Countdown recap for Wednesday 19 May 2010.
C1: Champion Danny Pledger (3 wins, 251 points.) He enjoys rollercoaster rides and is a web designer for some local companies around Southend-On-Sea, Essex, where he lives.
C2: Challenger Paul Sweetman. An accountancy student from Reading, Berkshire. He's a fitness fanatic, specifically swimming, tennis and badminton. He also enjoys billiards and snooker and is a member of both their local leagues. His ambition is to be a professional snooker referee. He's a supporter of Newcastle United as well. (Another non-local supporter.
)DC: Susie Dent and Colin Jackson, who forgets that he was on Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, not 2006, as he suggested.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: T D H E A C N U A
R02: E I A M V G E T M
R03: W R O A E S L M U
R04: G T F O I O P N D
R05: 50, 4, 8, 3, 7, 6. Target: 764.
TTT: DONEABIT - "Done a bit of time, got goods by deception"
R06: R P B L A I E U A
R07: S D C E I Y N O N
R08: T S F E I T A N E
R09: S H A E U C Q S E
R10: 7, 8, 7, 5, 5, 2. Target: 594.
TTT: MAYSPENT - "You may have spent these before you've actually received them"
R11: N R S I O I G V E
R12: R L N T D I E S O
R13: N S P M E O A D E
R14: 5, 6, 9, 8, 4, 5. Target: 614.
R15: A R M Y P I A N O (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: T D H E A C N U A
C1: CHANTED (7)
C2: CHANTED (7)
DC: HAUNTED (7) UNTEACH (7)
OT: CATHEAD (7) CAUDATE (7) CHATEAU (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 7)
A nice max start by all.
A CATHEAD is a projecting timber or metal beam to which an anchor is hoisted and secured.
CAUDATE means having a tail or taillike appendage.
Round 2: E I A M V G E T M
C1: magmite
C2: GAME (4)
DC: GAMETE (6)
OT: TAGMEME (7)
Score: 7–11 (max 14)
Danny's weird 7, which almost sounds like that electric Pokémon MAGNEMITE, turns out not to be in, so Paul's 4 gives him the lead.
TAGMEME is the basic unit of grammatical analysis in tagmemics, consisting of a correlation between a grammatical function and the class of items that can occur in that function.
Round 3: W R O A E S L M U
C1: SLOWER (6)
C2: MAULERS (7)
DC: WALRUS (6) MOLARS (6)
OT: MORULAE (7)
Score: 7–18 (max 21)
Paul's lead goes into double figures with that 7.
MORULAE (plural of MORULA) are the mass of cells resulting from the cleavage of the ovum before the formation of a blastula.
Round 4: G T F O I O P N D
C1: FOOTING (7)
C2: FOOTING (7)
Score: 14–25 (max 28)
Simple darren for the contestants there.
Round 5: 50, 4, 8, 3, 7, 6. Target: 764.
C1: 763. ((8 + 7) x 50) + 6 + 3 + 4 (7)
C2: 763. ((8 + 7) x 50) + 6 + 3 + 4 (7)
RR: 764. (((6 / 3) x 7) x (50 + 4)) + 8 (10)
Score: 21–32 (max 38)
Both contestants get one away, as Rachel goes a completely long way round to get the target, although just altering the (6 + 4 + 3) that the contestants did to ((6 x 3) - 4) would've done the trick too.
Colin talks about the time where he was in Singapore when London was awarded the 2012 Olympics, where Matthew Pinsent had no-one to hug as everyone else was celebrating.
Teatime teaser: DONEABIT -> OBTAINED
Round 6: R P B L A I E U A
C1: PALER (5)
C2: BAILER (6)
DC: PARABLE (7)
Score: 21–38 (max 45)
Paul seems to be on good form today, as Danny can't seem to find a way in at the moment.
Round 7: S D C E I Y N O N
C1: CONNED (6)
C2: COINED (6)
DC: DECOYS (6)
OT: SECONDI (7) SYNODIC (7)
Score: 27–44 (max 52)
SECONDI (plural of SECONDO) is the second or lower part in a duet, especially in a piano duet.
SYNODIC is an astronomical term meaning pertaining to a conjunction, or to two successive conjunctions of the same bodies.
Round 8: T S F E I T A N E
C1: FAINTEST (8)
C2: FATTIES (7)
DC: ANISETTE (8) TETANISE (8)
Score: 35–44 (max 60)
Our champ gets back in with a nice 8, although I'm well surprised that INFESTATE isn't in.
Round 9: S H A E U C Q S E
C1: QUASHES (7)
C2: CHASES (6)
DC: SAUCES (6) SQUASH (6)
OT: CASQUES (7) CHEQUES (7)
Score: 42–44 (max 67)
And another max by Danny shrinks the gap down from 17 to 10 to 2 in a flash.
A CASQUE is an open, conical helmet with a nose guard, commonly used in the medieval period.
Susie's Origins Of Words tells of the origin of the phrase "to go the whole hog".
Round 10: 7, 8, 7, 5, 5, 2. Target: 594.
C1: 590. ((7 x 7) + 8 + 2) x (5 + 5) (7)
C2: 587.
RR: 594. ((7 x 7) + 5) x (8 + 5 - 2) (10)
Score: 49–44 (max 77)
Now Danny has the lead for the first time today, as Rachel needs the break to solve this tricky 6 small selection.
Teatime teaser: MAYSPENT -> PAYMENTS
Round 11: N R S I O I G V E
C1: REVISING (8)
C2: GOVERNS (7)
DC: REVISION (8)
OT: SEIGNIOR (8)
Score: 57–44 (max 85)
Danny now starts to pull away, as Paul fails to score for the 4th consecutive round.
A SEIGNIOR is a lord, especially a feudal lord or ruler.
Round 12: R L N T D I E S O
C1: TOILERS (7)
C2: LOITERS (7)
DC: TENDRILS (8)
Score: 64–51 (max 93)
Round 13: N S P M E O A D E
C1: DAEMONS (7)
C2: demoans
DC: POMADES (7) DAPSONE (7) DAMPENS (7)
OT: MASONED (7) DEMEANS (7) MOPANES (7) SPONDEE (7)
Score: 71–51 (max 100)
Danny's lead is now at 20 as Paul's 7 just doesn't cut it with the dictionary, although if he'd switched the O to an E, he could've had the legal DEMEANS.
Round 14: 5, 6, 9, 8, 4, 5. Target: 614.
C1: 620. ((9 x 8) - (6 + 4)) x (5 + 5) (5)
C2: -
RR: 614. ((((5 + 4) x 9) - 5) x 8) + 6 (10)
Score: 76–51 (max 110)
Another stinker of a 6 small there, which seals Danny's half-octochampdom, and gives Rachel her third perfect solution of the afternoon, even if the 2nd one was a bit late.
Round 15: A R M Y P I A N O
No one buzzes. The answer was PYROMANIA.
Score: 76–51 (max 120)
A mega stinker of a conundrum there, but one gentleman in the audience manages to solve it. He must've been on fire.
But, back to the matter in hand, Danny has now reached half-octochampdom, although he was made to work hard after Paul's good start to the game.
Join me tomorrow to see if Danny can reach 5 wins. Till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Danny:
Total score - 76
Raw score - 87
Total % of max - 63
Raw % of max - 73
Total average score per round - 5.1
Raw average score per round - 5.8
Number of maxes - 6
Paul:
Total score - 51
Raw score - 76
Total % of max - 43
Raw % of max - 63
Total average score per round - 3.4
Raw average score per round - 5.1
Number of maxes - 3
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=62
