Part 2 of the 'catch up with Tuesday recaps' series. This time the studio is full to the brim with CoEdi's favourite daughters, the Edinburgh Countdown Club, who are celebrating 25 years since its inauguration with a ladettes' day out to Salford, and they're enthusiastically introduced by Nick. More enthusiastically than he introduces the contestants, anyway. The contestants being...
C1: Champion Rachel Evans (1 win, 82 points.) A hydrologist from Wetherby, Yorkshire.
C2: Challenger David Hooson. An associate artist manager from Hammersmith, west London, who has two children called George and Sophie with his wife Gemma. Apparently being an associate artist manager (N.A.J.) involves managing classical musicians who work all around the world.
DC: Susie Dent and Michael Whitehall.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: Q D L S A U O G E
R02: I E K R M D O C I
R03: 50, 25, 2, 5, 6, 9, . Target: 502.
TTT: RAILTIES - "It sounds like wild panic about food poisoning"
R04: A I S R P L E T R
R05: N V N S A U O B T
R06: 75, 10, 9, 5, 8, 2. Target: 165.
R07: W E L I P T O N U
R08: I E D T Z M A F E
R09: 25, 100, 5, 2, 6, 5. Target: 869.
TTT: MADCRONE - "Sadly, the mad old crone never did this"
R10: O E M H Y N I S P
R11: T R S C A I U L A
R12: E U R D N C I R D
R13: V O A D G E X U M
R14: 75, 6, 5, 9, 8, 1. Target: 199.
R15: R A W F O D D E R (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: Q D L S A U O G E
Rachel: LODGES (6)
David: SLUDGE (6)
DC: EQUALS (6)
OT: DAGOES (6) DOSAGE (6) DOULAS (6) GAOLED (6) GLADES (6) LASQUE (6) LOUSED (6) SOULED (6) SQUEAL (6)
Score: 6–6 (max 6)
Flat, flat, flat. DAGOES is an offensive term for a Spanish, Portuguese or Italian speaking person; DOULAS are women who support and help women during and after a pregnancy; a LASQUE is a flat or veiny diamond.
Round 2: I E K R M D O C I
Rachel: DORMICE (7)
David: MOCKED (6)
DC: DICKIER (7)
OT: DIMERIC (7)
Score: 13–6 (max 13)
Rachel takes the lead with a very nice spot of DORMICE, while DC finds the word with 'dick' in it. That deserves a double thumbs up.
Round 3: 50, 25, 2, 5, 6, 9. Target: 502.
Rachel: 503. 50*5*2 + 9 - 6 (7)
David: 500.
RR: 502. (25 + 5)/(9 - 6)*10 + 2 (10)
Score: 20–6 (max 23)
Neither contestant can get the target but Rachel's closer, and she goes another 7 points further ahead.
Teatime teaser: RAILTIES -> LISTERIA
Listeria can refer either to a type of bacterium, or the food poisoning caused by it.
Round 4: A I S R P L E T R
Rachel: PLASTER (7)
David: PLATERS (7)
DC: PILASTER (8) PRETRIAL (8) RETRIALS (8)
OT: PALTRIER (8) PARTIERS (8) REPRISAL (8) RETIRALS (8) TRAILERS (8)
Score: 27–13 (max 31)
A PILASTER is a column. PRETRIAL may look like a noun but it's actually an adjective, hence you can't put the S on the end for a 9.
Round 5: N V N S A U O B T
Rachel: ABOUT (5)
David: BATONS (6)
DC: VAUNTS (6)
OT: SANTON (6) SUNTAN (6) UNBANS (6)
Score: 27–19 (max 37)
David hits back with one of the various 6s in a nasty round that wrongly hints at an obscure 7. A santon is "a figurine adorning a representation of the manger in which Jesus was laid".
Round 6: 75, 10, 9, 5, 8, 2. Target: 165.
Rachel: 165. 2*75 + 10 + 5 (10)
David: 165. 2*8*10 + 5 (10)
Score: 37–29 (max 47)
Round 7: W E L I P T O N U
Rachel: OUTLINE (7)
David: pultion
DC: WIPEOUT (7)
OT: ELUTION (7) OPULENT (7) POUTINE (7) TOWLINE (7)
Score: 44–29 (max 54)
Rachel spots one of the 6 7s, but David's speculative attempt is a no-go.
Round 8: I E D T Z M A F E
Rachel: MATED (5)
David: FETID (5)
DC: FAZED (5) MEDIATE (7)
Score: 49–34 (max 61)
It's taken a whole 8 rounds today, but finally Susie finds him... OUR FIRST DARREN OF THE GAME!
Round 9: 25, 100, 5, 2, 6, 5. Target: 869.
Rachel: 869. (100 + 25)*(5 + 2) - 6 (10)
David: -
Score: 59–34 (max 71)
The champion manages to solve a tricky-looking 2 large with good knowledge of the 125 times table. 25 points clear with 6 rounds to go - surely she's got this won?
Teatime teaser: MADCRONE -> ROMANCED
Round 10: O E M H Y N I S P
Rachel: IMPOSE (6)
David: PHONIES (7)
DC: PHONEYS (7) HOMIES (6)
OT: EPONYMS (7) NYMPHOS (7) PHENOMS (7) SHOPMEN (7)
Score: 59–41 (max 78)
Or not, as the challenger spots one of the 6 7s in a trickier flat round than the one earlier, while Rachel can only find a 6. DC see a more gangster 6.
Round 11: T R S C A I U L A
Rachel: SCALAR (6)
David: TRAILS (6)
DC: CURTAILS (8)
OT: CLAUSTRA (8)
Score: 65–47 (max 86)
I've never come across SCALAR before, but it's apparently an adjective meaning "(Of a quantity) having only magnitude, not direction". CLAUSTRA meanwhile is the plural of CLAUSTRUM, meaning "A thin layer of grey matter in each cerebral hemisphere between the lentiform nucleus and the insula" and derived from the Latin word for lock. (Knew my Latin A-level would come in useful eventually
)Round 12: E U R D N C I R D
Rachel: RUINED (6)
David: CURRIED (7)
DC: INCURRED (8)
OT: CRUDDIER (8)
Score: 65–54 (max 94)
David's 7 reduces the gap to 11 points as Rachel's strong lead is RUINED. She's having a CRUDDIER time of it over the last few rounds.
Round 13: V O A D G E X U M
Rachel: MAUVE (5)
David: MOVED (5)
DC: VOGUED (6)
Score: 70–59 (max 100)
VOGUED! Let your body move to the music, hey hey hey...
Also only our second darren of the game.
Round 14: 75, 6, 5, 9, 8, 1. Target: 199.
Rachel: 209.
David: 202. (75 - 5)*(9 - 6) - 8 (7)
RR: 199. (6+9)*8 + 75 + 5 - 1 (10)
Score: 70–66 (max 110)
Harder than it looks, but RR makes it look effortless. Rachel's lead has completely crumbled, meaning she now has to face a crucial conundrum to stay another game... (FFS, going to have East 17 stuck in my head for ages now)
Round 15: R A W F O D D E R
David buzzes on 19 seconds to say FORWARDER which is incorrect.
Rachel does not buzz.
The answer was FORWARDED.
Final Score: 70–66 (max 120)
David's so near yet so far with his guess. Quite surprised Rachel didn't look at the scramble and see how close her opponent's guess was to the correct answer, but we've all been there on Apterous, so #nojudgement.
You'd have to think that with all these crucials and especially today's collapse from being 25 points up to only 4, Rachel won't be in the Champion's Chair for too long, but you never know. Maybe she'll discover Apterous in a break between recordings and pulverise all known records hereafter
I'll be back with, er, more overdue recaps at some point this week. Until then, though...
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=71