C1: Champion Sean Fletcher (1 win, 90 points.) He beat talented scrabbler Neil Green yesterday in an excellent game. Let's hope today's game is as good.
C2: Challenger Dave Freeman.
DC: Susie Dent and Tony Jacklin.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: P D T U I L N O E
R02: D G N A O E R N D
R03: 75, 7, 10, 1, 6, 9. Target: 740.
TTT: CRASHBAN - "You'll probably need a camel to witness these for real"
R04: R I S Z M A R O E
R05: T N X O U D P E A
R06: 100, 50, 1, 9, 8, 3. Target: 266.
R07: S K V O A S F E U
R08: J G N I E A S G S
R09: 75, 1, 3, 6, 9, 8. Target: 556.
TTT: SHEMADON - "She's mad on him because he's this"
R10: R Y T I O U H R T
R11: S C R E O V H I C
R12: T M G E I U P R O
R13: L B R I E S N A L
R14: 100, 25, 50, 75, 7, 10. Target: 280.
R15: S H E G O N U T S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: P D T U I L N O E
Sean: PILOTED (7)
Dave: POINTED (7)
DC: OUTLINED (8) DILUENT (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 8)
Sevens from both contestants, but DC get the darrenic eight.
Round 2: D G N A O E R N D
Sean: GROANED (7)
Dave: DANGER (6)
DC: ANDROGEN (8)
Score: 14–7 (max 16)
Sean takes the lead with a seven, but DC again spot the darrenic eight.
Round 3: 75, 7, 10, 1, 6, 9. Target: 740.
Sean: 740. (75-1)x10 (10)
Dave: 740. (75-1)x10 (10)
Score: 24–17 (max 26)
Nice and easy numbers here.
Teatime teaser: CRASHBAN -> BARCHANS
Round 4: R I S Z M A R O E
Sean: MARRIES (7)
Dave: MARRIES (7)
DC: ROSIER (6)
OT: ARMOIRES (8)
Score: 31–24 (max 34)
Sevens again from the contestants, and once again there is a darrenic eight available, but this time it evades DC. ARMOIRES are ornate cupboards or wardrobes.
Round 5: T N X O U D P E A
Sean: POUTED (6)
Dave: EXPOUND (7)
DC: UNTAXED (7) NOTEPAD (7)
OT: TONEPAD (7)
Score: 31–31 (max 41)
A good seven spot from Dave sees him bring the scores level.
Round 6: 100, 50, 1, 9, 8, 3. Target: 266.
Sean: 266. 100x3-(50-(8+9-1)) (10)
Dave: 266. (100-8)x3-1-9 (10)
Score: 41–41 (max 51)
Both contestants get the numbers, which aren't quite as straight forward this time.
Round 7: S K V O A S F E U
Sean: FUSES (5)
Dave: FAKES (5)
DC: SOAKS (5)
OT: FOSSAE (6) UKASES (6)
Score: 46–46 (max 57)
A tough round sees all in the studio stuck at five. There are two sixes lurking, but they're both very tough spots.
Round 8: J G N I E A S G S
Sean: GASSING (7)
Dave: GASSING (7)
OT: JESSING (7) SIGNAGE (7)
Score: 53–53 (max 64)
The contestants get one of the three sevens. This is a good close contest.
Round 9: 75, 1, 3, 6, 9, 8. Target: 556.
Sean: 558. (8-1)x75+9x3+6 (7)
Dave: -
RR: 556. (9+8+75)x6+3+1 (10)
Score: 60–53 (max 74)
Sean springs a seven point lead for the first time in the game as Dave blanks on the numbers. Sean is two away though, so Rachel shows us how it's done.
Teatime teaser: SHEMADON -> HANDSOME
Round 10: R Y T I O U H R T
Sean: YOUTH (5)
Dave: OUTHIT (6)
DC: THIRTY (6)
Score: 60–59 (max 80)
Dave hits straight back with a good six spot to reduce his arrears to only one point.
Round 11: S C R E O V H I C
Sean: CHOICES (7)
Dave: COVERS (6)
DC: HEROICS (7) COSIER (6) CHIVES (6)
OT: CHOICER (7) VOICERS (7)
Score: 67–59 (max 87)
Sean gets a seven here while Dave is stuck on six, so his lead is now extended to eight points.
Round 12: T M G E I U P R O
Sean: GROUPIE (7)
Dave: PERMIT (6)
DC: GOURMET (7) PIROGUE (7)
OT: GOUTIER (7) POUTIER (7) PROTIUM (7)
Score: 74–59 (max 94)
Once more Sean's seven beats Dave's eight, so he now has a healthy sized lead with 15 points. There's still another letters round and a numbers game to go before the conundrum though, so Dave can pull it back yet.
Round 13: L B R I E S N A L
Sean: LIBERAL (7)
Dave: braille
DC: LIBERALS (8)
OT: BALLSIER (8)
Score: 81–59 (max 102)
Dave is very unfortunate here; he seemed to be aware that braille may be capitalised, and it is. Bad fortune for him, although the same could be said of Sean, as his seven could have been pluralised for eight. I assume he was thinking of LIBERAL as an adjective rather than a noun.
Round 14: 100, 25, 50, 75, 7, 10. Target: 280.
Sean: 282.
Dave: 280. (100/25)x7x10 (10)
Score: 81–69 (max 112)
Dave allows Rachel to choose the numbers, and may have started to regret that when she chose four large. But he solves it anyway and gains ten points on his opponent, but unfortunately it's too late as Sean is 12 points ahead with only 10 left to play for.
Round 15: S H E G O N U T S
Sean buzzes on 12 seconds to say TOUGHNESS which is correct.
Final Score: 91–69 (max 122)
And Sean seals his victory with a conundrum solve. Although not quite as good as yesterday's, today's game was very closely fought until near the end and was a good watch, not least due to Dave's Yorkshire charm
Sean has potential here, and will be hoping to book a place in the finals. Can he do it? Join Andy next week on Monday to see him take the next step, as unfortunately the horse racing has pushed Countdown off the schedule for the rest of the week.
Statistics
Raw score: Sean 102 - Dave 87
Maximums: Sean 6 - Dave 6
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=70
