Spoilers Wednesday February 5th 2014 (S70 P23)

[Jordan F]

Andy Gardner's had a couple tough scrapes, but he still has 5 wins. Can he get a 6th? If he does, or scores 60 or more, he will become number 3 seed for now. Today could be a tough test though, as apterite Michael Cullen is going to take his turn in the challenger's chair. Can the Welsh man defeat the glassed man?

Join James for the recap later.

[Tony Atkins]

Can the Welsh man defeat the glassed man?

"Glassed"? Has he been in a bar fight with an apterite?

[Jack Worsley]

ROQUETING in round 2.

[Tony Atkins]

ROQUETING in round 2.

Well spotted - I only got REQUINTO for 8.

[Andy Platt]

Solid start for Michael, not many spot ROQUETING so no worries. I wasn't sure but would have probably risked it unless my opponent declared first and < 8.

[Andy Platt]

BARONIAL r4

[Zarte Siempre]

BARONIAL as a R4 beater.

[Andy Platt]

Ah yeah, I forgot to mention it was a beater. Sorry Gevin

[Andy Platt]

MODALIST in round 8 or whatever it was, beating corner again.

[Zarte Siempre]

MODALIST as a r8 beater.

[Zarte Siempre]

FFS Andy, twice?!?!

[Bradley Cates]

I had ROQUETING and MODALIST but when I had the chance to post, I got beaten to it. I really need to improve the speed of my typing.

[Tony Atkins]

Andy's switch to 3L has backfired twice now.

[Andy Platt]

Too slow Zarte & Bradley! You can fight for the next one.

Michael looking pretty assured, but only +9 score at the moment. It would be nice to get to R15 having already won to take the pressure off. (I presume a crucial in studio conditions is quite daunting?)

[Tony Atkins]

I had ROQUETING and MODALIST but when I had the chance to post, I got beaten to it. I really need to improve the speed of my typing.

Bradley, the trick is watch the show live from the audience and then send your post just as the clock starts.

[Jack Worsley]

I had ROQUETING and MODALIST but when I had the chance to post, I got beaten to it. I really need to improve the speed of my typing.

Or maybe you should have seen it live in the studio like I did. (Sorry about ROQUETING)!

[Jack Worsley]

Did anyone get PREDACITY? I had EDACITY as well as a few other sevens.

[Andy Platt]

I only had 7 too there.

Unlucky for Michael that. Going 6 small in R14 was correct given that he lost the conundrum too - maybe he saw Andy get ELOQUENCE real quick the other day (well, same day in recording terms), and decided he wanted to try for non-crucial. Might have been a totally different game had he seen one of the tricky-but-gettable eights (eg NEGATORS) earlier in the game.

Still, nice to see both an online regular and a crucial - there haven't been so many of either so far this series.

[Tony Atkins]

Last numbers is solvable so a max of 146 today, I think.

[Jack Worsley]

Unlucky Michael, it was a good close game that could have gone either way, sealed by an impressively quick conundrum spot by Andy.

Jonathan Rawlinson also came to spectate and despite being rusty, he managed a Rachel beater on the last numbers, something like (8 x 5 - 2) x 6 x 4 - 9 = 903. Greg Scott, standing in for Dudley on this day, discovered this and as a nice gesture, let Jonathan have the numbers board sheet to keep.

[Gavin Chipper]

Ah yeah, I forgot to mention it was a beater. Sorry Gevin

Haha - actually I think that way round is fine. At least it would have been if other people hadn't muddied the waters by coming along and saying X in round Y when it's just an equaller. Being a beater is the assumed default I would say. (James Robinson, I'm talking about you.)

[Gavin Chipper]

I had ROQUETING and MODALIST but when I had the chance to post, I got beaten to it. I really need to improve the speed of my typing.

Or maybe you should have seen it live in the studio like I did. (Sorry about ROQUETING)!

You should have been watching the forum live in the studio, because Tony beat you to that comment!

[Zarte Siempre]

I didn't have ROQUETING, but I did get PREDACITY. I think that's probably the wrong way round, but heyho.

[Philip Wilson]

Andy's switch to 3L has backfired twice now.

Yup, strange Andy went for 3L the 2nd time having given away 10 pts the 1st time, but then Michael, having gained 20 pts from 3Ls, doesn't chose it himself in R14. Great game to watch

[Adam Gillard]

Well played Michael, tough to come up against a 5-time winner and you really gave him a run for his money! He was class on that conundrum - not much you could have done about that. I'm so pleased you enjoyed the experience!