Spoilers for Wednesday 18th December 2024 (Series 90, SF1)

[Philip A]

Kirby (No. 1) V Roe (No. 4). Only returnees remain. I think this match and the final will be close, but let’s see how this one plays out.

[Philip A]

Unlucky, David, but very well done on scoring 80 points out of 80 in the numbers rounds in these playoffs. Without a doubt the top numbers player this series.

But the better anagrammer and word-knower took it on the day. Congratulations to Chris, who looks to be in good shape for Friday’s final. METAPHORS is not an easy get.

Nobody in Countdown chat got the conundrum and had heads scratching after reveal.

Sorry to say, that conundrum was unsuitably difficult for the match and is more of a Champion of Champions conundrum at semi-final level, given that it’s not a British word (which is why it’s not on Ascension on Apterous). The QF conundrums were spot on. Unusual to pick a word from Australia/New Zealand as a conundrum. Yes conundrums shouldn’t be too easy but when it’s a word known to only 1% of people, it often causes an anti-climatic 14-round game.

I also think the last 7 conundrums should be set prior to the beginning of the series, before knowing who the finalists are going to be – not after the preliminary matches have been completed. A suggestion previously made has been 10-letter conundrums for the quarters, 11 for the semis and 12 for the finals, similar to Lingo where they add more letters.

On Brain of Britain on Radio 4, the questions don’t get any harder in the semi-finals and the final. That way, there’s more of a chance of points being stolen from you as everyone is a winner. This keeps the games close and prevents anti-climaxes at the end. Something for Countdown to learn?

[Gavin Chipper]

What I like about the letters and numbers is that it's the same game whoever is playing. Conundrums break that and bring in this subjective human element.

[Philip A]

What I like about the letters and numbers is that it's the same game whoever is playing. Conundrums break that and bring in this subjective human element.

True, but from both a contestant’s and viewer’s perspective, I think the conundrum is a simple but exciting climax to determine the winner of an evenly matched contest, especially when it’s cracked (just like Missing Vowels on Only Connect), and I like the fact it’s the only buzzer round of the game.

[David Roe]

I'd replace the conundrum with another numbers round or several.

I needed more difficult numbers rounds to have a chance. Chris is better than me on the letters; I could have got a couple more word rounds (traitors and plonkers) if I'd been on top form, but tensile and mucoid are both words I don't expect to get. I'm happy to have reached the semi and gone out with a numbers bang!

[Gavin Chipper]

Well done today (and throughout the series) anyway David. I thought after the quarters you might run Chris close but things didn't quite play out as you say.

[John Garcia]

Nobody in Countdown chat got the conundrum and had heads scratching after reveal.

Sorry to say, that conundrum was unsuitably difficult for the match and is more of a Champion of Champions conundrum at semi-final level, given that it’s not a British word (which is why it’s not on Ascension on Apterous). The QF conundrums were spot on. Unusual to pick a word from Australia/New Zealand as a conundrum. Yes conundrums shouldn’t be too easy but when it’s a word known to only 1% of people, it often causes an anti-climatic 14-round game.

To be fair it's a word that comes up on Masterchef every now and again. Anyone with decent cooking skills (or who watches enough cooking shows) should have heard of it. Though obviously not a word most of us use everyday, and the presence of -ING didn't help. But far from the hardest conundrum (some of them are ridiculously hard).

[Philip A]

Nobody in Countdown chat got the conundrum and had heads scratching after reveal.

Sorry to say, that conundrum was unsuitably difficult for the match and is more of a Champion of Champions conundrum at semi-final level, given that it’s not a British word (which is why it’s not on Ascension on Apterous). The QF conundrums were spot on. Unusual to pick a word from Australia/New Zealand as a conundrum. Yes conundrums shouldn’t be too easy but when it’s a word known to only 1% of people, it often causes an anti-climatic 14-round game.

To be fair it's a word that comes up on Masterchef every now and again. Anyone with decent cooking skills (or who watches enough cooking shows) should have heard of it. Though obviously not a word most of us use everyday, and the presence of -ING didn't help. But far from the hardest conundrum (some of them are ridiculously hard).

As a regular MasterChef viewer, this about the lamington has passed me by! Still think it’s more of a CoC conundrum though.

[Tracey Anne Mills]

I'd replace the conundrum with another numbers round or several.

I needed more difficult numbers rounds to have a chance. Chris is better than me on the letters; I could have got a couple more word rounds (traitors and plonkers) if I'd been on top form, but tensile and mucoid are both words I don't expect to get. I'm happy to have reached the semi and gone out with a numbers bang!

Very well done David for getting as far as you did, your 964 solve was fantastic !

[Ryan Lam]

What a nice reference or nod by the continuity announcer about the Pantomime anecdote given by Christopher Biggins later in the show, but can we have the Christmas idents back please? Chris has been quite busy juggling between Apterous and taking care of his son, while David has been busy practising for the Finals with his spreadsheets and the combinations that may come his way. It's all to play for here, and as mentioned by Rachel, most people can't predict the winner for this match!

Letters: A nine in R1 is available already, but neither contestant spots it and perhaps both of them spotting BEFOGS in R2 was analogous to that.

Chris is better than me on the letters; I could have got a couple more word rounds (traitors and plonkers) if I'd been on top form, but tensile and mucoid are both words I don't expect to get.

The break came when Chris had TENSILE in R4 and to pull away from David, he had TRAITORS in R7 and MUCOID in R8 which are scientific words, wow! Unlucky to David with TRAITS in R7, and it didn't help that plankers isn't valid and came so close to a word that makes Susie laugh occasionally on the show, PLONKERS in R10 The pain when you miss those words is something else, but if there's any consolation to him, he spotted the maximums of every other letters round apart from R1, so great effort!

Numbers: I sense Chris is pulling out the "Ahmed Mohamed" in him, in a sense that he chooses to play safe in both R3 and R9, and yup, too easy for both contestants of this sort of calibre. On the other hand, David tries to throw Chris off with the 6 Small selection. R6 was so easy until I literally banged my head on the table upon seeing the target, but you could say my call of a hard target was finally answered in R14! I settled for 960 since I tried so hard to find 241 × 4 but couldn't see the only solution for this, but David does, and he beats Chris here with the latter blanking out! Marvellous end as he grabs all 40 points available!

Conundrum: Oh, what a nice Christmas scrabble with TINMAN from "The Wizard of Oz" and a LOG from a "Log Cake". But, as the clock ticked on, it became clear this was far from being a nice one in terms of difficulty, yikes. I had no goddamn idea on this one, and so did everyone in the studio and in the Daily Chat, one of the rare instances this occurs for a Series Finals. When the answer was revealed, all of the presenters laughed so hard, probably because A, what the f*ck is even the answer and B, screw this. You know it's a tough one when Susie has to come out to explain the definition.

Sorry to say, that conundrum was unsuitably difficult for the match and is more of a Champion of Champions conundrum at semi-final level, given that it’s not a British word (which is why it’s not on Ascension on Apterous).

Funnily enough, I gave this scrabble to five random Australian friends of mine the very next day, and to my astonishment, four of them got it within 30 seconds, with absolutely no help from me. So yes, it may prove your theory that a degree of locality can be the difference between what is defined as an obscure word in the UK.

To be fair it's a word that comes up on Masterchef every now and again. Anyone with decent cooking skills (or who watches enough cooking shows) should have heard of it.

True, but as I have implied over many years, hearing the word frequently does not equate to having the ability to get the answer especially in 30 seconds.

I predicted this game was going to be close with Chris edging out with a margin of 15 points, but it was slightly wider at 19 points. It was those letters rounds that made the difference and it's the end of the road for David after 23 years and the eggman has been cracked as Rachel mentioned, but to improve since your first stint (although not directly compatible because it was still the 9-round era back then) with the late Richard Whiteley is something I'm sure you were aiming for, and you did it. Well-said David, you really went out with a bang, and to select all those selections in the Numbers rounds in which most tend to avoid picking really showed your bravery to have a challenge and to have the courage to show them off on National television. Keep crunching those numbers at your work, and I'm sure they will help you until the day you retire!

On to the other half now, but it's the reverse in terms of experience since Fiona has more than Terence. Can Terence pull off a hat trick like Michael Calder did back in June or will Fiona follow Florence Cappleman-Lynes footsteps and become the first female contestant in a Grand Final since 2021?

Progress:
QF1 (12 December 2024): Chris Kirby (#1) vs Neil Holland (#9) (96 - 68)
QF2 (13 December 2024): Fiona Wood (#2) vs Helen McGivern (#7) (107 - 83)
QF3 (16 December 2024): Rob Barkess (#3) vs Terence Newnham (#6) (87 - 100)
QF4 (17 December 2024): David Roe (#4) vs Alex Call (#5) (97 - 67)
SF1 (18 December 2024): Chris Kirby (QF1 Winner) vs David Roe (QF4 Winner) (101 - 82)
SF2 (19 December 2024): Fiona Wood (QF2 Winner) vs Terence Newnham (QF3 Winner)
GF (20 December 2024): Chris Kirby (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)