c4countdown

Bob De Caux

German conundrums don't seem to be working - tried for both Conundrum Attack and 9 rounder, but the screen just hangs with "waiting for opponent" displayed.

Bob De Caux

Howard Somerset wrote:Your analysis agrees entirely with mine, Bob.

(with the sole exception of the last line, as we were not given the fourth criterion for separating teams)

You're right Howard - just wanted to use something other than alphabetical order!

Bob De Caux

Here are the first 11 games and corresponding table: 0 A v B 0 3 C v D 3 0 E v F 0 1 A v C 0 1 D v F 0 2 A v D 0 1 C v E 0 1 B v D 0 2 C v F 0 1 B v C 0 1 D v E 0 P W D L F A Po GD A 3 2 1 0 3 0 7 3 B 3 2 1 0 2 0 7 2 C 5 2 1 2 6 5 7 1 D 5 2 1 2 5 6 7 -1 E 3 0 1 2 0 2 1 -2 F 3 0 1 2 0 3 1 -3 and here...

Bob De Caux

I think THRUTCHED is a good one

Bob De Caux

He'd run out of reds after 8 shots playing that way. He'd run out of reds after 16 shots Martin - 8 double reds (including the free ball) and 8 blacks = 72. Plus the 6 colours is 99 in 22 shots. Basically im gonna level with you. That was far too easy for you chaps mainly because i messed up the qu...

Bob De Caux

Identify all the possible full time scores. I think there are 3 scores that work.... they are (United first) 5-0, 2-1, 1-4 Reasoning: For each score, the half time score possibilities (United first) are (U+1)*(W+1). Take the score 2-1 say. There are three half time options for U (0,1 or 2), two for...

Bob De Caux

Here's a solution for 137 . I used the same logic as you two guys by the looks of it. I may try to prove it's optimum if I get chance later, which is unlikely. Sorry about the large picture, I've no idea how to make it smaller! http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5797/finnsailingpuzzle.png Two notes....

Bob De Caux

Seeing as we're now well onto the next puzzle, here are the answers to the poker questions: i) The best I can find is for 25/44 cards to give you the win, which is 56.8% . One example is: You: 9h, 10h Opponent: 2c,2d Board: 7h, 8h, 4s, 4c You can now win with any 6 (4), 7 (3), 8 (3), 9 (3), 10 (3), ...

Bob De Caux

You can get to 91 and then pot the colours to give 118. 1,8,9,14,15,21,22,27,28,35,36,39,40,45,46,51,52,57,58,63,64,69,70,77,78,81,82,84,85,91,

Would be surprised if this is not the best as the next number after 91 that allows you to pot Yellow-Black safely is 106, which is a long way off...

Bob De Caux

Nice one Andrew, guess there must be (at least) two solutions as that's not the one I had! Would be interesting to see if anyone can get my original one as it has similar characteristics (a double paired board) but a much higher win percentage (43.18% to your 2.27%). Anyway, well done!

Bob De Caux

Hey DOD Can't be a lock hand, as one of the conditions is that you are behind after the turn! You're ahead in your one-outer as well (although that it a sick, sick beat which would have me putting my fist through the screen), so that's not what I'm looking for. For part ii you're not trying to guara...

Bob De Caux

Nice one Matt - correct answer! Just part ii to go...

Bob De Caux

Matt Morrison wrote:We good now?

Very close but...you still have one out too many (similar to the one you just mentioned)

Bob De Caux

Just to clarify then:

- Matt M has the right answer (in terms of the cards) for part i, but the wrong probability (I'm reluctant to say you've got it right until you get the correct number of outs!)
- Matt B has the best answer so far for part ii (97.7%), but it can be beaten

Bob De Caux

Matt Morrison wrote:Correct?

Erm, sort of! Your cards give you the correct answer, but your calculation is wrong! (you don't have as many outs as that)

Bob De Caux

Great, quick work guys. Luckily, although they're good answers, it's possible to do better on both i) and ii) so you haven't ruined my fun just yet! (I did come up with this puzzle myself so it's possible I'm wrong, but I've checked it and feel pretty comfortable). For i) you can get over 50% and fo...

Bob De Caux

Cheers Matt, great question. Here's a little puzzle I concocted which hopefully fits in here (although it's not easy to explain to non poker players). I will retract if deemed unsuitable to the thread! For this puzzle you need to know the rules of Texas Hold 'Em Poker (explained briefly below for th...

Bob De Caux

It can't be done with 5 , so here is my answer for 4 P W D L Po West Bromwich Albion 38 24 0 14 72 Tottenham Hotspur 38 13 25 0 64 Manchester United 38 13 25 0 64 Blackburn Rovers 38 20 0 18 60 Bolton Wanderers 38 20 0 18 60 Newcastle United 38 11 27 0 60 Manchester City 38 10 26 2 56 Middlesbrough ...

Bob De Caux

Doh! Can see why they are invalid. Serves me right for posting late at night. Will work on revised answer...

Bob De Caux

I was going to put 7 when I submitted my first answer, but then realised it wasn't possible. I think I've managed 6 though, Howard. P W D L F A Po GD West Bromwich Albion 38 24 0 14 24 14 72 10 Tottenham Hotspur 38 13 25 0 31 0 64 31 Manchester United 38 13 25 0 13 0 64 13 Blackburn Rovers 38 20 0 1...

Bob De Caux

Not quite sure if I understand the question, but is this right for "a"? P W D L Po West Bromwich Albion 38 17 21 0 72 Manchester United 38 14 22 2 64 Tottenham Hotspur 38 14 22 2 64 Blackburn Rovers 38 13 21 4 60 Bolton Wanderers 38 13 21 4 60 Newcastle United 38 13 21 4 60 Manchester City...

Bob De Caux

Managed to get a new high score on German Conundrum Attack which I'm pretty pleased with, although I see Matt B has snaffled my German 9 record

Bob De Caux

The best official WC song for England in my opinion has to be the New Order/England squad track from 1990, World in Motion) Correct answer! Although as a big Lightning Seeds fan, I did love Three Lions until it started appearing everywhere. I have to confess I did like Embrace circa 1998, but liste...

Bob De Caux

33 and 39 as well, which I was particularly pleased with as I got the first two questions of the first set wrong! When does the champions league malarkey start - next week?

Bob De Caux

Ian Volante wrote:Awful day today, 12 and 24. Nine in thirty of course though.

Yep, absolute stinker - 18 and 21. Who the hell chooses Beatles B-sides?! Great work on the 39, Ian, certainly didn't get that.

For 9 in 30, my top ones would be:

The Smiths
Blur
Oasis
OMD
Erasure
Take That
The Lightning Seeds

Bob De Caux

I believe you'd have to have the e as well to declare the umluated word. Just to clarify, I have had selections with ö, ä and ü in, which can't be used as normal vowels (e.g. if I declare nötfall, Susie says I don't have the letters, as I would need o not ö) My question is how do I declare a word l...

Bob De Caux

Maybe, I haven't tried it, but it seems odd as then you could declare a 10 letter word from a selection like clörmiheg (moeglicher)

Bob De Caux

Couple of points on the German variant that may be bugs or may just be me being stupid: 1) I don't seem to be able to declare words including umlauted vowels 2) I've had several capitalised words come up (Christoph, Suedkorea, Italiener) - probably too much effort to change, but thought I'd mention it

Bob De Caux

Love the new German variant, but can you put in German Conundrum Attck as a recognised game? Just comes up as Custom in my archive.

Bob De Caux

15 and 12 today - No surprises that I got no Jamelia songs :) I've got a Charity pop quiz on Friday night - Any chance I can railroad Bob, Ian and Sue in as ringers? :D Sorry Allan, would love to but I'm not free on Friday. Like Ian though, with more warning I'd definitely be keen! Couple of 27's t...

Bob De Caux

Sorry Sue! Anyway:

DRIVE POTENTIAL CON

Bob De Caux

Ah, capital cities! Well I can do those.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Give me a few mins to come up with a new one

Bob De Caux

Btw, Bob, are you around after the finals filming on the Tuesday... 17th? You could join the small band of revellers for a wee lager frenzy (or one sensible drink if you're filming the next day!) Don't worry - I won't molest you. ;) Phew! It's safe for me to come up to Manchester then! ;) I'll be t...

Bob De Caux

If whoever is setting the quiz wouldn't count the 70's as 'their era' they're not going to realise how easy something like Mouldy Old Dough is going to be. With any name the year question in the 70's I'll normally be spot-on or ONE YEAR OUT, regardless of the chart position (I sort of find myself p...

Bob De Caux

It was a good day for me too thanks to Rod Stewart and the bonuses (5/6) Got 24 and 30 but could only get 'Save all your kisses for me' before he got all the ones I might have got. Nice one Allan. I thought the bonuses were very friendly - there does seem to be a huge variation in the difficulty of...

Bob De Caux

Was fairly straightforward (apart from the conundrum, which came to me in the nick of time), but here is the first max Omelette game.

http://apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=134933

Bob De Caux

Had to do a big catch up today for the whole week. Yep, first round was a stinker - got 21 and 36 for the second. Did he really fail to name three Bee Gees songs?!

Bob De Caux

Jon Corby wrote:
FAG CODE.

Ah, Dogface! That'll be Sophie Reade then (I really shouldn't know this

) One to follow.

Bob De Caux

Edit: Oh yeah, you're right! I missed out the 32!/ bit. It comes out as: 2,390,461,829,733,887,910,000,000 ------------------------------------------- 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336 That's more like it! FWIW, it's quite easy to show how the two methods are the same for the 3 colour, 6 smart...

Bob De Caux

Thanks Bob, that helps. I can't help but think that this method is flawed however, although I'm struggling to put my finger on a reason, although I think the assumption of the reduction in probability at each step is probably incorrect. What Mr Corby has come up with is the logical conclusion of my...

Bob De Caux

That sounds like you're drawing the population you want from a population that is already in the configuration you want it in! This is why I specified initially that the Smarties are being drawn from a large population. What happens in your method to the probability of drawing a fifth red? It's onl...

Bob De Caux

Nope, you have to play at least a 2-letter word, even on turn 1. i think Marc's question might need rephrasing! Aren't there four countries without indigenous snakes? Those mentioned and Greenland. Greenland is not a sovereign country in it's own right, Lucy. It is a colony of Denmark. But I'm sure...

Bob De Caux

Phil Reynolds wrote:Surely the shortest word that you cannot get in Scrabble is A (or I), or am I missing something?

I've never really played Scrabble (so may be talking rubbish), but could you not kick off with 'A' or 'I' at the start?

Bob De Caux

Two personal faves: 1) Which three countries have no snakes? 2) In which athletics event is the women's record better than the men's? 1) Ireland, Iceland?, erm, Malta apropos of nothing. 2) Discus. Yes to Ireland, Iceland and Discus. New Zealand, as mentioned is the country. Obviously it's a bit of...

Bob De Caux

30, 36, probably about 5. Annoyingly couldn't remember if Focus were Belgian or Dutch and plumped for the wrong one! Haven't been able to listen for a few days

Bob De Caux

Marc Meakin wrote:I wonder what would be the shortest word that you cannot get in countdown?

I think there's only one W, so 'wow' wouldn't be possible (although I may be wrong about the distribution of letters)

Bob De Caux

Two personal faves:

1) Which three countries have no snakes?
2) In which athletics event is the women's record better than the men's?

Bob De Caux

1) In curling, what is the name of the three concentric circles that the player is trying to land their shot in the middle of? HOUSE 3) Which country contains the longest stretch of the equator? DR CONGO 6) What are wrapped in Bacon to make "Angels on Horseback"? OYSTERS 2) Who sailed rou...

Bob De Caux

Allan, here are a couple of themed rounds for you. I'll post answers tomorrow. Stuck in the middle 1) In curling, what is the name of the three concentric circles that the player is trying to land their shot in the middle of? 2) Who wrote the novel Middlemarch? 3) Which country contains the longest ...

Bob De Caux

7) If D is to Dark Knight, E is to ET and T is to Titanic, what is Z to? ZOOLANDER, HIGHEST GROSSING FILMS Wow. Good work Marc. All correct. I don't get this. It's the highest grossing film beginning with that letter. Z is by some way the smallest due to Quantum of Solace, X Men 3 and King Kong swe...

Bob De Caux

Connections and series: 1) What links an Eastern European country, a South American river, a town in the Inner Hebrides and a city in Siberia?THE WOMBLES CHARACTERS 2) If Philippines is 5th, the UK is 4th, Nigeria 3rd and India 2nd, what is 1st? USA LARGEST ENGLISH SPEAKING POPULATIONS 3) What link...

Bob De Caux

Derek Hazell wrote:Bob De Caux = The Human Boys' Book of Knowledge

I have been called a lot worse!

Bob De Caux

Marc Meakin wrote:Zoolander and Ronnie Rosenthal then

Spot on this time, Marc!

Phil Reynolds wrote: Is it that people won Oscars for playing all of them?

And spot on, Phil! Got 30 of your 45 song lyrics. Sorry to say there are some truly horrendous songs in there

Bob De Caux

Marc Meakin wrote:Zulu for 9 and Avi Cohen for 4

Great answers Marc, but it's not Zulu (although I'm sure that's a better film in most people's eyes). As for Avi Cohen, the question was more for people who believe football was invented by Sky in 1992...

Bob De Caux

Is it Zorro? and #9 Gordon is number 4 in the Thomas The Tank Engine stories. Thinking laterally for #6 - were they all into fishing, hence the gnomes and his associated fishing rod? Right for 9. It's not Zorro (I think the film was called the Mask of Zorro), but you're probably driving at the righ...

Bob De Caux

Actually did a little worse on Phil's percentage wise (8,8,8,9,8,8) than Allan's (8,8,9,8,10), although I made some good guesses on the latter. Will have a crack at yours now Ian! Phil - Zabriskie Point is not right, although a good try. You are on the right lines with 10, but there is a more specif...

Bob De Caux

Fair enough Allan, that makes sense. Gonna take me a while to work through those Phil, but I like what I see! Here's some questions I've written which I've tried to "googleproof" as much as possible. They are tough though, maybe if people start doing too well... Connections and series: 1) ...

Bob De Caux

Great work, Allan. As a hardened quiz aficionado myself, there's some good questions there, although I'd say the level of difficulty seems to vary hugely. Love the tangential Greek/George Michael link! I've written quizzes before, usually general knowledge but with a twist, such as knowing the answe...

Bob De Caux

A pretty poor 24 on the first set, but a semi decent 30 on the second set. Only 1 Dionne Warwick song though.

Bob De Caux

Ian Volante wrote:That's my moral victory then today eh Sue?

It's a fair cop, especially if you got Pseudo Echo!

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