#3 of the Tuesday recap catch-ups. Laurence Killen is today gunning for octochampdom, which would make him the fifth of the series so far. Can he do it? Well seeing as we're actually into the finals now, you probably already know, but if you missed the boat on this series completely, KEEP READING TO FIND OUT!
C1: Champion Laurence Killen (7 wins, 697 points.) Nick says absolutely nothing about Laurence's life here, so you'll have to fill in the blanks from other recaps or from your memory if you've watched the rest of his games. Laurence is a _______ from ______, ______ with 7 wins so far, and has been scoring over 100 "fairly regularly". (3/7 centuries so far.)
C2: Challenger Robert Collie. A banking consultant from Hillingdon in Glasgow who is a big fan of professional wrestling. He went to New Orleans this year to see Wrestlemania 30 where there were 80,000 fans in attendance. To be honest I'm surprised there are 80,000 people who enjoy having their minds numbed thus, but the world is a strange, strange place.
DC: Susie Dent and Kate Garraway.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: D G E A N F I D N
R02: Y P D E A R H E T
R03: 100, 75, 50, 25, 1, 9. Target: 105.
TTT: SLASHDEN - "These gifts did not belong to Gretel."
R04: S K T N A O I R A
R05: S G V O A O M S U
R06: 25, 9, 8, 3, 7, 6. Target: 581.
R07: N D T A E A W O R
R08: T R P E A S Q I G
R09: 100, 75, 50, 25, 3, 9. Target: 650.
TTT: BORESSAT - "The bores sat bragging about themselves excessively"
R10: S N C S A E A G E
R11: W D L O E T L U E
R12: V S J T A I U I B
R13: R N M E I O C F A
R14: 75, 10, 5, 6, 7, 4. Target: 271.
R15: R U D E C H A N T (conundrum)
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: D G E A N F I D N
Laurence: fadding
Robert: FANGED (6)
DC: FENDING (7) FANNIED (7)
OT: DINNAED (7) FENINGA (7)
Score: 0–6 (max 7)
Robert takes the lead as Laurence's early plausible gamble doesn't pay off. DC find FANNIED. Hehe, fanny.
Round 2: Y P D E A R H E T
Laurence: PREDATE (7)
Robert: EARTHED (7)
DC: THERAPY (7) PREHEAT (7)
OT: THREAPED (8)
Score: 7–13 (max 15)
The challenger tries a "risky" 7 which is valid, and celebrates with a double thumbs up to Dictionary Corner.
Nice early ODO darren too. It's a Scottish dialect word meaning to argue or protest stubbornly.
Round 3: 100, 75, 50, 25, 1, 9. Target: 105.
Laurence: 105. (75 + 50)/25 + 100 (10)
Robert: 105. (75 + 50)/25 + 100 (10)
Score: 17–23 (max 25)
One of the easiest 4 larges of all time.
Teatime teaser: SLASHDEN -> HANDSELS
Round 4: S K T N A O I R A
Laurence: RATIONS (7)
Robert: RATIONS (7)
DC: ARTISAN (7) TROIKAS (7)
OT: ANORAKS (7) ARONIAS (7) KATSINA (7) KINARAS (7) KIRTANS (7) OSTRAKA (7) TSARINA (7)
Score: 24–30 (max 32)
I believe 10 7s in a round is collectively known as "a metric fecktonne of 7s".
Round 5: S G V O A O M S U
Laurence: SUMOS (5)
Robert: magoos
DC: VAGUS (5) MAGUS (5)
OT: GAUSS (5) MOSSO (5) MUSOS (5) OGAMS (5) OUMAS (5) SAGOS (5) SOMAS (5)
Score: 29–30 (max 37)
This gamble doesn't pay off, and the gap's down to 1 point in a horrible round where the max was only...
Round 6: 25, 9, 8, 3, 7, 6. Target: 581.
Laurence: 582. (9 + 8 + 6)*25 + 7 (7)
Robert: 582. Mistake in working.
RR: 581. (25*3 + 8)*7 (10)
Score: 36–30 (max 47)
Laurence takes the lead now as he's 1 away from a target Rachel reaches, while his opponent makes a mistake.
Round 7: N D T A E A W O R
Laurence: DONATE (6)
Robert: WANTED (6)
DC: DOWNRATE (8)
OT: DANEWORT (8) TEARDOWN (8)
Score: 42–36 (max 55)
Round 8: T R P E A S Q I G
Laurence: PIRATES (7)
Robert: TRAIPSE (7)
DC: GRAPIEST (8)
Score: 49–43 (max 63)
It's that time of the game again.
Round 9: 100, 75, 50, 25, 3, 9. Target: 650.
Laurence: 650. 9*75 - 25 (10)
Robert: 650. (9 - 3)*100 + 50 (10)
Score: 59–53 (max 73)
Another easy 4L that both contestants solve long before the 30 second mark.
Teatime teaser: BORESSAT -> BOASTERS
Round 10: S N C S A E A G E
Laurence: CEASES (6)
Robert: ENCASES (7)
DC: ENCAGES (7) SEANCES (7)
Score: 59–60 (max 80)
Robert's a gambling man on letters, but this is another successful one as you can indeed encase something.
Round 11: W D L O E T L U E
Laurence: TOLLED (6)
Robert: WELTED (6)
DC: TOWELLED (8)
Score: 65–66 (max 88)
Yep.
Round 12: V S J T A I U I B
Laurence: VISIT (5)
Robert: BAITS (5)
DC: TIBIAS (6)
OT: VIBIST (6)
Score: 70–71 (max 94)
Eww, nasty letters. But there are 2 6s. A vibist is nothing to do with vibrators; it's just a musician who plays the vibraphone.
Round 13: R N M E I O C F A
Laurence: ROMANCE (7)
Robert: FOAMIER (7)
DC: INCOMER (7) FANCIER (7) FIREMAN (7)
OT: CARMINE (7) COMFIER (7) CONFIRM (7) CONIFER (7) ENCOMIA (7) FERMION (7) FORAMEN (7) FOREMAN (7) MOANIER (7) MORAINE (7) ROMAINE (7)
Score: 77–78 (max 101)
Only 16 7s available here? Pff, what is this, amateur selection hour?
Round 14: 75, 10, 5, 6, 7, 4. Target: 271.
Laurence: 271. (75 - 6)*4 - 5 (10)
Robert: 272.
Score: 87–78 (max 111)
Oh! And the point's lead has been destroyed; Laurence is now 9 points ahead going into the CRUCIAL CONUNDRUM.
This is going to be tense... Have an image of some dramatic lute-playing from El Dorado to ramp up the tension.
Round 15: R U D E C H A N T
Laurence buzzes on 3 seconds to say UNCHARTED which is correct.
Final Score: 97–78 (max 121)
Ooft! Laurence has secured octochampdom in a dramatic turn of events. You've got to feel bad for Robert; he did well on the letters and would have beaten weaker opposition easily, but sadly it wasn't to be. Our newly crowned octochamp scores just shy of 800 points, which is no mean feat, and as it stands he's the #5 seed. He'll be back in December (er, tomorrow actually) for the series finals. And I'll be back on Tuesday with another recap.
In the meantime, have some sterling advice:
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=71