Spoilers for Monday June 8th

[Mike Brailsford]

I guess Jacqui missed Romansh as the 4th official language of Switzerland in addition to French, Italian and German.

[Chris Davies]

GAITAS in round 1, and AZIMUTH in round 2.

[Dinos Sfyris]

AZIMUTH in round 2.

With my thunder stolen I guess I'll just add that Jacqui is a MILF.

[Phil Reynolds]

I think CROFTER was there as a contestant beater in round 4...

Edit: Nope - there was only one R.

[Sue Sanders]

No!

[Phil Reynolds]

2nd numbers alternative: (100 + 6 x 10 + 7) x 3

[Clive Brooker]

DOCKAGE R6 I hope.

Can't claim a beater because I tried to pluralise it.

[Andy Wilson]

There once was a young girl from Southend on Sea
who wasn't quite sure what she wanted to be
'til recession kicked in
and our Carol got binned
and now she works on Countdown where she is regularly subjected to flirtatious behaviour by the show's presenter Jeff Stelling.

I know it's a bit of a joke, but for the first time today i really thought, give it a rest Jeff!

[John Bosley]

Got azimuth as well - and dictionary corner did not get a 7 at all.

[Brian Moore]

1st numbers alt:
(50+5)*(6-1)+(8/8)

[Richard Priest]

SWINEFLU in round 11

[Kirk Bevins]

SWINEFLU in round 11

Awesome. This wins post of the week.

[Jon Corby]

SWINEFLU in round 11

Awesome. This wins post of the week.

That's harsh on Kai, who spotted it several hours earlier in his recap....

[Brian Moore]

I was surprised by the disallowal of CASKED today - it's in the online OED and my Chambers, though obviously not in ODE or on Apterous. I thought that the challenger looked a bit surprised too.

[Ian Fitzpatrick]

I was surprised by the disallowal of CASKED today - it's in the online OED and my Chambers, though obviously not in ODE or on Apterous. I thought that the challenger looked a bit surprised too.

I was surprised too, I'm sure I have come across "oak casked" sherry or whisky but I can't find any such reference via Google

[Matt Morrison]

I was surprised by the disallowal of CASKED today - it's in the online OED and my Chambers, though obviously not in ODE or on Apterous. I thought that the challenger looked a bit surprised too.

I was surprised too, I'm sure I have come across "oak casked" sherry or whisky but I can't find any such reference via Google

Really? I just searched Google for "oak casked" and there's loads. About half of them are hyphenated, so I guess that's the official version, and the reason for it being disallowed.

[Ian Fitzpatrick]

I was surprised by the disallowal of CASKED today - it's in the online OED and my Chambers, though obviously not in ODE or on Apterous. I thought that the challenger looked a bit surprised too.

I was surprised too, I'm sure I have come across "oak casked" sherry or whisky but I can't find any such reference via Google

Really? I just searched Google for "oak casked" and there's loads. About half of them are hyphenated, so I guess that's the official version, and the reason for it being disallowed.

The " " make all the difference

[Charlie Reams]

Really? I just searched Google for "oak casked" and there's loads. About half of them are hyphenated, so I guess that's the official version, and the reason for it being disallowed.

Loads? I make it 177. Is Google doing something funny?

[Phil Reynolds]

I just searched Google for "oak casked" and there's loads. About half of them are hyphenated, so I guess that's the official version, and the reason for it being disallowed.

But "oak casked" (or "oak-casked") is merely a special instance of "casked". It means "casked in oak". "Casked" by itself should be fine. Wine can be bottled, boxed or casked. Simples.

[Kai Laddiman]

SWINEFLU in round 11

Awesome. This wins post of the week.

That's harsh on Kai, who spotted it several hours earlier in his recap....

Agreed

[Sue Sanders]

There once was a young girl from Southend on Sea
who wasn't quite sure what she wanted to be
'til recession kicked in
and our Carol got binned
and now she works on Countdown where she is regularly subjected to flirtatious behaviour by the show's presenter Jeff Stelling.

I know it's a bit of a joke, but for the first time today i really thought, give it a rest Jeff!

Being rather new on this Forum, I didn't like to mention this, in case everyone is a big Jeff fan, but Jeff flirting with poor Rachel makes me squirm. Did you see the poor girl not know where to put herself a couple of months ago when he msade some crack about inviting her to see his etchings. Ugh.

[Matt Morrison]

Really? I just searched Google for "oak casked" and there's loads. About half of them are hyphenated, so I guess that's the official version, and the reason for it being disallowed.

Loads? I make it 177. Is Google doing something funny?

177 is loads more than 0. To be fair I didn't even look at the number of results - I was just showing Ian that results existed.

EDIT: 178 results now. Even more loads more.

[Rosemary Roberts]

There once was a young girl from Southend on Sea
who wasn't quite sure what she wanted to be
'til recession kicked in
and our Carol got binned
and now she works on Countdown where she is regularly subjected to flirtatious behaviour by the show's presenter Jeff Stelling.

I know it's a bit of a joke, but for the first time today i really thought, give it a rest Jeff!

Being rather new on this Forum, I didn't like to mention this, in case everyone is a big Jeff fan, but Jeff flirting with poor Rachel makes me squirm. Did you see the poor girl not know where to put herself a couple of months ago when he msade some crack about inviting her to see his etchings. Ugh.

I agree, Sue, besides which this is the only part of the show that gives the impression of being (ineptly) scripted. Usually it sounds as though Rachel is simply obediently spouting the lines she has been given. Just occasionally she comes up with a really priceless put-down, but mostly she just appears bored by the whole exchange. As are we.

Of course, if it is scripted, Jeff is probably no happier with it than she is.

[Derek Hazell]

gives the impression of being (ineptly) scripted . . . Of course, if it is scripted . . .

Maybe the guy who used to write Carol's guest introductions (which also made some people on here squirm) is still on contract, so having abandoned those they had to find something else for him to do.

Rick Vanes was credited as "script associate" (a pseudonym for writer on shows by people such as Ross, Norton and Hill) for many hundreds of the early Whiteley Countdown episodes, so it is by no means a new phenomenon. Although the uncreditedness of it is.