C1: Champion Tom Barnes (4 wins, 416 points.)
C2: Challenger Christine Buffrey.
DC: Susie Dent and Delia Smith.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: G T N E A I Q R T
R02: S D S F A E O L A
R03: V V M E O E D O T
R04: M L Y I E A D I R
R05: 25, 75, 100, 50, 9, 10. Target: 794.
TTT: BROADCUT - "He might take your muscle without permission"
R06: T T N S U I E A K
R07: R G D O E A T E R
R08: P T R H I E O P A
R09: W H L U E A N I S
R10: 100, 4, 9, 4, 10, 6. Target: 667.
TTT: TRUEDEBT - "Flattered someone with nice spread"
R11: N S T E A E N C I
R12: D G F O I U D S E
R13: R L X A E O N O B
R14: 50, 3, 8, 4, 6, 3. Target: 121.
R15: D E L I A S H O B (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Tom Barnes is the champ and looks pretty damn strong in that chair. He smiles a lot too and is an all round good guy.
Christine Buffrey is a retired teacher who is hoping to become a teapot owner.
Delia Smith has just got Norwich promoted (sort of) to the Premier League. So she's gonna be off her tits today no doubt.
Enjoy the show.
Round 1: G T N E A I Q R T
C1: TREATING (8)
C2: TEARING (7)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)
An easy spot is missed by Christine. Tut tut.
Round 2: S D S F A E O L A
C1: LOAFED (6)
C2: areolaes
DC: FLOSSED (7) LASSOED (7)
OT: ASSLOAD (7) SALADES (7)
Score: 14–0 (max 15)
She declared a 6. But is didn't sound very sixy. I literally have no fucking idea what she was going for here. Areola? Areolas? Aerosol? Arsehole? Answers on a postcard.
Round 3: V V M E O E D O T
C1: DEMOTE (6)
C2: demoted
OT: DEVOTE (6) EMOTED (6) MOOTED (6) VETOED (6)
Score: 20–0 (max 21)
Double vision from the ex-teacher costs her dear. Tom ploughs on.
Round 4: M L Y I E A D I R
C1: DREAMILY (8)
C2: DREAMY (6)
DC: READILY (7)
Score: 28–0 (max 29)
And a case of not being very thorough means Christine overlooks an obvious adaptation for her word.
Round 5: 25, 75, 100, 50, 9, 10. Target: 794.
C1: 795. 100*9-75-25-50/10 (7)
C2: 790.
RR: 794. (75+9)*10-50+100/25 (10)
Score: 35–0 (max 39)
A slightly tricky numbers game but you would expect Christine (ex-maths teacher) to get closer than what she declared. I think my mum could probably have got to 795 and I'm quite sure that she doesn't have an O-level in maths.
Delia Smith and Jeff have a good old chinwag about football. I think this is where a few people switch over the channel awaiting the second half.
Teatime teaser: BROADCUT -> ABDUCTOR
Round 6: T T N S U I E A K
C1: TETANUS (7)
C2: -
DC: KITTENS (7) SINUATE (7)
OT: ATTUNES (7) AUNTIES (7) INSTATE (7) INTAKES (7) KENTIAS (7) SATINET (7) SITUATE (7) TAUTENS (7)
Score: 42–0 (max 46)
Flat. No I'm not describing the round, flat is Christine's performance so far.
Round 7: R G D O E A T E R
C1: DOTAGE (6)
C2: EDGER (5)
DC: DEROGATE (8)
OT: GARTERED (8)
Score: 48–0 (max 54)
And she's still on the bagel for now. Slightly disappointed in Tom not seeing DEROGATE but he is still infinitely better than Christine.
Round 8: P T R H I E O P A
C1: HAPPIER (7)
C2: HAPPIER (7)
DC: PROPHET (7)
OT: EPIPHORA (8)
Score: 55–7 (max 62)
Hoorah, about time, Christine gets on the board. Pretty bog standard spot and I think I'd have slit my wrists if she hadn't scored here. Lovely 8 concealed away in this one which means "repetition of the ends of two or more successive sentences, verses, etc."
Round 9: W H L U E A N I S
C1: INWALES (7)
C2: HEALS (5)
OT: INHALES (7) INHAULS (7) INSULAE (7) SHAWLIE (7) UNLEASH (7) WAHINES (7)
Score: 62–7 (max 69)
Tom does a bit of showboating with one of the more unusual 7's available.
Susie's Dent: Susie explains some terms about rum and Nelson's blood and such things.
Round 10: 100, 4, 9, 4, 10, 6. Target: 667.
C1: 668. (100+10)*6+4+4 (7)
C2: -
RR: 667. (100+10)*6+4*4-9 (10)
Score: 69–7 (max 79)
Christine loses it completely on a numbers game where she could have scored something. This is a bit of a nightmare game for Christine whilst Tom is being relentless.
Teatime teaser: TRUEDEBT -> BUTTERED
Round 11: N S T E A E N C I
C1: TENANCIES (18)
C2: CANNIEST (8)
DC: INSTANCE (8) CINEASTE (8)
Score: 87–7 (max 97)
Just when you think Christine is about to score with an 8, Tom announces that he has a 9. If she had looked up she would have seen Tom sitting back after a few seconds giving away that he had "the nuts". Great spot though Tom.
Round 12: D G F O I U D S E
C1: DIODES (6)
C2: fuddies
DC: DODGES (6) FUDGES (6)
OT: DIDOES (6) DOGIES (6) DOUSED (6) FODIES (6) FOGIES (6) FUDGED (6) GUIDED (6) GUIDES (6)
Score: 93–7 (max 103)
Possible breakthrough? Nope. Yet more invalid words from Christine as 6 was surprisingly the max in this one.
Round 13: R L X A E O N O B
C1: LOANER (6)
C2: RELAX (5)
DC: BOLERO (6)
OT: BORANE (6) BOREAL (6) BRANLE (6) NOBLER (6)
Score: 99–7 (max 109)
Let's just hope that Christine can score 10 points on this numbers game to prevent her from getting the unspeakable record.
Round 14: 50, 3, 8, 4, 6, 3. Target: 121.
C1: 121. (6+3)*8+50-(4-3) (10)
C2: 124.
Score: 109–7 (max 119)
Amazing. I'll remind you again that she used to teach mathematics yet could not find one of the numerous ways to this small palindromic target. Maybe she wants The Record?
Round 15: D E L I A S H O B
C1 buzzes on 1 second to say ABOLISHED which is correct.
Final Score: 119–7 (max 129)
That's it. The Record has been achieved.
Take nothing away from Tom, he would have beat most of the competition in the series with today's performance but Christine did not help herself.
Have I been too harsh on Christine? I don't think so.
In fact just to show you that I haven't been harsh I will quote Jambo on today's record breaking edition of Countdown so that I don't have to say it!
I am quite happy that Christine does not have to go back to face any unruly children at school and that she can just hide away from the outside world before this event has been forgotten. Still, there are more things to life than Countdown, aren't there?James Robinson wrote:1. Today's opponent's score is the lowest ever in 15-rounders (although it will probably be mentioned.), beating the previous best of 13 by Hazel Wheeler in Series 58.
2. The winning margin will be the highest in the history of the show, beating the 109 margin by Julian Fell in his 138-29 win over Carl McDermott in Series 48. (again, this might be mentioned too.)
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=64
