Spoilers for Wednesday 4 January 2023 - CoC XVI, Prelim 3

[Philip A]

It’s Series 84 champion Ahmed Mohamed up against Series 86 runner-up Edward Byrne in another 1st-round match in this exciting tournament.

[Philip A]

This is like watching the Oxford Dictionary in a woolly jumper.

Outrageous.

[Philip A]

Ed sets a new record: 5 bids on a nine-letter word.

Really bad luck, Ed. One of the most entertaining characters on the Countdown circuit.

Superb performance, Ahmed. I wonder if anyone will have an answer to his colossal word knowledge in this event?

[Gavin Chipper]

That was a pretty awesome game. Ahmed was great but I think Ed was a bit unlucky as well. You could play that game a lot more times before you find another where Ed got so far behind so early.

[JackHurst]

What a performance from Ahmed!

[Johnny Canuck]

Ed sets a new record: 5 bids on a nine-letter word.

Was it not 4?

[Steve Hyde]

Ed sets a new record: 5 bids on a nine-letter word.

Was it not 4?

SANATIVES (invalid), NUTTERIES, DEROGATOR (invalid), COARSENER (invalid)... maybe a record for most invalid 9s, but I don't recall a 5th?

[Philip A]

Ed sets a new record: 5 bids on a nine-letter word.

Was it not 4?

Oops, sorry. Miscounted.

[Johnny Canuck]

I think he actually still might be the first person to try four nines and the conundrum though

[Toby McDonald]

Class performance Ahmed. And very unlucky on the letters Ed.

[Martin Hurst]

Round 6 (just out of time): (100-4) x 4 = 384, then the x50, -75, /25 (i.e. 2n-3) jobbie to get 765.

[Ryan Lam]

Wow, I must be very lucky when I altered the CoC XVI table on Monday after the first episode when the order was clearly wrong, because I happened to put today's match in the right order without knowing it was going to air today! So, it's the "Human Dictionary" Ahmed Mohamed, our Series 84 Grand Champion against someone who's only been in the same chair some 12 days earlier, Edward Byrne, our Series 86 Runner-Up!

Letters: Both go for a nine in R1, Ahmed has VANITASES but Edward doesn't with sanatives disallowed! Damn, a major blow at the beginning! Spelling matters too with him spelling RODEOS incorrectly in R2! Ahmed with his knowledge of words, gives himself more headway with GEEGAWS in R4 and MAHATI in R7 despite Edward's credible spot of AMBIT there. Second try with a nine with coarsener, but it's not in! Really unlucky. The last third of the match comes, with FUNKIA from Ahmed and Edward calling his match a bit UNFAIR in R10 (With Rachel commenting how he sounded so depressed when selecting the letters) Great moment with NUTTERIES in R11 but not so with derogator in R12, so many nines today, wow! I'm dizzy, and to think I didn't even have a single one!

Numbers: Ahmed plays the safe game with 1 Large and Edward goes with 4 Large. R6 was good with both of them getting one away (The perfect solution is the only one and requires you to go to five digits, ain't nobody got time for that in 30 seconds!). Other than that, it was pretty manageable I guess for a CoC match...

Conundrum: Thankfully, it's not a musical conundrum today or I would have gone mad. Edward buzzes in with RECENSION confidently and has a wide grin on his face after solving it, amazing and well done here given that inside sources in the Daily Chat stated that Ahmed had an incorrect answer anyway.

I think he actually still might be the first person to try four nines and the conundrum though

What an incredible game that was, and I think Johnny may be right, I don't recall a contestant going for that many in a single game! Poor Edward though, he never stood a chance against another GOAT and in such a short span of time, but as he said, he had a wonderful time, both here and in Series 86 (and let's not forget probably Series 71 when he first appeared). All the best in your work and at least you bowed out in style with a difficult conundrum solve! Hats off to you and hopefully, this won't be your last gameshow!

I can sense a fierce second Semi-Finals IF Elliott and Ahmed win their respective Quarter-Finals, but its early days, anything can happen. The important thing is to see who are their opponents. The next match's players are a mystery once again, but it should be the last and let's see which pair is it!

Progress:
Preliminary 1 (02 January 2023): Florence Cappleman-Lynes (Series 84 Runner-Up) vs Leo Smith (Series 82 Semi-Finalist) (100 - 69)
Preliminary 2 (03 January 2023): Dinos Sfyris (Series 80 Grand Champion) vs Elliott Mellor (Series 80 Runner-Up) (88 - 110)
Preliminary 3 (04 January 2023): Ahmed Mohamed (Series 84 Grand Champion) vs Edward Byrne (Series 86 Runner-Up) (121 - 76)
Preliminary 4 (05 January 2023): (TBC)
Preliminary 5 (06 January 2023): (TBC)
Preliminary 6 (09 January 2023): Martin May (Series 79 Runner-Up) vs Luke-Johnson Davies (Series 82 Grand Champion)
Preliminary 7 (10 January 2023): Steve Hyde (Series 85 Semi-Finalist) vs Dan Byrom (Series 85 Grand Champion)
Preliminary 8 (11 January 2023): Matt O'Connor (Series 85 Runner-Up) vs Sam Cappleman-Lynes (Series 82 Runner-Up)
Quarter-Finals 1 (12 January 2023): Florence Cappleman-Lynes (Preliminary 1 Winner) vs (Preliminary 8 Winner)
Quarter-Finals 2 (13 January 2023): Elliott Mellor (Preliminary 2 Winner) vs (Preliminary 7 Winner)
Quarter-Finals 3 (16 January 2023): Ahmed Mohamed (Preliminary 3 Winner) vs (Preliminary 6 Winner)
Quarter-Finals 4 (17 January 2023): (Preliminary 4 Winner) vs (Preliminary 5 Winner)
Semi-Finals 1 (18 January 2023): (Quarter-Finals 1 Winner) vs (Quarter-Finals 4 Winner)
Semi-Finals 2 (19 January 2023): (Quarter-Finals 2 Winner) vs (Quarter-Finals 3 Winner)
Championship Final (20 January 2023): (Semi-Finals 1 Winner) vs (Semi-Finals 2 Winner)