Spoilers for Tuesday 20th December 2022 (Series 86, QF 4)

[Ronan M Higginson]

We now know Ed will be facing Quinn on Thursday (Commiserations to Daren who put up a good fight), but who will meet Tom in the first Semi tomorrow?


Firstly, No.4 Seed Alan Young - 8 wins, 806 points (Avg. of 100.75 per game)
Highest Score: 117 vs Dawn MacPhie (5th Game)
Lowest Score: 84 vs Alex Ayling and Natalie Curran (4th and 7th Game)
9's Achieved: 3/9 (33%)
Total Points/Max/% 806/1,084 (74%)
Letters Points/Max/% 486/687 (71%)
Numbers Points/Max/% 260/317 (82%)
Conundrum Points/Max/% 60/80 (75%)

Secondly, No.5 Seed Joe Dobinson - 8 wins, 794 Points (Avg. of 99.25 per game)
Highest Score: 116 vs Richard Waldron (2nd Game)
Lowest Score: 81 vs Rahul Leal (5th Game)
9's Achieved: 1/6 (17%)
Total Points/Max/% 794/1,043 (70%)
Letters Points/Max/% 495/655 (76%)
Numbers Points/Max/% 239/308 (78%)
Conundrum Points/Max/% 60/80 (75%)

[Ronan M Higginson]

Great game, a huge max there. Commiserations to Alan but well done Joe, looking forward to seeing how he fares vs Tom tomorrow.

[Johnny Canuck]

Didn’t realise this was the first instance of a non-1234 semifinal bracket since Series 79! Back in the good old days when our biggest concern was VSCO girls or something.

[John Garcia]

In case anyone was wondering POSTERIAD was the only 9 in that round.

[Philip A]

Joe’s 9 was pivotal. Really unlucky, Alan. I got SOLICITED, it’s an anagram pair I know of.

[Andres Sanchez]

Absolute fucking cracker of a game that was, big commiserations to Alan and a very well done for Joe on the upset.

Here's my play:

COLOURS
SEMITONAL
(8*10+7)*9
REPORT
HARKENS/NEARISH/SNAKIER
973 (10+4-1)*75-2
GORDITAS
ABRIDGE
no.
MALTIER/MOTLIER
LANGOUSTE
POSTERIAD
NUANCE (NUANCER?)
(25*8-6-1)*4-2
SOLICITED (about like 1 second)

Beat Joe 83 - 139. Those nines can be very powerful!

[Toby McDonald]

Great game, congrats Joe and commiserations Alan.

GUNNERA in R13

[Ryan Lam]

Another disclaimer, I watched this episode way later than the original broadcast, because at the time of airing, I was on a flight back home. Plus, work the next day. That's office life for you I guess. Anyways, to the game now, Christmas is inching ever closer, "Home Alone" sounds like your overrated movie to watch this time of year, and Alan's wearing the same attire as his first game in this Series, that must be some dedication if it was planned! Also, I didn't know Joe used to be next door neighbours with Rachel! That must be something he can brag about!

Letters: Even start all the way until the Anecdote was over when Joe broke away with the Countdown favourite of GORDITAS in R7, then back to being even stevens until R11, when Joe declares he has a nine! Hold your breath...he does with LANGOUSTE!! That was certainly a fatal blow to Alan as he just could not keep up afterwards! Kudos to him too for having MAJORITE in R10 (although he did not risk it) and sensing a nine was in R12 (although we will never know whether he had POSTERIAD or not...)

Numbers: Sensing how tough Joe must be, Alan gambles in R3 with Six Small and gets a lead initially. Joe on the other hand plays safe in R6 with his usual 2 Large...and Rachel shows an easy way out (which I easily missed, ouch...). A hard R9 follows with the best being eight away and both blanking out and came to the end where a safe 1 Large selection ensued. Oh my gosh, Rachel, 25 × 6 is 150 and 154 × 5 is 770, stop stalling for time. My heart can't even take it, please, just declare Joe the winner already (On a sidenote, poor Alan's defeated already, but he comes back savagely after Colin's swipe at him, haha)!!

Conundrum: No crucial here, bet Joe must be relieved to see this. I'm not sure if Countdown is going with a new format here, or are they purposely saving the difficult conundrums for CoCXVI next year because this isn't a hard one for the Finals...one can only wonder. Time's up, and both Alan and Joe smile at the camera as they draw a blank . Colin even has a voice crack when the answer is revealed to make things funnier

Didn’t realise this was the first instance of a non-1234 semifinal bracket since Series 79!

For the first time since Series 79 when Alan Duval and Tony Manwani caused a back-to-back upset, that three-year-wait came to an end. I had a hunch this game could go either way, so for the first time, I had a range from Alan winning by 10 points to Joe winning by 10 points. That didn't work out as Joe emerged victorious with a margin of 16 points all thanks to that nine-letter word he spotted. Unfortunately, "au revoir" is the only thing I can say to Alan as his second run comes to an end, but the fact that you were well enough to become an Octochamp speaks volume, and I'm sorry that this is the way you have to go, sometimes it's a cruel reality. Have fun teaching your students (and I hope they continue to admire your ties!) and may you continue to keep watching Countdown and play along (CoCXVI sounds like a good idea to do so, who knows, you may fare better than some players)!

Three more episodes to go! Will Joe potentially cause Tom to lose his first round after a nine-game lossless round streak or will Tom topple Joe over to make it a perfect ten? I'm sure Joe will score in at least one round, and as Tom spoiled last week, it's going to be an exciting show, so stay tuned to see who clinches the first spot in the Grand Final!

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) (108 – 73)
QF4 (20 December): Alan Young (#4) vs Joe Dobinson (#5) (83 - 99)
SF1 (21 December): Tom Stevenson (QF1 Winner) vs Joe Dobinson (QF4 Winner)
SF2 (22 December): Edward Byrne (QF2 Winner) vs Quinn Bartlett (QF3 Winner)
GF (23 December): (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)

[Tom S]

Tom spoiled last week, it's going to be an exciting show, so stay tuned to see who clinches the first spot in the Grand Final!

Just to clarify, I was on about the 4 v 5 match, I haven't been publicly revealing spoilers about today's game haha, but no doubt that Joe is the toughest player I've come up against.

[Ryan Lam]

Tom spoiled last week, it's going to be an exciting show, so stay tuned to see who clinches the first spot in the Grand Final!

Just to clarify, I was on about the 4 v 5 match, I haven't been publicly revealing spoilers about today's game haha, but no doubt that Joe is the toughest player I've come up against.

Well, after yesterday's (Semi-Final #1) match, you could definitely say so! Thanks for clarifying btw!

[Ian Fitzpatrick]

I think I had GASTROIDS in round 7

[Steve Hyde]

I think I had GASTROIDS in round 7

Only one S in the selection (it was GASTROID+Y) and, despite being regularly used in medical circles, GASTROID isn't in the OED. GORDITAS was the only valid 8