c4countdown

Sam McElhinney has now tied with Rachael Moran for most wins in this series with four. He's going for his 5th today, however it will not be easy by any stretch. For in his way today is aptoforumite Andy Platt, who for those of you who know him, has been waiting awhile for his chance to get on air and play Countdown. Now that he's on, he's definitely going to be a tough test for Sam. We'll see how it plays out.

Join Jack for the recap later (I think, unless something got swapped and I didn't know it).

Remember the name!! Andy Platt!!!

Well done, Andy, good ton debut.

Well played, Andy (show-off), against a tough first opponent too.

I haven't seen it on TV yet Andy, but congratulations on getting a win and teapot under your belt.

From the recording, I remember you had the audience gasping at your sexy solution to one of your 4 large selections

Looking forward to more of the same

Great 9. Great 4 large. Great jokes. Great shirt. Series 68 champion elect!

The numbers solve on the last numbers round reminded me of James Martin's numbers solve from years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfa3MHLLSWI

Great game Andy, excellent start to what I'm hoping is a long Countdown campaign.

Super awesome début, AP!!!

Hard to keep up with you after missing AGONISTIC, but that's what I'd expect.

MOHAIRS in round 9.

Slightly less cool method for 3rd Numbers: ((50 + 6) x 6) - 100 = 236

For a second there, I thought Sam was going to say "Same way he did it" when asked for his solution.

Very strong debut - nice one Andy.

Never mind Jasper, great debut Andy. Funniest episode I've seen in a while.

Cheers for the kind comments. Loving the pictures GC!

Just a couple of things from me without sounding like I'm writing an essay. R1 was pretty senseless - trying too hard I think. Waste of 6 points as I had INVADE. R5 wasn't as hard as I remembered, but from the chair it just wasn't happening - got away with one there. DOGFISH i had, but I couldn't ever remember seeing it or playing it on apterous, so I had doubts about it for some stupid reason. Better to play safe after what happened in round 1 anyway I feel. MOHAIRS is one I normally pick up as well, that completely passed me by!

MOHAIRS is a bit of a debatable one as MOHAIR is listed as a mass noun. Although it's valid on apterous, I'd think twice about declaring it on the show.

Great stuff, Andy, let's have seven more shows of the same, including the four large solves.