c4countdown

Thursday the 20th. After Martin May's cracking performance yesterday, it is time to find out who will join him in the final of series 79? Will it be #2 seed Mike Daysley? Will it be #5 seed Alan Duval? Let's do some countdown to find out.



Mike Daysley:
Points: 890 (98.889 per game)
Maxes: 70/135 (52%) (35/90 (39%) letters, 31/36 (86%) numbers, 4/9 (44%) conundrums)
Highest Score: 110 (game 1)
Lowest Score: 79 (game 7)
9s Achieved: 1/4

Alan Duval:
Points: 736 (81.778 per game)
Maxes: 51/135 (38%) (32/90 (36%) letters, 10/36 (28%) numbers, 7/9 (78%) conundrums)
Highest Score: 93 (game 4)
Lowest Score: 62 (quarter final)
9s Achieved: 0/5

OPHERION in R2.

1st numbers alt: (75 - 1) x 7
2nd numbers alt: (25 + 5) x 9

2nd numbers alt: (25+5)x9

3rd numbers alt: (9x10+25+1)x7

Don't worry, I've made sure this post is up before going to bed where I am. Penultimate Episode of Series 79, can't believe six months has past since it's started and we're nearly at the end!

Letters: Incredible playing from both players (Up to R8), with Mike spotting DUSTMAN. An even more thrilling performance from Mike with TALONED in R10 and AMOUR in R12! Commiserations to Alan in that section though...

Numbers: Mike was sure playing it safe by sticking to his usual combinations but blanked out in R9 which I feel bad for. Alan's gamble in R14 sure did throw me off by going for six small and given that since he only ever played it once in the Preliminaries, I knew this was the end for him and I was so dead right. (Maybe if he had gone for his "usual" the ending wouldn't have been so bad...)

Conundrum: I had no idea NEGAHOLIC was an actual word until Ray hinted at this in the Daily Chat. As a person that loves Chemistry, I got the answer in no time at all so I'm proud of that! I was rooting for Alan to get this to at least try and redeem himself but it turned out to be Mike that solved it instead. Oh well...

I predicted Martin would win by about 20 points but the margin was 28 points at the end. Everything was going so well in the first two-thirds of the show (Apart from R9) for Alan and then in the last third, painfully saw the slow but sure demise of him through the invalid word declarations and the failed six small gamble. I wouldn't say it was a "spectacular" flop, I would just say it was probably Semi-Final nerves that got the better of him over there. Nevermind Alan, at least this was a remarkable improvement from your QF and the fact that you managed to beat Andrew Jackson against all the odds over there was just stunning! Hope to see you around Apterous sometime soon!

The big day arrives tomorrow, with the #1 and #2 Seed facing off against each other. Who will get to lift the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy and have a Merry Christmas on top of that? Stay tuned for the final episode of Normal Countdown in 2018 as the Battle of the Northerners airs!!

Progress:
QF1 (13 December): Martin May (#1) vs Bob Lunt (#9) (115 - 86)
QF2 (14 December): Mike Daysley (#2) vs Adam Rolston (#8) (104 - 58)
QF3 (17 December): Andrew Jackson (#3) vs Alan Duval (#7) (60 - 62)
QF4 (18 December): Dave Ashton (#5) vs Tony Manwani (#6) (79 - 114)
SF1 (19 December): Martin May (QF1 Winner) vs Tony Manwani (QF4 Winner) (93 - 83)
SF2 (20 December): Mike Daysley (QF2 Winner) vs Alan Duval (QF3 Winner) (97 - 69)
GF (21 December): Martin May (SF1 Winner) vs Mike Daysley (SF2 Winner)

What was Alan saying after nick showed him his kryptonite? Also, some very good conundrum spotters in these finals. And good luck tomorrow Martin and Mike.

Another good performance today Mike. Felt for Alan as that was a stinker of a 6 small at the end, but he did play a lot better than his QF, and not many folks can say they unseated someone 3 places higher than them on the show . Good luck to both chaps tomorrow, think it could be close but Mike has had the upper hand on the conundrums in these finals, so would be interesting to see if it goes to a crucial!

One of the best games I've seen in a good while, best of the series for sure.

Special mention to the solve of HALOGENIC - a tremendous solve in the studio and shows Mike is a real threat for the final.

Owen Carroll wrote: ↑Thu Dec 20, 2018 4:59 pm What was Alan saying after nick showed him his kryptonite? Also, some very good conundrum spotters in these finals. And good luck tomorrow Martin and Mike.

Had to put the subtitles on, but it was:
He's my kryptonite and I'm not taking him with me!

Another way to 889 but after the 30 seconds:
((4+4) x (9+7) - 1) x 7.