c4countdown

It's Sunday 20th July 2008. It's 9pm. You know what that means? It's the darn tootin' COOT final! It's hard to find something new to say about these two, but nevertheless we welcome Series 48 champion and general genius Mr Julian Fell, and Series 28 champion and Countdown's series producer Mr Damian Eadie to the final of this indisputably excellent tournament.

Julian holds almost every record in the game, and comes into this match having never lost an online game (played 8, won 8.) He's provisionally ranked 10th overall but many expect him to go much higher. He started the tournament with a well-contested 101-80 win over Karen Pearson and dominated his quarter final with Richard Priest to win 112-71. In the semi-final, he was given an excellent match by Ben Wilson but triumphed 112-96 after a crucial conundrum. We've seen him produce the goods many times, but can he deliver today?

Damian has a similarly sparkling record, with a series title and Championship of Champions runner-up spot under his belt. His online record is equally remarkable, with 17 wins in 18 games, including a 9-game unbeaten streak on the way to this game. Seeded for this tournament, Damian began with an excellent century against qualifier Dinos Sfyris and followed up with a 87-65 win in a bizarre game with Jason Cullen. Kirk Bevins drove him to the crucial conundrum MUDSLEIGH in the semi-final, but Damian unravelled it in just 2 seconds to earn his spot in the final. He's been resolutely relaxed about the game all week but will no doubt be doing us utmost to overturn his opponent tonight!

The game is hosted by the tournament's organiser and winner of this year's Plate, the esteemed Mr Jon O'Neill.

C1: Challenger Julian Fell.
C2: Challenger Damian Eadie.

R01: N U E S R M O O A
R02: R I T U Z I N E E
R03: A A E T F D R H L
R04: N I W A Q E J P E
R05: 100, 4, 2, 6, 5, 8. Target: 868.
TTT: LASTSONG
R06: T I Y A M O R M L
R07: D E A I N S R T C
R08: H I S U V I L R C
R09: E E O G S K L P D
R10: 25, 8, 1, 7, 9, 3, . Target: 716.
TTT: SODBIRTH
R11: T F O E L A M R G
R12: T A B O P E R B I
R13: A I T D N E A G N
R14: 50, 3, 7, 4, 10, 10, . Target: 420.
R15: E A R T H P O N Y (conundrum)


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Round 1: N U E S R M O O A

C1: ENORMOUS (8)
C2: ENORMOUS (8)
OT: ENAMOURS (8) NEUROMAS (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)

Round 2: R I T U Z I N E E

C1: UNITIZE (7)
C2: unitizer
OT: NITERIE (7) RETINUE (7) REUNITE (7) UTERINE (7)
Score: 15–8 (max 15)

Round 3: A A E T F D R H L

C1: FATHEAD (7)
C2: FLATHEAD (8)
OT: FLATHEAD (8)
Score: 15–16 (max 23)

Round 4: N I W A Q E J P E

C1: WANE (4)
C2: WIPE (4)
OT: NEWIE (5)
Score: 19–20 (max 28)

Round 5: 100, 4, 2, 6, 5, 8. Target: 868.

C1: 868. (100+6)x8+5x4 (10)
C2: 868. (100+8)x(6+2)+4 (10)
Score: 29–30 (max 38)

Teatime teaser: LASTSONG -> GLASNOST

Round 6: T I Y A M O R M L

C1: MORALITY (8)
C2: IMMORTAL (8)
OT: MOLARITY (8)
Score: 37–38 (max 46)

Round 7: D E A I N S R T C

C1: DICENTRAS (18)
C2: DICENTRAS (18)
Score: 55–56 (max 64)

Round 8: H I S U V I L R C

C1: CHURLS (6)
C2: CHURLS (6)
Score: 61–62 (max 70)

Round 9: E E O G S K L P D

C1: PLEDGES (7)
C2: PLEDGES (7)
OT: SKELPED (7) SPLODGE (7)
Score: 68–69 (max 77)

Round 10: 25, 8, 1, 7, 9, 3. Target: 716.

C1: 716. (7x3+8)x25-9 (10)
C2: 717.
Score: 78–69 (max 87)

Teatime teaser: SODBIRTH -> BIRDSHOT

Round 11: T F O E L A M R G

C1: FORMATE (7)
C2: FLOATER (7)
OT: FEMORAL (7) FLOREAT (7) FROGLET (7) GLOATER (7) LEGATOR (7) REFLOAT (7)
Score: 85–76 (max 94)

Round 12: T A B O P E R B I

C1: PROBATE (7)
C2: PROBATE (7)
Score: 92–83 (max 101)

Round 13: A I T D N E A G N

C1: ANDANTE (7)
C2: ANDANTE (7)
OT: ANTEING ANTIGEN DENTING GENTIAN TENDING (all 7s)
Score: 99–90 (max 108)

Round 14: 50, 3, 7, 4, 10, 10. Target: 420.

C1: 420. (50-7-(4-3))x10 (10)
C2: 420. (10-4)x7x10 (10)
Score: 109–100 (max 118)

It's hard to criticise their performances so far, with each player scoring the maximum possible in 12 out of the 14 rounds. Can Damian grab the conundrum, and the tournament, by a single point? Or can Julian hang on and take his record to an incredible 9 wins from 9?



Round 15: E A R T H P O N Y

Julian buzzes on 2 seconds to say HONEYTRAP which is correct.
Score: 119–100 (max 128)

A fantastic win for Julian including the highest score of the tournament, and a great game from both players. Well done to all who took part in what has been a fantastic tournament, and particularly to Jono who has organised everything so smoothly, and to Jason Cullen for hosting a huge numbers of games in a very short space of time.

Roll on COOT '09!

[PS For extra coolness, this is post #10000 to the new forum. Ain't that neat?]

Further summaries are at:
http://www.thecountdowncorral.com/cd/se ... eries=-100

Charlie Reams wrote:Roll on COOT '09!

Hope there'll be another online tournament before 2009 - which is sort of why I disapprove of the name COOT '08 because it implies you can't have another COOT in 2008; should just have been called COOT IV really. Obviously there shouldn't be another tourney TOO soon but it'd prob be good to have one sometime between COLei and the next COLin (and the CofC on TV ).

But yes, really well played Damian, thanks once again to Jono - and an honourable mention to the eagle-eyed Ross Allatt, without whom this COOT, like COMA before it, would have been completely O-less

Julian Fell wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:Roll on COOT '09!

Hope there'll be another online tournament before 2009 - which is sort of why I disapprove of the name COOT '08 because it implies you can't have another COOT in 2008; should just have been called COOT IV really. Obviously there shouldn't be another tourney TOO soon but it'd prob be good to have one sometime between COLei and the next COLin (and the CofC on TV ).

But yes, really well played Damian, thanks once again to Jono - and an honourable mention to the eagle-eyed Ross Allatt, without whom this COOT, like COMA before it, would have been completely O-less

We could have another tournament this year and just call it something else. I like the name COOT '08 because it gives people who are new to the online scene an idea of how prestigious the tournament is!

Julian Fell wrote:But yes, really well played Damian, thanks once again to Jono - and an honourable mention to the eagle-eyed Ross Allatt, without whom this COOT, like COMA before it, would have been completely O-less

So many rounds where SOAPOPERAS was impossible from the start. Such a shame.

Yeah very well played to both players on their very impeccable performances . Although I couldn't be there to witness the match live, I found the quality in the word spots exceptional and I commend you both for producing a great COOT final! Also, a big congrats should go to Jono for putting together a fantastic tournament for the forum and, like Julian said, I hope we don't have to wait a whole year for the next online tournament as this one has proven to be a hit with forumites .

Maybe for the next tourny, a group phase could be used as opposed to a knockout tournament with the winner of each group progressing to the MAIN quarters/semis and the second placed player dropping into the Plate quarters/semis. That is just another suggestion and it basically mimicks what Martin Gardner said. Therefore, we are both in agreeance. Jump on the bandwagon too guys

I concur Jason a group stage would be cool

Charlie Reams wrote:Round 3: A A E T F D R H L

C1: FATHEAD (7)
C2: FLATHEAD (8)
OT: FLATHEAD (8)
Score: 15–16 (max 23)

Were you kicking yourself Julian?

Yeah I was Gevin - although it's worth mentioning that there's nothing else longer than 6 in that round other than FATHEAD and FLATHEAD. So I was pleased at finding a (IMHO) difficult-to-spot word, just then annoyed that I didn't take it one step further

It's weird, I also thought in my game vs. Ben, that probably my best round was the round where he beat me maybe I'm going mad.

Looks like there's a groundswell building up in favour of group stages in the next tournament - I'm one of those in favour, they just need to be well managed that's all (that's a summary of my rather long previous post addressed to Martin )

Due to pc problems since last Saturday I was unable to watch the final and 3rd place play-off but well done Julian and Kirk, bad luck Damian and Ben, and thanks once again to Jono for organising a great tournament.

Well done to both of you, great final. Both of you would have handed my ass to me but then that's no surprise!