c4countdown

So, it's another Bank Holiday Monday, but Countdown is still more than active, as we head into the final 3 weeks of the heats.

6 people are safely in the finals now, and Samir Pilica will be hoping to make it 7, which he will do with 3 more wins to add to his 3 from last week, but I'm sure he'll be hoping to win all 5 this week to become the 3rd octochamp of Series 70. Can he do it

Julia Bradbury continues in DC upto Wednesday, before the more than welcome return of Myleene Klass on Thursday.

Andy will bring you the recap later on.

If Samir was worried by Simon's intro, seems he needn't have been.

Alt of DORKIEST in R2.

I actually saw Simon on the telly last week, as he was a member of the Edinburgh Scrabblers team who were on Series 1 of Only Connect, which has just been repeated on Dave.

The other 2 members of that team are also ex-Countdowners, Alan Sinclair, and my Breakaway companion, Melanie Beaumont.

((9x25)-10)x(10-6)+7 for 867

((25 - 9) x 6 - 10) x 10 + 7 alternative for R6, but I was outside 30 s

PHOTINO was a word I didn't know so no max game for me...

Tony Atkins wrote:PHOTINO was a word I didn't know so no max game for me...

Me neither, but I only got 866, so my max game ended the round before...............

GRAPHEME - I foolishly went HOMEPAGE which is still two words

Was that a 12 max game from Samir to impress all with his score of 120? Seemed that Simon was just getting wrmed up towards the end.

Tony Atkins wrote:Was that a 12 max game from Samir to impress all with his score of 120? Seemed that Simon was just getting wrmed up towards the end.

Indeedy do, 12 max it was from Samir. Definitely his best game so far today. Hopefully, he will be an octochamp on Friday.

Simon was previously on in Series 23, losing on a crucial to finalist, Phil Jordan, the famed "inventor" of the "inverted T" selection in the numbers game.

I was rooting for Simon as he used to attend the same Scrabble club as me. He'll be disappointed, as that was way below his potential.

Bloody awesome performance Samir! Beat me 110-105. PHOTINO was the clincher.

My predictions for this series based on observance and personal experience:
Mark Murray favourite, Andy Naylor and Samir Palica second favourites, with Neil Green an outside chance. Assuming no other strong players emerge.