Spoilers for Wednesday 20th August 2025 - Series 92, Heat 38

[Gavin Chipper]

Weird that FAIRED got away with no explanation. I'm also not sure if the contestants (one or both) really knew if it was a word or just got lucky. The normal word is FARED and Colin said something about how the contestant fa(i)red well after the round, which would have been incorrect usage. I don't know which of these definitions are in Oxford but this is what Wiktionary says about FAIR as a verb:

Verb
fair (third-person singular simple present fairs, present participle fairing, simple past and past participle faired)

(transitive) To smoothen or even a surface (especially a connection or junction on a surface).
(transitive) To bring into perfect alignment (especially about rivet holes when connecting structural members).
(transitive, art) To make an animation smooth, removing any jerkiness.
(transitive) To construct or design with the aim of producing a smooth outline or reducing air drag or water resistance.
(transitive, obsolete) To make fair or beautiful.

[Fiona T]

Weird that FAIRED got away with no explanation. I'm also not sure if the contestants (one or both) really knew if it was a word or just got lucky. The normal word is FARED and Colin said something about how the contestant fa(i)red well after the round, which would have been incorrect usage. I don't know which of these definitions are in Oxford but this is what Wiktionary says about FAIR as a verb:

Verb
fair (third-person singular simple present fairs, present participle fairing, simple past and past participle faired)

(transitive) To smoothen or even a surface (especially a connection or junction on a surface).
(transitive) To bring into perfect alignment (especially about rivet holes when connecting structural members).
(transitive, art) To make an animation smooth, removing any jerkiness.
(transitive) To construct or design with the aim of producing a smooth outline or reducing air drag or water resistance.
(transitive, obsolete) To make fair or beautiful.

From ODP under fair

verb
[no object] dialect
(of the weather) become fine:
looks like it's fairing off some

[Philip A]

For future reference if you’re confused by what’s explained on the show: rather than Wiktionary you can go on Google and enter ‘Dictionary’. Google will then give you a built-in dictionary which is powered by Oxford Languages. If you enter ‘faired’ in that dictionary, you get exactly the same definition as it appears in Premium (which Fiona copied). Countdown doesn’t use this at all AFAIK, and it’s neither as voluminous nor as accurate as Premium (i.e. doesn’t contain all of Premium’s words), but this is your best free source that doesn’t require a subscription if you don’t have Premium.

[Gavin Chipper]

OK. Thanks guys. They should still be more explicit on the show though!

[Philip A]

I agree, better explanations of validity would be better (especially inflections). Trouble is the show barring ads is 35 minutes, so they can’t explain absolutely everything.