C1: Champion Lisa Thomson (2 wins, 175 points.)
C2: Challenger Anna Sarre.
DC: Susie Dent and John Inverdale.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: N D N T L E A O A
R02: W M P I O S I E T
R03: T S L R S I A E R
R04: M D S G U A A X S
R05: 100, 10, 2, 1, 9, 3. Target: 688.
TTT: RUSTDOPE - "The group of lions could be this"
R06: T S D B E O A E Z
R07: P F B N R A E U N
R08: E I A L T S J R C
R09: D H C R P U A O U
R10: 25, 2, 5, 9, 10, 7. Target: 458.
TTT: DIRTYSUN - "It's hard work in this business"
R11: R T D K P O E O E
R12: G L T N A I E A S
R13: S R M H V I E O N
R14: 25, 50, 5, 4, 9, 9. Target: 136.
R15: D R O V E J O E Y (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Brilliant introduction today (among the best I can remember), perfectly setting the scene for what is gonna be a great show for several reasons. Jeff explains how on this day in 1953 sweet rationing was ended, and riffs on this confectionery theme for a bit, during which time we discover that Susie sneaks the occasional wine gum in (my favourite too) - if she ever smuggles tictacs I'll be the first to point it out. Rachel tells us she's more of a chocolate girl, so Jeff tells her if he had some Rolos she'd get his last one. Similarly if I had a Kit-Kat, I'd happily give her a finger.
Onto the contestants then - in the champion's chair for the second time is Lisa Thomson. She deposed series-59-carry-over champion Zoe Bowman on Tuesday with a storming 41 point victory, before seeing off the slightly confused challenge of Roy Catley yesterday in what was surprisingly a closer game. She's a softly spoken Scottish housewife from Blairgowrie in Perthshire, who is training to be an antenatal teacher.
Her challenger today is Anna Sarre, a finance analyst from London. She says she's a fan of Celine Dion, which gets a large laugh from a female in the audience, leading Jeff into thinking she's taking the piss, but Anna insists she knows all the words to all her songs. Anna has also appeared in a Spice Girls music video, and likes skiing. But she won't sing Celine Dion on TV!
Right, I've contained my testosterone enough - I can't remember a more attractive pairing of contestants, ever. Fantastic. I'll guarantee you now that there will be no mistakes in this recap, because I'm happily going to check back over the show at least three times, probably more.
Oh yeah, there's a final bit of chatter with John Inverdale, who initially refuses to do any more of the show unless Anna sings at least a verse of Celine Dion! They then discuss nicknames for a bit, where we learn Rachel's was "pinky" and Susie mistakenly blurts out "floozie" while searching her memory for her nickname "denticle", making me wonder if she's seen my limerick.
As I said, excellent stuff
On with the show!!Round 1: N D N T L E A O A
C1: TALONED (7)
C2: DENTAL (6)
DC: ANDANTE (7) NEONATAL (8)
Score: 7–0 (max 8)
Round 2: W M P I O S I E T
C1: WIMPIEST (8)
C2: MOPIEST (7)
OT: OPTIMISE (8)
Score: 15–0 (max 16)
Round 3: T S L R S I A E R
C1: TRAILERS (8)
C2: SLATERS (7)
DC: SALTIRES (8)
OT: REALISTS (8) RETIRALS (8) RETRIALS (8) TARSIERS (8)
Score: 23–0 (max 24)
Tarsiers are small nocturnal tree-dwelling primates.
An impressive start from the champion Lisa leaves poor Anna stuck on zero...
Round 4: M D S G U A A X S
C1: SAGAS (5)
C2: MASS (4)
DC: GAUSS (5)
OT: AGMAS (5) AMASS (5) MASSA (5) MSASA (5) GAUDS (5) MAGUS (5) MAUDS (5) SAAGS (5)
Score: 28–0 (max 29)
An 'A' on the front of her word would have scored Anna her first points here, but alas she's still on nought. She's only been one letter short of Lisa's declarations in every round so far, so she's a little unlucky to be up against the champ in red-hot form.
Round 5: 100, 10, 2, 1, 9, 3. Target: 688.
C1: -
C2: 688. Mistake in working.
RR: 688. (9-3+1)*100-10-2 (10)
Score: 28–0 (max 39)
D'oh! Anna doesn't even begin her solution before declaring it wrong, leaving her heading into the first break yet to get off the mark.
Teatime teaser: RUSTDOPE -> PROUDEST
Round 6: T S D B E O A E Z
C1: DEBATES (7)
C2: BOASTED (7)
OT: SABOTED (7)
Score: 35–7 (max 46)
Hooray! Points on the board for Anna at last!
Round 7: P F B N R A E U N
C1: BANNER (6)
C2: BANNER (6)
DC: PRUNE (5)
OT: FANNER (6) PREFAB (6) PUNNER (6) URBANE (6)
Score: 41–13 (max 52)
Round 8: E I A L T S J R C
C1: RETAILS (7)
C2: JAILERS (7)
DC: RECITALS (8) ARTICLES (8)
Score: 48–20 (max 60)
Despite finally getting on the board and managing to score in the last three letters rounds, Anna still can't make any inroads into Lisa's huge early lead.
Round 9: D H C R P U A O U
C1: PROUD (5)
C2: hardup
DC: ROACH (5) POUCH (5)
OT: POCHARD (7)
Score: 53–20 (max 67)
A risky six breaks Anna's scoring run. Susie won't let her have 'hardup', but I definitely would. A pochard is a type of duck, by the way.
Round 10: 25, 2, 5, 9, 10, 7. Target: 458.
C1: 458. Mistake in working.
C2: 458. 2*9*25+10-(7-5) (10)
Score: 53–30 (max 77)
Lisa uses a 9 twice, which allows Anna (with a teensy bit of help from Rachel) to finally start closing the gap. But is it too little too late...?
Teatime teaser: DIRTYSUN -> INDUSTRY
Round 11: R T D K P O E O E
C1: pokered
C2: TROOPED (7)
DC: TORPEDO (7)
Score: 53–37 (max 84)
I thought of 'pokered' first too, and it sounds very plausible until you think what it might mean or how it might be used. The lead is down to just 16 points now...
Round 12: G L T N A I E A S
C1: TANGLES (7)
C2: STEALING (8)
DC: GENITALS (8) LASAGNE (7)
OT: ALGINATES (18)
Score: 53–45 (max 102)
And now Lisa's lead is down to just eight points, with three rounds remaining... surely nobody's ever come back from scoring zero points in the first half (third) to win, have they?
Round 13: S R M H V I E O N
C1: VERSION (7)
C2: SHIVER (6)
DC: VERISMO (7)
OT: HEROISM (7) MOREISH (7) INSHORE (7) MENHIRS (7) MERINOS (7) SHRIVEN (7)
Score: 60–45 (max 109)
Lisa takes what could be a crucial round to extend her lead once again to a more comfortable fifteen points. Verismo is 'realism in art' Susie tells us, while my dictionary tells me that menhirs are tall stones erected in prehistoric Europe, merinos are sheep, and shriven is the past participle of "shrive", which is (of a priest) to hear confession and absolve the sinner. I may need some of that later
Round 14: 25, 50, 5, 4, 9, 9. Target: 136.
C1: 134. 25*5+9 (7)
C2: 134. 25*5+9 (7)
RR: 136. (25+9)*4 (10)
Score: 67–52 (max 119)
Anna's great comeback attempt finally ends as she can't better Lisa on this final numbers game. (Great to see Rachel showing us how it's done again too.)
Round 15: D R O V E J O E Y
C2 buzzes on 2 seconds to say OVERJOYED which is correct.
Score: 67–62 (max 129) (wow, the contestants' scores add up to the max!)
A very quick conundrum spot from Anna doubtless leaves her wondering what might have been - had she not risked hardup and stuck with a safe 5 (not that I know she had one) we'd be having another conundrum. Or maybe she had that first numbers game after all, but wasn't quite confident enough of her formula and bottled it because she was so far behind thinking she didn't want to mess it up and it didn't matter. Oh I dunno, who knows. I guess I'm a little sad to see her go though as she wore her beautiful smile throughout, even when it wasn't going well for her early on, and I certainly wouldn't have minded seeing more of her (so if you're reading this...)
Still, that's not to say I'm not enjoying Lisa's run (which I certainly am), so whatever happened we were going to have a lovely lady in the champion's chair tomorrow. Lisa's up to 3 wins now - a few more and she can probably start thinking about those series finals in June, which would be cool. Go Lisa!
Anyway, I reiterate - really great show today. Absolutely loved it. Would have killed to have been in the studio; seemed like an terrific, fun atmosphere. Awesome, I think I'll go and watch it again...
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=59
