Monday 31st March 2014

[Andy McGurn]

Countdown recap for Monday 31 March 2014.

C1: Champion Ann Robinson (1 win, 80 points.) A retired adoption officer from Hessle. She reconts a story of seeing loads of humpback whales when on a boat in Australia.

C2: Challenger Trevor Grundy. A Chartered legal assistant from Bolton. Trevor credits countdown with having helped him recover his mental faculties after having suffered a stroke

DC: Susie Dent and Colin Murray.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: K R G R E O A E N
R02: P O N E D O G E T
R03: 10, 3, 7, 9, 5, 25. Target: 820.
TTT: LOOKTHEN - "a peepin tom might look through this every now and then"
R04: H I Y A D I F U M
R05: S L N D A E O E R
R06: 6, 9, 9, 1, 100, 50. Target: 495.
R07: O E I O L S B V I
R08: L E N A H E R W D
R09: 2, 6, 9, 4, 1, 100. Target: 492.
TTT: BENDLINE - "you'll definately bend the washing line hanging this lot out"
R10: R A M O T E S O D
R11: X G P A I E O R L
R12: T E F I T E S T N
R13: Z R P N A O I A T
R14: 3, 9, 5, 5, 8, 75. Target: 787.
R15: C E S S K I T T I (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: K R G R E O A E N

Ann: oranger
Trevor: RANKER (6)
DC: GROANER (7)
OT: KEROGEN (7)
Score: 0–6 (max 7)

Ann’s stint in the make-up room just before the recording may have made her go a bit oranger but its not a valid word and Trevor gets the points
KEROGEN is a mixture of organic chemical compounds that make up a portion of the organic matter in sedimentary rocks


Round 2: P O N E D O G E T

Ann: DENOTE (6)
Trevor: GENTOO (6)
DC: PENTODE (7)
Score: 6–12 (max 14)

After picking the sixth letter Trevor tries to engage in a bit of banter with Rachel by saying “I think you can see where I’m going Rachel” (i.e. CVCV etc).
Its six points each in this round as both miss the Darren here.



Round 3: 10, 3, 7, 9, 5, 25. Target: 820.

Ann: 825.
Trevor: 820. ((25*3)+7)*10 (10)
Score: 6–22 (max 24)


Ann might be kicking herself here as this is a pretty easy numbers game and it gives Trevor a bigger lead. Trevor seems to really enjoy reading out his solution to Rachel.



Teatime teaser: LOOKTHEN -> KNOTHOLE

Round 4: H I Y A D I F U M

Ann: MAID (4)
Trevor: HUMID (5)
DC: HUMIDIFY (8)
Score: 6–27 (max 32)


Trevor fails to stretch out his word to get the darrenic eight, but Ann fails to even get the five enabling Trevor to increase his lead.



Round 5: S L N D A E O E R

Ann: SLANDER (7)
Trevor: OLEANDERS (18)
Score: 6–45 (max 50)


Great spot by Trevor and he now has a 39 point lead, which is some feat after just five rounds.



Round 6: 6, 9, 9, 1, 100, 50. Target: 495.

Ann: 499. ((6-1)*100)-(9/9) (7)
Trevor: -Mistake in working.
Colin Murray: 495. ((50+6)*9)-9 (10)
Score: 13–45 (max 60)

Trevor may have lost concentration here after that brilliant spot in the previous round. His miscalculation gifts Ann the chance to make up seven points.
Its Colin Murray who gets the solution here, which leads nicely into his Dc Guest spot.


DC Guest: Colin talks about Baseball and specifically Joe DiMaggio who married Marilyn Monroe.



Round 7: O E I O L S B V I

Ann: VISIBLE (7)
Trevor: lovies
OT: BOILIES (7)
Score: 20–45 (max 67)


Ann gets her first max of the game, to make a bit more ground up on the challenger




Round 8: L E N A H E R W D

Ann: rehealed
Trevor: HANDLER (7)
DC: LEARNED (7)
OT: LEEWARD (7) RENEWAL (7) WHEALED (7)
Score: 20–52 (max 74)


Ann’s word is not in the selection, so Trevor recovers the seven point gap that Ann closed in the previous round.



Round 9: 2, 6, 9, 4, 1, 100. Target: 492.

Ann: 492. ((6-1)*100)-(4*2) (10)
Trevor: 492. ((4+1)*100)-(6+2) (10)
Score: 30–62 (max 84)


Nice easy numbers game, means Trevor takes a 32 point lead into the final third of the game


Teatime teaser: BENDLINE -> BEDLINEN

Round 10: R A M O T E S O D

Ann: DOORMATS (8)
Trevor: MOORTED (7)
DC: MODERATOS (18)
OT: ASTRODOME (18)
Score: 38–62 (max 102)


More ground pulled back by Ann. DC spot the niner MODERATOS, but the other niner in this round, ASTRODOME, sounds way cooler to me.


Round 11: X G P A I E O R L

Ann: GROPE (5)
Trevor: GROPE (5)
DC: POXIER (6)
Rachel: PERGOLA (7)
Score: 43–67 (max 109)


Poor round by both here, both will probably be kicking themselves that they could not take advantage here. DC miss the max here and Rachel gets to show off her own word spotting skills.



OoW: Susie talks about some of the nations favourite words



Round 12: T E F I T E S T N

Ann: FITTEST (7)
Trevor: FINEST (6)
DC: NETTIES (7)
OT: FEINTEST (8)
Score: 50–67 (max 117)


This is a shockingly bad miss by Trevor, FITTEST is so obviously in that selection you can’t imagine anyone missing that. Looking at the score he seems genuinely in danger of not winning now, which considering he was 39 points ahead after round five and still 32 ahead after the second advert break is pretty bad…



Round 13: Z R P N A O I A T

Ann: PATRON (6)
Trevor: PRINT (5)
DC: RATION (6) TAIPAN (6)
OT: PARTIZAN (8)
Score: 56–67 (max 125)


Ann’s six pulls her to just 11 behind, but to pull of the great comeback she still has to win both of the next two rounds. Can she do it?



Round 14: 3, 9, 5, 5, 8, 75. Target: 787.

Ann: 788. (75+3)*(5+5)+8 (7)
Trevor: -
RR: 787. ((8+5+75)*9)-5 (10)
Score: 63–67 (max 135)


Trevor is probably panicking now after being so far ahead. I would say his only chance now is for a very very tough conundrum that neither can get (something like PETROLEUM maybe).


Round 15: C E S S K I T T I

Ann buzzes on 1 second to say STICKIEST which is correct.
Final Score: 73–67 (max 145)


Sadly for Trevor the conundrum is a really simple one and Ann is really quick on the buzzer to seal her second win. I’m sure Trevor is really gutted, the game was his for the taking and he made some bad errors late on (most notably the FITTEST miss).

Still, give credit to Ann for pulling it out in the end, she seems shocked to have pulled this win out. An escape like this might stand her in good stead for future games and maybe she can now go on and win a few more.

It was a good game today, lets hope similar dramatic games are still to come this series.

Best wishes to all the countdown community…



Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=70

[Anthony Endsor]

It was a great game to watch on TV, though if, like me, you were in the audience you may have thought rather differently.
Trevor Grundy turned out to be quite a colourful character, and there was a lot of stuff that went on but didn't make it to our screens.
When Trevor was due to pick his letters for Round 2, he actually said 'I know Rachel sometimes gets asked to pick the numbers, but I don't think anyone has ever asked Susie to pick the letters, so I'm going to be the first to say Susie you choose.' After thanking Trevor for the invitation, Susie then began picking the letters, before promptly being told from on high that it wasn't allowed and Trevor had to pick the letters himself. It then took several attempts before Trevor came up with a broadcastable letters pick.

Oh, and don't miss tomorrow's show. There's a little surprise from a special audience guest at the end....

[Andy McGurn]

When Trevor was due to pick his letters for Round 2, he actually said 'I know Rachel sometimes gets asked to pick the numbers, but I don't think anyone has ever asked Susie to pick the letters, so I'm going to be the first to say Susie you choose.' After thanking Trevor for the invitation, Susie then began picking the letters, before promptly being told from on high that it wasn't allowed and Trevor had to pick the letters himself. It then took several attempts before Trevor came up with a broadcastable letters pick.

That's awesome, makes me wish he'd won.

[Ian Volante]

Fittest is only obvious if you look at the selection as a whole in order. This is something I usually avoid doing, otherwise I can get stuck with unhelpful patterns from the start.

[Jon Corby]

FEINTEST is given in the OT section as well, didn't Susie disallow FEINTER not so long ago?