c4countdown

Countdown recap for Friday 5 June 2009.

C1: Champion Chris Kirby (2 wins, 202 points.)
Apterist Chris made a century start and has an average of 101 for his two games, so we are looking for him to progress towards the Finals. He is a student and a cricket coach from Widnes. His other hobbies include snooker, badminton and acting.
C2: Challenger Jacqueline (Jackie) Baker.
Jackie is a most attractive (sorry Chris) Administrator from Mansfield in Notts. She is married and enjoys property renovation. Her ambition is to build (or more probably supervise) the building of her own house. Her favourite people are Stephen Fry, Julie Walters and Howard Donald from Take That because of his curly hair - Unsurprisingly, her husband has lost most of his hair. I know how he feels!
DC: Susie Dent and Richard Digance.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: S C S E A I Z D G
R02: N D L H A E A M E
R03: M R S I E O T E O
R04: L B G T U O E Q I
R05: 9, 2, 6, 3, 4, 75. Target: 654.
TTT: PUMATREK - "Raise your standards to solve this one"
R06: N P F Y A O U M A
R07: T C S I E A M S R
R08: T G R F O I A P O
R09: L B D I E O R T D
R10: 3, 2, 10, 3, 8, 50. Target: 449.
TTT: ITSCYRIL - "He certainly knows the word you're looking for."
R11: L T H U E O X N N
R12: D N T R E I A V U
R13: T S D E O A S S L
R14: 1, 8, 9, 9, 25, 50. Target: 661.
R15: M E D I A L U S T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: S C S E A I Z D G

C1: CADGES (6)
C2: CADGES (6)
DC: GASSED (6)
OT: ASIDES (6) DAISES (6) DASSIE (6) ASSIZE (6) AZIDES (6) ZAIDES (6)
a DASSIE is a small ungulate mammal
AZIDES are chemical compounds
ZAIDES came up on Countmax but I couldn't find it in my ODE2r so, regrettably, I can't give an official definition. Thanks to Kai's detective work, ZAIDES is the plural of ZAYDE, which is a Jewish grandfather.
Score: 6–6 (max 6)

Round 2: N D L H A E A M E

C1: HANDLE (6)
C2: HANDLE (6)
DC: HEADMAN (7)
OT: HEADMEN (7) MELAENA (7)
MELAENA is the production of dark sticky faeces which contain blood from internal bleeding or swallowing blood. I'm glad I found that out.
Score: 12–12 (max 13)

Round 3: M R S I E O T E O

C1: ROOMIEST (8)
C2: TIRESOME (8)
OT: MOTORISE (8)
Score: 20–20 (max 21)
Both players have made a good start and Jackie looks capable of giving Chris a good run for his money.

Round 4: L B G T U O E Q I

C1: GOBLET (6)
C2: OBLIQUE (7)
Score: 20–27 (max 28)
A great spot by Jackie, who takes Susie aback with the Darren, OBLIQUE to break the deadlock.....

Round 5: 9, 2, 6, 3, 4, 75. Target: 654.

C1: 656. 75+4+3=82x(6+2) (7)
C2: -
RR: 654. 75-2=73x9=657-3 (10)
...and Chris storms back with a good numbers solution to level it up.

Score: 27–27 (max 38)

Richard tells us a poem about what we could do with an hour....and in my opinion is a total waste of two minutes. It was far too long and rambling for my taste.

Teatime teaser: PUMATREK -> UPMARKET

Round 6: N P F Y A O U M A

C1: FAUNA (5)
C2: FOAMY (5)
OT: UMFAAN (6) YAUPON (6)
UMFAAN is a South African word for a young man who has gone through an initiation ceremony but is not yet married.
YAUPON is a North American variety of holly.
Score: 32–32 (max 44)

Round 7: T C S I E A M S R

C1: MAESTRI (7)
C2: MASTERS (7)
DC: SCARIEST (8) SMARTIES (8) MATRICES (8)
OT: ASTERISM (8) CASTEISM (8)
ASTERISM is a prominent group of stars smaller than a constellation
CASTEISM is adherence to the caste system
Both players are under a bit of pressure as it is so close and miss some gettable 8's, so it is still all square.

Score: 39–39 (max 52)

Round 8: T G R F O I A P O

C1: opiator
C2: FORGOT (6)
OT: AGOROT (6) PROFIT (6) RAGTOP (6)
Chris goes for a very dodgy 7 and passes the advantage back to Jackie.
AGOROT is a monetary unit in Israel equivalent to 100th of a shekel.
Score: 39–45 (max 58)

Round 9: L B D I E O R T D

C1: BROILED (7)
C2: BROILED (7)
DC: ORBITED (7) TIDDLER (7) TODDLER (7)
OT: BRIDLED (7) DELTOID (7) DRIBLET (7)
Score: 46–52 (max 65)

A flat round and there is still nothing in it.

Susie tells us that the origin of the phrase 'To run the gamut' relates to a musical scale.
Round 10: 3, 2, 10, 3, 8, 50. Target: 449.

C1: 449. 3x3x50=450-(10/(8+2)) (10)
C2: 450.
Score: 56–52 (max 75)

A good solution from Chris as it is the way I did it and the lead flip flops yet again.

Teatime teaser: ITSCYRIL -> LYRICIST

Round 11: L T H U E O X N N

C1: untone
C2: TUNNEL (6)
Score: 56–58 (max 81)
A tricky letters selection and Jackie manages to spot her second Darren with TUNNEL, to squeeze into the lead as Chris takes a total flyer to try and equal Jackie

Round 12: D N T R E I A V U

C1: DETRAIN (7)
C2: TRAINED (7)
DC: UNVARIED (8) URINATED (8)
OT: DURATIVE (8) INDURATE (8)
Score: 63–65 (max 89)

Round 13: T S D E O A S S L

C1: LASTED (6)
C2: -
DC: LASSOED (7) TASSELS (7)
OT: DESALTS (7) DOSSALS (7) LASSOES (7)
Score: 69–65 (max 96)
Chris eases back into the lead because Jackie thinks she has an 8, probably DESOLATE, but she realised that she was missing an 'E' before declaring the word.
Round 14: 1, 8, 9, 9, 25, 50. Target: 661.

C1: 664.
C2: 660. 50+25=75-9=66x(9+1) (7)
RR: 661. 50+25-8=67x(9+1)=670-9 (10)
Score: 69–72 (max 106)
Jackie was well on the way to solving this difficult numbers round and the seven valuable points give her a slender leader going to the Conundrum, which Chris must get to continue his run.....

Round 15: M E D I A L U S T

C2 buzzes on 5 seconds to say SIMULATED which is correct.
Score: 69–82 (max 116)
...but Jackie beats him to the buzzer and earns herself a well deserved victory in a game where the lead kept changing hands. She was a worthy winner and looks very capable of running up a good sequence. I am looking forward to watching Jackie next week

Allan Harmer wrote:Round 11: L T H U E O X N N

C1: altone

Just to point out that there wasn't an A in the selection; Chris's self-confessed "dodgy 6" was actually "untone".

I suppose, Allan, that an altone could be a member of your backing group. "Allan and the Altones" - it has a certain je ne sais quoi, though I don't know what it is.

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Allan Harmer wrote:Round 11: L T H U E O X N N

C1: altone

Just to point out that there wasn't an A in the selection; Chris's self-confessed "dodgy 6" was actually "untone".

I suppose, Allan, that an altone could be a member of your backing group. "Allan and the Altones" - it has a certain je ne sais quoi, though I don't know what it is.

Haha Phil - very good - I'm pleased you could make it out as I had extreme difficulty trying to hear what was said as it came across a bit muffled to me. Therefore, I had to take a bit of a guess as to what it was. It must be my age!

I will have to try and get Allan and the Alltones on the road, although it may be seriously hampered by my lack of musical ability so maybe we could be called "Allan and the Alltonedeafs"

Allan Harmer wrote:I will have to try and get Allan and the Alltones on the road, although it may be seriously hampered by my lack of musical ability so maybe we could be called "Allan and the Alltonedeafs"

Excellent.

Just a little note mate - ZAIDE is listed under ZAYDE I think.

Kai Laddiman wrote:Just a little note mate - ZAIDE is listed under ZAYDE I think.

Well spotted. I'd been searching, but gave up shortly before coming to the end of the ZAs. The introduction to the dictionary states that variant spellings are cross-referenced if their entries are more than three entries distant from their main entry. This one seems to have been missed.

Kai Laddiman wrote:Just a little note mate - ZAIDE is listed under ZAYDE I think.

Thanks a lot Kai - Much appreciated mate.

There was a discussion about ZAIDES on here before when we couldn't find it and it is indeed listed under ZAYDES. Might be worth remembering if on the show and you want to take the game seriously.

Allan Harmer wrote:

Kai Laddiman wrote:Just a little note mate - ZAIDE is listed under ZAYDE I think.

Thanks a lot Kai - Much appreciated mate.

Ditto - I've edited the June 2nd recap accordingly.

Kirk Bevins wrote:There was a discussion about ZAIDES on here before when we couldn't find it and it is indeed listed under ZAYDES. Might be worth remembering if on the show and you want to take the game seriously.

If I were on the show and spotted ZAIDES with nothing better, I think I'd play safe and go for AZIDES - ZAIDES strikes me as more likely to be removed at the whim of future editors.

Kirk Bevins wrote:There was a discussion about ZAIDES on here before when we couldn't find it and it is indeed listed under ZAYDES. Might be worth remembering if on the show and you want to take the game seriously.

Thanks a lot Kirk - I have also updated the recap accordingly.

Cheers mate!

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Kirk Bevins wrote:There was a discussion about ZAIDES on here before when we couldn't find it and it is indeed listed under ZAYDES. Might be worth remembering if on the show and you want to take the game seriously.

If I were on the show and spotted ZAIDES with nothing better, I think I'd play safe and go for AZIDES - ZAIDES strikes me as more likely to be removed at the whim of future editors.

Totally agree Phil - I think there is a very loose interpretation of 'common usage' in ODE2 with some of these obscure foreign words.

Kai Laddiman wrote:Just a little note mate - ZAIDE is listed under ZAYDE I think.

I beat you to it (definition-wise at least). And I don't even have the correct dictionary.

Neil Zussman wrote:

Kai Laddiman wrote:Just a little note mate - ZAIDE is listed under ZAYDE I think.

I beat you to it (definition-wise at least). And I don't even have the correct dictionary.

Except that you surmised it meant a grandmother, when in fact it's a grandfather... I suspect you aren't actually Jewish at all.

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Neil Zussman wrote:

Kai Laddiman wrote:Just a little note mate - ZAIDE is listed under ZAYDE I think.

I beat you to it (definition-wise at least). And I don't even have the correct dictionary.

Except that you surmised it meant a grandmother, when in fact it's a grandfather... I suspect you aren't actually Jewish at all.

The worst thing is, I ummed and aahed for a while about which was which (since I very rarely use either term), and still got it wrong.