Enjoy. 
Countdown recap for Thursday 24 June 2010.
C1: Challenger Chris Longden. From Lewisham, London, but originally from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. He works as an accountant. He loves classic music and ABBA, but interestingly one of his hobbies is singing gospel music. The most dangerous thing he's ever done is co-steering on his stag weekend. In case you don't know, co-steering is a combination of swimming, climbing rock faces and then jumping off them.
C2: Challenger Jean Tierney. From Liverpool. She is a retired learning mentor and teaching assistant. Her biggest achievement was doing a tandem parascent in Tunisia. She also likes appearing in amateur pantomime.
DC: Susie Dent and Aled Jones.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: W C O A P N R O T
R02: I I E P X N A S T
R03: T S E A T C E M N
R04: A A U I F T R D O
R05: 100, 7, 8, 2, 6, 1. Target: 943.
TTT: DRAINBOG - "Getting on the train or sealing the windows"
R06: U O A E L G V N M
R07: G S O E F D W A R
R08: G D T B U E A S U
R09: S N E P M A B O H
R10: 100, 5, 9, 5, 4, 3. Target: 965.
TTT: IBLEWKEY - "Twice a fortnight, or perhaps not? You decide"
R11: G D E T N I S J I
R12: E I O L S K A D N
R13: V S R E I P A L R
R14: 75, 4, 3, 10, 8, 7. Target: 314.
R15: C U T E R E R R S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: W C O A P N R O T
C1: CAPTOR (6)
C2: CANTOR (6)
OT: CARTOON (7) PATROON (7)
Score: 6–6 (max 7)
A PATROON is a person who held an estate in land with certain manorial privileges granted under the old Dutch governments of New York and New Jersey.
Round 2: I I E P X N A S T
C1: PIXIES (6)
C2: PANTIES (7)
DC: SAPIENT (7)
OT: PIANIST (7) TIEPINS (7)
Score: 6–13 (max 14)
Yet more giggles of laughter as PANTIES pops up.
Round 3: T S E A T C E M N
C1: CASEMENT (8)
C2: CASEMENT (8)
DC: CEMENTS (7) MENACES (7)
Score: 14–21 (max 22)
A brilliant darren by both contestants there.
Round 4: A A U I F T R D O
C1: DRIFT (5)
C2: ADRIFT (6)
DC: AUDITOR (7)
Score: 14–27 (max 29)
After trying to get an E to come out as a last vowel, Jean gets a bit of luck as Chris forgets to put the A before his word and goes further behind.
Round 5: 100, 7, 8, 2, 6, 1. Target: 943.
C1: 942. ((8 + 1) x 100) + (6 x 7) (7)
C2: 942. ((8 + 1) x 100) + (6 x 7) (7)
RR: 943. ((8 + 2) x (100 - (6 - 1))) - 7 (10)
Score: 21–34 (max 39)
Aled talks about his flying lessons which he's currently doing at the moment. He then tells the story of when a nervous flyer sat next to him on a plane, and was relieved to see him as she knew the plane wouldn't crash.
Teatime teaser: DRAINBOG -> BOARDING
Round 6: U O A E L G V N M
C1: VOLUME (6)
C2: LOVAGE (6)
OT: LANGUE (6) LEGUAN (6) LANUGO (6) LEGMAN (6) MANGEL (6) MANGLE (6) LOUNGE (6) MAGLEV (6)
Score: 27–40 (max 45)
Hmm, there seemed like there was more than a 6 available there. So much for gloveman.
A LEGMAN is a person employed to transact business outside an office, espescially on behalf of one whose responsibilities require his or her presence in the office.
Round 7: G S O E F D W A R
C1: DOWAGERS (8)
C2: FORAGES (7)
DC: WORDAGES (8) FEDORAS (7)
Score: 35–40 (max 53)
Round 8: G D T B U E A S U
C1: BUDGETS (7)
C2: DEBUTS (6)
DC: BEAUTS (6)
Score: 42–40 (max 60)
Two brilliant spots in a row put Chris in the lead for the first time today.
Round 9: S N E P M A B O H
C1: shamen
C2: MOPANES (7)
DC: HAMBONES (8)
Score: 42–47 (max 68)
Interesting round here. Chris declares a 6, which is declared safe by Susie, but actually isn't. Then, Jean declares a made-up 7, which is seen plenty of times.
Susie's Origin Of Words tells of the origin of a Countdown favourite "daemon", and how words became demonised.
Round 10: 100, 5, 9, 5, 4, 3. Target: 965.
C1: 971.
C2: 963. (100 + 4 + 3) x 9 (7)
JS: 965. (100 x 9) + (4 x 5 x 3) + 5 (10)
Score: 42–54 (max 78)
Jeff manages to impress with his numbers skills once again, as Jean gets her lead back into double figures once more.
Teatime teaser: IBLEWKEY -> BIWEEKLY
Round 11: G D E T N I S J I
C1: DINGIEST (8)
C2: JESTING (7)
Score: 50–54 (max 86)
Chris gets back in those with a brilliant darrenic 8.
Round 12: E I O L S K A D N
C1: snakeoil
C2: ANKLES (6)
DC: KNAIDELS (8)
Score: 50–60 (max 94)
The agony is plain to see on Chris' face, as he decalres an 8 that is actually 2 words.
Round 13: V S R E I P A L R
C1: PREVAILS (8)
C2: PREVAILS (8)
DC: PARRIES (7)
OT: REPRISAL (8)
Score: 58–68 (max 102)
The gap remains at 10 points as we head ino the final, yet crucial 2 rounds.
Round 14: 75, 4, 3, 10, 8, 7. Target: 314.
C1: 314. (75 x 4) + ((10 - 8) x 7) (10)
C2: 315.
Score: 68–68 (max 112)
Woah
A perfect solve by Chris means that the scores are level, as we head into the first crucial conundrum for a long time, and if it remains unsolved, we might have the first Robinson Recap sudden-death conundrum. Round 15: C U T E R E R R S
C1 buzzes on 2.75 seconds to say RESURRECT which is correct.
Score: 78–68 (max 122)
Or not, as Chris manages the fastest solve of the series so far.
A very interesting affair this one, with the lead exchanging many times, and the result never seemed certain until the conundrum was solved.
Can he make any more inroads in this series
Join Mike tomorrow to find out.
Till next week from me, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Chris:
Total score - 78
Raw score - 94
Total % of max - 64
Raw % of max - 77
Total average score per round - 5.2
Raw average score per round - 6.3
Number of maxes - 8
Jean:
Total score - 68
Raw score - 95
Total % of max - 56
Raw % of max - 78
Total average score per round - 4.5
Raw average score per round - 6.3
Number of maxes - 4
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63
I would have mentioned it earlier, but I couldn't be arsed.