c4countdown

Martin Gardner

Oh, and nobody's said this because it's of little importance, but did you all notice the challenger asking for "consonance" all the way through the game? You'd think someone who'd been on 8 quiz shows including 15-to-1 would be able to pronounce a nine-letter word. It's of no importance a...

Martin Gardner

Oh, and nobody's said this because it's of little importance, but did you all notice the challenger asking for "consonance" all the way through the game? You'd think someone who'd been on 8 quiz shows including 15-to-1 would be able to pronounce a nine-letter word.

Martin Gardner

I don't think you can be an honest professional footballer these days. The game just won't allow it. And I think diving's been around for a long time so there's no need to blame anyone. As a rule, I'd like to see discipline enforced more. I hate the way that players crowd round the referee and basic...

Martin Gardner

No I'd choose one or two large there. If he's 19 behind then obviously he's gotta try and win, but he's nearly 100 behind! The only immediate example I can think of, is in professional baseball if a pitcher's got a perfect game going in the late innings, you don't try and bunt for a hit, you try an...

Martin Gardner

It's definitely the absolute worst side of football. My favourite sport is snooker, and they're known for being very honorable; they will declare a foul on themselves if the referee misses it. You can't be a world class footballer today and be honest, it's a bit like the Machievellian argument in Th...

Martin Gardner

I've started going for two large, because when the only large number's the 25, it's almost like a game of six small numbers. If you pick two large, there will always be at least the 50 or larger.

Martin Gardner

Matt Morrison wrote:
Ben Hunter wrote:http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=31478
I was quite tickled by your opponent declaring a four in round 8.

It's happened on the show too, Brenda Jolley had FLOUR and her opponent had FOUR. I can't remember any more than that.

Martin Gardner

Michael Wallace wrote:Or just a^b = c => a = c^(1/b)...

Hmm, so why the fcuk didn't they teach us that instead?

Martin Gardner

I had Countmax open during this game: http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=31552 I had it open during Kirk's game to see if he could break the record, and forgot to close it before opening Apterous. If the cheat detector flags that game, that's why. Hard to accuse someone of using a solver tha...

Martin Gardner

Yes if you say exactly half of his games . And yes, but how do you work it out? There is a nice little formula that works it out perfectly. A 'nice little formula'? To solve a^b = c? I fail to see what more needs to be done than just rearranging it like any other equation. I took logs of each side....

Martin Gardner

I've been indulging in some amateur statistography by compiling 4 game scores for some titans of the past (score for entire octo run in brackets) Kirkules 480 (???) or maybe even (????) Julian Fell 462 (924) Craig Beevers 443 (907) Conor Travers 423 (890) David O'Donnell 416 (880) Looking promising...

Martin Gardner

Only spent a minute or two thinking about this, and I'm presuming you mean "what is the lowest such x?" In that case I suppose it's x^(number of rounds) > 0.5 So that for a nine round game, about 0.926 so that 0.926^9 = 0.50609. Or put into words, one would have to max ~93% of rounds to m...

Martin Gardner

I think people may forget that to most contestants, the idea of records and massive scores and whatever don't really cross their mind. I was in the "oh my god what a bastard" camp until CF started looking at me funny - now I've thought about it I think it's a fairly reasonable thing to do...

Martin Gardner

I just came up with this one at random. You'll have difficulty with this if you don't have maths up to AS-Level (like me) or you're just naturally good at maths (like me 10 years ago). Player A is playing Countdown. The probability of player A finding the max for all types of round; letters, numbers...

Martin Gardner

what did i tell you about him! picking 4 big ones to spoil his score! Exactly what I thought. Arsehole! :( Yeah, I mean how dare he choose what numbers to pick to try and reduce his defecit? Wanker. No I'd choose one or two large there. If he's 19 behind then obviously he's gotta try and win, but h...

Martin Gardner

Rachel Riley on today's show wrote:Dunno about fighting, but I'm definitely fit.

IAWTP

Martin Gardner

What an unbelievable game. I think it's a bit shitty to go for four large when your opponent is on for a massive score like that. I'm also really surprised he didn't get the conundrum. At first I thought it was LUNDERING until I realised I only needed to move one letter to make it right. Incredible ...

Martin Gardner

If I enter with all wrong answers, do I get zero? If so I might manage to beat a few people that slip into negative numbers.

Martin Gardner

Martin Gardner wrote:I might as well post this: http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=30414

I don't think it beats what's come before it.

I'm just gutted I didn't choose a final T in the PROOFED round

.

Martin Gardner

Ian Volante wrote:Makes me wonder why no-one's done Hitler yet.

That's longer ago, which softens the blow a bit.

Martin Gardner

I might as well post this: http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=30414

I don't think it beats what's come before it.

Martin Gardner

I've been trying to get a perfect speed nine against Prune as well. I think I managed to max the first six rounds of a game, lost a point on the final letters, and scored nothing in the final two rounds!

Martin Gardner

Eoin Monaghan wrote:What about awards at the end of each month for most improved, best newcomer etc..
The prize could be a rating bonus of maybe 50 or 100.

The most improved has already got a big rating improvement. Improving is its own reward.

Martin Gardner

Countdown is no stranger to controversy. Last year mainstay presenter Carol Vorderman was sensationally fired following the sudden death of original compere, Richard Whitely. Hmm, shall I? Yeah. I'm pretty sure she left albeit under duress, plus when it says "following the sudden death" i...

Martin Gardner

A close battle!

Martin Gardner

So there you have it. The max game. And it only took 27 years. Fucking beautiful. Brilliant game. But I would be surprised if no-one ever achieved a max in the 9-round era (even if BECLOUD is allowed). It's so much easier to get 9 maxes than 15 (or less difficult anyway - it's not easy). I wonder w...

Martin Gardner

Haha no, but one of the female characters drugged her female rival and a male friend of the rival, and using a turkey baster got her pregnant with his sperm. Since then, I can never look at a turkey baster and not snigger.

Martin Gardner

Can I have your child while I still have time, Kirk? Turkey baster method obviously, in case this conjures up horrific images! LOL! :lol: :lol: The turkey baster method is surely less visually pleasing. :o ;) I mean, I've never googled for porn, but I guess there's more of a market for 'traditional...

Martin Gardner

Brilliant. I think I'm almost enjoying this more than CoC XIII. Well done Kirk. Two records in three games - not bad going. I was gobsmacked when Ben had "courters" disallowed. What are people who go out courting called then? Dylan Thomas uses it in the first sentence of Under Milk Wood ,...

Martin Gardner

Congratulations Kirk on your 15/15. A fantastic achievement. I'm sure I recall some of the big guns of the game saying it would never come.... they miskirkulated obviously. Bring on tomorrow. Dave C I don't think he scored in round 14 yesterday, so right now he's got 16 maxes in a row. That's one m...

Martin Gardner

WOW! Is this really the first ever MAX game on the TV show??? :o Even more kudos to Kirk if it is then. For 15 rounds, almost certainly. For 9 rounds or even 15 we don't have nearly enough data. There's a Tim Morrissey game on the Countdown Wiki where gets 73 out of 74 with BECLOUD listed as a DC b...

Martin Gardner

I think that people that did this are not friends of Pakistan. As Imran Khan put it (roughly) if Pakistan can't host a cricket match without a terrorist attack taking place, what chance do they have of attracting multinational companies to create factories and jobs in the country?

Martin Gardner

Paul Howe wrote:
Simon Myers wrote:Yes, barring any glaring omissions in Jimdic, that was a max game.
Awesome.

I'm going to refrain from posting how I got on against Kirk today as well

In fairness towards the end I stopped playing against him and just admired his work!

Martin Gardner

Ben Hunter wrote:Can anyone in the know confirm if this is a perfect game?

I suppose CountMax isn't perfect, so there's always a chance that someone will find a word that we don't know about yet, but we think so, yes!

Martin Gardner

YESSSSSSSS

Edit: Hard conundrum, shame it wasn't EXPANDING or something.

Martin Gardner

Kai Laddiman wrote:
Martin Gardner wrote:
Kai Laddiman wrote:NOOO!!! He's blown it! TOPAZES!
Don't you need a Z for that?
Possibly.

I think it was AEEOOPQST

Martin Gardner

Kai Laddiman wrote:NOOO!!! He's blown it! TOPAZES!

Don't you need a Z for that?

Martin Gardner

It does seem to be a max game (up to round 11). It's a bit like watching a snooker 147 attempt on TV, I always get nervous!

Martin Gardner

Jeff seemed to pronounce that LEZSPOOR or something?!

Martin Gardner · Re: Spoilers for Wed 04/03/2009 I bet he doesn't miss this.

I bet he doesn't miss this.

Martin Gardner

I noticed that Kirk always goes for four vowels, when you've got less useful consonants the like H and X, I always prefer three vowels. The next consonant would have been the C for INARCHES.

Martin Gardner · Re: Spoilers for Wed 04/03/2009 I like Rachel's outfit.

I like Rachel's outfit.

Martin Gardner

I know we've had this before, but I beat the max on the final numbers round here.

Martin Gardner

You have to actually log out and log in again - don't just close the window but actually go on the Apterous main page and do it.

Martin Gardner

My Facebook security settings are so tight that nobody can get to me. Which makes the whole exercise a bit futile I suppose. I was looking for a mate yesterday who I know quite well. Searched, found her. Laughed for a moment that she had her profile picture turned off for searches ("how does s...

Martin Gardner

Toning down Father Christmas & Jesus Christ's language would probably be a better starting place if you wanted to make the game more granny-friendly. On the grounds of good taste, you're unlikely to get accidental rude words removed before deliberate ones! I'm gonna add some kind of filter for ...

Martin Gardner

Fucking hell. That's about it really.

Martin Gardner

Karen Pearson wrote:I think ORBIT was there in the VIBRIO round.

VIZOR to use the Z. I thought VIZIR^ was alright as well, but it's not.

Martin Gardner

Pretty sure that I've seen that conundrum before, a search of the Database might tell me this.

Edit: yup!

Martin Gardner · Re: Spoilers for Tue 03/03/2009 Funniest thing ever.

Funniest thing ever.

Martin Gardner

Re: HEDARIM, that's the problem with showing off, you're bound to get it wrong at some point!

Edit: Oh for fcks sake lol.

Martin Gardner

Mark Kudlowski wrote:EXTANT is ok, but how about the dodgy NINJAED for previous round ?

Nope.

Martin Gardner · Re: Spoilers for Tue 03/03/2009 Michael Wallace wrote:EXTANT as well? Yup.

Michael Wallace wrote:EXTANT as well?

Yup.

Martin Gardner · Re: Spoilers for Tue 03/03/2009 I can only get 759 in the time.

I can only get 759 in the time.

Martin Gardner

Re : what Jeff just said, that seems to settle the highest ever debut score issue!

Martin Gardner

METRONOME is a good one. It has two other anagrams MONOMETER and MONOTREME, which you wouldn't necessarily expect from such a letter distribution, and 3 different repeated letters so its dinosified raccoon score is 3 x (2!)^3 x e^9/9! = 0.5359. Strangely though it only yields one 8: MOTORMEN. This ...

Martin Gardner

METRONOME is a good one. It has two other anagrams MONOMETER and MONOTREME, which you wouldn't necessarily expect from such a letter distribution, and 3 different repeated letters so its dinosified raccoon score is 3 x (2!)^3 x e^9/9! = 0.5359. Strangely though it only yields one 8: MOTORMEN. This ...

Martin Gardner

The superbly named Ann Abel Haha, worst parents ever. Don't blame the parents - she's married. The best one of these I know is my friend Dominique (female) from France who married Dominique (male) and took his name, so husband and wife have identical names, apart from the middle names. When she get...

Martin Gardner

Yeah, I had a max game from the audience, although Kirk had more interesting words than me in most of the rounds. YATTERED was really the only difficult one, and I vaguely remembered Craig getting it in some MSN game. But to drop only 3 points on the other side of the cameras is still a ridiculous ...

Martin Gardner

Again, it's down to definitions. I suspect Ben is at least partially referring to how I worded it on the Countdown Wiki. I'm certainly not against someone editing it and putting a better definition of 'debut'.

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