c4countdown

Bob De Caux

Is the first one just only girl in the world?

Bob De Caux

I'll be on Radio 2's Popmaster in about fifteen minutes... Shout, shout, let it all out... Nice one Ian, just listened to it on i-Player and thought you did very well to get 27. Tough bonuses, great get on Bobby Goldsborough especially. Tears for Fears though?! I though you were an 80s man? :o I re...

Bob De Caux

Thanks Innis, great game. Some awesome solutions in the home straight, especially on the six small. Good luck in the semi.

Bob De Caux

Thomas Cappleman 127-171 Bob De Caux

Score wasn't a fair reflection the game, as it was very tight until we starting deviating from 1 and 2 large. Particularly pleased with Round 14, where I managed to beat Carol by a mere 8624!

Bob De Caux

CAFE is valid in all 9

Bob De Caux

Dinos Sfyris wrote:Cheers for the game mate, really enjoyable

Yep, great game! Gutted I got off to such a bad start, but chuffed to come back. Great conundrum solve to win it, although it's clearly a draw, right Oli?

Bob De Caux

Group C: Bob DC 164 - 120 Jamie F

http://apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=347759

Cheers for the game Jamie

Bob De Caux

Jon O'Neill wrote:So I failed the second extension? Poop.

Sorry Jono, I couldn't handle the pressure and went to pieces

Bob De Caux

Bit of a stretch, but if you've cut yourself, this would be a part of your body temporarily.

UTERUS = SUTURE

Bob De Caux

Just watched it and they said "who cares?" when asked what the other 6 pointless answers were. I want to know :( I'm with you Kirk! I'd put the house on Les "McDanger" Wallace and John "Boy" Walton, but if Klaasen is pointless, it's quite tough to call the others. Woul...

Bob De Caux

I really liked these two from Sunday's Observer: Freedom to act for actress leaving on the wagon? That's about right. (5,7) One way shopper could get you a tiny jumper? (4,6) Not a big fan of the second clue, but I think the answer must be SAND HOPPER - as in S and HOPPER . First one is very good t...

Bob De Caux

The only thing that comes to mind on universities is the Ivy League unis in the USA. If it is, then my three attempts at Pointless answers are the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell and Columbia (or maybe Brown). No doubt, no one will chose it so we'll never know! Yeah, that seems a pretty good be...

Bob De Caux

Switched back to German to find a relatively Bayfield-free zone and picked up my favourite pencil so far...

http://apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=2 ... 2#r4162152

EDIT: Thanks Matt, didn't know that

Bob De Caux

Agreed, great work Eoin. Annoyingly I had actually thought of the Kha-moon bit, but didn't think to add Tutan on the front - d'oh!

Bob De Caux

Dinos Sfyris wrote:Like Ryan I had 6 of them. I was getting nowhere on the other 4 so peeked at his answers. Between us we're only missing 3 and 9

Just had a look at these. I've definitely got 3 and pretty sure I've got 9. I'll PM Eoin now.

Bob De Caux

Stuck on 136, needing 14 more for Level 4. Think I might've burned myself out :( Wow, well done Charlie, that's seriously impressive Cheers mate. Seems I was too downbeat last night, as I approached them with a clear head this morning and picked off another two. I know Kai and Raccoon are making go...

Bob De Caux

I think something has happened to the link to the German dictionary, as all my words were rejected (I tried GUT just to make sure it was a bug!) and dictionary corner couldn't come up with anything.

Bob De Caux

So, how many of you guys who are so vigorously bashing it have actually played with this ball? Most of the criticism pre-tournament seemed to be about the erratic movement, but I haven't seen much of that at all. Don't forget a lot of the games are being played at altitude which will affect the dyn...

Bob De Caux

James Robinson wrote:SNAFUED in round 4 and BUNGLED in round 7. Thought I had SALKOS in round 11, as in triple SALKO in ice skating, but apparently that's not OK.

It's SALCHOW, named after the guy who first did it. Surprisingly (to me anyway) it is valid.

Bob De Caux

But this is silly — you can't just introduce lots of extraneous details & increase the odds of having two boys. You can! (well, up to 50% anyway). The more extraneous details you introduce, the more unlikely it is that both boys in the BB scenario satisfy them, as you can see from the answers s...

Bob De Caux

Agree with Jon for 1 and 2.

I think rather than expecting an answer (as you would need more info), Hugh's point is that the more specific information you add, the closer the probability gets to 1/2.

Bob De Caux

Thanks Charlie, these are great. Most of them (so far anyway) seem doable just using something like MS Excel, as long as you can come up with an efficient method rather than brute force (I think problem 18 and its extension, 67, are my favourites for this)

Bob De Caux

Ian Volante wrote: "If Joan of Arc had a heart, Would she give it as a gift"

One of my fave groups: OMD - Maid of Orleans
The other sounds familiar but can't quite place it

Bob De Caux

Yep, nice one James. MADISON Avenue, Bryan ADAMS, Michael JACKSON, CARTER U.S.M., BUSH, and connection is PRESIDENTS OF THE USA

Didn't Jon's get solved? (Stratosphere was the band I think).

EDIT: The windmill one is Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz

Bob De Caux

Spot on Lucy (and Lesley)! The first one is a 1999 Number One, which somebody should be able to get now you know the connection.

Bob De Caux

Didn't know that one, Andy. Something a little different/partially google-proof. The artists associated with the following lyrics are connected by the name of a band - which band? "You and me, we have an opportunity And we could make it something really cool" "Oh - thinkin' about all ...

Bob De Caux

Charlie Reams wrote: This is one of the best puzzles I've seen for ages. I will pester my source for more.

Agreed, that is an awesome puzzle.

Bob De Caux

Think I have it: Deal 10 cards out as if you were turning them face up (i.e. any card facing down will now be facing up, but any card facing up will now be facing down). Then put all the remaining cards in the other pile (face down from your blind point of view). If all the cards you dealt out (in t...

Bob De Caux

Sorry guys, I get a bit carried away sometimes!

FWIW Howard, there is a formula for 4 digits:

For any a, if b=3a+1, c=3a+1, d=2a+1 and base=3a+2 then dcba=2*abcd

Bob De Caux

Actually, think I may have cracked it. Here are two four digit combos that work:

1443 and 3441 base 5
2775 and 5772 base 8

Bob De Caux

Can anyone find a four digit pin, together with a suitable number base, which then doubles to give its reverse? Nice puzzle, Howard. The four digit version is tricky, but I've managed to solve the 3 digit version. Think these are the only solutions. 011 and 110 base 2 143 and 341 base 5 EDIT: they'...

Bob De Caux

Nice one Phil. Here's my stab at the logic. For abcd and dcba, with dcba bigger: - to prevent 4*abcd having 5 digits, a=1 or 2 - as 4*d must be even, a can't be 1, so a=2, d=8 (if a solution exists) - to prevent 4*b being greater than 10 (thus carrying over a digit to the thousands column so 4*a no ...

Bob De Caux

Surprised you missed round 8! That probably belongs in the hardest Omelette round thread

Bob De Caux

Not one but TWO ex-Countdowners on the show today!

Bob De Caux

Are you sure you're a fan of Countdown?

Countdown? I thought this was the Deal or No Deal forum.

Bob De Caux

Eoin Monaghan wrote:9 letters?

Fair point, Eoin. To be quite honest, I didn't realise that they had to have 8.

Bob De Caux

APISSEXIT

Clue: Not urine, but it is a fluid leaving the body

Bob De Caux

I really do find it interesting. Much more so than the ridiculous end-game to Goldenballs, which was frankly utter shit. Apologies if this has been mentioned before, but what's really annoying is that a slight tweak to Goldenballs (giving an incentive to co-operative such as an extra 1/4 of the pot...

Bob De Caux

My username is DeathWindow. Not sure if I'm around tonight unfortunately, but if I am I'll definitely get involved

Bob De Caux

I've been mulling over a few variant ideas and think this one could work. Round 1 would be the same as a standard game, but in Round 2, your opponent's word must start with the final letter of the word you declared in Round 1 (and vice versa). You would then continue in this vein. Obviously you woul...

Bob De Caux

Any game (agree with Ian on the Omaha, but perfectly happy with Hold 'Em) and don't mind on the buy in. Have to be evenings for me though.

Bob De Caux

Although I was pleased with my performance, I don't think I'm supposed to be hammering the metamax...

http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=216253

Seems to be an issue for everyone's duel

Bob De Caux

Charlie Reams wrote:Bien sur, mais je ne parle pas de tout allemand donc pour moi il faut supposer (que j'aime). Et aussi peut-etre en espagne, en grec, en latin etc...

Je propose la Chèvreblitz russe

Bob De Caux

Fantastique - J’espére que bientôt nous avons un duel allemand aussi!

Bob De Caux

Well played Michael/CF - very good effort to get down to the last two pairs twice in a row, as that new multiple choice round is a potential minefield. Only just seen your second show - thought you were unlucky with Spiro Agnew given that Mondale was pointless. Just to rub it in, Sporcle have put up...

Bob De Caux

My cunning plan of playing the games early on Saturday morning paid off initially with Chris a bit slow out of the blocks, but unsurprisingly he came back strongly. Thought I had games 3 and 4 sewn up, but he's a tough man to shake off! Well played Chris and good luck in the semis.

Bob De Caux

can you use the same letter twice? If so, then I'll go for BEEFILY

Bob De Caux

Bob DC 3-0 Jim B Bob 99-91 Jim Really good game, with Jim and me getting all the maxes between us Bob 93-79 Jim Much scrappier this one, with me edging a crucial conundrum Bob 101-86 Jim Technical glitches meant that this game took over two hours to finish! Jim reeled me back in after a flying start...

Bob De Caux

Kai 101-120 Bob Kai 81-107 Bob Just sneaked home in the first after Kai came back from missing the early nine. Then very nearly got my first ever max in game 2, but mistyped the last numbers (although I didn't do it Kai's way, which was awesome). Two very enjoyable games. Chalk one up for the challe...

Bob De Caux

Michael Wallace wrote:Something I've found amusing is that despite them using walls from the show...

I may just be proving your point here, but I think I've seen all of this series and don't recognise any of the walls from the shows.

Bob De Caux

Henry and I played last night.

Henry 72-105 Bob
Henry 84-111 Bob

Thanks for the games, Henry!

Bob De Caux

Peter Mabey wrote:Solution:capital city
Indecent assault(9)

I reckon the answer is OFFENSIVE. Not sure on Adam's first one yet.

Bob De Caux

Care to explain your reasoning? Sure. I worked out permutations of the 3 players who haven't got 20, and then just multiplied the final answer by 4 (to recognised that the leader could be R,G,B or Y).. I've labelled it by total points (which can be a max of 36 and a min of 24). 36 12,12,12 - 1 perm...

Bob De Caux

Had a quick go and got 260

Bob De Caux

Sounds good, I'm in

Bob De Caux

Howard Somerset wrote: Anyone else want to try this extension, and prove me wrong?

I agree Howard, I get the expectation to be 3/4

Bob De Caux

Had a crack at the general case. Think you have to do it as a recursive formula. If you don't like mathematical notation, look away now! This assumes that n = 2^z, where z is an integer (i.e. it's a power of 2) http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/6356/cupderbyformula.png Should work for all cases. If any...

Bob De Caux

FWIW Matt, there's a much simpler way of doing the first part (working out prob of a London team playing in the quarter finals). Prob of Arsenal playing a London club = 2/7. Prob of Arsenal not meeting a London club but Chelsea and Fulham meeting = 5/7*1/5=1/7. That's all the possibile London combos...

Bob De Caux

Matt Bayfield wrote: What is the probability of a London derby (i.e. match between two London teams) taking place in the remainder of the 2012/3 FA Cup? Express your answer as a fraction.

I make it 17/28. Working available on request!

Bob De Caux

Ian Volante wrote:
Isn't that a punishment device from a crappy Christopher Lambert film?

I think that's the Intestinator (from Fortress)! Seem to remember enjoying it at the time, but no doubt it would be utterly appalling if I saw it again.

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