COME ON YOU ORANGE ARMY!!!
But for now, enjoy this recap.
Countdown recap for Thursday 8 July 2010.
C1: Champion Ryan Loughborough (6 wins, 504 points.) An Apterite from Durham. He loves prog rock. He has learned French and Russian, and wants to learn Japanese. Interestingly, he claimed it was harder to learn French than Russian
C2: Challenger Doug Elkins. From Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire. He's a retired business development manager. The person he'd most like to meet is the French actress Catherine Deneuve. He says he'd die happy if he got a kiss from her. Jeff then points out that he'd probably die that little bit sooner if his wife finds out. His favourite song is Twist & Shout by The Beatles. In fact, while in northern Spain in his 20's, Doug and 3 of his friends went to a local beach bar and played their guitar, and by the end of the 2nd night, they were referred to as Los Beatles.
DC: Susie Dent and Gino D'Acampo.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: K N P G U A O S E
R02: N D A E R D A A N
R03: S W R I E D R I E
R04: L S E O P L E R S
R05: 100, 50, 7, 9, 10, 4. Target: 516.
TTT: PILLWIGS - "Some animals won't eat it, but these might"
R06: R H A O J B M A S
R07: E O T C P I S D N
R08: M T G E O I C A D
R09: M D E U V F G I E
R10: 75, 8, 8, 7, 9, 2. Target: 715.
TTT: FREEDEER - "He didn't free the deer. In fact, he took complete charge of the game"
R11: Z L T P E O A T E
R12: V W U E I T L B A
R13: S H O A T G N E I
R14: 25, 6, 6, 3, 1, 10. Target: 183.
R15: F R U I T Y G A L (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: K N P G U A O S E
C1: SPONGE (6)
C2: SPONGE (6)
DC: spugna PAEONS (6)
OT: GENOAS (6) GOPAKS (6) GUANOS (6) PEKANS (6) PENGOS (6) PONGAS (6) PUNGAS (6) SPOKEN (6) UNPEGS (6)
Score: 6–6 (max 6)
A flat start by all. Interestingly, while the contestants get SPONGE, Gino manages to find the Italian equivalnet, spugna.
No points for that here though. 
A GOPAK is a folk dance in Ukraine.
A PEKAN is another name for a fisher, a dark-brown or blackish marten, Martes pennanti, of northern North America.
The PENGO is a former silver coin and monetary unit of Hungary, equal to 100 fillér.
Round 2: N D A E R D A A N
C1: DREAD (5)
C2: DANDER (6)
DC: DARNED (6)
OT: ANANDA (6) RANDAN (6)
Score: 6–12 (max 12)
Doug takes the early advantage by finding one of the few available 6's from that triple A selection.
ANANDA means "perfect bliss" in the religion of Hinduism.
A RANDAN is a rowboat designed for three people, one person in the middle using two oars and the other two using one oar each.
Round 3: S W R I E D R I E
C1: WEIRDER (7)
C2: WEIRDER (7)
DC: WEIRDIES (8)
Score: 13–19 (max 20)
DC spot the darren that appeared on the show just 15 days ago.
And like back then, I still think it looks weird. 
Round 4: L S E O P L E R S
C1: pollers
C2: pollers
DC: POLLEES (7) SPELLERS (8)
OT: RESPELLS (8)
Score: 13–19 (max 28)
Surely ELOPERS was an obvious 7
Clearly not for these contestants as they both plump for the illegal 7, which would've been legal with a simple letter change. Then DC reveal the very appropiate 8. Round 5: 100, 50, 7, 9, 10, 4. Target: 516.
C1: 517.
C2: 516. (50 x 10) + 7 + 9 (10)
Score: 13–29 (max 38)
Going from the stupid to the utterly ridiculous, as Ryan misses yet another simple numbers game.
He'd better hope that it doesn't cost him later. 
Gino talks about TV food shows, and personally thanks Jamie Oliver for the boom in TV food shows. He then mentions the fact that he hates the French.
An interesting confession on a French-based show 
Teatime teaser: PILLWIGS -> PIGSWILL
Round 6: R H A O J B M A S
C1: HARMS (5)
C2: SAMBA (5)
DC: BASHO (5)
OT: BRAHMAS (7) SAMBHAR (7)
Score: 18–34 (max 45)
Oh dear. DC couldn't even spot a 6
MAJORS and AROMAS seemed good for 6, but there were 2 better words than those as well.A SAMBHAR is a deer, Cervus unicolor, of India, Sri Lanka, southeastern Asia, the East Indies, and the Philippines, having three-pointed antlers.
Round 7: E O T C P I S D N
C1: pintoes
C2: INSPECT (7)
DC: PINTOS (6) DESPOTIC (8) PONCIEST (8)
Score: 18–41 (max 53)
Ouch, Ryan's PINTO plural is the wrong spelling, meaning he's now a score and 3 behind Doug now. DC clear up with both available 8's.
Round 8: M T G E O I C A D
C1: ameotic
C2: GATED (5)
DC: DOGMATIC (8)
OT: GEOMATIC (8)
Score: 18–46 (max 61)
Oh dear, Ryan is starting to scrape the barrel now with that dodgy 7, which needs an N to make it a proper word.
Round 9: M D E U V F G I E
C1: FUDGE (5)
C2: FUMED (5)
DC: VEGIE (5)
OT: FEUED (5) GUIDE (5) MIDGE (5)
Score: 23–51 (max 66)
There seemed like there was more than 5 there, but most of these letters selections have been horrible today.
Susie's Origin Of Words talks of the origin of the name, "Nicholas" and how other words such as "Nike" have spawned from it.
Round 10: 75, 8, 8, 7, 9, 2. Target: 715.
C1: -
C2: -
RR: 715. (75 x 9) + ((7 - 2) x 8) (10)
Score: 23–51 (max 76)
Oh dear, more numbers blankouts, although it was much harder than the earlier one in fairness.
Teatime teaser: FREEDEER -> REFEREED
Round 11: Z L T P E O A T E
C1: PALETTE (7)
C2: PELOTA (6)
DC: TEAPOT (6)
OT: PELTATE (7)
Score: 30–51 (max 83)
Ryan even manages to beat DC with that 7. Is this the start of a big fightback
PELTATE means having the stalk or support attached to the lower surface at a distance from the margin, as a leaf; shield-shaped.
Round 12: V W U E I T L B A
C1: ablutive
C2: VIABLE (6)
DC: ALBEIT (6)
OT: ALBITE (6) BEWAIL (6) BLEWIT (6)
Score: 30–57 (max 89)
Maybe not, as Ryan mixes up the legal ABLATIVE (not available in the selection) with the made-up ablutive. Just scoring now will do for Doug.
ALBITE is the sodium end member of the plagioclase feldspar group, light-coloured and found in alkalic igneous rocks.
BEWAIL means to express grief.
A BLEWIT is an edible pale-bluish mushroom, Tricholoma personatum.
Round 13: S H O A T G N E I
C1: heatings
C2: HEATING (7)
DC: TANGOES (7)
OT: AGONIES (7) AGONISE (7) AGONIST (7) ATONIES (7) EASTING (7) GENISTA (7) INGESTA (7) SEATING (7) TAGINES (7) TEASING (7) GOATISH (7) HASTING (7) HISTONE (7) HOAGIES (7) HOSTAGE (7) HOSTING (7) ONSTAGE (7) SHOEING (7)
Score: 30–64 (max 96)
Doug wins as Ryan goes for broke with heatings. Of course, if that last vowel had been a U, we'd have had SHOGUNATE for 9.
INGESTA simply means "substances ingested".
HISTONE is any of a group of five small basic proteins, occurring in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, that organize DNA strands into nucleosomes by forming molecular complexes around which the DNA winds.
A HOAGIE or HOAGY (plural HOAGIES) is a Philadelphian term for a "hero sandwich".
Round 14: 25, 6, 6, 3, 1, 10. Target: 183.
C1: 183. ((6 + 1) x 25) + 10 - (6 / 3) (10)
C2: 184.
Score: 40–64 (max 106)
Hmmmm, has Doug picked up Loughboroughitis
Another easyish numbers is missed by one of our contestants, and Ryan manages to claw back some pride with that one.Round 15: F R U I T Y G A L
C1 buzzes on 1 second to say FRUGALITY which is correct.
Score: 50–64 (max 116)
Not the hardest conundrum of all time sees Ryan end his last show as he did his first, with a 1 second conundrum solve. But, he has reached the end of the line for now, as Doug becomes the new champion.
Ryan is currently No.2 Seed, but whether that will be enough for a place in the finals remains to be seen.
How long will he stay in the chair for
Join Mike to see if Doug can make it to next week.
I'll be back on Wednesday, so till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Ryan:
Total score - 50
Raw score - 62
Total % of max - 43
Raw % of max - 53
Total average score per round - 3.3
Raw average score per round - 4.1
Number of maxes - 5
Doug:
Total score - 64
Raw score - 77
Total % of max - 55
Raw % of max - 66
Total average score per round - 4.3
Raw average score per round - 5.1
Number of maxes - 6
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63
