Search found 505 matches

by Clive Brooker
Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683930

Re: Ask Graeme?

Great work both but I really don't think there are that many U's. I'd say six at the most, possibly even five. How many games in Series 66 saw more than five U's appear? By my reckoning the full picture is this, both for series 66 and all 15-rounders to the end of the 30th championship, but excludi...
by Clive Brooker
Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Best ever contestants
Replies: 509
Views: 351986

Re: Best ever contestants

I'll have a go as well. I'm basing this to a large extent on subjectivity; people who in my judgment have had the most profound impact on the game and the way it's played nowadays: Richard Whiteley Mark Nyman Harvey Freeman Scott Mearns David Williams Julian Fell Stewart Holden Jon O'Neill Conor Tra...
by Clive Brooker
Sat Mar 09, 2013 6:55 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683930

Re: Ask Graeme?

As a cross-check, I tried finding the maximum number of times each letter was seen in a game in series 66. Gratifyingly, the answers for consonants were identical to Graeme's which suggests stability in the pack if nothing else. For vowels I get answers that are slightly lower, which I think makes i...
by Clive Brooker
Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:32 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683930

Re: Ask Graeme?

What numbers game had the best solution that was the furthest away from the correct solution? IE 25 1 1 2 2 3 with a target of 999 (You can only possibly get 399 away from the target)! Can't do this one I'm afraid. The database table I made doesn't include the optimal solutions, only the highest nu...
by Clive Brooker
Mon Mar 04, 2013 10:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown Goody Bag
Replies: 27
Views: 6112

Re: Countdown Goody Bag

Would you like my clock?
by Clive Brooker
Fri Mar 01, 2013 5:09 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: 30BC Grand Final Spoilers For Friday March 1st 2013
Replies: 132
Views: 36836

Re: 30BC Grand Final Spoilers For Friday March 1st 2013

Brilliant. Hope that isn't the last we see of those two. Really enjoyable. In the meantime, lets hope we see more nurses. Great game and series, as if you need me to say that. The one thing I noticed today that wasn't up to standard was Nick's "over 6000 contestants", which as Graeme can ...
by Clive Brooker
Sun Feb 17, 2013 9:11 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683930

Re: Ask Graeme?

Also, instead of maxes, how would everyone have scored with the following system - with letters, 1 point for a max, 1/2 for one off the max, 1/4 for two off the max (halving each time), regardless of whether their opponent beat them. For conundrums, just 1 point if they got it and nothing otherwise...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Feb 08, 2013 3:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683930

Re: Ask Graeme?

OK, some real numbers. In the 64 9-round games in series 31 there were, self-evidently, 384 letters rounds in total. In 44 of these, the recap shows at least one OT word better than any offered on the show. I looked in further detail at these 44 only since I was mainly interested in cases where the ...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:30 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683930

Re: Ask Graeme?

Don't forget that some recappers (notably Mike Brown) did exclude words spawned by the recapping tool which were invalid at the time, whereas most just accepted what it produced. For what it's worth, I think the latter approach was more appropriate as it would have ensured a consistency of approach,...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:19 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683930

Re: Ask Graeme?

Do you remember which series you did this testing on? I don't think it would be crazily infeasible to get copies of the old dictionaries and check the DC-beaters in every game. Then worry about the Americanism issue afterwards. It was series 31 I think - certainly a COD9 series. I did this about 18...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:06 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683930

Re: Ask Graeme?

Great though Graeme's efforts are, he's still limited by the quality of the data. I think I'm right in saying that most historical recaps use the dictionary current at the time the recap was created (usually ODE2r or ODE3). A minority have then been adjusted to remove words not available when the ga...
by Clive Brooker
Sat Jan 12, 2013 10:28 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday January 10th (Birthday Prelim 4)
Replies: 48
Views: 12132

Re: Spoilers for Thursday January 10th (Birthday Prelim 4)

I still don't think that the ODE entry (I'm looking at the original NODE, but I can't imagine it's changed) support this usage, making reference only to its use in formal record-keeping. Using it less formally and introducing derivatives, as no doubt happens from time to time, arguably gets no more ...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Jan 11, 2013 3:01 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday January 10th (Birthday Prelim 4)
Replies: 48
Views: 12132

Re: Spoilers for Thursday January 10th (Birthday Prelim 4)

Great win, Conor, but you were lucky to get away with FLORUITED! I agree that ODE lists FLORUIT as a verb, but as the derivation points out, it is already in the past tense ("he or she flourished"), so it doesn't make sense to append the -ED, despite the usual rules for verbs. I just logg...
by Clive Brooker
Sun Oct 21, 2012 7:42 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown Format Change?
Replies: 57
Views: 8468

Re: Countdown Format Change?

Don't let Corby hear you say that. In case it isn't obvious I'm not really advocating the tactic. I'm suggesting to whoever it may concern that Nick ought to change the way he does things. Gevin, the sort of situation I'm thinking of is a 1 large game where the target is closest to say, 8x the big ...
by Clive Brooker
Sat Oct 20, 2012 8:45 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown Format Change?
Replies: 57
Views: 8468

Re: Countdown Format Change?

Nowadays if you're declaring second you can match the first player's declaration and earn yourself at least 20 more seconds to find a solution. So picking the numbers shouldn't be such an advantage.
by Clive Brooker
Sat Sep 29, 2012 6:01 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Special Spoilers For Friday September 28th 2012
Replies: 22
Views: 4337

Re: Special Spoilers For Friday September 28th 2012

Well, it is the eighth highest score, if you only count multiple occurrences of higher scores once. Seems an odd way to work it out though. OK, I'll assume it was deliberately misleading rather than total sloblock. If they want to tell the viewers that they've just seen the eighth highest score in ...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:28 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Special Spoilers For Friday September 28th 2012
Replies: 22
Views: 4337

Re: Special Spoilers For Friday September 28th 2012

Very inaccurate stats from Nick at the end there.
by Clive Brooker
Fri Sep 21, 2012 6:45 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday September 19 2012 (Series 66 #33)
Replies: 14
Views: 2572

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday September 19 2012 (Series 66 #33)

I reckon the comparatives and superlatives of a lot of these two syllable adjectives aren't in the dictionary simply because they got overlooked. Agreed, it always annoys me that the likes of UNKINDEST and SHALLOWER aren't in. Both of those would have been OK under the COD7, assuming that the infle...
by Clive Brooker
Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:05 am
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 16th May 2012 (Series 66, Prelim 87)
Replies: 2
Views: 880

Re: Wednesday 16th May 2012 (Series 66, Prelim 87)

George's run as champ has already ended, and amazingly, despite being on 2 shows, he scored only 99 points :!: :shock: :o ( I think it's a first (the fact that everyone who had been on more than 1 15-rounder has scored over 100 points )) James, I'm surprised at you. Surely you remember the legend t...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Apr 27, 2012 7:20 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday April 27th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 74)
Replies: 7
Views: 2312

Spoilers for Friday April 27th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 74)

A momentous day in Countdown history: today's challenger will be the 5000th to try his/her luck in the hot-seat. "Challenger" here refers to a player in a preliminary game who was not the winner of the previous preliminary. All prelims nowadays have one or sometimes two, but in the early d...
by Clive Brooker
Wed Apr 18, 2012 8:22 am
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: CoLei5 - Saturday 14 April 2012
Replies: 21
Views: 7948

Re: CoLei5 - Saturday 14 April 2012

Just for the record, I think SALINES is given in Lexplorer because Susie has allowed it on several occasions, using the argument that you can have various types of saline solution. Personally, I'm more inclined to agree with the COLEI decision; I wonder whether Susie would allow it if it came up to...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:50 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Breakaway
Replies: 14
Views: 4875

Re: Breakaway

A cross between the Tour de France and One Man and His Dog . Most of the players seem tactically pretty clueless. Today, for example, with very little risk Dave could have bumped off his partner by stepping forward on the last question and giving a wrong answer. Some of the features might need looki...
by Clive Brooker
Sat Mar 10, 2012 7:34 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday March 8th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 44)
Replies: 25
Views: 4378

Re: Spoilers for Thursday March 8th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 4

There have been players who seemed to be trying to use every available second in quite a calculated way. In the Apterous interpretation I assume this is dealt with to everyone's satisfaction by the patience bar, but on the show it often seems to be putting undue pressure on the production team, and ...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:44 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday March 8th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 44)
Replies: 25
Views: 4378

Re: Spoilers for Thursday March 8th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 4

It's clearly a subject on which there's genuine disagreement, so I'm not surprised it gets discussed whenever there's an incident. As a general point, I think those that are fiercely critical are asking a bit too much of someone who's in a totally unfamiliar situation and trying to make the most of ...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:32 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday March 8th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 44)
Replies: 25
Views: 4378

Re: Spoilers for Thursday March 8th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 4

Personally I don't think the hate is justified this time. I don't doubt that Michael genuinely thought he'd seen 771 whilst looking for something better. Why shouldn't he carry on trying to remember what he'd done until asked to stop? I thought Nick was far too slow in calling a halt which may have ...
by Clive Brooker
Thu Mar 01, 2012 3:25 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday March 1st 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 39)
Replies: 14
Views: 3354

Re: Spoilers for Thursday March 1st 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 3

TELETHON in R1 if I got the letters right.
by Clive Brooker
Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:21 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Politics in General
Replies: 1604
Views: 1652499

Re: Politics in General

Did you use a real-life example? (In 1995, Rubens Barrichello tested positive for drugs but had only taken cold remedies; he cannot have been taking performance-enhancing drugs if there was no improvement) I don't understand the relevance of this example. The motion concerned whether allowing the u...
by Clive Brooker
Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:23 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday February 27th 2012
Replies: 15
Views: 4397

Re: Spoilers For Monday February 27th 2012

When was the last time three letters rounds in a row contained 9s? There was Andy McGurn's last heat nearly a year ago, TERRAFORM, INTONATED and SOUTENEUR. (Rounds 7-9) That does seem to be the last instance. Surprisingly, before today there had only been 4 cases in recorded history, the first bein...
by Clive Brooker
Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:40 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: What do you do if you find a pair of glasses?
Replies: 14
Views: 4419

Re: What do you do if you find a pair of glasses?

Michael Wallace wrote:I have no sympathy for anyone who can see well enough to not have their glasses on their face in the first place.
A bit harsh. I have 4 current pairs of glasses, but I never wear more than one pair at the same time.
by Clive Brooker
Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:39 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday February 20th 2012
Replies: 33
Views: 4423

Re: Spoilers For Monday February 20th 2012

Are the Countdown team now intentionally pitching Apterous players against each other to reduce the number of potential Octochamps? Highly doubt this is the case Phil. For a start Chris and Matt were fairly new to apterous when they filmed (certainly when they applied) and I think part of the reaso...
by Clive Brooker
Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:13 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Who is your favourite presenter?
Replies: 14
Views: 4667

Re: Who is your favourite presenter?

I think Des Lynam deserves at least one vote for saving Countdown from its deepest crisis. Many people, including supporters of the show, said it should be allowed to die with Richard. OK, so almost any experienced presenter could've done the same, but DesL is the one who did. However, whenever I fi...
by Clive Brooker
Sat Feb 18, 2012 3:01 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Friday 17 February 2012 (Series 66, Prelim 30)
Replies: 4
Views: 1178

Re: Friday 17 February 2012 (Series 66, Prelim 30)

James Robinson wrote:
Thomas Carey wrote:Isn't ERRATICS a word?
Maybe not back in 1983.............
I thought it was in 1976 when I studied Geology. But the COD7 wanted you to call them erratic blocks.
by Clive Brooker
Fri Feb 17, 2012 7:18 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday February 14th (Series 66 Prelim 27)
Replies: 37
Views: 5668

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday February 14th (Series 66 Prelim 27)

You could look at this incident slightly differently. With that selection, anyone who can spot SEDATION can also see SEDATIONS. I think it's a reasonable assumption that both players were in the same position - knowing that they had to second-guess what Susie would say. The difference between them t...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:12 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday February 10th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 25)
Replies: 17
Views: 3084

Re: Spoilers for Friday February 10th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim

Anyone else noticed that the first 2 numbers games had the exact same numbers come up in the exact same order :?: :ugeek: Does anyone remember this game ? Perilously close to the hat-trick. This was one of Rachel's first games and IIRC she was tending to pick the same pattern from the board each ti...
by Clive Brooker
Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: The Charlies 2010 (THE RESULTS)
Replies: 10
Views: 2391

Re: The Charlies 2010 (THE RESULTS)

Can't believe Rachel's 4 large 299 won it. Those targets are easy if you learn the 298 and 302 rules. I found this far more impressive: 542 = ((75*4*9)+10)/5 The fact that it's a 1 large game and this method isn't that intuitive for a 1 large game is fantastic for me but the public has spoken. Mayb...
by Clive Brooker
Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday January 27th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 15)
Replies: 12
Views: 4072

Re: Spoilers for Friday January 27th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim

The show needs surprises like that. I'm glad that missing BERRIES in R1 didn't cost the game.
by Clive Brooker
Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:20 am
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Pointless Series 5
Replies: 216
Views: 41819

Re: Pointless Series 5

I take it you all got the answer to the town in County Meath? How is anyone in the UK gonna know that? Most people in Ireland would've struggled. I did get it myself it but I wouldn't have if I had to go first. I think I've passed through on a cycling holiday - if not I've been close and have certa...
by Clive Brooker
Tue Jan 17, 2012 8:50 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday January 13th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 5)
Replies: 22
Views: 5210

Re: Spoilers for Friday January 13th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim

Does anyone have the full, exact wording of this rule as it currently stands? Didn't Graeme give this a bit further up? When they say "we have a general rule that all 1-syllable adjectives can be extended in this way" I would assume that "general" is being used in a non-mathemat...
by Clive Brooker
Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:11 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday January 13th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 5)
Replies: 22
Views: 5210

Re: Spoilers for Friday January 13th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim

It's all very well going by what we think makes for a logical word, but you end up with less precision in the rulings. I'm sure I've "offered" the word at home before. I'm sure I've done much the same in order to "win" a tight game. I assume the guidelines on one-syllable adject...
by Clive Brooker
Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:12 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday January 12th 2012 (Series 66 Prelim 4)
Replies: 12
Views: 2172

Re: Spoilers for Thursday January 12th 2012 (Series 66 Preli

GLAUCOUS is pretty familiar to anyone with an interest in ornithology, although I did think it might only be specified in combination. I'll take the triple DC-beater though.
by Clive Brooker
Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:51 am
Forum: Countdown - Historical recaps
Topic: Thursday 28 February 2002 (Series 47, Prelim 47)
Replies: 1
Views: 1473

Re: Thursday 28 February 2002 (Series 47, Prelim 47)

This one might warrant an entry in the "administrative errors" list. Wendy's offering in R12 was initially allowed, so R13 was played with an incorrect score. Although the correction didn't really change what she needed to do, it wouldn't be surprising if Wendy was a bit upset during the f...
by Clive Brooker
Wed Dec 28, 2011 8:42 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: "Between three and five vowels"
Replies: 4
Views: 2703

Re: "Between three and five vowels"

Game 1651 (a semi-final of series 29) seems to have been the final straw. Prior to that 6 vowels had been chosen only 5 times - in fully documented regular games anyway. A single vowel has been selected 4 times, twice in each of games 574 and 650 . The 2-vowel selection was more frequent, with over ...
by Clive Brooker
Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Carl Williams
Replies: 50
Views: 10247

Re: Carl Williams

You're playing Countdown on television, in a numbers round you have nothing sensible to declare. Your opponent declares first, not written down. A routine scenario so far. The best chance of salvaging a share of the round must be to match the declaration, also not written down. Standard procedures t...
by Clive Brooker
Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:47 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Wednesday December 7th 2011
Replies: 34
Views: 3595

Re: Spoilers For Wednesday December 7th 2011

Jon Corby wrote:*this basically comes down to "the luck of which series you are in".
Keith and I are both arguing that Phyllis was not in this series.
by Clive Brooker
Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:46 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Wednesday December 7th 2011
Replies: 34
Views: 3595

Re: Spoilers For Wednesday December 7th 2011

Presumably there have been occasions where someone playing in the last week of the series has had the option to deliberately lose and guarantee a finals spot, rather than risk the next series being a really hard one. I wonder if anyone's considered it,. I remember Chris Kirby in Series 60 seeming d...
by Clive Brooker
Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:07 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Wednesday December 7th 2011
Replies: 34
Views: 3595

Re: Spoilers For Wednesday December 7th 2011

If her run starts one game earlier, she has time to finish her run with either 7 or 8 wins, and if that's good enough she qualifies. If her run starts one game later, six wins makes her the carryover champion, and if that's good enough she qualifies for the Series 66 finals. We have a situation whic...
by Clive Brooker
Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:07 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Wednesday December 7th 2011
Replies: 34
Views: 3595

Re: Spoilers For Wednesday December 7th 2011

Phyllis was playing for a place in the Series 66 finals. It's quite likely that one or more of the finalists in Series 66 will end up with inferior records. Should Phyllis therefore still be in the running for Series 66, and currently No.1 seed? I'm sure there have been plenty of cases where people ...
by Clive Brooker
Mon Dec 05, 2011 8:31 am
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Thursday 1st December 2011 (Series 65, Prelim 109)
Replies: 13
Views: 2175

Re: Thursday 1st December 2011 (Series 65, Prelim 109)

In the COD8 and COD9 the plural of UPTAKE (the act or an instance of taking up) looks OK. If so, DC's adjudications in the past seem to have been correct (I can't check the one in Series 51 as I don't have an unrevised ODE2). Rightly or wrongly, UPTAKES was explicitly approved in this show, so the r...
by Clive Brooker
Thu Dec 01, 2011 6:58 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Only Connect
Replies: 169
Views: 93706

Re: Only Connect

Matt Morrison wrote:Combination of shocked and disappointed that "Cunt" wasn't one of the clues.
OK, so I'm a bit off target with judging the difficulty of the connections, but I found a good way of ensuring it got looked at!
by Clive Brooker
Thu Dec 01, 2011 2:02 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Only Connect
Replies: 169
Views: 93706

Re: Only Connect

Since someone has evidently attempted my first grid (and upgraded it to fiendish - oops) I'm encouraged to have another go. If I'm excommunicated for using one particular word, I maintain it was absolutely necessary.

http://www.puzzgrid.com/grid/1626
by Clive Brooker
Wed Nov 30, 2011 7:35 am
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Only Connect
Replies: 169
Views: 93706

Re: Only Connect

Medium?

Having been totally humiliated, the least I can do is try to retaliate. I've probably embarrassed myself by describing this as "hard", but you never know:

http://www.puzzgrid.com/grid/1621
by Clive Brooker
Thu Nov 24, 2011 6:57 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Should Countdown BAN Under 16's?
Replies: 44
Views: 9035

Re: Should Countdown BAN Under 16's?

Well done for doing that Graeme. It seems pretty open and shut. Good to know that the will is there from the production team. I wasn't really suggesting otherwise, but I think it was a legitimate question. The only possible point of argument I can see is that because Countdown's situation is unique ...
by Clive Brooker
Wed Nov 23, 2011 9:02 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Should Countdown BAN Under 16's?
Replies: 44
Views: 9035

Re: Should Countdown BAN Under 16's?

It's always been part of Countdown's essential character that it's open to anyone provided they can play the game (subject to standard exclusions of course). It seems this is no longer true, which won't help the programme in the long run. I'm sure it won't be long before people start writing in comp...
by Clive Brooker
Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:47 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Politics in General
Replies: 1604
Views: 1652499

Re: Politics in General

OK, we are at war: are you saying our unemployment would otherwise be higher? Or possibly that the world wars were better than the ones we've got now. "Better" is rather a perverse way of putting it. The way in which WW2, in particular, was able to unite the nation is something that I don...
by Clive Brooker
Thu Nov 17, 2011 11:40 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Politics in General
Replies: 1604
Views: 1652499

Re: Politics in General

I'll remind you, the only time in Thatcher's time as PM that unemployment fell was "towards the end". Here's a pretty picture: http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab20/cheekbones3/unemp.jpg When talking about the economic woes of the day, my grandmother used to say that what we need is a j...
by Clive Brooker
Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:15 pm
Forum: Countdown - Historical recaps
Topic: Thursday 16th March 1989 (Series 17, 2nd SF)
Replies: 4
Views: 2129

Re: Thursday 16th March 1989 (Series 17, 2nd SF)

James Robinson wrote:C1: toweling - should have been given, as it's OK as an American spelling, which were OK back then :oops:
DC were right this time, as the American spelling wasn't listed until the COD8.
by Clive Brooker
Tue Nov 08, 2011 11:02 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Tuesday November 8th 2011
Replies: 6
Views: 1717

Re: Spoilers For Tuesday November 8th 2011

I was shocked when Susie disallowed JOINDERS. Just checked and it's valid on Apterous. This word has a bit of Countdown history attached to it. It was famously allowed during Series 44 when it shouldn't have been, since at that time the mass noun rule was being treated as absolute. Until today that...
by Clive Brooker
Wed Nov 02, 2011 2:55 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Cricket
Replies: 196
Views: 33657

Re: Cricket

They've cheated spectators, fans and other players. What they've done is very serious and deserves a custodial sentence. Like others who've commented, I haven't been following this, so I've had to do a bit of skim-reading. The comment above (like dozens I've read in news articles) appears to link t...
by Clive Brooker
Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Tuesday October 18th 2011
Replies: 11
Views: 2575

Re: Spoilers For Tuesday October 18th 2011

When I finally caught up with this game, for the first time in ages I watched the introductions, hoping for a clue on the possible relationship between the only two Haleys ever to appear on the show. The 2011 Anne was being sponsored in aid of breast cancer research according to how many rounds she ...