c4countdown

Philip A

R2 alt: INUTILE - which means useless or pointless.

Philip A

Handheld gaming consoles need to be a thing again. https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/TjoYeRkK4CsguNUrrRRT7B-1024-80.jpg.webp (Nintendo Switch 2 in case the link breaks) That doesn’t count. The Switch is a portable. The DS was a handheld proper. Handheld gaming isn’t what it used to be. Gaming exclu...

Philip A

Handheld gaming consoles need to be a thing again.

Philip A

I personally didn’t like the 70% question which I got wrong. None of the pairs were animals as well, and the question didn’t specify that it had fo be an actual word. Bad day at the office but I did get 5% and 1%.

Philip A

Right, minor wrinkle. They’ve changed the start time to 8:30 pm. This is probably because on the other side, Stefan Dennis can’t be on Strictly and gets a bye to the next show.

Philip A

And both Brett and Jase have two teapots.

Philip A

Although it's known as the restaurant rule, doesn't it actually list all sorts of mass nouns that can be pluralised? I'm pretty sure, for example, that minerals (granites?) can be. Incidentally, I was convinced that when Julian Fell famously lost to Graham Nash it was because he'd had OPALINES disa...

Philip A

Very good scoring from Jase and is certainly within contention of taking the series against the likes of Brett and Ciaran. But I have a couple of questions: 1) In Round 11(?), Susie only gave the adjectival definition of the suggested word OPALINE, but she really ought to have explained why she did ...

Philip A

Remember when William G. Stewart used to respond to letters that proved his statements inaccurate or when he admitted to mistakes? Countdown should do the same. Why does Susie sometimes give incorrect or inaccurate information? She’s right about humeral meaning relating to the humerus, but the humer...

Philip A

Common mispronunciations that irk me:

- sudoku as “su du ko”
- turmeric as “chew muh rick”
- asterisk as “Asterix” (the Gaul)

Philip A

Isle of Dogs

2018 Wes Anderson stop-motion animation set in Japan and a fictional islands, with very similar style to Fantastic Mr Fox.
Definitely giving Nick Park a run for his money. Animation is beautiful.
Not really a kids’ film though; rude but deadpan humour.

Philip A

Heads up: it’s back for more episodes on the 11th of October at 8:40. Six episodes in the can.

Philip A

Good innings, but Dame Patricia Routledge has kicked the bouquet at 96.

Philip A

A close but important victory for returnee and now-ZoomDown Champion Jase Cullen leaves John in a bit of a pickle; John is currently 6th with 5 wins and 594 points (avg. just under 100). John may yet scrape in the finals, and turn out to statistically be the strongest contestant among non-returnees ...

Philip A

ESCORTING is one of those words that you wouldn’t unravel at first sight unless you’re a seasoned anagrammer. You would very easily fall for the ‘sectoring’ trap, and businesses occasionally talk about ‘business sectoring’. The permutations don’t really make you stop and think they don’t look right...

Philip A

ESCORTING is one of those words that you wouldn’t unravel at first sight unless you’re a seasoned anagrammer. You would very easily fall for the ‘sectoring’ trap, and businesses occasionally talk about ‘business sectoring’. The permutations don’t really make you stop and think they don’t look right....

Philip A

Canned applauses and laughter are now utterly dreadful and no longer fit for purpose in modern TV and streaming. Whether it’s comedy, game show or whatever, it’s as dreadful as the cueing on the old Wipeout with Bob Monkhouse (he pretended to have an audience). It should universally be scrapped. Baz...

Philip A

The trouble is some words are simply too old, which is why they’re not in their dictionary. I think we usually describe a surface or competition as uneven or unequal rather than ‘unlevel’. I remember inventing ‘un-sad’ when I was asked to recall synonyms of ‘happy’ in a primary school lesson. Also I...

Philip A

https://youtu.be/qvXfx3uRHz0?si=aKd0kxLLsZKQ_Dqj Remember Cheap Cheap Cheap? You probably don’t. But I did watch the first couple of shows going out at 3 pm, and this forgotten flop that replaced Deal Or No Deal in 2017 was jaw-droppingly abominable. ITV’s 4-episode endeavour Shafted in 2001 is sti...

Philip A

The thin stripes on the GB and USA athletics kits looks too fuzzy on camera as well, which is why they wouldn’t pass the camera tests on TV shows. Also, interestingly, a Radio 1 DJ invited unpopular takes from F1 fans after Lando Norris’s maiden Grand Prix victory, and the first one bemoaned McLaren...

Philip A

https://youtu.be/qvXfx3uRHz0?si=aKd0kxLLsZKQ_Dqj Remember Cheap Cheap Cheap? You probably don’t. But I did watch the first couple of shows going out at 3 pm, and this forgotten flop that replaced Deal Or No Deal in 2017 was jaw-droppingly abominable. ITV’s 4-episode endeavour Shafted in 2001 is stil...

Philip A

2025 Ryder Cup Day 2: Europe’s shirt and trouser colours quite clearly represent the USA!

Philip A

As some viewers eloquently put it when Dr Tom Crawford did it when Rachel was away, he didn’t stick his hands in the boxes; he waited for the contestant’s answer before drawing the card so that he didn’t mis-draw. He was slower but more certain.

Philip A

Paul is absolutely right – she makes three consecutive mis-draws and them clearly realises this via her body language and hesitation.

The Countdown Team eventually sent me a Countdown mug as a gesture of thanks when I emailed them that last series a contestant had chosen 6 vowels. Just saying!

Philip A

Susie tells us that a midwife is "a woman who is with another during birth". I was taught that, because it means "with woman", a man doing the same job would still be a midwife. Further to this, the majority of OneLook hits are to the effect of "a person, usually a woman&qu...

Philip A

TOWPLANE in Round 13

Enjoying Ciaran's shows so far.

Philip A

If you look up Dr Tom Crawford’s YouTube channel and look up the relevant Countdown videos where he goes over all the numbers rounds he faced in his 15 shows, he does actually reveal that he is told that a numbers round is impossible (i.e. he’s told in his ear – all the hosts wear earpieces like nea...

Philip A

Series 66 contestant James Belshaw admits cheating in his audition to get on the show (not totally sure how this makes the news, but there you go!!!): https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/2105515/countdown-cheat-made-history-backfired AFAIK they stopped phone auditions for this reason. When I...

Philip A

Haven’t been watching as much as the lockdown series, but it’s interesting how fine and fickle these matches are now. The seeds have barely been true to form because of all the attempts of the dead words that are still in the players’ heads. We now have two worthy finalists, one who lost to the even...

Philip A

Yeah it’s had an incredible run, and much better than the typical celebrity versions of all these quiz shows. I think what makes Catsdown a success for Channel 4 is the professional comedian line-up. I remember the 2012 pilot was originally part of Channel 4’s mash-up day of programmes (I remember M...

Philip A

Agree with the above tbh. I like Colin (thing to remember, he was unequivocally hyperactive as a child – think he could have ADHD – he used to be a grave digger) who I reckon will still be host for 20 years, and he’s better than the majority of hosts, permanent and guest, in all of Countdown history...

Philip A

Conchiglie should be pronounced "kon-kee-liuh", not "kon-chee-lieh".

Conch can be pronounced with a "kh" ending or a "ch", thereby the plural can be conchs or conches.

Philip A

Top Bun, the delivery van in Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death, is a pun on Top Gun – took me 17 years to realise.

Philip A

Kai, a moustache and a shirt with Ayrton Senna colours VS a quiz team with over ten TV quiz show appearances between them including the youngest ever Mastermind champion? Absolutely stacked episode.

Philip A

Daniil Medvedev should have been disqualified by the umpire and suspended for two months for constant time wasting and unsportsmanlike behaviour during this year’s US Open.

Philip A

Very good contest and almost a double-century. Didn’t really know DIVINEST (which is missable but actually specified if you scroll up the page in ODP) and made up invicted*. If Ben octos I think he’ll made the finals even more exciting. Also, nice to hear the old “CECIL” term returning lately (even ...

Philip A

New series (Series 7) begins on 31st August 2025 at the new time slot of 8 pm Sundays.

Philip A

It has now officially been axed, due to low ratings.

Philip A

I agree, better explanations of validity would be better (especially inflections). Trouble is the show barring ads is 35 minutes, so they can’t explain absolutely everything.

Philip A

For future reference if you’re confused by what’s explained on the show: rather than Wiktionary you can go on Google and enter ‘Dictionary’. Google will then give you a built-in dictionary which is powered by Oxford Languages. If you enter ‘faired’ in that dictionary, you get exactly the same defini...

Philip A

RORQUAL in Round 11

Philip A

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote: ↑Mon Aug 18, 2025 9:13 am what happened on the CURSIVE round, Colin was confused but didn't explain whether they both had it or not. I had CURVIEST!

It was a joke. CURSIVE means joined-up handwriting. Rob was saying he wrote in block writing.

Philip A

Susie seemed to think GLAMORISE was an example of an American spelling becoming naturalised into UK English. But this can't be the case, as that would surely be GLAMORIZE? Rather, it seems to be a case of the U being dropped when forming a derivative, like in HUMOROUS, INVIGORATE, etc. Worth pointi...

Philip A

My opinion: the non-winners had tougher questions overall in Rounds 1 and 2. Luckily, that’s what repechage is for! (Something that Mastermind is missing).

Philip A

Minor spoiler for Friday 15th August 2025:

Another one for the list: gorsiest* https://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_8583

Also the teaser ‘shortwave’ is not valid because it is two words in the British section of Oxford Dictionaries Premium. It is one word in the US of A.

Philip A

Good letters from Rob but Gill’s numbers won it for her: 24 points to 0. The invalid teaser and DC answer suggests they need to absolutely double check they are supported by the British English section of Oxford Dictionaries Premium BEFORE they are set. They should be ruled exactly the same way as t...

Philip A

Well I’ve seen it all. Also, agree re not making DISCOS (contestant answer) and DISCOES (DC answer) clear in shot.

Philip A

We are definitely not seasoned travellers vs this thread and here’s the proof: - Spain (a part of which we didn’t enjoy frankly) - France (Disneyland Paris aged 6) - Italy (Lake Garda twice) - Malta - USA (California paying my cousins a visit, then the US Grand Prix at Texas) That’s it. En route to ...

Philip A

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Aug 14, 2025 2:21 pm They had three 9s before once.

They did, way back in the 1980s. One of the 6s was an upside-down 9.

And I notice when the cards are upside-down, it takes weeks of shows for someone to spot it and turn them over the correct way!

Philip A

You know it’s an off day when two of the numbers cards are placed upside-down on the tray (as you can tell from the inverted Countdown logos). If they reveal an upside down 6 or 9 and you and thereby three 6s or 9s, what then? I noticed it straight away and not for the first time. And ICYW, REIKI in...

Philip A

By the way, and this has been annoying me more than it probably should during the Colin Murray era, but do they not award goodie bags any more? These days it always looks like non-winners unceremoniously go away empty handed. It’s shrunk a bit since the days of board games and dictionaries, but the...

Philip A

Also wondered if he’s the oldest game show contestant. Almost – a 97-year-old was on Deal Or No Deal. By the way, and this has been annoying me more than it probably should during the Colin Murray era, but do they not award goodie bags any more? These days it always looks like non-winners unceremoni...

Philip A

Shortest ever Only Connect team name on the same day as the oldest ever Countdown contestant. I was wondering the exact same thing for the past few days! Is that the shortest team name in OC history with just 3 characters, and I was right. Also wondered if the oldest Countdown contestant at 96 was ...

Philip A

Some stinkers of questions today imo.

Philip A

R11 alt. MIKVEHS

Philip A

Donald Elsom, an RAF veteran who left school at 14 and has since been recognised by the King for his charitable work, has today made headlines before the episode has even been broadcast at 2:10 pm. He is the oldest contestant ever in over 8,500 episodes recorded, at the grand age of 96. Many congrat...

Philip A

First show of the current series was Channel 4’s third most watched programme of the week, apparently. Over 1 million viewers have seen it. So the previous low figures were just because it was a clips show then! Yep. Clip episodes are exactly the sort of programmes that make you switch the telly of...

Philip A

First show of the current series was Channel 4’s third most watched programme of the week, apparently. Over 1 million viewers have seen it.

Philip A

GAMBADOS in Round 2.

Philip A

I was willing them all to get the 9 in Round 8. It could have made headlines!

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