Wednesday 23rd June 2021 (Series 83, First Semi Final)

[Rhys Benjamin]

Nick's antipenultimate show is the first semi final of the series. It's #1 vs #3.5. Or something.

Countdown recap for Wednesday 23 June 2021.

Nick talks about performance being enhanced by music.

C1: #1 seed Luke Boynton (9 wins, 1131 points.)
C2: #4 seed Louis Ross (9 wins, 826 points.)
DC: Susie Dent and Rufus Hound.
RR: Rachel Riley, still showing off the curtain collection.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: S P N I A I O M I
R02: A E U D S T C L A
R03: 75, 25, 50, 100, 6, 6. Target: 747.
TTT: YESLIMIT - "Yes, she's got limited mobility owing to this."
R04: U E I R F S D B A
R05: S P N E E A U T M
R06: 50, 5, 7, 1, 4, 4. Target: 643.
R07: X G T A E E B O C
R08: E A I D F G T O I
R09: 75, 25, 50, 100, 5, 3. Target: 641.
TTT: FIGSIDEA - "Eating all those figs wasn't a good idea, my stomach's become this."
R10: E A E S Y P S N I
R11: M S P I A O R H D
R12: U I E T D S J N O
R13: R W L A E O O R S
R14: 5, 4, 4, 3, 7, 1. Target: 426.
R15: H U G E R O C K S (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: S P N I A I O M I

Luke: MOPANIS (7)
Louis: MOPANIS (7)
OT: PIANISM (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 7, jos 7)
Darren-o-meter: 0/1 (0%)

Well, did you expect anything else? MOPANIS starts us off in the semi finals.

Round 2: A E U D S T C L A

Luke: CAUDATES (8)
Louis: ADULATES (8)
Score: 15–15 (max 15, jos 15)
Darren-o-meter: 0/2 (0%)

Two 8s available, one for each of them.

Round 3: 75, 25, 50, 100, 6, 6. Target: 747.

Luke: 746. (75 + 50) × 6 − 100 ÷ 25 (7)
Louis: 746. Mistake in working.
RR: 747. (50 ÷ 25 × 6 + 100) × 6 + 75 (10)
Score: 22–15 (max 25)

Louis uses 100 twice, falling into the trap of doing 100 + 25 for the 125. It is possible to find the 4 he wanted, but he needed to do 50 x 6 / 75.

Teatime teaser: YESLIMIT -> MYELITIS

Round 4: U E I R F S D B A

Luke: SUBEDARI (8)
Louis: RESIDUA (7) (stick with)
DC: BRAISED (7) BRUISED (7)
Score: 30–15 (max 33, jos 33)
Darren-o-meter: 1/3 (33%)

Yeah, me neither. It is the darren, so Louis's rejected gamble was SUBEDARI or nothing.

Round 5: S P N E E A U T M

Luke: AMPUTEES (8)
Louis: UMPTEENS (8)
DC: PUTAMENS (8)
OT: SPUMANTE (8)
Score: 38–23 (max 41, jos 41)
Darren-o-meter: 1/4 (25%)

Four eights available: one each for Luke, Louis, DC, and the computer. Susie somewhat reluctant to allow UMPTEENS, but does so.

Round 6: 50, 5, 7, 1, 4, 4. Target: 643.

Luke: 643. (5 + 4 + 4) × 50 − 7​ (10)
Louis: 643. (5 + 4 + 4) × 50 − 7​ (10)
Score: 48–33 (max 51, jos 51)

thank u, next

Rufus outsources this poem to his mother (god, how lazy are you?) and talks about her sitting on a bench during lockdown. Which wasn't allowed in the first lockdown or for most of the third lockdown, and tries to pay tribute to the plaque on the bench.

Round 7: X G T A E E B O C

Luke: ECOTAGE (7)
Louis: ECOTAGE (7)
DC: OXGATE (6) EXACT (5)
Score: 55–40 (max 58, jos 58)
Darren-o-meter: 2/5 (40%)

Both contestants spot the darren, and the gap stays at 15.

Round 8: E A I D F G T O I

Luke: GODETIA (7)
Louis: GODETIA (7)
DC: FIDGET (6)
Score: 62–47 (max 65, jos 65)
Darren-o-meter: 3/6 (50%)

Deja vu, I've just been in this place before...

Round 9: 75, 25, 50, 100, 5, 3. Target: 641.

Luke: 640. (not written down) (75 − 50) × 25 + 5 × 3 (7)
Louis: 640. (75 − 50) × 25 + 5 × 3 (7)
RR: 641. 100 × 5 + (50 − 75 ÷ 25) × 3​ (10)
Score: 69–54 (max 75, jos 75)

Both contestants do the Tony Atkins method for 1 away and it's Rachel who shows us how it's done.

Teatime teaser: FIGSIDEA -> GASIFIED

Round 10: E A E S Y P S N I

Luke: PANSIES (7)
Louis: SYNAPSE (7)
DC: SPINY (5)
OT: PEANESS (7) PEASIES (7) PENISES (7) PISANES (7)
Score: 76–61 (max 82, jos 82)
Darren-o-meter: 3/7 (43%)

Sevens for our two contestants in a round with plenty of them available.

Round 11: M S P I A O R H D

Luke: ramphoids (try) (only an adjective)
Louis: APHORISM (8) (stick with)
DC: RAMPHOID (8)
Score: 76–69 (max 90, jos 90)
Darren-o-meter: 3/8 (38%)

Luke tries RAMPHOIDS but it's only there as an adjective rather than a verb, and thus Louis closes the gap to 7 points. Is the shock on? Again, not sure what Louis was thinking of but didn't do.

Susie gets an email from a Frenchman, Guy Richer, asking about the word cynosure.

Round 12: U I E T D S J N O

Luke: OUTSIDE (7)
Louis: OUTSIDE (7)
DC: JOUSTED (7)
OT: JOINTED (7) JOISTED (7) JUDOIST (7) NIDEOTS (7) OUTJIES (7) SNOUTED (7) TEDIOUS (7)
Score: 83–76 (max 97, jos 97)
Darren-o-meter: 3/9 (33%)

Flat.

Round 13: R W L A E O O R S

Luke: ROSEOLAR (8) (try)
Louis: SLOWER (6)
Score: 91–76 (max 105, jos 105)
Darren-o-meter: 4/10 (40%)

This time Luke's gamble pays off. The gap goes back out to 15 points.

Round 14: 5, 4, 4, 3, 7, 1. Target: 426.

Luke: 425. (not written down) 5 × 4 × 7 × 3 + 4 + 1​ (7)
Louis: 420. (not written down)
Score: 98–76 (max 112, jos 112)

Louis does the only thing he can do, which is gamble on 6 small. Unfortunately, it backfires and it gets Luke over the line. This one was impossible.

Round 15: H U G E R O C K S

No one buzzes. The answer was HOGSUCKER.
Final Score: 98–76 (max 122)

It's not often Susie has to define a conundrum, and she attempts to get "it's a fish" in the outro any which way she can, not least because Nick seems to think it's someone who loves bacon.

We have one half of our finalists and it's "Lukey boy" himself, Luke Boynton. Tomorrow, we will see who the other half is. Join us then!


Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=83