Anyway, shall we get on with it? Nick doesn't even give us a discourse for the intro, and instead talks about the game at hand. He gets cut off by Rachel, who is wearing another piece of her curtain collection, and she references the "gagging for a hard one" and "special spot" incidents, and states she's bought a CONFIER for Nick's present, as his first ever word in his screen test.
Countdown recap for Friday 25 Unknown month '06' 2021.
C1: #1 seed Luke Boynton (10 wins, 1229 points.)
C2: #3.5 seed Adam Latchford (10 wins, 913 points.)
DC: Susie Dent and Rufus Hound. I have absolutely no idea what on earth Rufus is wearing. Words cannot describe it. It's silver and shiny with flamingos or something on it. I'm just lost for words.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: S W L A E A U P S
R02: G N M T E O I I E
R03: 50, 25, 75, 100, 10, 7. Target: 174.
TTT: SATSUPER - "He sat here for a super ten years, but he's moving on to new ones."
R04: L N R S C A O O Y
R05: N L C A I E I R R
R06: 9, 10, 7, 6, 10, 1. Target: 223.
R07: T P M E U I E T G
R08: D H S T K F E A I
R09: 75, 50, 100, 8, 4, 3. Target: 964.
TTT: REALFLEW - "The decade flew by real quick. Goodbye to you all."
R10: P M T D U E E A O
R11: R T S E E A I W B
R12: G D R V P N A O I
R13: L N S E U I D C I
R14: 75, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3. Target: 763.
R15: W A S N O M O R E (conundrum)
If Adam and Louis had been seeded correctly, this would have been the semi final, which is interesting. With over 300 points between them, Luke is the clear favourite. In terms of their raw score percentage, Luke has 88.4% vs Adam's 71.4%, which is the metric I tend to use to adjust for opponent strength and max scores - however you look at it, Luke goes in as clear favourite. They are both wearing dark grey shirts, although Adam's is covered in a pattern of white symbols. I'm assuming they've changed the guidelines since 2015, when that sort of shirt was explicitly ruled out...
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Round 1: S W L A E A U P S
Luke: pawless (try)
Adam: PAUSES (6) (stick with)
DC: LAPSES (6) PULSES (6)
OT: PALASES (7) PALUSES (7) PAUSALS (7) PLAASES (7) PULASES (7)
Score: 0–6 (max 7, jos 6)
Darren-o-meter: 0/1 (0%)
Luke tries a seven which Susie has already looked up and discounted, which means that Adam, who sticks with a six, takes an early lead. I'd love to know what Adam was thinking of, as there were plenty of sevens available but they go unnoticed.
Round 2: G N M T E O I I E
Luke: MITOGEN (7)
Adam: EMOTING (7)
DC: GENOME (6)
OT: MEIONITE (8)
Score: 7–13 (max 15, jos 13)
Darren-o-meter: 1/2 (50%)
Sevens for our two contestants but the darrenic eight eludes everyone, but Luke is now off the mark.
Round 3: 50, 25, 75, 100, 10, 7. Target: 174.
Rachel bemoans the target, Adam does another clock dance... but Luke looks pained. Gamesmanship or genuine worry?
Luke: 175.
Adam: 174. 100 + 75 − (10 − (50 ÷ 25 + 7)) (10)
Score: 7–23 (max 25, jos 23)
It's genuine. Oh wow. Luke finds one of the dead ends, whilst Adam's neo-Ockham's razor approach gives him a big lead, and now Luke will need to beat Adam on two clear rounds (at least) to win.
Teatime teaser: SATSUPER -> PASTURES
Round 4: L N R S C A O O Y
Luke: CAROLS (6)
Adam: RACOONS (7) (stick with)
DC: CRAYONS (7) CORONAS (7)
OT: CORONALS (8)
Score: 7–30 (max 33, jos 30)
Darren-o-meter: 2/3 (67%)
The wheels are falling off for Luke. He can only see six and even Rufus gets CORONAS for seven. (Not everything is a metaphor for the pandemic, Rhys...) Once again, we are not told what Adam is thinking of. The gap goes out to 23 points and now Luke has a mountain to climb.
Round 5: N L C A I E I R R
Luke: IRENICAL (8) (try)
Adam: LANCER (6) (stick with)
DC: CARLINE (7) AIRLINER (8)
Score: 15–30 (max 41, jos 38)
Darren-o-meter: 2/4 (50%)
Luke does the only thing that he can do and gambles. Adam plays the situation perfectly and rejects any gambling himself. I suspect it's a six-or-seven situation for him. Susie gets the one other eight.
Round 6: 9, 10, 7, 6, 10, 1. Target: 223.
Luke: 223. (not written down) (10 × 7 + 1) × (9 − 6) + 10 (10)
Adam: 223. (10 × 7 + 1) × (9 − 6) + 10 (10)
Score: 25–40 (max 51, jos 48)
With Luke having picked 4 large in Round 3, Adam goes the other way and goes for 6 small. It's not that straightforward and Luke takes a VERY long time to declare his solution, which, if he hadn't been not written down, may well have been disqualified on another day. The gap remains at 15 points.
Rufus, who seems to have completely run out of anecdotes, decides to repeat (with some modifications) the first poem he gave on Countdown, and, for the avoidance of doubt, it's about the hosting triumvirate of Hewer/Riley/Dent.
Round 7: T P M E U I E T G
Luke: IMPUTE (6)
Adam: GUIMPE (6)
DC: PUTTEE (6)
OT: MEETUP (6) PETITE (6) UPTIME (6)
Score: 31–46 (max 57, jos 54)
Darren-o-meter: 2/5 (40%)
Round 8: D H S T K F E A I
Luke: FAITHED (7)
Adam: SHAFTED (7)
DC: SHIFTED (7) FAKIES (6)
OT: SHITAKE (7)
Score: 38–53 (max 64, jos 61)
Darren-o-meter: 2/6 (33%)
A bit of a cheeky wink in Adam's eye on SHAFTED. Rufus gives SHIFTED and FAITHED is also available from Luke here. The only seven not mentioned is those infamously risque mushrooms...
Round 9: 75, 50, 100, 8, 4, 3. Target: 964.
Luke: 965. (75 + 50 − 4) × 8 − 3 (7)
Adam: 965. (75 + 50 − 4) × 8 − 3 (7)
RR: 964. (8 + 4) × (75 − 3) + 100 (10)
Score: 45–60 (max 74, jos 71)
Luke, running out of options, goes 3 large. Rachel comments on the body language aspect I mentioned earlier, but in any case it's immaterial here. It's the first imperfect round from Adam since round five, but Luke fails to take advantage and it's left up to Rachel to do something in a grand final (which she also did twice in the last grand final, would you believe...)
Teatime teaser: REALFLEW -> FAREWELL
Round 10: P M T D U E E A O
Luke: METAPODE (8)
Adam: METAPODE (8)
Score: 53–68 (max 82, jos 79)
Darren-o-meter: 3/7 (43%)
Rachel fails to fully contain her laughter at the first three letters. During the clock, Nick looks for something under the desk, which creates a strange image during a round...! Our contestants get the darren to keep the scores 15 apart.
Round 11: R T S E E A I W B
Luke: SWEATIER (8)
Adam: SWEATIER (8)
DC: WEARIEST (8)
Score: 61–76 (max 90, jos 87)
Darren-o-meter: 3/8 (38%)
Two eights available here, one spotted by our contestants, the other spotted by Rufus. Gap remains at 15, and now Luke is running out of time.
Unlike the Series 82 final, we do get an OOW slot this time. And Susie starts to tell us about the impact of sugar... but interrupts herself, as she instead tells us about the impact of Sugar - Lord Sugar - who has recorded a tribute for Nick. The punchline? "I've waited a long time to say this: you're retired!"
Round 12: G D R V P N A O I
Luke: PROVING (7)
Adam: PROVING (7)
DC: DRAPING (7) DROVING (7)
OT: ADORING (7) PADRINO (7) PONIARD (7) PORANGI (7) PRIVADO (7) PROVAND (7) ROADING (7)
Score: 68–83 (max 97, jos 94)
Darren-o-meter: 3/9 (33%)
Adam, as he also did in Round 10, picks 6 consonants straight away, but interestingly Rachel this time picks all three vowels in one go. Adam's never been to a co-event - he'll fit right in!
Round 13: L N S E U I D C I
Luke: INCLUDES (8)
Adam: INCLUDES (8)
OT: DULCINES (8) NUCLIDES (8) UNSLICED (8)
Score: 76–91 (max 105, jos 102)
Darren-o-meter: 3/10 (30%)
Eights all around give us a two-round showdown. It's 15 points. And it's down to Adam now to pick an Ariana to get the result...
Round 14: 75, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3. Target: 763.
Luke: 762.
Adam: 763. (75 + 3 − 2) × (6 + 4) + 3 (10)
Score: 76–101 (max 115, jos 112)
Adam can't quite believe he's got it. He looks worn out and breathless during the clock. Relieved. Almost in tears. Wow. It's pure, unbridled, raw emotion and it's an amazing bit of telly. The fact Luke doesn't even get it is the icing on top of the cake. It's not just an incredible victory, it's also an incredible upset in a final full of tension.
Round 15: W A S N O M O R E
Luke buzzes on 10.25 seconds to say OARSWOMEN which is correct.
Final Score: 86–101 (max 125, jos 122)
And in typical Nick Hewer fashion, he is thrilled when the runner-up gets the conundrum. It's no consolation for Luke, however, who plays, unfortunately, his worst game at the worst possible moment. It's nine maxes each and 15 points separate the two at the end. He has been brilliant, all series long.
But let's not take anything away from Adam. The champion of Series 83. He has beaten the #1 and #2 seed to get this far, and has been a worthy underdog champion. He even gets to stand in the middle and waft the trophy around aimlessly!
The next Champion of Champions will surely be brilliant.
But now - a new dawn arises with Anne Robinson at the helm on Monday. Join us then.
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=83