c4countdown

It's a new week and series 63 is still fresh. The weather is still ridiculously warm and I'm in a foul mood as a suicidal bee flew into my eye, I got stuck behind the slowest motorist today and England are out of the World Cup (but we did beat them 2-1 on penalties on Big Brother). What better way to cheer myself up than watch Countdown. Woo!

Countdown recap for Monday 28 June 2010.

C1: Champion Annie Hawes (1 win, 82 points.)
C2: Challenger Olive Collis.
DC: Susie Dent and Tim Vine.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: W A P A E V R L S
R02: T N F O E I G F E
R03: S R Y A D E A H S
R04: R D T O E O S R A
R05: 50, 4, 2, 8, 10, 1. Target: 811.
TTT: ALLSTHIN - "These places are definitely under mob rule"
R06: L T L R I O E J C
R07: R Z N R O E N M O
R08: I U A S X T H U D
R09: S T P T M O E U D
R10: 75, 1, 3, 10, 2, 4. Target: 569.
TTT: EUROPIGS - "Develop their own vegetables before following the stars around"
R11: W D G E I T R I B
R12: P P N T A O I G E
R13: S M S E I D U I C
R14: 75, 1, 7, 6, 10, 4. Target: 596.
R15: E L L N I G H T Y (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Jeff opens the show wearing a ginger beard as it is apparently national beard week!

Our champion at the moment is Annie Hawes who has a long fringe. She beat the controversial Chris Longden on Friday 82-80. She plays the drums and has an affection for ukuleles. OMG I LOVE HER!

Trying to knock Annie from her perch is Olive Collis from Street in Somerset. She is a retired librarian and ejoys reading (surprise), gardening, watching films and listening to classical music.

In DC this week is an absolute belter. It's Tim Bloody Vine!!! Already he cracks a joke about Jeff regarding his ginger beard, saying that he in fact asked for a ginger beer. Hilarious!

Round 1: W A P A E V R L S

C1: PAVERS (6)
C2: PALAVER (7)
DC: PALAVERS (8) PEARLS (6)
Score: 0–7 (max 8)

A brilliant start from Olive as she picks out a beater. She could have added the S but oh well it's 7 points for her and none for Annie.

Round 2: T N F O E I G F E

C1: OFFING (6)
C2: OFFING (6)
DC: TOFFEE (6) TOFFING (7)
OT: FIFTEEN (7)
Score: 6–13 (max 15)

Two 7's available using the 2 F's but pretty tricky to spot. Decent 6's from both.

Round 3: S R Y A D E A H S

C1: HEARSAY (7)
C2: SHADER (6)
DC: HARASSED (8)
OT: SASHAYED (8)
Score: 13–13 (max 23)

An excellent last minute spot from Annie here makes the scores level.

Round 4: R D T O E O S R A

C1: ROASTED (7)
C2: STARRED (7)
DC: ROASTER (7) ROADSTER (8)
OT: TOREADORS (18)
Score: 20–20 (max 41)

Easy seven points for both Annie and Olive but there was a 9. I don't think anyone will have spotted TOREADORS though.

'Fun' fact: TOREADOR is the name of a Nokia ringtone and could be heard at the end of the episode of Coronation Street when Duggie Ferguson fell to his death as part of the Richard Hillman plot. (Too off-topic?)

Round 5: 50, 4, 2, 8, 10, 1. Target: 811.

C1: 811. 50*2*8+10+1 (10)
C2: 811. 2*8*50+10+1 (10)
Score: 30–30 (max 51)

So both contestants show that their maths is good and scoop 10 points.

DC Guest Time: Tim delivers some classic one liners. The highlights include "conjunctivitis - that's a site for sore eyes" and when Googling "who hit the first ball in Wimbledon last year?" it came up with "server not found". Man I love him. Don't you just LOVE him?!

Teatime teaser: ALLSTHIN -> ANTHILLS

Round 6: L T L R I O E J C

C1: JOLLIER (7)
C2: JOLLIER (7)
DC: CORTILE (7)
OT: COLLIER (7) JOLTIER (7) LORILET (7)
Score: 37–37 (max 58)

Sevens all round. Game nicely poised at 37-37, I can see this going all the way.

Round 7: R Z N R O E N M O

C1: mooner
C2: mooner
DC: ROOMER (6)
OT: NOONER (6)
Score: 37–37 (max 64)

Ah, the classic invalid mooner which I'm sure most people have attempted in the past. Some more than once.

Round 8: I U A S X T H U D

C1: AUDITS (6)
C2: -
OT: HIATUS (6) HUTIAS (6)
Score: 43–37 (max 70)

Complete blank from Olive as Annie finds one of the hard to spot sixes available.

Round 9: S T P T M O E U D

C1: STUMPED (7)
C2: SPOUTED (7)
DC: SPOTTED (7) UTMOST (6)
OT: OUTSTEP (7) TOUPETS (7) SMUTTED (7) STOMPED (7) TESTUDO (7)
Score: 50–44 (max 77)

Loadsa sevens here and our capable contestants get one each. Annie keeps her lead after Olive's blank in round 8.

Susie's Origin of Words: Susie amusingly tells us the link between TESTIMONY and TESTICLE with Tim Vine humorously commenting on it. Ledge.

Round 10: 75, 1, 3, 10, 2, 4. Target: 569.

C1: -
C2: 569. 4*2*75-10*3-1 (10)
Score: 50–54 (max 87)

It's Annie's turn to blank now. A very good solve from Olive puts her in a good position as we enter the last third.

Teatime teaser: EUROPIGS -> GROUPIES

Round 11: W D G E I T R I B

C1: -
C2: WIDGET (6)
DC: BIRDIE (6)
OT: BRIDIE (6) BRIDGE (6) TIDIER (6) WIDGER (6)
Score: 50–60 (max 93)

And again nothing, 3 blanks from 4 rounds between the two contestants. Must be the heat, although that man in the audience with a scarf would suggest not!

'Fun' fact: WIDGETs were used as part of my Decisions 1 exam paper which I sat last Summer. I failed the full question and got no marks and got a shit grade. Since then I have forever hated WIDGETs.

Round 12: P P N T A O I G E

C1: APPOINT (7)
C2: TAPPING (7)
DC: PINOTAGE (8)
OT: ANTIPOPE (8) GENIPAPO (8)
Score: 57–67 (max 101)

They equal each other here which is lucky for Annie as it means she is still within touching distance of Olive (in more ways than one).

Round 13: S M S E I D U I C

C1: SUICIDES (8)
C2: musics
Score: 65–67 (max 109)

Error from Olive but it doesn't matter anyway as Annie spots the only 8 available. Fantastic play at a crucial time.

Round 14: 75, 1, 7, 6, 10, 4. Target: 596.

C1: 596. (7+1)*75-4 (10)
C2: 596. (7+1)*75-4 (10)
Score: 75–77 (max 119)

An easy numbers target means we are heading for a crucial as thought.

Round 15: E L L N I G H T Y

No one buzzes. The answer was LENGTHILY.
Score: 75–77 (max 129)

A pretty horrible conundrum with the two L's next to each other goes unsolved. Unfortunately for Annie she leaves with one win to her name. Good news for Olive as she is back tomorrow and seems pretty decent. A close game, which I enjoyed and had some nice spots in. Tim Vine was excellent as always and makes the show brilliant.

I may not be John Denver but this is for you, Annie. (Imagine it's me singing it)

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63

Ryan Taylor wrote:DC Guest Time: Tim delivers some classic one liners. The highlights include "conjunctivitis - that's a site for sore eyes" and when Googling "who hit the first ball in Wimbledon last year?" it came up with "server not found". Man I love him. Don't you just LOVE him?!

He's so awesome He's a brill comedian, and needs to back on the show as often as possible.

nice game enjoyed it.

Scott Gillies wrote:something

All respect I had for you Scott has vanished in one post.

Scott Gillies wrote:something

I'm not his greatest fan as a comedian as he just memorises lists of jokes relating to certain words and does word play in a lot of them. Not a true comedian in the stand-up sense in my opinion. He's good on Countdown though.

Kirk Bevins wrote:Not a true comedian in the stand-up sense in my opinion.

You wouldn't see Barney falling for a famous logical fallacy.

Ryan Taylor wrote:

Scott Gillies wrote:something

All respect I had for you Scott has vanished in one post.

Wow, all mine went way back here.

Now I just think he's an ever bigger cunt.

Also, capital letters: use them.

Scott Gillies wrote:something

Worst post ever.

some gags are actually alright, he's gone up in my estimation

Scott Gillies wrote:fk sake it was just an opinion lol maybe a strong opinion but only an opinion.

lol opinions

lolonoscopy

Charlie Reams wrote: You wouldn't see Barney falling for a famous logical fallacy.

Alright, pedant. I'll say he's not a stand-up comedian, more of a play-on-words kind of guy. I can see how it gets annoying after a while as every word he has a one line pun for....e.g. I'm afraid of being in tight spaces with Father Christmas, I have Santaclaustrophobia.

Kirk Bevins wrote:e.g. I'm afraid of being in tight spaces with Father Christmas, I have Santaclaustrophobia.

I used this on Badcock last night.

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote: You wouldn't see Barney falling for a famous logical fallacy.

Alright, pedant. I'll say he's not a stand-up comedian, more of a play-on-words kind of guy. I can see how it gets annoying after a while as every word he has a one line pun for....e.g. I'm afraid of being in tight spaces with Father Christmas, I have Santaclaustrophobia.

'Like' was for the Father Christmas Joke.

Ryan Taylor wrote:

Kirk Bevins wrote:e.g. I'm afraid of being in tight spaces with Father Christmas, I have Santaclaustrophobia.

I used this on Badcock last night.

Haha yeah I just noticed that. Did he say it on the show yesterday, if he did I must have skipped through it by accident on sky+.
Either way, nice work trying to pull my girlfriend by recycling Tim Vine's lines you bastard.

Marc Meakin wrote: 'Like' was for the Father Christmas Joke.

Ah I see, you're just trying to be like Tim Vine and he's really popular. Well done.

Matt Morrison wrote:Either way, nice work trying to pull my girlfriend by recycling Tim Vine's lines you bastard.

Marc Meakin wrote:You could say he was trying to Vine and dine her.

Matt Morrison wrote:

Ryan Taylor wrote:

Kirk Bevins wrote:e.g. I'm afraid of being in tight spaces with Father Christmas, I have Santaclaustrophobia.

I used this on Badcock last night.

Haha yeah I just noticed that. Did he say it on the show yesterday, if he did I must have skipped through it by accident on sky+.
Either way, nice work trying to pull my girlfriend by recycling Tim Vine's lines you bastard.

Yeah he said it on the show yesterday. Sorry

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Marc Meakin wrote: 'Like' was for the Father Christmas Joke.

Ah I see, you're just trying to be like Tim Vine and he's really popular. Well done.

Haha yeah, obviously. Marc has never shown any kind of affinity for word-based puns before, he's just jumping on the Vine bandwagon.

Jon Corby wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:Either way, nice work trying to pull my girlfriend by recycling Tim Vine's lines you bastard.

Marc Meakin wrote:You could say he was trying to Vine and dine her.

It's about Tim you stopped putting words into my mouth.

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Marc Meakin wrote: 'Like' was for the Father Christmas Joke.

Ah I see, you're just trying to be like Tim Vine and he's really popular. Well done.

OOI, who's your favourite stand-up comedian?

Marc Meakin wrote:

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Marc Meakin wrote: 'Like' was for the Father Christmas Joke.

Ah I see, you're just trying to be like Tim Vine and he's really popular. Well done.

OOI, who's your favourite stand-up comedian?

Do you mean stand-up comedian though, or a true comedian in the stand-up sense?

Guys, guys, this was all meant to be about Annie. You've ruined it for her.

Ryan Taylor wrote:Guys, guys, this was all meant to be about Annie. You've ruined it for her.

Don't worry.
The sun'll come out tomorrow.

wth?

I was about to reply to a post by Scott's dad and it's gone. Where did it go?

luckily i'm bored in work and was looking and txt him to get rid of it. we have different opinions lets just leave it at that and not spoil perfectly good threads any longer.

Scott Gillies wrote:luckily i'm bored in work and was looking and txt him to get rid of it. we have different opinions lets just leave it at that and not spoil perfectly good threads any longer.

Okay. Well, FTR I don't have a major problem with you (or your dad, obviously). My views on fudging are well documented, but ultimately it's just a game. And I like Tim Vine (a lot), so if you call him a bad name, I'll probably throw it right back at you. But it's all just banter innit. Oi Oi! WKDs all round etc.

Sorry Jon I deleted it. I'm scunnered with all the controversy and don't wish to add to it. I shouldn't have posted - apologies.

John Gillies wrote:Sorry Jon I deleted it. I'm scunnered with all the controversy and don't wish to add to it. I shouldn't have posted - apologies.

Hey, no worries, absolutely no need to apologise. If you don't agree with something, post away. Or if you do. Or if you just wanna post. Whatever!

Jon...you've ruined my fecking recap

Ryan Taylor wrote:Jon...you've ruined my fecking recap

Me?! I didn't even use the c-word first!