Having been in the audience for the finals, I had myself a good time watching these fine specimens in action. I'm sure you will too.
Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Wednesday 3 June 2015.
C1: #1 Seed Tom "The Enfield Enforcer" Cappleman (8 wins, 927 points.) An Apterite and software developer from Enfield, Greater London.
C2: #8 Seed Gavin "The Horsham Hurricane" Woolnough (5 wins, 454 points.) An IT manager and tornado chaser from Horsham, West Sussex.
DC: Susie Dent and Gloria Hunniford.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: N B S N O I O E S
R02: L M X U E I S F O
R03: 100, 75, 25, 50, 1, 4. Target: 730.
TTT: MERESCAR - "This shot made one hell of a racket on the way into the net"
R04: S T R I U E P R M
R05: G C L P A U A M I
R06: 75, 10, 9, 1, 4, 5. Target: 698.
R07: J D T N E A E R O
R08: T N H U E I V D L
R09: 100, 50, 25, 75, 2, 3. Target: 211.
TTT: CAMBERED - "007's boss prepared himself and had a hug"
R10: S N C E I A Z G E
R11: F P R N A I E U A
R12: S R T E A I R M N
R13: W L S L E U E O R
R14: 25, 10, 4, 1, 10, 7. Target: 504.
R15: H A R D W A T E R (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: N B S N O I O E S
Tom: NOOSES (6)
Gavin: BOONIES (7)
DC: NOISES (6)
OT: BENISONS (8) BONINESS (8)
Score: 0–7 (max 8)
WHAT!? WHAT!!?? WHAT!!!??? Tom goes behind for the first time in his run, thanks to a bit of insider knowledge from Gavin.
A BENISON is a literary term for a blessing.
Round 2: L M X U E I S F O
Tom: MUESLI (6)
Gavin: flumox
DC: FULSOME (7) SEXFOIL (7)
Score: 6–7 (max 15)
Gavin is slightly flummoxed (or should that be flumoxed
) by this one, and Tom's MUESLI gets him hungry for more now. 
Round 3: 100, 75, 25, 50, 1, 4. Target: 730.
Tom: 730. ((75 - 50) x 25) + 100 + 4 + 1 (10)
Gavin: 726.
Score: 16–7 (max 25)
Unsurprisingly, Tom brings out the 4 large, and he uses the 25 squared method to help him achieve perfection and the lead too.
Teatime teaser: MERESCAR -> SCREAMER
Round 4: S T R I U E P R M
Tom: trumpers
Gavin: trumpers
DC: strimer STUMPIER (8)
OT: PRIMEURS (8)
Score: 16–7 (max 33)
Well, I'm sure that the contestants weren't the only people to have been blown out by that shock
Well, moving on....... 
Round 5: G C L P A U A M I
Tom: MAGICAL (7)
Gavin: CLAMP (5)
DC: IMPALA (6) MAGILP (6)
Score: 23–7 (max 40)
It's a MAGICAL round for Tom who gets the darren to gain a double figure lead.
Round 6: 75, 10, 9, 1, 4, 5. Target: 698.
Tom: 698. ((75 + 1) x 9) + 10 + 4 (10)
Gavin: 699.
Score: 33–7 (max 50)
Another perfect numbers for Tom, and it's suddenly turning into a rout........
Gloria talks about confusing words such as "quirking" and "twerking".
Round 7: J D T N E A E R O
Tom: donater
Gavin: RANTED (6)
DC: NEATER (6) RODENT (6) TENDER (6)
OT: ARDENT (6) ATONED (6) DENOTE (6) DERATE (6) DONATE (6) EARNED (6) ENDEAR (6) NEARED (6) ORATED (6) ORENDA (6) ORNATE (6) REDONE (6) RENTED (6) TEARED (6) TENDRE (6) TEREDO (6)
Score: 33–13 (max 56)
Plenty of 6's here, but Tom thinks a 7 is lurking in there............. There isn't.
ORENDA is invisible magic power believed by the Iroquois to pervade all natural objects as a spiritual energy.
TENDRE (or TENDRESSE) is a feeling of fondness or love.
A TEREDO is a worm-like marine bivalve mollusc with reduced shells which it uses to drill into wood. It can cause substantial damage to wooden structures and (formerly) ships. (Genus Teredo, family Teredinidae)
Round 8: T N H U E I V D L
Tom: DILUENT (7)
Gavin: UNLIVED (7)
DC: UNITED (6)
Score: 40–20 (max 63)
Both 7's present and accounted for here.
Round 9: 100, 50, 25, 75, 2, 3. Target: 211.
Tom: 211. ((75 - (100 / 25)) x 3) - 2 (10)
Gavin: 206.
Score: 50–20 (max 73)
Still taking the 4 large option, and still taking maximum points from it too.
Gavin must wish that there were no numbers rounds in this show..... Teatime teaser: CAMBERED -> EMBRACED
Round 10: S N C E I A Z G E
Tom: AGENCIES (8)
Gavin: CEASING (7)
Score: 58–20 (max 81)
A smashingly great 8 from the top dog here. Clearly not a member of the Mad Men.
Round 11: F P R N A I E U A
Tom: RAPINE (6)
Gavin: UNFAIR (6)
DC: FARINA (6)
OT: EPIFAUNA (8)
Score: 64–26 (max 89)
Just 6's in the studio, but there was a cracker of an 8 missed by all here.......
EPIFAUNA describes animals living on the surface of the seabed or a riverbed, or attached to submerged objects or aquatic animals or plants.
Susie's Origins of Words talks about the origins of "schedule", "libor", "brochure" and "pamphlet".
Round 12: S R T E A I R M N
Tom: TRAINERS (8)
Gavin: TRAINERS (8)
DC: MARINERS (8) RAIMENTS (8) MINARETS (8)
OT: RESTRAIN (8) RETRAINS (8) STRAINER (8) TERRAINS (8) TIERSMAN (8) TRANSIRE (8)
Score: 72–34 (max 97)
Eights eights aplenty.
Gavin needs a nine to try and keep the game alive......Chiefly in South Australia, a TIERSMAN is a lumberjack working on a forested mountain range.
In the UK, a TRANSIRE is a customs document on which the cargo loaded on to a ship is listed, issued to prove that the goods listed on it have come from a home port rather than an overseas one.
Round 13: W L S L E U E O R
Tom: LOWERS (6)
Gavin: SLOWER (6)
DC: SWELLER (7)
Score: 78–40 (max 104)
Once the W came out, the chances of a 9 were probably severely diminished, and it proved to be the case for Gavin........ So, Tom reaches the semis, although his chances of 9 centuries in a row has gone.
Round 14: 25, 10, 4, 1, 10, 7. Target: 504.
Tom: 504. ((10 + 10) x 25) + 4 (10)
Gavin: -
Score: 88–40 (max 114)
Another numbers no-show from Gavin, and another numbers show-show from Tom gives him another 10 points.
Round 15: H A R D W A T E R
Gavin buzzes on 8.5 seconds to say THWARTED which is incorrect.
Tom buzzes on 9.75 seconds to say EARTHWARD which is correct.
Final Score: 98–40 (max 124)
The times should actually be 3.25 seconds and 6.5 seconds, but technical difficulties on the clock/music front caused it to be redone, hence the slightly delayed reaction times 2nd time round.
Well, the result suggests an easy win for Tom, but if you look into the game further, you might be a bit surprised......
Take away the numbers and conundrum, then the score is 48-40 to Tom. So, much closer.........
Take away the letters and it's 50-0 to Tom. Worlds apart..........
Tom will be back next Wednesday, when he'll take on the winner of Tuesday's quarter-final between the #4 seed, Andy "The St. Helens Storm" Noden and the #5 seed, Kevin "The Plymouth Powerhouse" Steede.
I might be back next Wednesday, but depending on how Tracey does in Monday's recap depends on which recap I'll do, because if she does win, she understandably doesn't want to recap herself, so me and her would switch semi-finals to alleviate this problem.
But, in the meantime, you can join her tomorrow for the 2nd quarter-final between the #2 seed, Gerry "The Dublin Destroyer" Tynan, and the #7 seed, Steve "The Droitwich Daemon" Redfern.
Till next week, bye for now.
Statistics Corner
Tom:
Total score - 98
Raw score - 104
Total % of max - 79
Raw % of max - 84
Total average score per round - 6.5
Raw average score per round - 6.9
Number of maxes - 9
Gavin:
Total score - 40
Raw score - 73
Total % of max - 32
Raw % of max - 59
Total average score per round - 2.7
Raw average score per round - 4.9
Number of maxes - 3
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=72