c4countdown

Paul Howe

Regarding dismantling Deep Blue after the match, designing a computer that defeated the world chess champion was a great PR coup for IBM, but the match was close (3.5-2.5, and Kasparov could've forced a draw from the game he lost), so I doubt IBM would want their achievement tarnished by possible de...

Paul Howe

I can't see why a human player would ever beat a computer - surely the pure processing power of the computer should mean it can 'foresee' any trap a human player can come up with? Obviously not, I'm just saying I don't understand. Not necessarily. Say its white's turn and there are 50 (just pulling...

Paul Howe

This week I've mostly been lazy and taken the games from the nominations thread. Think I'm going to stick to 5 as a sensible number given the volume of responses so far, unless it happens to be a truly exceptional week. Innis Carson vs Chris Davies - The only game in this week's poll I actually foun...

Paul Howe

I'd say that (association) football has the advantage of simplicity to play at any level. That, added to the simple scoring system and basically simple gameplay which allows teams of wildly varying quality to compete with each other, is the secret of its success I reckon. Good point, all you need i...

Paul Howe

Gavin Chipper wrote:
RIP Jason (Rest In Prison)

I'd imagine the R stands for something else in this context.

Paul Howe

Well played JC's, Corby again looking very difficult to beat and a great conundrum spot from Coles to round things off.

Like everyone else, looking forward to Jon v Charlie.

Paul Howe

Kai told me he also got HORNEROS in rd 7

Paul Howe

ANAPAEST in rd 2

Paul Howe

Football is taken seriously in all major European and South American countries, and has established itself in many parts of Africa and Asia, where it hasn't traditionally been part of the culture. It's even making inroads in the USA. I think the popularity of the game across such a wide swathe of hu...

Paul Howe

Joseph Bolas wrote: I wouldn't know, but surely there is a little bit of fame to be had, from becoming a champion on a game show.

Perhaps. If you read Martin's original post he implied the show was somehow crap because the contestants weren't famous in the same way as, well, people who are actually famous.

Paul Howe

Joseph Bolas wrote:
Paul Howe wrote:And I don't think it was ever predicated on the contestants being famous, just really good at what they do.
Actually they were. The competition was for people who were previous gameshow winners.

Yes, I know. Maybe it's just me but I take game show winner and famous to mean different things.

Paul Howe

Duel was indeed brilliant, but yeah, like with many great game shows, it probably won't come back. Grand Slam was also awesome and that too should definitely come back. I think there has also been a few gaming programmes where there have been 1-on-1 challenges. I'm a bit surprised, as I hated both ...

Paul Howe

Jon O'Neill wrote:What happened with MARTENOT?

Oh yeah, didn't even realise it came up on the recap writer. It's definitely not in the ODE though, I was so incredulous I checked twice. Must've been taken out in the new edition.

Paul Howe

The last game I have complete records for, with the possible exception of Simon's words, which are from memory. Countdown recap for Sunday 25 January 2009. C1: Challenger Simon Myers C2: Challenger Paul Howe DC: Susie Dent and . RR: Rachel Riley. OT: Other words or solutions. R01: K G T B A O U I A ...

Paul Howe

This is game 3, against Junaid Countdown recap for Sunday 25 January 2009. C1: Challenger Paul Howe. C2: Challenger Junaid Mubeen. DC: Susie Dent and . RR: Rachel Riley. OT: Other words or solutions. R01: C S N D I E O Y I R02: B W S J U A A O C R03: S G R S I E E A A R04: 7, 5, 1, 4, 6, 8. Target: ...

Paul Howe

C2: 326. [(75+7)x100-50]/25 (10) That is something else Kirky :shock: The second one's not too shabby either. Here's my first match of the tournament, against Mike Brown. I'm going from memory on Mike's words so a couple may be incorrect, but they'll at least be the right length. C1: Challenger Mik...

Paul Howe

What everyone else said. Great to see you all again and thanks as always to Ben for his tireless effort in organising everything. Bit disappointing from a personal perspective, but it was such an excellent day I didn't really care about being knocked out of contention early. Viva COLIN! Great day, g...

Paul Howe

Is it acceptable to nominate one of your own? http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=22046 Awesome. I didn't know Rex could make a mistake so that is excellent. Ha, I didn't clock that when I saw at it the time. I'm guessing 30 secs might not be long enough to check the entire solution space wit...

Paul Howe

Brilliant game and played in a great spirit, PESTICIDE was an excellent spot.

I was trying to look at the games from the previous CofC on cdb but the recaps won't display. Thought it might be a general error but the borkage appears restricted to these games.

Paul Howe

Can we have another bug report thread?

Only joking mate, think everyone appreciates all the work you put in

Paul Howe

Poll's over, a narrow but well deserved victory for Jon.

I can only look at a small fraction of the games on apterous, so if your awesome game doesn't make the poll it may be your fault for not recommending it. Don't be shy, boys and girls!

And ANAEROBES is the new LEOTARD

Paul Howe

Sadly I think whoever has the best chance of winning the whole thing will end up bottling it.

Paul Howe

Has JOINDERS been kicked out of the ODE? Just had it disallowed on apterous.

Also, what about MANTEAUX? Not sure about this one, but MANTEAU is OK and a lot of the -EAU words take an x plural.

Paul Howe

The first 2 number selections were identical (5,7,8,8,9,100) and only one number different, 10 instead of one of the 8s in the third numbers. Haha, I noticed that as well, didn't see if Rachel was taking them from the same place each time or not. Good game again, but my dark horse for the tournamen...

Paul Howe

My COLIN 2009 to do list is looking increasingly threadbare: 1. Baffle everyone with fiendishly difficult conundrums 2. Avenge Kirk inflicted defeat from CONOT 3. Steal Emma off Dinos 4. Play Countdown theme on piano (I'm working on this, but it's fecking hard to get right) 5. Actually get there on...

Paul Howe

I knew the word, but only became acquainted with it a couple of years ago as I don't drink coffee and the moderately affluent urbanites in our family call it a plunger. I think the vocabulary on the conundrums is generally fine, the last word I can remember being baffled by was the infamous Hansford...

Paul Howe

My COLIN 2009 to do list is looking increasingly threadbare: 1. Baffle everyone with fiendishly difficult conundrums 2. Avenge Kirk inflicted defeat from CONOT 3. Steal Emma off Dinos 4. Play Countdown theme on piano (I'm working on this, but it's fecking hard to get right) 5. Actually get there on ...

Paul Howe

Or are you providing conundrums for each game, as happened at COLIN 2008? I believe the latter, since he's asked me to write them (except those for my own games, unfortunately.) Really? I know that's more consistent if the overall winner is decided on points, but you also sacrifice some charm and i...

Paul Howe

Ben Wilson wrote: I suppose the moral of the story is 'don't play hyper'.

http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=21158

Round 8

And to a lesser extent rd 11

Paul Howe

I was actually a little disappointed with that as a perfect game was there for the taking if I'd been a little sharper. One day, one day.... And none of these Jack Bauer facts are true of me, so I have to reluctantly conclude I'm not Jack Bauer. Which is just as well as I'd quite like to use the bog...

Paul Howe

APTOOOOOOOOOOOOBAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!

(If you're thinking of extending the above for 60000 characters, it breaks the forum)

I'm in, by the way.

Paul Howe

Not sure if there should be a separate thread for this every week, or just one master thread. It's easier for me to keep track of with separate threads but I don't want them cluttering up the board. Anyway, nominate away! Remember next week's game of the week includes games played on THIS Sunday (th...

Paul Howe

Woohoo!

Admittedly Apterous Prime played like a drunk skunk compared to its normal standard, but still!

Paul Howe

It's the return of the election where your vote can actually make a difference! This week's games may betray a personal bias, as they're all speedgoats. It's undeniably a format with a high awesomeness potential though, and it seems to be gaining popularity in apterousland. Good times! Jon Corby vs ...

Paul Howe

Noooooo, I missed goatdown

Paul Howe

Interesting that I got my dad the 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' for Xmas (I never know what to get him) and I read all the million pound questions, and I could get two right for certain and only guess the rest (or take the money, in the figurative sense). The easy one was 'What number does 10 rep...

Paul Howe

Is it just me, the contestants or are there some strange configurations of letters coming out - like a run of 3 I's or 3 R's and 2 S's making the construction of words a little harder - it just seems something's not what it was. Maybe they've altered the number of certain vowels and consonants in t...

Paul Howe

I often find myself agreeing with David, but not on conundrum buzzing (one of the hot button issues of the day). How do you tell when one conundrum might be confused with another? Even if you could, recognising the letters rapidly is all part of the skill of conundrumming. At the last CofC most of t...

Paul Howe

Just meant in general - surely it makes no sense to feel sorry for people based on their vocabulary, when the whole point of Countdown to a very large extent is a test of that vocabulary. Although on second thoughts I can see your point perhaps that it is a little harsh for the conundrum round in p...

Paul Howe

it would also have been harsh for Kai to lose on a word he maybe didn't know. That opens up a whole can of worms, doesn't it? Not saying they should make special provision because he's 12, he's there to compete on the same footing as everyone else (and has shown he's more than capable ;) ), just th...

Paul Howe

It was a really good game, wasn't it, I have to say this tournament hasn't caught fire like the last C of C, but perhaps that's a little much to ask, and too soon. Another thing I noticed, was that for the last two numbers game you could see the large number in Rachel's hand before she put it up. B...

Paul Howe

Well in lads, great performances and really enjoyable to watch.

Overtones of the Gallen-Tournoff series final with the conundrum, really felt for Rich but it would also have been harsh for Kai to lose on a word he maybe didn't know.

Paul Howe

Simon Cooper wrote:Can one who lacerates be a LACERATER?

Fraid not Simon, in ODE land it would be lacerator but even that's not allowed.

*Contemplates recap ruining gag about a tired postman*

Paul Howe

Jon Corby wrote:Here's a good clue - very simple but very clever:

Tired Postman

I'm tempted to ask how many letters, but fear I may be provoking a horrendous pun.

Paul Howe

The poll has ended! Congratulations to Innis Carson for his awesome record smashing effort and to Alex H for getting resoundingly cunted but taking it like a man.

There'll be a new poll on Sunday, so please continue to submit games either on this week's thread or by PMing me.

Paul Howe

Excellent performance from Jon, thought there was a perfect game in the offing until the CASSATA round. On the downside I can't think of another game with such diabolical letters selections. I had a 3 in the MOTIF round. Hopefullly the shuffling was sorted out for the later games or we could have sa...

Paul Howe

I love these names for kids. My kittens are called Pippa and Penny. They were neutered yesterday so have those big cones around their head, which has lead to all kinds of hilarious consequences. :) Awwww. My dog never looks in the mirror normally, but when she has the cone she presses it right up a...

Paul Howe

Yeah. I've never got to the bottom of this. Does the clock go round smoothly but slower, or does it stall at some point? I think the best way to describe it would be jittery, it goes round smoothly for a bit, before stalling very (almos imperceptibly) briefly before continuing. I think I get about ...

Paul Howe

Clare Sudbery wrote:mother (6-yr-old Felix, 6-month-old Oscar)

Have you named your cats yet Jono?

Paul Howe

Create an account on apterous.org and do some numbers games in "practice mode", which means there are no timers so you can practise in a stress free environment. You might want to wait until morning as the site appears to be down right now. There is another recent thread with good tips for...

Paul Howe

Cheers dudes, keep them coming. And I don't think there's anything wrong with games vs bots, they tend to have a different flavour than entirely human affairs which keeps things interesting.

Paul Howe

Not really a bug as such, but my clock definitely goes round too slowly. Having done some timing this evening I get about 12 seconds in speed rounds. Strangely I tried on two comps and they were both slow by the same amount. Aside from having slightly longer to think, it also means I sometimes get 1...

Paul Howe

I got girlishly excited when I spotted what an H would make in round 1 of this game, possibly my favourite pick ever. http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=20127 Sadly the rest of the game could happily be in scrag, especially rd 5 where I picked A for LAVATION but bottled out of it at the last ...

Paul Howe

Interesting. Are we only considering complete lattices (every possible link exists) or are we allowed to leave links out as long as what's left is still a lattice?

Paul Howe

Neat trick. The divisibility by 11 test that Howard mentioned works because 99, 9999, 999999, etc are all divisible by 11, and so are 11 (duh), 1001, 100001, 10000001, etc, which can be checked by long division if you're not convinced. As an example, suppose we want to test 4791237 for divisibility ...

Paul Howe

What will be done in the event of a tie? I would suggest Paul, as GotW custodian, should not normally vote, except in the case of a tie-break (sort of like the Speaker for the House of Commons). It may be too late for this GoTW though, in which case let's hope there's no tie. Regrettably I already ...

Paul Howe

It's the inaugural game of the week poll! Which lovely couple will sneer down on all creation from the top of the Game of the Week Hall of Legends*? Some great games to kick us off, it wasn't easy to choose as the general level of play on apterous really is excellent. Thanks to everyone who sent in ...

Paul Howe

EUKARYOTE, or picking the final U for DEUTERIUM.

I quite like the words that come up as the best picks in goatdown sometimes, e.g. COWABUNGA, JUNKYARD, LIFEBUOY, SYSADMIN, BACCARAT, TRITHEISM and so on.

Paul Howe

In fact, the phone selection process is even tougher than outlined above. Officially, all 100 callback contestants are asked an obscure question with a numerical answer - like the Barbados one above - and the 10 who get nearest to the right answer go on the show. What actually happens is that, to e...

Paul Howe

"I'm an evil tory bigot" is superb, surprised I've never heard it before. If you search online, you can find some rude anagrams including: I HAVE A LARGE PENIS = I PLEASE HER VAGINA MASTURBATION = ANATOMIST RUB LARGE BREASTS = GREAT BRALESS Who would've guessed you could find such filth on...

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