c4countdown

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

If the contestants declare different lengths it makes no difference to the game or the tactics of the round which of them you ask for their word first. Besides, I'm not sure there's ever _been_ a rule about who gets asked for their word first.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

In Susie's section when she spoke about how certain terms don't sound quite right unless the words are in the usual accepted order, one of her examples was that nobody would eat a pair of flop-flips. Is eating flip-flops an actual thing? She said "You'll never eat a Kat-Kit or _wear_ a pair of...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

For numbers you need to have your result declared but you can do the method after time.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Another quirky idea of mine is for the conundrum to be written down before buzzing making the 1 second answers impossible. This would also be consistant with writing all other answers. Like i said before if the contestant used a tablet it would be a good modern innovation 1. This makes it a questio...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

JackHurst wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:56 pmI wonder if Luke wanted O for NUCLEOIDS in the final letters round which would have kept things spicy.

An even simpler way to spice things up would have been for Luke to have picked a final vowel in the round where he already had IRENICAL to make it EIRENICAL instead.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

:!: I reckon his newly earned title of "Jammiest-Series-Finalist-Ever" will not be topped any time soon... as it was an administrative error that saw him face the easier S6-S2 path to the final, rather than the S5-S1 path he'd have faced had the seeding been correct. I presume you will ta...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Maybe better on the football thread but the BBC should not have broadcast the footage of Errikson getting CPR and panning in on his distraught wife They explained when the match resumed that they weren't in control of the footage (it was coming directly from UEFA) and apologised for the distressing...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Italy's entry was a very enjoyable piece of music for me. When Finland were revealed to have scored over 200 from the public with what was a very bland piece, it was clear that Italy would be the ones to beat.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Series 56 champion and 30BC participant Nick Wainwright turned up for a game of table tennis in Wii Sports Resort:

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

I wonder if something went on behind the scenes with the conundrum; can only think of one example of the conundrum already being a word before, ostensibly because of a cock-up. There was the SPANGLIER/RELAPSING example, which was a cock-up, but also the GERANIUMS/MEASURING one, which I think was in...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

More problematic is the fact that, as with any vaccine, certain groups of people - in this case, women who are pregnant or are actively trying for pregnancy, and people with certain underlying health conditions - are being advised not to receive the vaccine. This would make any "vaccinated-peop...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

I mean if Rhys wants to count them, then sure. It's not like there are pre-existing rules for this sort of thing.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

5 vowels in R11 was a mistake. The game is sewn up already, so there's no need for defensive picking, and only one (uncommon as far as vowels go) vowel gives a 9 whereas a staggering 10 consonants do so, most of them being extremely common letters. With these sorts of errors creeping in I fear this ...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Would Susie allow BUTINES/BUTYNES? According to Lexico and Premium: The two alkynes are "1-butyne" or "but-1-yne" (CH≡CCH₂CH₃) and "2-butyne" or "but-2-yne" (CH₃C≡CCH₃C); both are gases at room temperature. The other two isomers are buta-1-3-diene (CH₂=CHCH=C...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

James Robinson wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 5:01 pm DC: CHASTE (6 - Rachel suggesting that the players chose this spelling rather than CHASED... )

This was, in fact, the word I had written down

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

People who modify the default subject when replying to a thread.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Have you seen her bump? She's already 20 weeks plus.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

James Laverty wrote: ↑Mon Feb 01, 2021 5:41 pm 7. Meghan Markle to announce she's expecting a child to be born in 2022

Not quite.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Things are heating up in the old person fandom.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

My point about the relative value of 9s 1) depends on the exact structure of the game and 2) is not based in actual evidence. But roughly the idea is that if you miss a 9 your opponent spots, you need to beat them in (probably) two subsequent rounds AND beat them to the conundrum to win. Whereas if ...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

I ca'nt imagine what your'e talking about

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:38 pm I'd'ven't thought you'd ever be able to get three though.

*I'd'nt've

Can't believe you managed to mess that up.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Jonathan Willis wrote: ↑Mon Jan 25, 2021 11:49 am When is the next ZoomDown?

Today, at 8pm UTC!

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

While the CD letters distribution does appear to fluctuate slightly over time, it's nothing major. I had a game in which 5 C's were drawn, and I think someone has also mentioned to me a game with 6 C's, which is double what you use in your simulations! For my own lists I wrote code that would scrap...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Just a quick note from me to say that probabilities are really weird and unintuitive, and in fact the lack of repeated letters at the top of Rob's list is entirely expected from a statistical point of view, assuming no shenanigans in the shuffling (which is probably a dud assumption but never mind)....

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

LiChess is completely free, has a feature where you can create a challenge via URL, and although it does have chat I think accounts can be configured so that it is disabled.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Definitely changed - I had 5 C's in one game.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Amazing game, gripping until the end. EGOSURF a personal favourite. For me, Colin has been perfect for these specials. He brings the contestants into it and makes them relatable and his energy is absorbing. Even the most part-time viewer would have appreciated the atmosphere and sense of occasion ha...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

I'm concerned by the fact that presumably Callum was able to point to a physical manifestation of a bear in that round. How did it get into the studio?

(https://www.apterous.org/ticket_view.php?ticket=5840 for those who are lost)

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Pleased to see Tom staying true to form and opting for the "random choice" numbers pick, and George also following suit!

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

I'm just glad I didn't go for the other 7 I had written down in that round - MAEGBOT. Would have looked a bit silly. I'd never seen it with an E on the end before.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

The current government

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

I had predicted Luke would defeat Sam by around 20 points, with or without a Crucial Conundrum, and again, I was way off with the difference at 37 points. I make it 17 points... ;) However, Sam buzzes in with speedpost which the selection doesn't have double "P"s, unlucky there :( I took ...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:04 pm I'm surprised Luke wasn't allowed to go up and celebrate in the middle of the studio on his own with it, but that's a great idea, Jack.

He did do this - he picked the trophy up himself and waved it around a bit while they filmed him. No idea what happened to the footage.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Congratulations again to Luke! He was perfect on the letters throughout all three of his finals games, which has surely never been done before. Absolutely amazing standard of play, and the deserving winner.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

In your quarter final it sounded like Damien (looking at him, Matt Bayfield's older brother presumably) offered the same word as you deliberately due to declaring second in round 13. At 40 points behind I don't mind what anyone does. It's not like it's gaming the system to try and gain an advantage...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Maybe it's just me, but "What is the difference between X and Y?" carries an implicit assumption that I'm asking for the positive difference.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Nov 16, 2020 12:45 pm But because it's debatable and not everyone would agree, no-one should ever write a formula like that.

This is the only correct answer.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

I’m not sure why the tried and tested method for playing along, namely pen and paper, should be seen as unideal? I want to question the assumption that pen and paper is the tried and tested method. When playing along with the TV, or playing on Apterous, or playing in the studio, I exclusively work ...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

(It's far from being ready to publish, very buggy and crappy UI, but it does the job I need it to!) I particularly enjoyed SelectListActivity. In seriousness though, this is really cool to see, and thank you so much for sharing it! Once upon a time I considered making an all-in-one learning tool li...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Personally, I've estimated my own ratios of 3/4/5, then exported a list to a deck of flashcards Anki, which is a really really brilliant app for learning stuff. Each day, you do your flashcards and note how easy you found them, then it essentially reminds you of information just at the point where ...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

(using a usefulness metric that is superior to just 'this was a max x many times' because it includes information about whether other more useful words are available in the same round). This is the methodology I was trying to summarise in the first part of my post before pointing out its shortcomin...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

This question is triggered in part by Jack's thread about the pattern for letters max progression. I don't know the answer. In that thread, Jack suggests that a good way to learn words is to first learn the word that appears as a max most often, then the word that appears as a max most often in roun...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

JackHurst wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 3:12 pm If I come back on can I have a harder draw please? I don't think Conor then Luke then Rex is difficult enough to give me a real challenge.

Is Rob good enough for you?

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Paul Anderson wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 10:24 am Let the picker choose the length of the letters rounds, 9-18 letters, double points for anything over an 8.

Next ZD special?

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

JackHurst wrote: ↑Sat Oct 17, 2020 5:21 pm By the way, bonus points for those who can correctly identify the graphs above.

Players 1, 2 and 3 are Jack Worsley, Rob Foster and Elliott Mellor. Working on the others!

Edit: Player 4 is Jonathan Wynn.
Edit 2: Player 5 is Zarte SIempre.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

I think the graph is probably closer to something like 1 - k^n for some k slightly smaller than 1, rather than something like log(n). At least, this is true under the (completely false) simplification where each word appears as a max with fixed probability independently of all other words, and with ...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

When it comes to long jump (and triple jump for those that consider it a non joke event) it would be nice if the measurement was from take off to landing. Some big jumps were from before the plasticine mark Ian's "jumping over a river" analogy is good here too. If you take off from before...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

In fairness, Rhys was just responding to the request to summarise the article, and it's probably spelled out in there, although I'm not a subscriber so I haven't read it.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

I haven't had any problems with being logged out on either my phone or my laptop.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Sam Cappleman-Lynes wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 10:00 pm Well, it worked out my actual job, so...

Update - about half of my company (who do roughly the same job as me) are getting told they are suited to professional sports, and, in particular, boxing.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 9:31 pm This is hilariously terrible. Apparently I should be a head chef, a chef, or a cake decorator. Yeah... no. https://beta.nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/

Well, it worked out my actual job, so...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

I'm not sure Rachel should give clues by saying "That's a good start" when someone starts their numbers solution. It's not really a clue though is it? Clearly they already think it's a good start or they wouldn't have gone that way. Well, they might be unsure, and she only says it when sh...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 8:17 pm I'm not sure Rachel should give clues by saying "That's a good start" when someone starts their numbers solution.

It's not really a clue though is it? Clearly they already think it's a good start or they wouldn't have gone that way.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Also, how come Macaroni as in the penguin isn't in Lexico at all? Seems to be an omission... reckon that could be pluralised if it was in, restaurant rule or otherwise :D https://www.lexico.com/definition/macaroni_penguin Presumably the plural is "macaroni penguins", but even if you wante...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

The plural is specified in the dictionary as macaronies.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

This new detail is being reported on in - correct me if I'm wrong - every major media outlet. What exactly do you want to happen?

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 11:16 am http://c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php? ... d2#p187685

Rhys Benjamin wrote: Last edited by Rhys Benjamin on Tue Oct 06, 2020 11:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

Classic Dom.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

The worst thing about this is the media are not camping outside her home and hounding her day and night I haven't seen reporters doorstepping her 24/7, reporters harassing her family for more information or Led By Donkeys blasting a video on her street for all her neighbours to hear. Odd as, as I s...

Sam Cappleman-Lynes

In addition to all of the other points that have been raised, the Cummings story ran for days and days because there were new developments happening all the time. "Cummings went to Durham", "Boris knew that Cummings went to Durham", "Boris says he's satisfied with the explan...

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