highest Score: 65 vs. Una Szewc (Quarter-Final)
Lowest Score: 41 vs. Robert Teuton (6th Prelim)
9's Achieved: 0/3
Total Points/Max/%: 421/613 (69%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 233/373 (65%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 138/160 (86%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 50/80 (63%)

Back in Dictionary Corner is "Mr Money Saving Expert" himself, Martin Lewis.

Graeme will be giving you his version of events in the recap later on.

[Jordan F]

Mark said LOGICS, right? If so, I just checked and it's not apto-valid.

[szodiac]

Mark said LOGICS, right? If so, I just checked and it's not apto-valid.

I anticipate a show with many non-words from Darryl and David but not from Dictionary corner

Rachel sounds a bit squeaky today

Mauro

[Conor]

FUMAROLIC as an alternative in rd 15.

Also sadly 'dumbass' isn't in. Exciting stuff guys, unlucky on some of the risks amid some excellent spots.

[Jordan F]

Alternate final numbers game: 75x7 - ((9+2) x 2)

Another strong contest here. Well done Darryl, you held off a strong potential comeback by David, who played very well to make it to the crucial. Probably could have been even higher scoring had it not been for those couple wrong words in the letters games.

[szodiac]

FUMAROLIC as an alternative in rd 15.

Also sadly 'dumbass' isn't in. Exciting stuff guys, unlucky on some of the risks amid some excellent spots.

An oversight by the producers, perhaps

The low score belies Darryl's and David's word power even though some of the selections offered not much to chose from.

Well done guys

Mauro

[Countdown Team]

FUMAROLIC - FORMULAIC.
Oversight yes. Apologies.

[Jojo Apollo]

Good contest well done both. I still remember David mostly from 100% and that other game show in which he used clever tactics to win a house.

[Jack Worsley]

Good game yet again, higher quality than the lowish scores suggest.

FALCONET to equal CONFLATE.

[Darryl Francis]

Another anagram of FORMULAIC is CAULIFORM - okay for Scrabble, but not for Countdown/Apterous.

[Darryl Francis]

LOGICIZES also okay for Scrabble. Duh!

[Rhys Benjamin]

I am posting from my tablet so cannot check, but SPAGERIC in round nine?

[Conor]

I am posting from my tablet so cannot check, but SPAGERIC in round nine?

No.

Edit: though, as seems appropriate, it's valid in Scrabble.

[Gavin Chipper]

Good game yet again, higher quality than the lowish scores suggest.

FALCONET to equal CONFLATE.

I got FLECTION in that round.

[Adam Gillard]

Good game guys, unlucky with the Scrabble-only declarations. Shame that Nick didn't announce that it was a crucial conundrum.

[James Robinson]

1st Numbers Alt.: ((75 + 4) x (10 + 2)) - (7 x 3) = 927
3rd Numbers Alt.: ((75 - 5) x 7) + 9 + 2 + 2 = 503

Quite a high standard again, especially when it looked like I had in creamed in round 2 when they said 8 and 9, especially as I remembered that LOGICS was disallowed in a previous life, as seen on an episode of the show in 1995.

[Kirk Bevins]

I am posting from my tablet so cannot check, but SPAGERIC in round nine?

You might be thinking of SPAGYRIC, which is in.

[Grant Waters]

1st numbers ALT

75 x 3 x 4 + (2 x 10) + 7

Which I have to say is one of the easiest to solve. I guess if you go down the (10 + 2) x 75 route this way might not have jumped out at you.

[Gavin Chipper]

Mark said LOGICS, right? If so, I just checked and it's not apto-valid.

It's still not apto-valid today, but I looked it up and although it says mass noun, one of the definitions is:

A particular system or codification of the principles of proof and inference.

That's countable. Obviously I don't know what the dictionary at the time said (actually it's not that obvious because I might have the dictionary, but I don't), but fuck it, I'm scoring for it.

What were the minor edits mentioned on the wiki?

This episode was repeated, with minor edits, on 11 May 2020.

Good game yet again, higher quality than the lowish scores suggest.

FALCONET to equal CONFLATE.

I got FLECTION in that round.

Me too. Oh wait - you are me.

I don't like the sound of Rachel's voice. Has she been tested? She could end up killing everyone.

Also, if you're risking LOGICISE, you go the whole hog and go for LOGICIZES. I don't think he logicized that one.

I don't think anyone's mentioned the standard method for the first numbers - (25+7*4) * (10-3+2) = 927.

Also sadly 'dumbass' isn't in. Exciting stuff guys, unlucky on some of the risks amid some excellent spots.

Yeah, DUMBAS is a mass noun so you can't stick the S on. Actually I just checked and DUMBASS is now in.

The low score belies Darryl's and David's word power even though some of the selections offered not much to chose from.

Scrabblers can't do numbers and it's a real score-wrecker. They have that part of their brain removed before they can register to play Scrabble officially.

Quite a high standard again, especially when it looked like I had in creamed in round 2 when they said 8 and 9, especially as I remembered that LOGICS was disallowed in a previous life, as seen on an episode of the show in 1995.

The letters weren't there for in creamed, and there's no space in the entire deck.


That was all in completely random order, but I think it's good enough.

[James Robinson]

Preliminary 6 2020 Word Update

The max would have increased by 11 (ELEVEN) points (from 119 to 130) if played today thanks to a 9 (as opposed to loads of 7's) available in R8, that wasn't around in 2013.

New Words Now Allowed:

R1: MANIERA, PAREMIA, PEAIMAN
R2: CEILIS, COZIES (notably we don't allow LOGICS now, but it was fine then, but that's always been a bit dubious...)
R7: NOETICAL
R8: ADORNATES (raising the MAX from 7 to 18!!!)
R9: PERSICO, PRECOGS, PRISAGE
R13: DUMBASS

[Gavin Chipper]

R2: CEILIS, COZIES (notably we don't allow LOGICS now, but it was fine then, but that's always been a bit dubious...)

Well LOGICS was apparently not allowed on Apterous at the time of this show so I don't think anything's actually changed. From my last post:

Mark said LOGICS, right? If so, I just checked and it's not apto-valid.

It's still not apto-valid today, but I looked it up and although it says mass noun, one of the definitions is:

A particular system or codification of the principles of proof and inference.

That's countable. Obviously I don't know what the dictionary at the time said (actually it's not that obvious because I might have the dictionary, but I don't), but fuck it, I'm scoring for it.

[Gavin Chipper]

By the way, I find it annoying that on All 4, they just list the episodes in the order they were first on (with newest at the top), so the "current" episodes are stuck down at the bottom of the list. It should give a last shown date and order by that. Pretty basic stuff.

[Martin Hurst]

I don't like the sound of Rachel's voice. Has she been tested? She could end up killing everyone.

[Rhys Benjamin]

What were the minor edits mentioned on the wiki?

This episode was repeated, with minor edits, on 11 May 2020.

Did it not have a "if you'd like to become a contestant..." insert, and a covid banner at times?

[Gavin Chipper]

Probably.