Spoilers for Friday 16th December 2022 (Series 86, QF 2)

[Ronan M Higginson]

Well, we now know that Tom is safely into the semi-finals, commiserations to Lewis who played well also. There are still 3 semi-final spaces available though, so let's meet our 2nd set of quarter-finalists.


Firstly, No.2 Seed Edward Byrne - 8 wins, 969 points (Avg. of 121.125 per game)
Highest Score: 143 vs Matt Greer (8th Game)
Lowest Score: 104 vs Anthony Wilson (6th Game)
9's Achieved: 5/7 (71%)
Total Points/Max/% 969/1,052 (92%)
Letters Points/Max/% 596/658 (91%)
Numbers Points/Max/% 293/314 (93%)
Conundrum Points/Max/% 70/80 (88%)

Secondly, No.7 Seed Steven Etherington - 7 wins, 645* Points (Avg. of 92.14 per game)

*Steven's 6th heat was pulled from broadcst, therefore we don't know what his overall total actually was. So these stats will be based on the other 7 games.

Highest Score: 109 vs Kieran Walsh (2nd Game)
Lowest Score: 78 vs Daren Barnes (8th Game)
9's Achieved: 2/7 (29%)
Total Points/Max/% 645/936 (69%)
Letters Points/Max/% 408/586 (70%)
Numbers Points/Max/% 187/280 (67%)
Conundrum Points/Max/% 50/70 (71%)

Should be a cracker, tune in at 2:10 tomorrow.

[Marc Meakin]

Well, we now know that Tom is safely into the semi-finals, commiserations to Lewis who played well also. There are still 3 semi-final spaces available though, so let's meet our 2nd set of quarter-finalists.


Firstly, No.2 Seed Edward Byrne - 8 wins, 969 points (Avg. of 121.125 per game)
Highest Score: 143 vs Matt Greer (8th Game)
Lowest Score: 104 vs Anthony Wilson (6th Game)
9's Achieved: 5/7 (71%)
Total Points/Max/% 969/1,052 (92%)
Letters Points/Max/% 596/658 (91%)
Numbers Points/Max/% 293/314 (93%)
Conundrum Points/Max/% 70/80 (88%)

Secondly, No.7 Seed Steven Etherington - 7 wins, 645* Points (Avg. of 92.14 per game)

*Steven's 6th heat was pulled from broadcst, therefore we don't know what his overall total actually was. So these stats will be based on the other 7 games.

Highest Score: 109 vs Kieran Walsh (2nd Game)
Lowest Score: 78 vs Daren Barnes (8th Game)
9's Achieved: 2/7 (29%)
Total Points/Max/% 645/936 (69%)
Letters Points/Max/% 408/586 (70%)
Numbers Points/Max/% 187/280 (67%)
Conundrum Points/Max/% 50/70 (71%)

Should be a cracker, tune in at 2:10 tomorrow.

Do we know why the episode was pulled?

[Johnny Canuck]

Make sure to listen carefully to the intro today since Colin may mention Steven's total.

EDIT: Got the subtitles and it seems he didn't at any point during the show. I wonder if we could wangle the info from Mr. Countdown Team?

[Tony Atkins]

Rather annoying that Colin read the 969 points total of Ed when describing Steve.

Anyone get the missed 9 or numbers?

The standard method to 549 is (10+7+5)x25+4-5.

[Ronan M Higginson]

Shame someone so nice had to lose to someone so horrible.


Quinn Bartlett vs Daren Barnes coming up on Monday. Stats to come over the weekend.

[Tom S]

Make sure to listen carefully to the intro today since Colin may mention Steven's total.

EDIT: Got the subtitles and it seems he didn't at any point during the show. I wonder if we could wangle the info from Mr. Countdown Team?

I think they both asked a researcher as to why the episode was pulled, but were told that it was pulled because of something controversial that researcher was not at liberty to say why.

[Andres Sanchez]

I played once again, the banter on this felt real special to be honest and I think this was probably the most amiable both contestants have been in a finals game. Loved it.

FEMINAS
ACTUATED
707 (same as Ed)
AMOUNTS
TIGER
550 (same as Ed)
ROULEMENT
HOOTED
230 5*25+100+(50/10)
ALPHAS
REFRAIN (was thinking REFARING)
TRIAGES/STARKER
ALLSPICE
676 (25+50)*9+((6+2)/8)
POIGNANCE - beat Ed on it

Beat Ed with 115 - 87. Still absolutely great play from Ed and equally good play from Steven. Sad to see the two depart from one another but can't wait to see what'll happen next.

[Toby McDonald]

Well done Ed. ALLSPICE was a brilliant spot! And bad luck Steven.

[Martin Hurst]

Rather annoying that Colin read the 969 points total of Ed when describing Steve.

Anyone get the missed 9 or numbers?

The standard method to 549 is (10+7+5)x25+4-5.

Rachel seemed to make incredibly hard work of the 549 - I was doubting my 25 times tables for a good while!

[Gavin Chipper]

I did the 549 the same way as Rachel but just outside the time. It wasn't overly hard because I'd already done 25×(7+4)×10/5=550 with a 5 to spare, so it was just a case of squeezing the 5 in where it fitted.

That 229 was just (50+10)×5-75+100/25. Nothing in the thousands or anything involving dividing back down. Not that I got it.

[Gavin Chipper]

But anyway well done Ed and I look forward to seeing you in the SF.

[Ryan Lam]

Disclaimer: Posting this later than usual, because I was on a flight after the show to another country and prepared this overseas! First time in three years I'm abroad, I forgot how it feels like flying!

Got the subtitles and it seems he didn't at any point during the show.

Back to the game, and like I was mentioning yesterday, I hoped to understand why Steven's sixth Preliminary game wasn't broadcast. Alas, it's nowhere to be found or not even stated. The mystery shall continue then and I won't speculate any further either. What some of you may have missed is, Colin has never met both finalists in this episode until now as they played before Anne Robinson quit! :O Yet, it's fun to see how Colin gets along with a fellow Irishmen well (i.e. Edward) so quickly!

Letters: Good start in R1 where both tie, but that's where the "honeymoon" ended, with Edward getting ahead with words such as ACTUATED in R2 and UNREMOTE in R7. In fact, it got to a point where Steven wanted "nine vowels" in R8 (nice try and have fun playing a round if that happened). R13 effectively sealed the latter's fate when Edward had ALLSPICE which is excellent (I didn't even know it was a valid word!)

Numbers: Given this is the Finals, Edward goes for his second-most picked selection, 4 Large. 6 Million in R3 from Steven??!!! , instead of just saying he's got nothing, go big or go home, literally!

Rachel seemed to make incredibly hard work of the 549 - I was doubting my 25 times tables for a good while!

I suppose that's a lot of us in the Daily Chat were thinking too in terms of Rachel overcomplicating things. R6 didn't have to go this far and missing R9 when there was a "simple" solution was probably something some people can't forgive. Last but not least, 2 Large in R14 where it's manageable for a Finals match. However, Steven misses this and doesn't score in any of the rounds here. Poor him

Conundrum: Well, the scores are NO NICE GAP to look at here (which I'll comment in the next paragraph), and Edward buzzes in quite quickly with the correct answer to make this gap even wider! I got the answer, but I would have flat out lost to him on all accounts.

I expected the margin here to be around 60 points, but it was way off with the difference being at 71 points. Commiserations Steven, having been defeated by two Octochamps is bad enough, but if there's one good thing, hey, you got to meet the "Queen of Mean" at least after your failed audition on "The Weakest Link" all those years ago. I hope your father is proud of your achievement and followed in his footsteps not just on 15-to-1, but here as well. You will certainly be one of those unique contestants that I will remember because of your physical appearance!

This weekend is going to be packed especially for football fans you bet, for it's the World Cup Third Place playoff and Final! In the meantime, preparing for the playoffs on Monday is "A special contestant who played under two hosts, including the Family Fortune one" Quinn Bartlett and "The very guy that toppled Steven and survived strong comebacks from his challengers" Daren Barnes. Personally, I'm glad Steven didn't face Daren again or it would have been probably a dread for the former. See you back here next time when we will know who lifts up the World Cup trophy and of course, the last week of regular Countdown for 2022!

Progress:
QF1 (15 December): Tom Stevenson (#1) vs Lewis Castling-Morey (#8) (121- 44)
QF2 (16 December): Edward Byrne (#2) vs Steven Etherington (#7) (105 - 34)
QF3 (19 December): Quinn Bartlett (#3) vs Daren Barnes (#6)
QF4 (20 December): Alan Young (#4) vs Joe Dobinson (#5)
SF1 (21 December): Tom Stevenson (QF1 Winner) vs (QF4 Winner)
SF2 (22 December): Edward Byrne (QF2 Winner) vs (QF3 Winner)
GF (23 December): (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)