Spoilers for Wednesday 29th October - Series 92, Heat 88

[Philip A]

R9 alt for 803 which is 73 * 11 so:

100 - 5 * 5 - 2 = 73
8 + 3 = 11
73 * 11 = 803

Unusual way but that was the first way I saw.

‘Minuter’ being disallowed is unfortunate. I think Susie made it clear as to why it’s not in the dictionary compared to MINUTEST, but very unlucky nonetheless (even if it didn’t necessarily affect the outcome of this game).

[Gavin Chipper]

The "minuter" thing has come up a few times before including very recently. 803 was doable by 8*100+3 btw. (9-5)*2*100+5-2=803

[Philip A]

Yes, I think ‘minuter’ (which is now only in the historical dictionary) has returned to the list of common Countdown pitfalls such as ‘Pilates’, ‘con-man’, ‘-monger’, and ‘elations’. Some of these have anagrams (in this case, RUNTIME) but unless practised it’s very easy to go for the wrong ones.

[Ryan Lam]

Spoiler in this episode: Susie MAY be one of the five celebrities in one of the two Taskmaster New Year 2026 Specials based on the anecdote.

The official line-up should be announced after Series 20 of Taskmaster finishes in a fortnight, and we'll find out then if this is really true! If it is, Colin might have unintentionally leaked the news out early, oops...

[Howie Myers]

r3 alt: (2*100) + ((5-2)*8) + 1 = 257

[Philip Wilson]

The "minuter" thing has come up a few times before including very recently. 803 was doable by 8*100+3 btw. (9-5)*2*100+5-2=803

The annoying thing about it in this episode is that the contestant only declared 'minuter' as in someone who takes minutes. It was Colin who added 'minuter' as in tinier, and that was the word Susie explained. She didn't mention the reason why the word the contestant actually offered wasn't in the dictionary, which was a shame as that's the one I would have thought was far more likely to be in than the comparison sense.

I did 803 your way.

[Philip A]

‘Minuter’ is just not used enough. It’s a simple as that really.

I think from now on you really do have to spot everyday words. Risking words is more likely to punish you for mistakes now.