Spoilers for Thursday 19th June 2025 - S91 QF1

[Philip A]

Just as the finals go out at 2:10 pm we have a heatwave! Anyway, the finals have begun and it’s an open series, with just 61 points separating the 5 octochamps. For the first time since Series 67, no player has averaged above 100 in the heats. This series’ No. 1 seed Rhys Jones in fact averaged exactly 100, and he’s facing the No. 8 ranked Michael Kane.

Only 12 heat games have been won by returning contestants this series, compared to 40 last series. Christine Smith at No. 5 is one of three returnees this series to win any games, and is the only octochamp this series who is a returnee. Therefore 7 finalists this series are newcomers. There could be a surprise or two so this is going to be an exciting final 7 shows.

[Philip A]

R4: BRACONID - a parasitic wasp - and TORNADIC - relating to tornadoes.

[Philip A]

Fairly close until the 9, but Kane cracked a challenging conundrum so he can hold his head high.

Rhys did well, 37 points out of 40 in the numbers. I think his semi- and Grand Final will be a serious challenge for him though.

[Gavin Chipper]

Fairly close until the 9, but Kane cracked a challenging conundrum so he can hold his head high.

Rhys did well, 37 points out of 40 in the numbers. I think his semi- and Grand Final will be a serious challenge for him though.

Wasn't it 27 out of 37? 2 out of 4 maxes.

[Philip A]

Fairly close until the 9, but Kane cracked a challenging conundrum so he can hold his head high.

Rhys did well, 37 points out of 40 in the numbers. I think his semi- and Grand Final will be a serious challenge for him though.

Wasn't it 27 out of 37? 2 out of 4 maxes.

Oops, my bad, you’re right. I forgot Kane won the second numbers game with 7 points.

[Phyl Styles]

Is SONDAGE allowed for R1?

[Fiona T]

Is SONDAGE allowed for R1?

One of the 92,000 dead words

[Ryan Lam]

It's that time of the year again where the Top 8 battle out for the Series Champion! Cue Act 1 of 7 as per what Colin mentioned and as I've already said in the Predictions thread, it is so difficult to predict the final outcome next Friday, so let's go through each show one by one, one step at a time! I've deicded to revamp my Countdown review into "thirds" rather than separating by section since I feel the flow would be better if I went that way, let's hope this will be the case moving forward! Thank you to Colin for also confirming the Finals line-up and that there are no absentees! Today, we have "The Word, Programmer for Words to be stared at your face until you memorise it and 6 Small Diehard Fan" Rhys Jones and "Not letting everyone know he was on Countdown" Michael Kane who continues the streak of having series "continuers" ending up as Finalists over the past few years. The latter is so incredibly lucky that despite having to wait half a year to find out whether he made it or not, he's through!

First Third: On the Daily Chat in R1, several of us unfortunately fell into the trap and declared dogvanes because it's been invalid since the ODP Cull last year! Fortunately, points to both contestants for their six-letter words (not sure why Colin wanted Michael to spell ANODES though even though his pronunciation was clear to me...) Unlucky hurdle to Michael in R2 with hurlies afterwards, and R3 was a bummer to him as Rhys pulls away with a tricky 6 Small puzzle as his specialty! Glad that CECIL is giving us hard numbers round unlike the last Finals.

Second Third: A tricky 2 Large puzzle with two "1"s usually means double trouble and I got 485 in R6, and it's Michael who fights back to close the gap to a less than ten point margin with 484! Both contestants keep their cool in the next two rounds after and Rhys goes once more with 6 Small in R9, this time it's a really manageable puzzle for a Finals standard. Alas, Michael blanks out, oh no!!

Last Third: Michael doesn't take what happened in R9 to heart, and he fights back with TRADCUES in R10 to bring Rhys one step closer to the danger crucial conundrum! However, Rhys gets out in R11 with CLOAKS. Colin, pray tell, wants Michael to spot a "nine" after OOW, but it backfired spectacularly with Rhys dealing the fatal blow with one of the three nines of this familiar selection to Apterites, INTEGRALS! This was exactly the same method that Fiona Wood beat Terence Newnham in SF2 of Series 90, history repeats itself! A final tricky 2 Large puzzle again in R14, bad luck to Michael all round as he has nothing again and allows Rhys to clamber more points! But, let's see who will solve the all important difficult conundrum with LONGLASTE. Near the death and Michael buzzes in with a word that you certainly do not want to find in your digestive system, excellent!

With this being the first full Series since the ODP Cull, this match was going to be even tighter than QF1 of Series 90. I had predicted Rhys to win by a margin of around 30 points, and it was slightly wider with 33 points.

Fairly close until the 9, but Kane cracked a challenging conundrum so he can hold his head high.

Well done to Michael, he literally gave Rhys a run for his money almost all the way and that was exhilarating! Your journey might have ended here on the show, but being the #8 Seed doesn't mean it's always a losing affair, and you certainly showed your fighting spirit! Welcome to Apterous and the community as well, enjoy your stay and hopefully your family watched this episode live this time round!

While Rachel's cheering at herself for getting her first Finals conundrum in 16 years (wow...), let's focus on tomorrow's match; we have "One half of the Tims and a guy who also like data analysis" Tim Bridgstock and "Having his stint right after Rhys but painfully losing at the very end of the run" Tom Page. Will the bridge survive to next week, or will a page be turned instead?

Progress:
QF1 (19 June 2025): Rhys Jones (#1) vs Michael Kane (#8) (97 - 64)
QF2 (20 June 2025): Tim Bridgstock (#2) vs Tom Page (#7)
QF3 (23 June 2025): Tim James (#3) vs Matt Fife (#6)
QF4 (24 June 2025): Amy Berry (#4) vs Christine Smith (#5)
SF1 (25 June 2025): Rhys Jones (QF1 Winner) vs (QF4 Winner)
SF2 (26 June 2025): (QF2 Winner) vs (QF3 Winner)
GF (27 June 2025): (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)