c4countdown

Gavin Chipper

Dave Preece wrote:Airdates
Air dates
Air-dates

Who cares, really?

I agree. So why did you start this thread?

Gavin Chipper

I saw this article and thought of this thread. End the culture of coaching? Can that happen? How about ending the partitioning of children at age 11 into "intelligent" and "not intelligent"? That's a shit idea, right?

Gavin Chipper

James Robinson wrote:SATRAP in round 2, GENTLE/GLUTEN in round 4 and HERITOR in round 11.

Presumably when you put this but don't say that they're beaters, you mean they're equallers? You should say!

Gavin Chipper

With something like CECIL (as opposed to tossing a coin) you have to worry about things like whether each number is independent of what has gone before. If you tossed a coin 100 times and got 50 heads followed by 50 tails, you might decide that the coin is fair, although of course you'd probably be ...

Gavin Chipper

Andy Platt wrote:Found an insane 9 in the DEMISTED/DEMISTER round courtesy of lexplorer, anyone see it?

No. Tell us what it is. This is the spoilers thread.

Gavin Chipper

Thanks Graeme! But seriously don't spend too much time in this thread, if you get what I mean.

Gavin Chipper

Dave Preece wrote:
Johnny Canuck wrote:
Dave Preece wrote:What a fucking idiot!
Was that really necessary?
Was THAT really necessary?

Was THAT really necessary?

Gavin Chipper

Top 20 is too big a list to name definitively. Like all of these kinds of favorite movie, music or whatever kind of lists, they change all the time the more you think about it. The one movie that crops up perennially though which is the one I say is my favorite movie of all time is Die Hard. Is it ...

Gavin Chipper

Is this a numbers expert picked at random?

Gavin Chipper

Top 20 is too big a list to name definitively. Like all of these kinds of favorite movie, music or whatever kind of lists, they change all the time the more you think about it. The one movie that crops up perennially though which is the one I say is my favorite movie of all time is Die Hard. Is it ...

Gavin Chipper

The history that this scoring system carries in the context of the Edinburgh Countdown Club outweighs the frankly small gains in how deserved most people's positions are. You make it sound like this is a great tradition passed down from generation to generation, as opposed to something someone came...

Gavin Chipper

Innis - ever the diplomat.

Gavin Chipper

I've just paid for both days. What's the Corby line on Travelodge deals this year? It's looks to me as though Friday is £22.99 and Saturday £42 at the moment. The Friday looks reasonable (I paid £24 for each last time). Edit - I've now booked for the Friday at £22.99, but I'm leaving Saturday for n...

Gavin Chipper

At exactly what (faster-than-light) speed would you have to travel in order to escape a black hole? Depends on the mass of the black hole. The formula is (2GM/R)^1/2. A simple definition of a black hole is that the escape velocity is greater than c (the speed of light), or at the event horizon, it ...

Gavin Chipper

Memorial Hall, 317 Newark Road, North Hykeham, Lincoln, LN6 9RY South Hykeham Village Hall, Boundary Lane, South Hykeham, Lincoln, LN6 9NQ Travelodge Lincoln Thorpe on the Hill Hotel, A46 Newark / Lincoln Road, Thorpe On The Hill, Lincolnshire, LN6 9AJ The South Hykeham Village Hall is right near th...

Gavin Chipper

(Why are you so postcode averse in your addresses?)

Gavin Chipper

I can't help but think that the Edinburgh club have been hoist by their own petard. 5 wins and 1 draw for Melanie Beaumont, but their own rules dictate that wins are worthless.

Gavin Chipper

Matt Morrison wrote:
James S Roper wrote:I'm a vaguely-underachieving student.
-1 for the hyphen

-+1 for the hyphen

Gavin Chipper

I was a bit confused by the shortage of wins all round. But since there are wins, draws and losses, could these also be incorporated into the table? It's not really complete otherwise.

Gavin Chipper

Philip Wilson wrote:Also for the 792 round, 88x9 would have used one less number for the Italian version - took longer than 30 secs though

Italian version?

Gavin Chipper

What's the latest in the game that the first E has appeared? Today (massive spoiler), I think the first E appeared as the last letter of the third letters round, so the 27th letter. Are there any that beat that?

Gavin Chipper

75×4-25-3-100/50=270 for the last numbers that no-one got.

Gavin Chipper

The GROANIEST/ORANGIEST round is the classic one where if you want to play tricks on your opponent, you can sit back and relax in order to make them think you have a nine (knowing that eight is the max) to force them to declare an invalid word.

Gavin Chipper

I've just paid for both days. What's the Corby line on Travelodge deals this year? It's looks to me as though Friday is £22.99 and Saturday £42 at the moment. The Friday looks reasonable (I paid £24 for each last time). Edit - I've now booked for the Friday at £22.99, but I'm leaving Saturday for now.

Gavin Chipper

I just did it and got the same as Bob, which turns out to be correct, so that's good.

But really - hiding puzzles in recap threads!

Gavin Chipper

Rhys Benjamin wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:And Richard Brittain's polls?
No, that would be 'Polls of Assorted RBs'.

I meant that RB = Richard Brittain. You are Rhys Benjamin, never to be shortened to RB.

Gavin Chipper

How long before we hear Susie say "Seven is as good as it gets with these letters."? I'm sure she's said that or something equivalent in the past, even if it was just to mean that they couldn't find anything longer. I think you know what I meant. And I'm pretty sure she's never said anyth...

Gavin Chipper

Didn't someone link to that a few days ago?

Gavin Chipper

And Richard Brittain's polls?

Gavin Chipper

David Williams wrote:How long before we hear Susie say "Seven is as good as it gets with these letters."?

I'm sure she's said that or something equivalent in the past, even if it was just to mean that they couldn't find anything longer.

Gavin Chipper

sean d wrote:What's the highest ever 15 round score without a 9?

Of course, there are two records for this, since there's no way that the two 15-round formats are remotely comparable for things like this.

Gavin Chipper

The new score screens and CECIL were required because the old ones weren't compatible with the new computers at MediaCity. I think it's more that they weren't immediately compatible, and they didn't have enough time to sort them out. They probably could have gone back to the old screens after the f...

Gavin Chipper

If a good player loses before becoming an octochamp because they meet another good player on the way, they're just as likely to come across this good player in their first or second game as their seventh or eighth, so it might not help them anyway. Unless you're going to fundamentally change the sys...

Gavin Chipper

James Laverty wrote:Think I would call for it this series since the standard has been so high

But you have to specify the rules in advance or it's not a fair contest.

Gavin Chipper

Why are longitude and latitude the wrong way round?

Gavin Chipper

I'm a massive fan of the show but not the best player of the game :-( All the more reason to go on Apterous! I don't like the numbers game on apterous, I don't find it very user-friendly :-( You just have to get used to it. A lot of people have said that they struggled at first, but I find it's fin...

Gavin Chipper

Gavin Chipper

Dave Preece wrote:I'm a massive fan of the show but not the best player of the game

All the more reason to go on Apterous!

Gavin Chipper

Very difficult 4L selection for the 3rd numbers round. I got to 831 using the same method as Mark and spent a fair amount of time after viewing the show trying to get 832 and still couldn't get it. Hint: The final step in the solution is to divide by 25. :mrgreen: Kidding? You said in another threa...

Gavin Chipper

You must all remember Jon O'Neill having SULPHATED disallowed against Conor in the 30th birthday championship thing.

Gavin Chipper

Graeme Cole wrote:Also, 119 is the highest ever debut score for someone who didn't get the conundrum. (Thanks Marcus!)

What's the highest debut score for someone who didn't score in round 3?

Gavin Chipper

FLORUITS. I think this might well be still valid on apterous, but following some debate after Wilson-Travers in the 30BC, it's now disallowed (as per the new contestant guidelines) What do they say about this? It sounds like the guidelines would have to be very specific. Edit - ODO recognises it wh...

Gavin Chipper

This "blatant cheating" sounds like bollocks to me. What do the contestant guidelines/rules actually say about buzzing in? From the previous discussions, my understanding was that when you buzz in, you have to answer immediately or you'll be timed out, so nothing is specifically said about...

Gavin Chipper

If you're going to change something, make it the selections for the numbers game. Instead of instructing contestants not to use the 937.5 trick, change the "large" numbers so as to defeat it. Instead of 25, 50, 75, and 100, why not use 12, 30, 56, and 90? (Those aren't random; they are re...

Gavin Chipper

Yeah we can't quite simply matters to "if it brings you to a page then it's valid" as certain things which don't have entries of their own like 'faber' and 'melanogaster' will bring you to words whose entries they happen to appear in. If rules like "no words with capital letters"...

Gavin Chipper

I would say that unless it throws out stupid results, then the "traditional" way should go altogether. Someone from ODO has obviously gone through the entries and made some sort of decision on what derivatives are acceptable, so essentially the dictionary now tells us all the words that s...

Gavin Chipper

Great move. Regarding Graeme's point, I'd think that if the search bar recognises a plural and redirects you to the root entry, then that should be taken as an unequivocal indication that the plural is valid. If it doesn't recognise the plural, then you would have to look at the entry and make the ...

Gavin Chipper

That brings me to another question which I've always wondered about. Suppose that you've got two words in mind, for example you note both CAPTIONER and RECAPTION but you're equally unsure of both. If it's you to declare second and your opponent declares a nine confidently, you could just copy and s...

Gavin Chipper

Remember, it's just a mass-market entertainment programme on the teevee. For those who want to take it seriously, maybe someone should come up with a web site where we can play online. That's a brilliant idea. I've got the perfect name for it as well. Why don't we call it apterous. :lol: In other w...

Gavin Chipper

Interestingly it finds the entry for SALMON if you type SALMONS, even though it says the plural is the same. No FABBER (or FABER), and no RAVIOLIS, even though it doesn't mention that it's a plural noun.

Gavin Chipper

By the way, whatever one may think of people's ideas, I definitely think it's good that there are people willing to make a sustained argument for something. I know some people probably think "shut up about this - it's getting boring now", but I consider arguments like this a good thing, ev...

Gavin Chipper

It's been noticed that ODO will recognise some comparatives and superlatives of monosyllabic adjectives (from what I've seen, mainly everyday ones like WILDEST and GRANDER) and redirect you to the root word, whereas other ones (such as apterous abominations FAUXER and HINGEDEST) throw up "no r...

Gavin Chipper

How will the aptodic get updated if this is just a search thing rather than a list?

Gavin Chipper

For very good players, the knowledge that there's an 8 there (especially that their opponent has spotted) can be supremely helpful, and a lot of the time it will then just jump out at them. These "very good players" have enough going for them as it is, without giving them this extra help....

Gavin Chipper

Jack Worsley wrote:I've contacted Mike and he's happy to add some more when he gets some free time, most likely next month. Who's up for writing one then?

I'm quite happy to write one but I've never been on Countdown.

Gavin Chipper

ZOOIDAL in round 7. If anyone's thinking about TRUANCIES, it's still OK on apterous but it's a mass noun and in my opinion, should be taken out. Just looked at the dictionary, and "truancy" is described as an "action" so there might be a case for pluralising it ("the headma...

Gavin Chipper

Zarte won five games, smashing the record aggregate score for a five-time winner I feel like this must have been covered before, but I hereby Ask Graeme: what are the highest aggregates for a one-time, two-time, ..., eight-time winner? (Ideally split for 9/old 15/new 15 formats.) There was a sort o...

Gavin Chipper

John Brackstone wrote:mauling in round 2

You can't mention it - this is the spoilers thread!

Gavin Chipper

Tony Atkins wrote:But I didn't get either available beater in R2...anyone?

Yeah cheers.

Gavin Chipper

I'm amazed that Michaela Strachan was allowed out of the studio alive after that snake spitting poem thing that she did.

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