c4countdown

Everyone else seems to be posting quizzes so I thought I'd set one of my own. No prizes, just have fun and feel free to post answers in suitably spoiler-defying colour. I'll post definitive answers and award VFSMBs on Christmas Eve.

All the answers are related to Countdown, C4C and/or apterous in some way; and, apart from the last one, all are open to discovery or confirmation via internet-based research - but some will be a bit harder to track down than others...

Enjoy.

1. 12 S C N on the R W M T
2. What are the three missing terms (indicated by question marks) in the following sequence:
   4, 4, 6, 7, 2, ?, ?, ?
3. The Series 60 grand final was the last episode of Countdown to be recorded in the Leeds studio. What did Rachel and Jeff tell Yorkshire TV's regional news programme Calendar they would miss the most?
4. In the audience for that same recording, who was sitting on Charlie's left?
5. And that same night, what was my room number in the hotel?
6. What links Andrew Laycock, Ryan Vickers, Matt Thorpe and Patrick McCurdie?
7. In the context of Countdown, what relatively minor but nonetheless essential role is performed by Stephen Pickering?
8. What is the apterous clock music called?
9. What links Ystradgynlais, Kidderminster, somewhere in East Sussex and my bedroom?
10. Unscramble the following nonsensical anagram:
    For party man Charlie Reams, apterous may stew, handily.

Got 1) 12 Series Champions' Names on the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy

Eoin Monaghan wrote:Got 1)

Well done! Perfectly apostrophised too.

I'm pertty sure 9 is the of the Laddimans' locations according to their C4C profiles. I know that the last 2 are Callum and Kai so I'm assuming the others follow the trend.

10 is clearly: Phil Reynolds saw my anteater Ra, hair my famous carpet.

Thomas Carey wrote:I'm pertty sure 9 is [...]

Almost - you're thinking along the right lines, but being too specific.

Mark James wrote:10 is clearly: Phil Reynolds saw my anteater Ra, hair my famous carpet.

No, but points duly awarded for a Quite Interesting answer.

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Thomas Carey wrote:I'm pertty sure 9 is [...]

Almost - you're thinking along the right lines, but being too specific.

Ok, not the Laddimans' ones, but four random people's then.

10 is "A merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all forumites", but I prefer Mark's answer.

For the anagram: The Westcar Papyrus made man say 'Hire a Tor!' informally.

Or: Thomas Carey, a loner, thawed my fairy rump up arms.

6 is maybe Phil's Top 4 Countdown Hotties?

JimBentley wrote:6 is maybe Phil's Top 4 Countdown Hotties?

Haha. You fell for my deliberate red herring. But no.

7. Better known as Dudley Doolittle, the warm-up comedian.

Ker-ching! I thought that one might prove elusive because Googling the name doesn't reveal anything helpful (at least not in the first page or two of hits), but Googling "stephen pickering countdown" does the job. As, of course, does searching for the name on the wiki.

2. 6, 5, 6 (number of octochamps in series 58-65)

Another one correct - well done Graeme. By the way, there seems to be something strangely apt about the fact that your idea of hiding is to make yourself very slightly smaller while still perfectly visible...

Phil Reynolds wrote:Another one correct - well done Graeme. By the way, there seems to be something strangely apt about the fact that your idea of hiding is to make yourself very slightly smaller while still perfectly visible...

Is it? Looks unreadably small on my screen. I set it to size=10.

Graeme Cole wrote:Looks unreadably small on my screen. I set it to size=10.

Ah right. Just remembered that ages ago I got so annoyed with websites that have unreadably small text that I set the minimum font size in Firefox to 10pt, at which it has evidently remained ever since, surviving several Firefox upgrades and a change of computer.

Clue to question 6: The link is C4C-related.

I promised the answers on Christmas Eve and yay, C4C's come back just in time for me to not be a welsher (although still Welsh). Here they are; for the more obscure answers I've suggested links to places where you might have found them.

12 S C N on the R W M T

12 Series Champions' Names on the Richard Whitely Memorial Trophy. An easy one to get you started.

What are the three missing terms (indicated by question marks) in the following sequence:
4, 4, 6, 7, 2, ?, ?, ?

6, 5, 6. The number of octochamps in each of the last eight series.

The next three could all be found via links from the Series 60 finals topic:

The Series 60 grand final was the last episode of Countdown to be recorded in the Leeds studio. What did Rachel and Jeff tell Yorkshire TV's regional news programme Calendar they would miss the most?

"The people." See here.

In the audience for that same recording, who was sitting on Charlie's left?

Simon ('Sid') Myers. See here.

And that same night, what was my room number in the hotel?

417. See here.

What links Andrew Laycock, Ryan Vickers, Matt Thorpe and Patrick McCurdie?

All are former Countdown contestants who have registered with C4C and then posted exactly once.

In the context of Countdown, what relatively minor but nonetheless essential role is performed by Stephen Pickering?

He's the audience warm-up man, better known by his professional name of Dudley Doolittle. See here.

What is the apterous clock music called?

Absolutely Apterous. A sneaky one this as it required research of a slightly more forensic nature. There's a link to the music in MIDI format here, but to find out what it's called you'd have had to download it and then open it either in a MIDI editor or, failing that, a plain text editor (e.g. Notepad) where you'd see the title and other textual info embedded amongst various non-readable stuff.

What links Ystradgynlais, Kidderminster, somewhere in East Sussex and my bedroom?

They are all locations where various C4C members claim to be in their profiles: Ystradgynlais - Ian Glendenning, Kidderminster - Tyron Potts, Somewhere in East Sussex - Callum Laddiman, My bedroom - Kai Laddiman.

Unscramble the following nonsensical anagram:
For party man Charlie Reams, apterous may stew, handily.

A merry Christmas and a happy new year to all forumites!

Have a great time tomorrow and hope Santa brings you everything you asked for.

Phil x

Nice one Phil, a lot of thought put into that.

I didn't partake in trying to answer the quiz but I rather enjoyed reading them. So well done!