Oh well, for now at least, enjoy.
Countdown recap for Wednesday 28 September 2011.
C1: Champion Jayne Wisniewski (3 wins, 287 points.) An Apteforumite from Barnt Green, Worcestershire. She likes going to Muse, Linkin Park, The Killers and Take That concerts. She also has 2 children, one of them, Emily, is also a registered Apterite. Her children actually persuaded her to go on a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon, even though Jayne has a fear of heights.
C2: Challenger Sydney Martin. From Honiton, Devon. He works as a support worker for adults with learning disabilities. His passion is languages and taught English & French in Zimbabwe for many years, and was even honoured with the Academic Arms of France but the French Ambassador.
The most daring thing he has ever done was sleeping in the wild in the Zambezi Valley, which he also list as his favourite place in the world.DC: Susie Dent and Kate Humble.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: L D I O S T E I M
R02: S S T G E I E T A
R03: Q W O I P S E I E
R04: N R P A O A C O D
R05: 75, 6, 9, 8, 5, 1. Target: 945.
TTT: ATINLUMP - "It's not a lump of tin, it's a precious metal"
R06: S T A J O U R S E
R07: R D I A X T O W I
R08: G K U A P L E A R
R09: N R E O H L A E L
R10: 50, 75, 7, 3, 8, 6. Target: 114.
TTT: NAMETAGS - "They're rich and powerful in the world of business"
R11: G R U E V Y I D D
R12: C Z N O I U F B A
R13: N R E E T T I C G
R14: 50, 75, 8, 9, 3, 10. Target: 162.
R15: V A P I R P O N G (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: L D I O S T E I M
C1: mistled
C2: IDOLISE (7)
DC: OILIEST (7) MILDEST (7) DELIMITS (8)
OT: MELODIST (8)
Score: 0–7 (max 8)
Oh dear, a bad start for Jayne, as she falls into the mistled trap, giving Sydney the early breakthrough.
Round 2: S S T G E I E T A
C1: STAGIEST (8)
C2: GESTATES (8)
Score: 8–15 (max 16)
An impressive double 8 find by the contestants here.
Round 3: Q W O I P S E I E
C1: SWIPE (5)
C2: SWIPE (5)
DC: POISE (5)
OT: SWEEP (5) WEEPS (5) WIPES (5)
Score: 13–20 (max 21)
Just bog-standard 5's here. Appropriately with WIPES available.
Round 4: N R P A O A C O D
C1: APRON (5)
C2: CARP (4)
DC: CARDOON (7) PANDORA (7)
OT: PADRONA (7)
Score: 18–20 (max 28)
Jayne regains some ground with her 5, but there are a trio of interesting 7's around in this one.
Round 5: 75, 6, 9, 8, 5, 1. Target: 945.
C1: 945. Mistake in working.
C2: -
RR: 945. ((6 x 5) + 75) x 9 (10)
Score: 18–20 (max 38)
Oh dear, Jayne mistakenly thinks that 9 x 6 = 45. I think we'd better move on..........
Kate (described by Clive James as "the most beautiful adult female human being in the world") talks about her role as the Vice-President of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, and about the time she went to Iceland with the trust to help catch Hooper Swans.
Teatime teaser: ATINLUMP -> PLATINUM
Round 6: S T A J O U R S E
C1: TOSSER (6)
C2: AROUSES (7)
DC: rejousts JOUSTERS (8)
Score: 18–27 (max 46)
A few laughs from the mention of a TOSSER, but Sydney's lead goes up to 9, as DC go darrenic.
Round 7: R D I A X T O W I
C1: RADIO (5)
C2: toxic
DC: TOWARD (6) ADROIT (6)
Score: 23–27 (max 52)
Just the 2 6's here, but Sydney's toxic offering backfires.
Round 8: G K U A P L E A R
C1: GRAPE (5)
C2: PAGER (5)
DC: PLAGUE (6) EARPLUG (7)
OT: GRAUPEL (7)
Score: 28–32 (max 59)
Anagrams of each other are offered as this game still hangs in the balance.
GRAUPEL are snow pellets.
Round 9: N R E O H L A E L
C1: HOLLER (6)
C2: LEANER (6)
DC: EARHOLE (7)
OT: LLANERO (7) RELLENO (7)
Score: 34–38 (max 66)
Jayne not sure of her 6. Clearly not aware of the Spice Girls' final hit then. And following EARPLUG in the last round, an EARHOLE appears in this one.
A LLANERO is one of the inhabitants of the llanos of South America.
RELLENO is an adjective meaning stuffed, especially filled with cheese, as well as a foodstuff with chilli in it.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about word trivia.
These include: The longest words with 1 syllable (SCREECHED, SCRATCHED, SCROUNGED, SCRUNCHED, STRAIGHTS, STRENGTHS and STRETCHED), the longest common use word with no vowel (RHYTHM(S)), words with all the vowels in the right order (FACETIOUS, ABSTEMIOUS and ARSENIOUS) and words with 5 vowels in a row (QUEUEING and (from Damian) COOEEING).
Round 10: 50, 75, 7, 3, 8, 6. Target: 114.
C1: 114. 50 + 75 - (3 + 8) (10)
C2: 114. 50 + 75 - (3 + 8) (10)
Score: 44–48 (max 76)
Nice and easy numbers as this game is still anyone's to win.
Teatime teaser: NAMETAGS -> MAGNATES
Round 11: G R U E V Y I D D
C1: GUIDER (6)
C2: DRIVE (5)
DC: DRUDGE (6) GIDDY (5)
OT: GIRDED (6) GUIDED (6) RIDGED (6)
Score: 50–48 (max 82)
Jayne takes the lead for the first time today thanks to her GUIDER.
Round 12: C Z N O I U F B A
C1: CABIN (5)
C2: CABIN (5)
DC: BACON (5) BANCO (5)
OT: CONFAB (6)
Score: 55–53 (max 88)
A darrenic 6 is missed, but it's still nip-tuck here today, although the rubbish letters selections aren't helping either.
Round 13: N R E E T T I C G
C1: tinier
C2: GREET (5)
DC: RETICENT (8) ERECTING (8)
OT: RINGETTE (8)
Score: 55–58 (max 96)
Oh dear, Jayne sees a phantom 2nd I there and Sydney retakes the lead. Slightly amazing to think that there are 3 8's here, especially as they didn't look that promising.
Round 14: 50, 75, 8, 9, 3, 10. Target: 162.
C1: 161. (3 x 50) + 10 + 9 - 8 (7)
C2: 161. (3 x 50) + 10 + 9 - 8 (7)
RR: 162. ((75 - (9 - 8)) x 3) - 50 - 10 (10)
Score: 62–65 (max 106)
A small target, but it proves too tricky to get for our contestants, meaning that a crucial conundrum is upon us.
Round 15: V A P I R P O N G
C1 buzzes on 10.5 seconds to say APPROVING which is correct.
Final Score: 72–65 (max 116)
An agonising wait for an -ING conundrum, but Jayne gets it, and with it half-octochampdom.
An awful game today, not in terms of quality, but because of stupid mistakes, but mainly down to the rubbish letters picks today.
Jayne's win takes her into the top 8 for now, and if she stays in the chair for the rest of the week, the top 5 will be occupied by a woman for the first time in a few series.
Join me tomorrow to see if Jayne can make it 5 of a kind.
Till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Jayne:
Total score - 72
Raw score - 78
Total % of max - 62
Raw % of max - 67
Total average score per round - 4.8
Raw average score per round - 5.2
Number of maxes - 5
Sydney:
Total score - 65
Raw score - 74
Total % of max - 56
Raw % of max - 64
Total average score per round - 4.3
Raw average score per round - 4.9
Number of maxes - 3
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=65
