c4countdown

Fiona T

Performance may have been genuine up to second TTT. That may have been the point he decided to go for the joint record, if indeed he did - perhaps more understandable "I'm gonna get thrashed - might as well go out with a bang". MFNOIAERT He declared FEAR. Could he genuinely not see miner o...

Fiona T

Matey taking the piss. Suggest the wiki write-up kept to the minimum - don't give him the attention he's clearly after. What a tosser. I've seen a couple of people suggest this was a deliberately low score to seek attention, but what makes you so sure of that? Having watched the episode, all I can ...

Fiona T

You really think he intended to score 0 all along? I kind of thought he just lost whatever ability he had to perform under pressure and eventually gave up as a way of coping. (Either way I doubt an extensive write-up on the apterous wiki was the thing he had his eye on?) Yeah agreed - he's not gonn...

Fiona T

Matey taking the piss. Suggest the wiki write-up kept to the minimum - don't give him the attention he's clearly after. What a tosser.

Fiona T

Howie Myers wrote: ↑Sat Aug 12, 2023 5:31 am r2: LUMINATES
r7: alt MISLEARN
r9: alt (75+8+7+2)*3=276

No luminates - one of the most 9ey selections with no 9!

Fiona T

Two of the player-themed examples I was pleased with, but that's about it. One of these was the appropriate one for Coral: OCTOHEATH > TOOTHACHE, the other being DOWNITMSR > WINDSTORM. I admit, the rest were dreadful. The hilariously bad MAUSUNION > UNANIMOUS was another shite one - I don't even th...

Fiona T

https://www.newscientist.com/lastword/m ... e-species/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alleneliza ... ould-they/

TL;DR - fix climate change instead

Fiona T

Please please don't set conundrums with one of the players names in. Lots of people know at least some of the scrambles with their name, and it gives a huge potential advantage to that player. Twice in tournaments I've faced crucial conundrums where the scramble started with my opponent's 6 letter ...

Fiona T

Fantastic - well done!

Fiona T

It was a fantastic event - congrats to Adam and MSR - couldn't have gone more smoothly. Having a central venue was great, and it worked well with the two rooms. Also enjoyed having the extra round and timings worked well. (Personally I would not want an extra round at the expense of not having time ...

Fiona T

Please please don't set conundrums with one of the players names in. Lots of people know at least some of the scrambles with their name, and it gives a huge potential advantage to that player. Twice in tournaments I've faced crucial conundrums where the scramble started with my opponent's 6 letter n...

Fiona T

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2023 9:03 pm I see that that Fiona Titcombe and Stephen Read did Edgbaston Reservoir yesterday, presumably before CO:Brum. Did anyone else?

Nope - just the two of us. Other people scuppered by trains and soft beds. It was pretty grim weather-wise!

Fiona T

Well add one to Stephen Read and Tom Carey - We were doing Edgbaston parkrun before co:Brum. I'd done it before and remembered the route being fast and flat, so I was surprised as we set off to find it was more like an obstacle course with massive hills. I figured it was too hard, so started to walk...

Fiona T

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2023 8:23 am Can someone work out when the vowelliest time of the day to play is?

No point in playing PM then. Nineteen seems like a good number, or eighteen if you fancy your chances of a nice -ing spot

Fiona T

Mark James wrote: ↑Tue Jul 25, 2023 9:05 am Russell Brand did less harm to society when he was addicted to heroin than whatever it is he's doing now.

For those of us who live in an oblivious bubble outside popular culture, what is he doing now?

Fiona T

Haven't got close to Adam's score, but chuffed with an 11 letter word!

#BigBenGame for

22:27:11
324 points

Longest word: SQUELCHINGS
https://vole.wtf/big-ben/

Fiona T

https://twitter.com/mattround/status/16 ... 2920623104

We can all try beat Adam!

Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Thu Jul 27, 2023 6:56 pm Incredible that they put so much effort into reproducing Big Ben's iconic clock face, then they put a 7 in the 6 position.

Looks like it's been fixed - guess we know where he got the bug report from

Fiona T

Did everyone read that in an increasingly high pitched head-voice?

Fiona T

why not 5-6 qualifying games then final between top 2?

Fiona T

Fiona T wrote: ↑Tue Jul 25, 2023 5:22 pm think it's scrabbly - took cid but not dic (that CSW/ODO difference lost me a tournament scrabble game on my final move!) and didn't allow one of the recently expurgated words!

Nope not scrabble - it likes NI !

Fiona T

think it's scrabbly - took cid but not dic (that CSW/ODO difference lost me a tournament scrabble game on my final move!) and didn't allow one of the recently expurgated words!

Fiona T

https://vole.wtf/big-ben/

A new game to waste hours on, and a nice BONG sound

Fiona T

Current and former Countdowners representing the home nations include our very own Stu Harkness, John Ashmore, Wayne Kelly, Femi Awowade, Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Lewis Mackay, Bob Violett and James Wilkie (apologies if I've missed any of you!) Good luck to all!

Fiona T

Well I don't feel hard done by from the Newcastle tourney at all and almost certainly placed higher than I would have in a non-divisioned tournement, but I do think 4 games is far too few to then divide players based on performance. Division C was won by Tim Hebbes and division D by Bradley, both of...

Fiona T

Hurrah it's back, but something seemed off in the first episode Did anyone else feel like there was a massive disparity in the difficulty levels of the 2 walls last night The 2nd one was your standard, run of the mill, easy round one jobby whereas the first one felt more like it was from a semi fin...

Fiona T

Just Dan and me at CoNut

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/leazes/results/116/

Fiona T

Someone needs to tell specsavers that cleek is not valid in the countdown dictionary (only there as driving cleek and putting cleek) - it has featured in a couple of their adverts, so your average punter would be forgiven for thinking it was allowable! Maybe they shou... no I'm not doing it. I'll w...

Fiona T

Someone needs to tell specsavers that cleek is not valid in the countdown dictionary (only there as driving cleek and putting cleek) - it has featured in a couple of their adverts, so your average punter would be forgiven for thinking it was allowable!

Fiona T

What are people's experiences about waiting for a GP appointment? I was reading this article on the BBC, and it was talking about people waiting more than two weeks. But I thought it was standard these days for appointments all to be on the same day that you make them. Basically you and everyone el...

Fiona T

There are an average of 109 cyclist deaths on the roads every year. Most of these involve collisions with other motor vehicles, for which a helmet provides limited protection. There's little doubt that a cycle helmet decreases your chance of a head injury if your head hits the ground. If it's an ar...

Fiona T

I may be an 'on the day' decision - I have a family wedding the day before so really depends which side of 3am I get home!

Fiona T

From a personal POV, I didn't used to wear a helmet. I started wearing one when we were training for our LeJog back in 2010, and one of the first helmeted rides I did, there was diesel on the road - my friend came off - I braked sharply to avoid hitting her and landed on my head. Helmet broke, I was...

Fiona T

I've just signed up for the Scrabble and Im tempted by the Countdown as its Bristol method What makes you think you'd enjoy Bristol more than Lincoln? Having attended last year, it was a very enjoyable event and nice to play proper 15 rounders - definitely recommended, although it is somewhat diffe...

Fiona T

I might listen to it then. Oh the irony. I have had an electric bike for 2 months now and today is the first day I forgot to wear my helmet I was far less reckless and even avoided the downhill route on my journey. I am a convert, having never worn one in 40 odd years of cycling mainly because I se...

Fiona T

One of the things that's often raised by those who are against mandating the wearing of cycle helmets is that more lives would be saved if everyone wore a helmet all the time. You'd save more lives by mandating the wearing of helmets for walking down stairs than you would for riding a bike. Citatio...

Fiona T

One of the things that's often raised by those who are against mandating the wearing of cycle helmets is that more lives would be saved if everyone wore a helmet all the time. You'd save more lives by mandating the wearing of helmets for walking down stairs than you would for riding a bike. (As an a...

Fiona T

Note that MSO entries are now open

https://mindsportsolympiad.com/product/countdown/

Fiona T

why did evolution make mossie/midgie/other annoying insect bites itch?

I'd be happy enough for mossies to feed off me if it didn't itch like a bastard afterwards. Must make them much more likely to get killed/swatted

Fiona T

Top ten singles in 1984 is better somehow than top 10 singles in 1984 This made me think of another one: why do we not put a comma to separate the thousands when talking about years? I guess because of the way we say them. 19 84 rather than 1,984. But maybe we say them like that because there's no ...

Fiona T

Yet another political hopeful who (allegedly) has no respect for women/boundaries/normal decency

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66026515

Fiona T

New parkrun record! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66010152 That's some parkrun debut. (There are some miserable feckers on twitter - "I thought parkrun was about participation not speed" etc... - it is, but there's still a record and it just got broken!) It's a perfect course for...

Fiona T

New parkrun record!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66010152

That's some parkrun debut.

(There are some miserable feckers on twitter - "I thought parkrun was about participation not speed" etc... - it is, but there's still a record and it just got broken!)

Fiona T

Interestingly many of the phone audition questions bore little resemblance to the show questions - no sequences, no 'riddle' type q's

Fiona T

Yeah just watched it - bit odd, but will probably settle in after a few episodes.

Fiona T

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Thu Jun 22, 2023 12:05 pm Well now you've just made it weird.

Happy to help.

Fiona T

I applied, got a call back, and failed to add 8+5 correctly in the phone audition. Unsurprisingly didn't get the 2nd audition - kinda gutted tho, was so annoyed with myself when I looked back at the q's and realised! Had done ok-ish on others. Sounds like a fun format!

Fiona T

Do worms faint? If not, why not? I assume you mean earthworms, although I doubt the answer is different for other worms. Fainting is when blood pressure drops, giving insufficient blood to the brain. Lots of good wormy facts https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~rlenet/Earthworms.html Weirdly doesn't mention ...

Fiona T

https://www.itv.com/watch/sitting-on-a- ... a7674a0011

Fiona T

This suggests that criticism of how the Committee has operated is to be censured, and I think that is fundamentally wrong. A Select Committee cannot be prosecutor, judge, and jury with a blank cheque as they currently are. MPs who have expressed concerns about the committee throughout the process -...

Fiona T

Maus and Elliott in the Arndale - think that counts cos Elliott wasn't attending the co:Man event, so the meetup was because we were there, but separate. (drank coke) Jen, Mark, Sara, Tim and Graeme at Thorpe Park (got wet) Jon Corby at parkrun (scanned my barcode) Audiences don't count - does pubb...

Fiona T

This all sounds very trump-like tbh. The committee is part of the democratic process that this country is governed by. You may not always agree with their decisions or conclusions, just as you may not always agree with a magistrate, or a jury of your peers, or even a football referee, but this is th...

Fiona T

Oh, and while we're here, the honours system is still as ridiculous as ever . Jacob Rees-Mogg knighted and Priti Patel made a dame on Boris Johnson's say-so. It's a complete joke. Doubt it will make a blind bit of difference, but there is a petition... https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/block-b...

Fiona T

George Armstrong with an ageing filter

Fiona T

The fact that Rhys has probably never set foot in a charity shop aside, I can envisage him acting similarly to Barlow in that sketch if he did... Is that comment really necessary? Yes. What's this obsession with civility politics? Have you seen what's going on in the world? The right have gone nuts...

Fiona T

Ian Volante wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 11:53 am I find that things are usually too dark in dark mode.

Your forum pic is in dark mode

Fiona T

Dark mode is so much easier on the eyes.

Fiona T

Because, truth be told, I don't really blame them for trying it on. The legacy of the expenses scandal was the introduction of IPSA - a rather useless organisation which is now meant to oversee all expenses claims and pay (including my own). It means MPs can't pay their staff obscenely, nor do we g...

Fiona T

Do you remember the expenses scandal? Six MPs and peers were given prison sentences . If you do remember, it seems you are in the minority. Four MPs have claimed their driving fines on expenses and just been asked to pay the money back . Where's the outcry? Where's the call for them to at least res...

Fiona T

Part of the study of literature is the historical context in which it was produced. Same with things like art history, which is why it's fine to go openly stare at voyeuristic pictures of naked ladies in an art gallery. I don't remember the detail of Mice and Men, although I do remember it being a g...

Fiona T

It's like the famous saying says (I'm probably paraphrasing here) "I might not agree with what you are saying but will fight to the death for your right to say it" Voltaire When I spoke at the Oxford Union last year about the alarming recent popularity of people filming things vertically ...

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