Countdown recap for Thursday 3 December 2009.
C1: Champion Tom Allerton (3 wins, 257 points.) From London. He owns and runs a bar in Archway, North London that has had Sienna Miller in the past. He hopes to have another 10 bars within the next 5 years. He used to be a qualified chartered accountant, but gave it up for something more exciting. (Not that hard to do.) He likes listening to live music and attending music festivals. His favourite band is Kieran Leonard & The Horses, partly because they play at his bar on Sunday nights.
C2: Challenger Evan Gill. From Bexhill-On-Sea, East Sussex. He is studying geography at Reading University, hoping to become a town planner in later life. His hobbies include badminton and playing the trumpet. His ambitions are to get a job and enter the World Crazy Golf Championships, held just 10 minutes away from his house.
DC: Susie Dent and Jon Gaunt.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: Y F G I O N W R E
R02: N O S C B A O L U
R03: P L N E E D T M I
R04: T R G O A E S N W
R05: 75, 100, 7, 5, 10, 3. Target: 597.
TTT: IMUSTMOP - "They sound like the best mothers you can get"
R06: R T M I A O X G I
R07: T N D A O K H C E
R08: R S Y O U L R I M
R09: S D R E I P D T E
R10: 25, 10, 3, 8, 1, 3. Target: 212.
TTT: FAIREPIC - "He'll make peace, even with a complete dummy"
R11: S T D I E B C S O
R12: N Q N U A E P N A
R13: T L F I E S R S A
R14: 100, 25, 3, 3, 9, 6. Target: 463.
R15: C A T A T R I U M (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: Y F G I O N W R E
C1: FRYING (6)
C2: FRYING (6)
DC: FOREWING (8)
Score: 6–6 (max 8)
I thought getting FOREIGN would have been good enough, but DC find the darrenic 8.
Round 2: N O S C B A O L U
C1: BACON (5)
C2: SLOB (4)
DC: BLOUSON (7)
OT: COLOBUS (7)
Score: 11–6 (max 15)
A COLOBUS is a large, slender African monkey that has no thumbs, but has long silky fur in either black & white, black & reddish-brown or oddly, olive.
Round 3: P L N E E D T M I
C1: DIMPLE (6)
C2: MINTED (6)
DC: PEDIMENT (8)
Score: 17–12 (max 23)
Yet again DC get the darrenic 8.
Round 4: T R G O A E S N W
C1: STRANGE (7)
C2: WRONGS (6)
DC: RAGSTONE (8) WAGONERS (8)
JS: wrongest
OT: NEGATORS (8)
Score: 24–12 (max 31)
Jeff tries to have WRONGEST allowed, even though Susie says it's technically there based on Countdown rules, but it isn't.
Round 5: 75, 100, 7, 5, 10, 3. Target: 597.
C1: 597. ((10 - (7 - 5)) x 75) - 3 (10)
C2: 598.
Score: 34–12 (max 41)
Tom's lead goes to a couple of ducks.
Carrying on his technology theme, Jon talks about the modern use of the Internet.
Teatime teaser: IMUSTMOP -> OPTIMUMS
Round 6: R T M I A O X G I
C1: RATIO (5)
C2: TRIM (4)
DC: ORIGAMI (7) MATRIX (6)
Score: 39–12 (max 48)
For the 3rd time today, DC get the darren.
Round 7: T N D A O K H C E
C1: CHOKED (6)
C2: THANKED (7)
DC: CHANTED (7)
OT: CATHODE (7) NOTCHED (7)
Score: 39–19 (max 55)
Following a 2nd 4 in the last round, Evan gets back in with a nice 7.
Round 8: R S Y O U L R I M
C1: SLURRY (6)
C2: SORRY (5)
DC: SORRILY (7)
Score: 45–19 (max 62)
Yet again, a DC darren. They're on fire today.
Round 9: S D R E I P D T E
C1: sprited
C2: STRIPED (7)
DC: PRESIDED (8)
OT: SPIDERED (8) PRIESTED (8) RESPITED (8)
Score: 45–26 (max 70)
Evan still remains in touch after Tom's dodgy 7 is not allowed.
Susie's Origin Of Words tells of the origins of "chum", "mate", "mucker" and "pal".
Round 10: 25, 10, 3, 8, 1, 3. Target: 212.
C1: 212. ((25 - 3) x 10) - 8 (10)
C2: 212. (8 x 25) + 3 - 1 + 10 (10)
Score: 55–36 (max 80)
Teatime teaser: FAIREPIC -> PACIFIER
Round 11: S T D I E B C S O
C1: BODICES (7)
C2: COSIEST (7)
DC: DESIST (6) BIDETS (6)
OT: BEDSITS (7) BISECTS (7) COTISES (7) COTISED (7) DISCOES (7) DISSECT (7)
Score: 62–43 (max 87)
A nice flat round there for all.
Round 12: N Q N U A E P N A
C1: NAPE (4)
C2: aquae
DC: NANNA (5)
OT: PAEAN (5) PANNE (5) QUEAN (5)
Score: 66–43 (max 92)
We're denied another minimax 7 by a dreadful 3 N selection.
Round 13: T L F I E S R S A
C1: STIFLES (7)
C2: FAIREST (7)
DC: FIESTAS (7) FALSIES (7) REALISTS (8)
OT: FRAILEST (8) SALTIRES (8) SEALIFTS (8) STIFLERS (8)
Score: 73–50 (max 100)
Tom wraps the game up to reach 4 wins. Interestingly, no-one mentions the fact that he could've added the R to make STIFLERS.
Round 14: 100, 25, 3, 3, 9, 6. Target: 463.
C1: 462. ((100 - 25) x 6) + 9 + 3 (7)
C2: 463. Mistake in working.
RR: 462. (7)
OT: 463. ((100 - (9 x 3)) x 6) + 25 (10)
Score: 80–50 (max 110)
Evan is denied a winning numbers game after mistaking the 100 for a 10.
Round 15: C A T A T R I U M
No one buzzes. The answer was TRAUMATIC.
Score: 80–50 (max 120)
No contestant gets the conundrum for the first time since last Wednesday's GODPARENT.
But, no matter, Tom has made it to 4 wins. If he wins tomorrow and Monday, we'll be seeing him in the finals.
The excitement is so unbearable to contain.
See you next Wednesday for the last preliminary, before next Thursday's first quarter-final.
Until then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Tom:
Total score - 80
Raw score - 86
Total % of max - 67
Raw % of max - 72
Total average score per round - 5.3
Raw average score per round - 5.7
Number of maxes - 3
Evan:
Total score - 50
Raw score - 76
Total % of max - 42
Raw % of max - 63
Total average score per round - 3.3
Raw average score per round - 5.1
Number of maxes - 3
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=61