c4countdown

Innis Carson

SURFMANS for an ODO-NAW in R12.

Innis Carson

If there's no longer going to be a common usage standard then I think there's little reason for Countdown not to move onto a set word list like CSW, which would minimise the risk of mistakes by Dictionary Corner and also relieve them of the need to make contentious judgement calls.

Innis Carson

I've seen a few news articles going around this morning (like this one ) talking about the "addition of 1,000 new words to Oxford Dictionaries" which I hoped would shed some light on the situation, but all the examples they give are the sort of modern word that one would expect to be added...

Innis Carson

It's interesting to know that this isn't simply a wholesale integration of the OED into ODO. I'm certainly hoping we'll hear from someone in the know exactly why this has happened, and on what basis they chose which words to add. It's very hard to believe that common usage was their intention - the ...

Innis Carson

Even if we're to suppress our gag reflexes and treat OUTWRITED as a valid word, I think it's probably a little unfair to count it as a missed max for Jonathan and Steve, as we know that it wouldn't have been in ODO at the time this game was played.

Innis Carson

OUTWRITED in R13. 18 points please!

Innis Carson

I once met series 13 semi finalist Nita Marr at a Countdown Club event in Edinburgh in 2005. I'm not sure if that particular club still exists, but Nita ran it for a few years and it was well known in the Countdown world at the time. I think they used to have trips to the studio back in the Leeds r...

Innis Carson

You might be able to recap it from this Youtube video if you want to - I only skimmed through it but it looks to be the complete game.

Did the Big Brother producers really think beating Chris was a reasonable expectation?

Innis Carson

No, the producers shouldn't be taking action to enforce a subjective notion of who "should" be in what seeding position.

Innis Carson

Ned Pendleton and Richard Heald (semi-finalist from Series 53) will also be making appearances this series.

Innis Carson

Marc Meakin wrote:I have notice the people banging on about PR,AV and STV, have piped down. Especially when the realise that UKIP would have around 40 MPs.

Really? I've been hearing more talk of it than ever. And rightly so.

Innis Carson

Yes, I'm aware of that (it was discussed at the time). I was meaning 'standard' to include standard round time.

Innis Carson

This was a great event - everything ran totally smoothly, the format worked well and the venue was absolutely ideal. Thanks very much Alan for putting it all together, I had a lot of fun and will certainly come back next year. Was great to see everyone who came, and hopefully more people will be abl...

Innis Carson

Johnny Canuck wrote:What was today's conundrum scramble (RAFRESUCE) meant to suggest?

Are you sure it wasn't RAFRESCUE? That would make some sense (the RAF being the UK's air force).

Innis Carson

Excellent 'debut' - 14 maxes if I'm not mistaken. Could be a very special run indeed if you can keep that composure up.

Innis Carson

Also, PLUMAGES in round 2? No way of making an objective decision. (Search thing finds it, but that's been discredited.) Different birds can have different plumages. It was allowed here . Does the dictionary say anything different that would change that now? I was thinking that, but that match was ...

Innis Carson

James Robinson wrote: Yeah, I got COHERER, as part of my MAX GAME, which I almost threw away by suggesting parities was available in round 8......

Hate to be a spoilsport, but it was. One to be ticketed.

Innis Carson

Oh wow, that's awful

Had no idea she was so unwell. Deepest condolences to her husband and other family and friends.

Innis Carson

Adam Dexter wrote:
Innis Carson wrote:Probably IMBONGI, and perhaps Um Bongo.
IMBONGI - thanks Can I stick an S on it?

Yep, IMBONGIS is specified as a plural (along with IIMBONGI and IZIMBONGI).

Innis Carson

Probably IMBONGI, and perhaps Um Bongo.

Innis Carson

Thanks very much to Ben and everyone else who played a part in the organisation, I had a lot of fun. Was great to see so many of you, and finally see what the fuss was about after all these years!

Innis Carson

Mark Kudlowski wrote:TETRAGON where DC's best was NEGATOR.

Not in, surprisingly.

Innis Carson

MIDWATER is an "Entry from US English dictionary", so unless there's been a change of policy then DC were mistaken to offer it as an alternative in whatever round that was.

Innis Carson

Just finished it. Good fun and pretty approachable for someone without very much experience of cryptic crosswords - there was one clue I had to look up a definition to understand, and one clue I still don't fully understand, but the answers were guessable anyway and besides that one definition it di...

Innis Carson

Good fun final to watch - very well done Dan for holding your nerve when things went a bit rocky at the start, and achieving the commanding series victory we all knew you were capable of. You definitely seemed to be enjoying yourself this time round, which was nice to see. Very well done to Antoinet...

Innis Carson

R11 was an interesting case where the 3-vowel rule felt unduly restrictive - the letters would have been perfectly fruitful even with a 7th consonant, and indeed the only final letter that would have given a nine was a consonant. Good game today, and congrats to Laurence for rising to the challenge ...

Innis Carson

Apparently Jonny will be invited back next series. (link for those of you who can read the apterous chat logs)

Innis Carson

Jack Worsley wrote: Round 3: F H R I I O S Q T

Innis: FORTHS (6)
Graeme: FIRTHS (6)
OT: FORTIS (6) FRITHS (6) FROTHS (6) SHRIFT (6)
Score: 21–14 (max 21)

Innis, please tell me I misheard your word. FORTHS^ isn't valid.

Happy to oblige. I said FROTHS.

Innis Carson

Thanks once again to Mike and Richard for putting together a superb event, and to everyone else who made the journey up here - CoEdi is always a highlight of the year for me, and yesterday was no exception. It's really nice to see the number of non-regular-clubgoers attending on the rise, and long m...

Innis Carson

The new ODO words have just been added to lexplorer, if that's any use to know. Not in use in Apterous yet I assume though? They are, though at this point apterous is only partially ODO-ised. My vote would still be to go by the ODE3, rather than what is currently a fairly arbitrary hybrid of it and...

Innis Carson

Ideally speaking, my preference in all of these cases (as it was in Q4) is to replay the whole game from the point at which the error was made. Where it's logistically possible to do so, I'd do that regardless of the precise details of what happened after the error. Where it isn't, then to be honest...

Innis Carson

Definition 2 of POVERTY seems to be covered by the [mass noun] label at the top of the entry - the search bar doesn't recognise 'poverties' and no other plural is suggested. The fact that they put a [count noun] tag on definition 2 of FIRE suggests that they think it would otherwise be covered by th...

Innis Carson

Have to agree that disallowing HEADWAYS was a bad call. In other cases, if a mass noun tag is intended to apply to an entire entry, it appears before the first definition and not within it. Hope to see Jonny invited back. Though of course that shouldn't take anything away from George's victory - a v...

Innis Carson

I can easily bring a laptop along if it'd help in any way, though I'm pretty sure there isn't going to be wifi at the venue. I don't think it should affect the tournament too much to just stick with the ODE3 (people who've learned ODO-only words will usually know that they're ODO-only and know not t...

Innis Carson

Got to hand it to Richard, he's achieved exactly what he's been aiming for.

Innis Carson

Andy McGurn wrote: Round 8: D E L I B R A S O

Michael: BRIDALS (7)
Alan: BROILED (7)
DC: DARIOLES (8)
Score: 57–40 (max 63)

One below the max is becoming a habit as the Darren is missed by both Michael and Alan.

BRIDALS isn't valid, think he must have meant BRIDLES.

Innis Carson

My personal experience on the matter of bisexuality isn't going to be quite as extensive as Zarte's, but it has always seemed to me that ignorant (and sometimes hostile) comments about bisexuals and the concept of bisexuality are still fairly prevalent - they certainly come up more frequently (and a...

Innis Carson

Just listened to it and it sounds quite unambiguously like SPIRIT to me. Hopefully this was checked at the time.

Innis Carson

The trams and Airlink buses both go directly between the airport and city centre - the buses take about 25 minutes or so each way and I think are slightly faster and cheaper than the trams, so they're probably your best bet. Getting from the city centre to the event and back is probably best done wi...

Innis Carson

I think all teams from the first few series (can't remember exactly where the cut-off was) were actively invited to reapply for this series. Would expect there'll be a few more returners to come.

Innis Carson

This one had my vote (http://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_5318) though I'm not so sure after today. Though that's not to take anything away from Mark's excellent game today - it was just as easy for his opponent and he still had to beat him to the buzzer.

Innis Carson

There doesn't appear to be an answer to your last conundrum, Johnny (at least according to Lexplorer). Are you sure you posted it right?

Innis Carson

R13: DC offered ODONATES. I can't remember correctly whether it was disallowed at COSTAL recently. Will check later....... I think the controversy there was about ODONATA, and looking closer at the entry it appears to specify the uncapitalised form in one of the subdefinitions, so I'm pretty sure i...

Innis Carson

Tricia didn't seem quite on her usual form today, but it was still a solid performance, and one that Dave can be pleased with keeping close to. Congrats to Tricia on an excellent run - if she brings her A-game to the finals, she could pose a threat to absolutely anyone.

Innis Carson

I'm still at a complete loss as to how she comes across any worse than any other contestants do. If anything, I've quite enjoyed her calm and unostentatious approach. Haven't seen a single instance of her being rude or brusque or anything other than completely normal. What even started us on the sub...

Innis Carson

I think it's quite conceivable that POUNDER genuinely was her 'risky' 7. If I hadn't known from playing the game before that it was Countdown-valid, I don't think I'd have been sure it would be in the dictionary either. Does sound like it could be one of those Scrabble-only agent nouns. And while Su...

Innis Carson

Needless to say, one of those 15 club members raring to go is me. Hope to see lots of you there!

Innis Carson

James Laverty wrote:Pretty sure Tick said TILTED in Round 5 instead of JILTED, unless I'm going crazy

Think his accent makes it ambiguous, but it sounded close enough to JILTED to me that I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

Innis Carson

Great game today, I thought the CSW curse was about to catch up to Tricia but she held on very well. Duncan was very strong too.

This is the first full episode I've seen with Tricia - if she's rude and/or a cheat she's hiding it rather well.

Innis Carson

Love this thread. 1. Disallow it. Whether or not his word is the same as his opponent's, if he didn't have it written down and his opponent's declaration is (or could be) the same, he should have said so. Yes, some people get away with this if their unwritten word happens to be different from their ...

Innis Carson

If she is trying to cheat by this way then it's a pretty risky strategy, not to mention fantastically unsubtle. So much that it makes it hard to believe. Will be interesting to see if it continues though.

Innis Carson

Yep a very solid debut from James, when was the last time someone scored in every round?

Innis Carson

That was a wonderful event, I'm really glad to have made the trip. Thanks very much to Jeff and James (and Rob Gibney) for all their work in preparing it, and running the day in such an enthusiastic and professional manner, it really made the day what it was. Was a pleasure to meet so many people fo...

Innis Carson

It's been quite a while since he was active on apterous, but Hugh Binnie seems to have made it on.

Innis Carson

The rule has always been a bit fuzzy and I'm not sure if there'll be any objective way of distinguishing between 'spellings' and 'words' that will never go wrong, but I find that alternative spellings tend to be given in brackets under the headword but before the entry, such as with FLAVOR and ANEMI...

Innis Carson

It is also not listed as a spelling and has its own pronunciation listed so it's arguably a separate term. It's listed "as a spelling" in the same way that alternative spellings always are, and it would be weird for the fact that it's also pronounced differently to make a difference. No s...

Innis Carson

ODO says LUPINE is a North American spelling of LUPIN though, which is probably why it wasn't allowed.

Innis Carson

Bradley Cates wrote:I think the conundrum has two solutions. I went for RETCONNED.

Indeed. Would have been fine as a conundrum last series.

Innis Carson

Hugh Binnie is in one of the featured teams too, so will presumably be in today's programme as well. Oliver Garner was also briefly visible yesterday.

Innis Carson

APALEBITCH --> ALPHABETIC

IMSOSTINGY
BESTTRAUMA
SHATTERING

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