c4countdown

David Roe

Round 1: a verruca is a sort of wart, usually on your foot. Round 4: Jeff's made quite a point of being fond of his food, hence the food jokes. TT2: "teller" is an English (but presumably not American) word for the person sitting behind the counter at the bank. Hence fortune teller = telle...

David Roe

If it goes on for one more day it will be too long for me . I used to enjoy the programme even with daft Desmond but not any more . Not to put too fine a point on it , come back Carol all is forgiven . I would even overlook your hair extensions and whacky wardrobe . and to think I used to moan at t...

David Roe

I'm surprised at German being faster to read than English, just because of the way they chop the start of a verb off its root and stick it at the end of the clause. I'd have thought that would slow the job down no end as you have to check out the end rather than reading in sequence. However, I bow t...

David Roe

Could I ask a question, which I realise might not be answered by anyone official:

Do dictionary corner guests get paid:
(1) the full commercial rate for 4 hours' TV for that particular guest;
(2) nothing at all, they do it for publicity/love of the game;
(3) something in between?

David Roe

I still haven't noticed. I suppose it's because 'times by' and 'multiply by' mean exactly the same? So my mind understands either without having to consciously register which one was used? From memory, 7 years ago, I couldn't see the letters board from the Champions chair. I had to look at the monit...

David Roe

Learn to post a link, can't you?

David Roe

We got 2 inches on Sunday and nothing since. But as (i) they don't grit side streets in Lancashire, (ii) Colne is built entirely on the side of a hill, and (iii) it hasn't thawed at all this week, it means my car still can't get out and it's off to work on the bus. Approx. 7 cars or vans slid into w...

David Roe

I like her ex-husband.

David Roe

Kai Laddiman wrote:Jesus, a 9-rounder with a max of 104!

So what happened to "Sorry, Kai"?

David Roe

I was watching on Freeview when it went off, so assumed it was the Freeview that was wrong and went to analogue, which was OK so I saw the goal live. (Granada region.) Then switched back to Freeview, which was back on pictures for the action replay, but subtitles were off.

David Roe

Easy way to cope with tactical declarations - just declare 2nd (out of 3 players) every round. So you're declaring 2nd against one of the opponents, 1st against the other. Which may mean you declare different words against the two opponents. You just have to assume the losing player in numbers round...

David Roe

In East Lancashire (roughly Colne to Accrington, possibly Blackburn too) it's called a teacake. Which causes confusion when I ask for a teacake anywhere else - I get offered something with currants in. Our "twitten" is a "ginnel". [Edit - would you believe I put 'currents' in my ...

David Roe

Chelsea have Quaresma, but Burnley have undersoil heating. Game on tonight, get down to the Turf!

David Roe

I know it's different playing at home, but I was so close to beating Kirk. I spotted DEUTERONS in Round 1, and Round 4, Round 7 and Round 12, but missed it in the Conundrum. (What were we saying about the shuffling?)

PS - I thought it was Amey Deshpande in the quarter-final?

David Roe

Old, Clare? Perish the thought. It's just that the squirming baby which may or may not be on your lap at present, led me to believe you were too old to be a 13-year old gymnast now or in the future.

David Roe

Clare - I don't agree that that splinter has prevented you from being the first female president of the USA. There's still time.

I do think you've left it too late for the gymnastics, though.

David Roe

Kai Laddiman wrote:Back on the 3 U's theme, I thought of UBIQUITOUS but it's 10.

3 U's? Susurrus. And a letter to spare.

David Roe

Exactly, Gavin. I could have been just as much genius as Kai, but was denied the chance. Anyone born before early November 1970 could not physically be an 11-year-old Octochamp, and therefore deserves all the accolades as if they were. :) ("Unplaited" was disallowed in my 6th game. I lost....

David Roe

Genius? Pah. The only reason I didn't become an Octochamp and C of C entrant when I was 11 was that there wasn't any Countdown then. That's the ONLY reason. Absolutely. No other reason AT ALL. (OK, so I didn't become an Octochamp when I was 36, either. Well, that's just because my brain had got a bi...

David Roe

Charlie - you're education's lacking (Cambridge Uni or no!

). Did you never read Jennings? Bungee is another word for rubber (as in eraser).

David Roe

Wemberley, Wemberley,We're the famous Burnley FC and we're ... not going to Wemberley.

And I didn't even get to the game either. Off work with flu.

David Roe

I have no official knowledge of what happens when a contestant disagrees with the other contestant's answer. But just by knowing the show I can confirm that neither contestant can disallow the other's word; and that if there is a disagreement it will not be shown on TV.

David Roe

The other contestant isn't the judge. All he has to do is say he doesn't think it's spelt right, and a proper judge will have a look. Which will no doubt be edited out of the final show. I'd be interested to know what the official ruling would have been on "dioptr" if it had been passed to...

David Roe

I got mine in April 2001 (show broadcast in June 2001), it was on then.

David Roe

Frank Rodolf wrote:And this one, on the same site, from June this year:

Won in 2000 sold on eBay for £185.00 5th June 2008

The teapot linked here doesn't say "winner" under the word "countdown" - doesn't that mean it was one on sale in the shop, rather than a prize?

David Roe

Any other croquet players?

David Roe

1.RW

2. DL
3. DO'C

JS - insufficient data. Ask me at the end of the series.

David Roe

(Helped by a map) Alaska furthest N,W & E, Hawaii furthest S. Baseb on the Greenwich meridian.

David Roe

How about

P - PA - PAR - PARS - PARSE - PARSER - PARSERS

?

David Roe

If you get unusual letter choices (eg. 3 R's), that's probably a sign that the shuffling's more random than normal. If you consistently get average selections with no freak selections, on this sample size, it means someone's manipulating the cards.

David Roe

Lunch yes please. Dinner afterwards - can I leave it open? See you then.

David Roe

Some precocious git goes for 6 small and the numbers are 9,6,5,3,1,1. Cecil produces a target of 971. Cue despair from Rachel and contestants, since 971 is prime. 972 is a much friendlier number, so: 972/9 = 108 108/6 = 18 18/3 = 6 5 + 1 = 6 And you still have the second 1! Alternative way of getti...

David Roe

Write down at least 2 copies, possibly 3 copies, of the letters as Rachel declares them. Then you can cross out likely endings like ING, and have a clean set of letters to go to if ING doesn't work.

David Roe

'Gentoo' used to come up a lot. It was the first 'leotard', if you see what I mean.

David Roe

The best I've got is the fashion tip "Avoid Red" or the literary tip "Read Ovid". I'm a bit short of scope really.

David Roe

I learn some of them. For example, I now know what a tangelo and a dacoit are. But since I flatter myself (accurately :) ) that I know more words than most of the people I talk to, learning the more obscure stuff would be of limited value because I wouldn't be able to use them, and because I don't r...

David Roe

One of my old math teachers said, "You should never put a 0 in front of a number." She was absolutely right! She was absolutely wrong. Octal constants in many of the most widely used programming languages would be impossible to specify otherwise. Writing down phone numbers could be a bit ...

David Roe

Very true. Everyone needs to learn that, it's just easier for some than for others.

David Roe

I'm fairly certain I would have been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome if it had been fashionable when I was a child. But it wasn't, so I escaped the attentions of the educational psychologists. Someone at work had a son who was diagnosed with Asperger's who had a lot of the same eccentricities as ...

David Roe

An identical twin might be useful. Real or imaginary.

David Roe

If a tiny tot (like Kai) goes on the show, and loses (not like Kai!), they might have him back when he's grown up. No other exemptions as far as I know.

David Roe

Maybe Eastbourne's different, but I've never had any impression, anywhere, that people would think watching Countdown was in any way uncool. This is the first time I've even seen it suggested. Mind you, I was on in 2001 when Richard Whiteley was still in charge, and obviusly that's when I talked to ...

David Roe

You may be right. Except that would mean I've become non-ordinary!

David Roe

I would presume an "ordinary" person referred to here might be the one who doesn't practice, other than watching the show, as opposed to one who sits down with a list of words, stems, etc. and works things out. If so, even the ordinary person is practising 45 minutes per day, because (at l...

David Roe

Wow. That's a pretty strong reaction for 3 words. I take it you'll not be watching Andrew Sachs' episodes, then? (He's not really from Barcelona, you know!)

David Roe

David O'Donnell wrote:Edit: I did think Des's "Goodness, gracious me" comment was about a million miles off - makes me kinda glad he's off.

Not a Peter Sellers fan? Or just not a fan of fake foreign accents?

David Roe

I think it might be easier to judge the quality of the programme after we've seen it.

David Roe

Kevin Thurlow wrote:I thought this was going to be a proposal to have Countdown in Welsh....

"I have a nine, Jeff

LLWYNGWYL"

or perhaps not.....

I think that would only be 8 - "LL" a letter in its own right, it just doesn't have a single letter symbol.

Or does that count as nitpicking?

David Roe

Everyone who says "scon" thinks "scoan" is pretentious. Everyone who says "scoan" thinks "scon" is posh. Fact of life, I'm afraid. I still use NODE1 (I think - it's whatever they were giving out in 2001), because I can't be bothered buying a new dictionary eve...

David Roe

You're quite right, Charlie, that's exactly how I did read it. All I can say, Paul, is sorry again. Where's the smiley for "hitting myself over the head with a mallet"?

David Roe

Sorry, it was uncalled for. (It was the line about "slightly more technical terms that you might appreciate" that twitched my nerve.) I did in fact change opinion half way through - when I started the proof I thought it was going to prove my theorem, it was only when I finished I realised ...

David Roe

Impressively patronising. Actually, the reason I didn't write " P(a>b|a>c) " wasn't because I didn't know how, it was that I thought other people who might (just possibly!?) be still reading wouldn't understand it if I did. If you'd read my posts, you'd have seen I was agreeing with you. S...

David Roe

Didn't Carol split time with someone else during the first series? I thought Cathy Huytner did the letters board, and Carol and A.N.Other the numbers, alternate weeks?

David Roe

Jon Corby wrote:Where are the pictures of Rachel?

Bearing in mind this is the Sun, perhaps it's as well they don't have any archive photos?

David Roe

Please can you stop posting at exact times, damian - 12 noon yesterday, 9.00 today - the exact timing makes me think it's an official announcement to coincide with a press conference. WHO IS IT???

David Roe

Am I allowed to keep replying to my own posts? Here goes, anyway. It's easy to work out the probabilities on a very limited number distribution - eg. if a and b are both picked from the 11 whole numbers between 0 and 10. (a=b is not allowed.) If c is the optimum value of 5.5, then this system gives ...

David Roe

Right. Let's assume we pick c as 0 - this means we can use positive and negative as dividing markers for >c and <c which might make the example easier to read. The example works exactly the same for any value of c, "positive" and "negative" are just naming conventions. So c = 0. ...

David Roe

[EDIT - my next two posts contradict this one to some extent, so don't waste too much time trying to understand what I'm on about! :) ] The intrinsic probability of a>b or a<b is not affected by c. It's 0.5, whether c is chosen before a is turned up or after. What changes in your computation of the ...

David Roe

I got it in 32 seconds. Fat lot of good that would have been.

David Roe

Don't knock Chelsea. They're a good side. After all, Burnley only just beat them.

Search found 390 matches