Monday March 2nd (series 72, prelim 41)

[Andy McGurn]

Countdown recap for Monday 2 March 2015.

C1: Champion Jordan Barker (4 wins.) A student from Oldham, now halfway to becoming an octochamp.


C2: Challenger Mark Mulholland, A civil servant from County Down whose nickname is sparky. He is a big sports man and a black belt in Jujitsu, which took 12 years of training


DC: Susie Dent and Pam Ayres.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: I O A T R C N I E
R02: L B M A U P E G S
R03: 25, 2, 9, 7, 10, 8. Target: 501.
TTT: COASTING - "Good lord, I'm not sure one way or the other."
R04: T S J O A G U F A
R05: I O E T N K R U S
R06: 3, 2, 8, 2, 50, 25. Target: 534.
R07: A I O V D P F E A
R08: Y L D U I E H A X
R09: 4, 10, 7, 10, 7, 50. Target: 938.
TTT: HOGSPEED - "it doesn't have ink but it can refill the pen."
R10: T R I P R O E L M
R11: A U E N W T S N D
R12: S N C I O E R I M
R13: A E O R S T S A I
R14: 2, 7, 50, 100, 25, 75. Target: 415.
R15: R U B E N S H A T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: I O A T R C N I E

Jordan: REACTION (8)
Mark: TRAIN (5)
DC: CREATION (8) ATONIC (6)
OT: ACTIONER (8)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)

Early signs indicate that this is a very weak challenger and that Jordan is gonna notch up his fifth win



Round 2: L B M A U P E G S

Jordan: PLAGUES (7)
Mark: BLAMES (6)
DC: PLUMAGE (7)
OT: PLUMAGES (8)
Score: 15–0 (max 16)

DC match Jordan’s seven with one of their own but, bizarrely, having spotted PLUMAGE, they miss PLUMAGES


Round 3: 25, 2, 9, 7, 10, 8. Target: 501.

Jordan: 501. (10*2*25)+(8-7) (10)
Mark: 501. (2*25*10)+(8-7) (10)
Score: 25–10 (max 26)

Jordan declares his solution first and then Mark says his way is different before describing essentially the same method as Jordan.


Teatime teaser: COASTING -> AGNOSTIC


Round 4: T S J O A G U F A

Jordan: JOUST (5)
Mark: fagots
DC: FATSO (5) GUSTO (5)
OT: FUGATOS (7)
Score: 30–10 (max 33)

Mark’s fagots gets him no points due to it being the US spelling, giving more points to Jordan



Round 5: I O E T N K R U S

Jordan: ROUTINES (8)
Mark: TRUNKS (6)
DC: TINKER (6) TINKERS (7)
Score: 38–10 (max 41)


A routine round for Jordan sees him increase his lead by 8 points


Round 6: 3, 2, 8, 2, 50, 25. Target: 534.

Jordan: 534. (((25*3)-2)*8)-50 (10)
Mark: 531.
Score: 48–10 (max 51)

The challenger scored on the first numbers round but fails to do so here and Jordan’s lead is now at 38 points


DC Guest: Pam says a poem called “Yes, I’ll marry you my dear”


Round 7: A I O V D P F E A

Jordan: AVOID (5)
Mark: VOID (4)
DC: VAPID (5) VAPED (5)
OT: FOVEA (5) PAEDO (5) PAVED (5) PODIA (5) VIDEO (5)
Score: 53–10 (max 56)

An ouch moment for the challenger who could’ve stuck in the A in front of his word to equal Jordan.



Round 8: Y L D U I E H A X

Jordan: HAULED (6)
Mark: headly
DC: HEADILY (7) YIELD (5)
Score: 59–10 (max 63)

Another blow for Sparky as adding one letter to his invalid six could have given him a valid seven. I hope this experience hasn’t been too painful for him thus far.



Round 9: 4, 10, 7, 10, 7, 50. Target: 938.

Jordan: 934. (10+10)*(50-4)-7-7 (7)
Mark: -
RR: 938. ((7*10)+10+50+4)*7 (10)
Score: 66–10 (max 73)

Tough to get this one spot on but Jordan gets close enough to score seven points. Rachel has the solution though.


Teatime teaser: HOGSPEED -> SHEEPDOG

Round 10: T R I P R O E L M

Jordan: LORIMER (7)
Mark: PRIMER (6)
DC: PORTLIER (8) IMPORTER (8)
OT: REIMPORT (8)
Score: 73–10 (max 81)

Jordan is clearly the better player in this game as he continues to shut Mark out on letters rounds where the score is currently 63-0 to the champion


Round 11: A U E N W T S N D

Jordan: DUENNAS (7)
Mark: NEWTS (5)
DC: SWEAT (5) UNWANTED (8)
Score: 80–10 (max 89)

As Mark slips to a 70 point deficit Nick tells him he’s up against a real tough competitor. Maybe so but Mark seems like a pretty weak challenger but, hey, maybe he did better in his audition?



OoW- Susie takes inspiration from linguist David Crystal when choosing her words today and talks about how he looks deep into the origins of may words.



Round 12: S N C I O E R I M

Jordan: MINCERS (7)
Mark: COINERS (7)
OT: MICRONISE (18)
Score: 87–17 (max 107)

It’s the second to last letters round Mark scores on a letters round for the first time in the game and for only the second time in the game in any round. So its sevens each for the players but there was an awesome nine in there that no one gets.



Round 13: A E O R S T S A I

Jordan: stairs
Mark: STARES (6)
DC: AORISTS (7)
OT: OSTERIAS (8)
Score: 87–23 (max 115)

When Jordan declared his word I genuinely thought he meant his five was STIRS and even typed it in the recap box. Only after Mark said STARES and Jordan realised it was a six did I know he meant STARES. It must be his accent.



Round 14: 2, 7, 50, 100, 25, 75. Target: 415.

Jordan: 418. Mistake in working.
Mark: 418. Mistake in working.
RR: 415. ((50-2)*7)+(100/25)+75 (10)
Score: 87–23 (max 125)

Mark decides to try a four large and both declare 418 before realising they have gone wrong. In Mark’s case it’s because he thinks 50x100 equals 500.
It’s a super solve by Rachel meaning she has no need to “have another look” today.


Its not been much of a contest today but there’s still the conundrum to come so lets see who gets it…



Round 15: R U B E N S H A T

Jordan buzzes on 24 seconds to say HEATBURNS which is incorrect.
Mark buzzes on 30 seconds to say that he just wanted to press the button which is incorrect.

The answer was SUNBATHER.
Final Score: 87–23 (max 135)


SUNBATHERS often get HEATBURNS but Jordan’s guess is invalid, the challenger presses his buzzer as well but no one gets the answer

This wasn’t the greatest edition of countdown ever but it won’t matter to Jordan who is now on five wins. If this is the standard of challenger he’ll face for the rest of the week then he is a guaranteed octochamp.

With the way that the better contestants have been spaced out this series one could wonder if the producers are looking to engineer an 8 (or possibly 9) octochamp series, one where an 8 game winner might not make the finals.

Jordan should try to go for big scores in his remaining games if this is the case.



Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=72

[Philip Wilson]

Round 14: 2, 7, 50, 100, 25, 75. Target: 415.

Jordan: 418. Mistake in working.
Mark: 418. Mistake in working.
RR: 415. (((50-2)*7)+4)+75 (10)
Score: 87–23 (max 125)

It’s a super solve by Rachel meaning she has no need to “have another look” today.

Even more super really, because she also had to make the 4 Just saying

[Andy McGurn]

Round 14: 2, 7, 50, 100, 25, 75. Target: 415.

Jordan: 418. Mistake in working.
Mark: 418. Mistake in working.
RR: 415. (((50-2)*7)+4)+75 (10)
Score: 87–23 (max 125)

It’s a super solve by Rachel meaning she has no need to “have another look” today.

Even more super really, because she also had to make the 4 Just saying

EDITED.