Countdown recap for Monday 12 July 2021.
Anne tells us it's the anniversary of Henry VIII's marriage to Catharine Parr - "till death do us part" probably had her a bit worried, quips Anne.
C1: Champion Laura Savvas (2 wins, 144 points.)
C2: Challenger Juliet Hedge. A customer service manager in a betting shop. Anne asks how she deals with someone who's just lost £10,000 - apparently the cure is a cup of tea. That makes it the very first all-female Countdown (Episode Cats97 excluded).
DC: Susie Dent and Philippa Perry.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: F G D A E L E C I
R02: N S O I C S A A T
R03: 25, 1, 5, 6, 6, 10. Target: 840.
TTT: ROSEABLE - "Rose is able to fit chocolate digestives in these at a stretch."
R04: R O N W U I L E D
R05: N F E A T M E I H
R06: 25, 1, 7, 9, 3, 5. Target: 191.
R07: S E O Y P E T S U
R08: H I N T I D E P U
R09: 75, 25, 3, 5, 9, 8. Target: 274.
TTT: SCOURINN - "Did these mythical creatures get sore feet when they were students?"
R10: S I A D A S M G O
R11: O U T L R A E N B
R12: I U L G S Z E T E
R13: N O A V R E R D E
R14: 50, 8, 4, 5, 10, 1. Target: 734.
R15: A B I G N A V E L (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: F G D A E L E C I
Laura: FAILED (6)
Juliet: FAILED (6)
DC: ELEGIAC (7)
OT: ALGECIDE (8)
Score: 6–6 (max 8, jos 7)
Darren-o-meter: 1/1 (100%)
Six to start us off, seven for Dictionary Corner but the eight goes missed.
Round 2: N S O I C S A A T
Laura: COINS (5)
Juliet: ACTIONS (7)
DC: CASINOS (7)
OT: CASSATION (18)
Score: 6–13 (max 26, jos 14)
Darren-o-meter: 2/2 (100%)
Juliet doesn't initially reply to Anne (as she is counting her letters), so Anne shouts at her and Juliet jumps about 6 feet out of her chair. She does take the lead, though. The nine eludes everyone.
Round 3: 25, 1, 5, 6, 6, 10. Target: 840.
Laura: -
Juliet: -
RR: 840. (25 × 6 − 10) × 6 (10)
Score: 6–13 (max 36, jos 24)
Oh dear. Let's move on quickly.
Teatime teaser: ROSEABLE -> EARLOBES
Round 4: R O N W U I L E D
Laura: LOUDER (6)
Juliet: WONDER (6)
DC: REWOUND (7) UNWIRED (7) DOWNIER (7)
OT: DOURINE (7) NEUROID (7) ROUNDEL (7) UNOILED (7) UNROWED (7)
Score: 12–19 (max 43, jos 31)
Darren-o-meter: 2/3 (67%)
Both contestants miss approximately a million 7s.
Round 5: N F E A T M E I H
Laura: INMATE (6)
Juliet: MATINEE (7)
DC: METHANE (7)
OT: FEMINATE (8) HEMATEIN (8)
Score: 12–26 (max 51, jos 38)
Darren-o-meter: 2/4 (50%)
Juliet extends her lead with this afternoon performance.
Round 6: 25, 1, 7, 9, 3, 5. Target: 191.
Laura: 191. (7 + 1) × 25 − 9 (10)
Juliet: 191. (5 + 3) × 25 − 9 (10)
Score: 22–36 (max 61, jos 48)
Ah, that's more like it.
Philippa moans that her husband, Grayson has a bigger wardrobe than her. Then tells us that choice is bad, actually... not everything is a metaphor for the pandemic, Rhys... not everything is a metaphor for the pandemic, Rhys... not everything is a metaphor for the pandemic, Rhys... (Wasn't it Thatcher who said give people a choice and they will choose freedom?)
Round 7: S E O Y P E T S U
Laura: UPSETS (6)
Juliet: POETESS (7)
DC: seepy SPOTS (5) EYESPOTS (8)
Score: 22–43 (max 69, jos 56)
Darren-o-meter: 3/5 (60%)
POETESS is a really nice spot which extends the lead to 21 points. Eight for Susie, an invalid five for Philippa.
Round 8: H I N T I D E P U
Laura: HINTED (6)
Juliet: indepth (two words and/or hyphenated)
DC: PUNTED (6) UNITED (6) UNTIED (6) PINTIDE (7)
OT: UNPITIED (8)
Score: 28–43 (max 77, jos 63)
Darren-o-meter: 4/6 (67%)
INDEPTH^ is not valid, as depending on the context it can either be spelt "in depth" or "in-depth", so Laura gets six points back off the deficit. Susie sees one solitary seven, but there's one solitary eight in there as well.
Round 9: 75, 25, 3, 5, 9, 8. Target: 274.
Laura: 278.
Juliet: 275. (9 − 5) × 75 − 25 (7)
RR: 274. 75 × 3 + 8 × 5 + 9 (10)
Score: 28–50 (max 87, jos 73)
Juliet gets one away which I thought was even easier than that (25 times 8 plus 75, surely??) but Rachel shows us how to get the missing one.
Teatime teaser: SCOURINN -> UNICORNS
Round 10: S I A D A S M G O
Laura: MAIDS (5)
Juliet: SADISM (6)
DC: AMIGOS (6) ADAGIOS (7)
OT: AGAMOIDS (8) GAMASIDS (8)
Score: 28–56 (max 95, jos 80)
Darren-o-meter: 4/7 (57%)
Juliet extends her lead and now has double Laura's score. Two foreign words for Dictionary Corner but eights for the computer.
Round 11: O U T L R A E N B
Laura: OUTLEARN (8) (risky)
Juliet: BLOATER (7)
DC: ROUTABLE (8)
OT: NEARBOUT (8)
Score: 36–56 (max 103, jos 88)
Darren-o-meter: 4/8 (50%)
No point chickening anything now, so Laura gets 8 points back off the lead. Good one.
Susie gets a perfect nibble when she tells Anne she's going to talk about the phrase "can I get...?" and goes on to talk about Americanisms which actually began from older English, such as Shakespearean "gotten", "honor", "humor", "center"... Other examples include "aluminum" and "sidewalks". My spell-check hates that.
Round 12: I U L G S Z E T E
Laura: UGLIEST (7)
Juliet: GUILTS (6)
DC: GLUIEST (7) ELEGIST (7)
OT: ELEGITS (7) GLITZES (7)
Score: 43–56 (max 110, jos 95)
Darren-o-meter: 4/9 (44%)
Laura's comeback continues with a much-needed max and takes the lead back down to 13... is it time for yet another crucial??
Round 13: N O A V R E R D E
Laura: ROARED (6)
Juliet: READER (6)
DC: OVERREAD (8)
OT: OVERDEAR (8)
Score: 49–62 (max 118, jos 103)
Darren-o-meter: 4/10 (40%)
OVERREAD is an adjective, not a verb, so "over-red" rather than "over-reeeeed".
Round 14: 50, 8, 4, 5, 10, 1. Target: 734.
Laura: -
Juliet: 737. (10 + 5) × 50 − (8 + 4 + 1) (7)
RR: 735. (10 + 5) × (50 − 1) (7)
OT: 734. ((50 − 4) × 8 − 1) × 10 ÷ 5 (10)
Score: 49–69 (max 128, jos 110)
Juliet does the only thing she can do and go for an Ariana. CECIL doesn't oblige, with Rachel failing to get it either, and there's only one solution. But it does get Juliet over the line.
Round 15: A B I G N A V E L
Laura buzzes on 5.5 seconds to say nothing which is incorrect.
Juliet does not buzz.
The answer was NAVIGABLE.
Final Score: 49–69 (max 138, jos 120)
Laura doesn't give an answer. The conundrum defeats everyone, and NAVIGABLE is a difficult answer.
Join us again for Countdown. Goodbye.
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=84