Search found 2002 matches

by Graeme Cole
Sat Mar 11, 2023 1:32 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Politics in General
Replies: 1604
Views: 1654179

Re: Politics in General

Andrew Neil never called the Government Nazis Nor did Gary Lineker. This is what he said, here and here : Good heavens, this is beyond awful. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I...
by Graeme Cole
Wed Mar 08, 2023 8:00 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Only Connect
Replies: 169
Views: 93918

Re: Only Connect

Marc Meakin wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 9:43 am Alex Hardwick.
Love him or hate him?.
I'm sure you wouldn't deliberately misgender someone, but her pronouns are she/her. So now you know.
by Graeme Cole
Fri Feb 24, 2023 10:14 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Corrections to numbers methods on the wiki
Replies: 7
Views: 1778

Re: Corrections to numbers methods on the wiki

Hi everyone. It's been nice to trawl through the archives (it's been a while) and I'm pleased to say that I can provide insight of varying levels into these discrepancies. Series 4, Episode 163: The wiki matches my notes exactly. Although it's obviously possible that I wrote down an 8 instead of a ...
by Graeme Cole
Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:43 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Censorship
Replies: 25
Views: 2505

Re: Censorship

It's not as if they're quietly removing things in order to pretend they were never there. There's been quite a lot of publicity about it. A child reading the book afresh will not necessarily know any of this. They're not getting any of the context of the removal. The publicity is just now. It won't...
by Graeme Cole
Wed Feb 22, 2023 1:41 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Censorship
Replies: 25
Views: 2505

Re: Censorship

I'm not entirely convinced that "enormous" is any less offensive than "fat". Seems like an exercise in silliness. Its like some of the words in the expurgated scrabble list which include, BINT, CISSIES and ASPIE And, erm, BOGTROTTER . I can understand why people might have diffe...
by Graeme Cole
Tue Feb 21, 2023 12:03 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown adjudication dictionary
Replies: 103
Views: 12239

Re: Countdown adjudication dictionary

CSW isn't exactly freely-available, either. CSW word checkers that take a word and give you a simple yes or no are all over the place, but the actual raw word list is more restricted . This is so obviously a comment from someone from outside of the world of Scrabble. The new CSW lists are always fr...
by Graeme Cole
Mon Feb 20, 2023 10:32 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown adjudication dictionary
Replies: 103
Views: 12239

Re: Countdown adjudication dictionary

Maybe when Damian retires the new person will have the vision to make the change. Okay, let's play. What exactly am i supposed to be changing to and why? The dictionary isn't perfect, but are any of them? It's not long since we had the best C of C ever and two highest scores of 154 in pretty close ...
by Graeme Cole
Wed Feb 15, 2023 9:43 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 14th February 2023 (Series 87, Heat 17)
Replies: 13
Views: 1478

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 14th February 2023 (Series 87, Heat 17)

Not sure I understand the reason for Ann's 0 seconds conundrum solve ( "the amount the clock moved" ). Can someone explain please? As I recall, they'd recently built a new clock, which had a few teething problems. Occasionally the music would start but the clock hand wouldn't. This happen...
by Graeme Cole
Wed Feb 15, 2023 1:22 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 14th February 2023 (Series 87, Heat 17)
Replies: 13
Views: 1478

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 14th February 2023 (Series 87, Heat 17)

25 points behind going into the last "half" and going on to win. Must be fairly rare. Good game. According to my recently-refreshed wiki-derived database, the last time a contestant was 25 or more points behind after R9 and went on to win was in 2014: https://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_5896
by Graeme Cole
Sun Feb 12, 2023 9:42 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Sporcle multiplication tables
Replies: 20
Views: 2884

Re: Sporcle multiplication tables

My first two attempts were over 2:00, but that was by looking at the dot that appeared in the grid and reading off the row and column. Then part way through attempt 3 I realised the actual question appeared in the same place above the grid each time, and you could just use that and ignore the grid. ...
by Graeme Cole
Sat Feb 04, 2023 9:34 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives Under ‘Derivatives’ Removed! *UPDATE: NOW FIXED*
Replies: 25
Views: 3578

Re: Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives Under ‘Derivatives’ Removed!

Gavin Chipper wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 7:20 pm The blanket rule that allowed "dominater" would have been badly thought out though. It should be DOMINATOR, and not because it's a special case. ATE -> ATOR is the standard method.
Even if you apply that method, over-general rules such as these have more holes than a cheese grator.
by Graeme Cole
Sat Feb 04, 2023 6:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives Under ‘Derivatives’ Removed! *UPDATE: NOW FIXED*
Replies: 25
Views: 3578

Re: Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives Under ‘Derivatives’ Removed!

the said words are all reasonable So are most agent nouns in some context, but many of those aren't specified (e.g. invoicer, tightener, deployer, ...) and we're used to that. Perhaps adjectives that don't have their own entry, and are instead only mentioned as derivatives of a noun, are rare enoug...
by Graeme Cole
Tue Jan 31, 2023 7:14 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

The other question, which I don't think has actually been explicitly addressed, is what would we do if e.g. Jim applied to enter anther CO-event? That's easy. "No." Because realistically, refusing him entry would be more about not wanting to play with / associate with him than an actual s...
by Graeme Cole
Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:30 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown mentions on other shows
Replies: 315
Views: 137366

Re: Countdown mentions on other shows

Not exactly a show, but Bolton Wanderers just used Jeff Stelling-era Countdown to announce the signing of a useless player… I can say he’s useless, cos Town have had him for 5 months, in which he played 6 times, starting just 3, and in one of them, he played so bad that he basically helped concede ...
by Graeme Cole
Tue Jan 31, 2023 9:09 am
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

Can you make online payments using fake ID, I have no idea? Going back to my idea of having a membership for Focal with a nominal annual fee to cover event costs and running potentially a data base giving every player a rating, based on average game score or games won against ranking like in Scrabb...
by Graeme Cole
Tue Jan 31, 2023 8:48 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: You Are The Ref
Replies: 345
Views: 147402

Re: You Are The Ref

Player 1 buzzes Player 2 buzzes just (but very clearly) after and says the word. Player 1 says they had the word and they're reputable. Do you: Allow Player 1 to have the conundrum Use another conundrum Happened at Lincoln twice from what I gather. One game allowed Player 1 to have it. One game had...
by Graeme Cole
Mon Jan 30, 2023 12:32 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

In countless scrabble tournaments (well II tried to count but it has to be over a hundred.) There have been cases of verbal abuse but no criminal activity. Scrabble has an ABSP database for players. Maybe some sort of database should be used for Co events to at least mean that people can be made ac...
by Graeme Cole
Sun Jan 29, 2023 10:47 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: COLIN XVIII- Countdown in Lincoln, 28-29 January 2023
Replies: 52
Views: 13121

Re: COLIN XVIII- Countdown in Lincoln, 28-29 January 2023

And Tim takes the title, winning 85-75 in a titanic battle for his first COLIN title win! Many thanks to everyone who came over the weekend, its you guys who make the event what it is. :-) I'm now going to go back into hibernation for the next 9 months. See you all in 2024 for COLIN XIX! Once again...
by Graeme Cole
Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:52 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

I may have to have a word with myself, but I actually agree with Eoin here. Its a one day social event not a sleepover. There is far more risk at the pub afterwards surely. Agreed. And the pub afterwards does not come under the event organiser's remit. Of course it doesn't, but if an eventgoer does...
by Graeme Cole
Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:29 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

This is not a problem that "doesn't exist". Provide some evidence to back up that wild assertion please. There are at least five people I can think of who have contributed to C4C, played on Apterous and attended events (in some combination or other) who were later put on the sex offenders...
by Graeme Cole
Sun Jan 29, 2023 7:28 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

The code of conduct was a good start, and yet, it still happens. Something peculiar about the code of conduct is the process for reporting violations - currently, it is to send an email to a FOCAL email address. To come closer to parity with other modern conventions/meetups/events, I would like to ...
by Graeme Cole
Sat Jan 28, 2023 7:57 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

Let's find a solution that is 100% ineffectual for a problem that doesn't exist. He's a fucking genius. Please take at least €20 off me to help implement it. If FOCAL insists on Garda Vetting (or whatever the UK equivalent is) for all event organisers / attendees, FOCAL should bear the financial co...
by Graeme Cole
Fri Jan 27, 2023 11:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

Maybe I wasn't clear, but: It is free if you are a volunteer (although we might need to establish whether “event attendee” counts). So this shouldn't be a barrier for first-time attendees. In what sense does "event attendee" mean "volunteer"? Can you honestly say that players at...
by Graeme Cole
Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

It's worrying that people would probably readily have signed up for this hypothetical event in 2022, and there might well have been children sign up too. Nobody would have known, even in spite of the fact he'd been on the sex offenders register since 2020. If there was any argument against DBS chec...
by Graeme Cole
Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:41 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

Thanks to everyone contributing to this thread. The fact that this discussion is happening, with everyone in general agreement about the direction of travel even if not on how exactly to get there, is a win. I'll address a few points that have been made above. "DBS checks don't catch everything...
by Graeme Cole
Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events

Mark Deeks wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:17 pm I strongly recommend splitting off such discussion into a separate thread to give it the eyes it deserves.
Good idea. Done.
by Graeme Cole
Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdowners in the news
Replies: 238
Views: 117142

Re: Countdowners in the news

I've split the general safeguarding discussion off to this new thread.
by Graeme Cole
Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:18 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Countdowners in the news

Rhys Benjamin wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:09 pm Forget "FOCAL" - this goes for all co-events, including non-FOCAL ones.
Ideally, yes. But anybody can hire a hall and call what they're doing a co-event, and we can't stop them.
by Graeme Cole
Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:07 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Countdowners in the news

Up till a conviction, a paedophile would get a clean DBS. You could argue that someone is less dangerous after a conviction and the ones we might need to worry about are the ones we don't know about. You could argue that but I don't think it would be a good argument. What would the consequences be?...
by Graeme Cole
Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Re: Countdowners in the news

Some have them via work-I've got three, courtesy of jobs and various voluntary things. I have a feeling more would as well?? It's not universally able to root all bad eggs out (then again, what could?), but it seems a definite decent starting point. Yes, if you've already got a basic check, or one ...
by Graeme Cole
Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:19 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Replies: 68
Views: 7878

Safeguarding at and around co-events

(I split off this and subsequent posts from "Countdowners in the news" ) Looking at the date on that article (December 2020), and some of the case details given in it (which I am not repeating), what concerns me a lot is the fact he has been active on Apterous and here between then and no...
by Graeme Cole
Wed Jan 25, 2023 8:54 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: You Are The Ref
Replies: 345
Views: 147402

Re: You Are The Ref

Hypothetical situation - You're entering tournament scores into atropine in a Lincoln style tournament The selection and declarations have been recorded on the score sheet. The R2 selection was FRIGLITES c1 declared girliest x c2 declared GRISTLE You notice that GIRLIEST had been incorrectly allowe...
by Graeme Cole
Tue Jan 24, 2023 11:33 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Politics in General
Replies: 1604
Views: 1654179

Re: Politics in General

I'm currently drunk off my ass in lanzarote so should probably stay out of it but fuck me. the gay Conservative who will be first in the fire if his fascist party actually got to implement thier ultimate agenda. As I said, you'll be first in the fire. Do you want to make a more sober rephrasing of ...
by Graeme Cole
Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:58 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 20 January 2023 - The 16th Championship of Champions Grand Final
Replies: 47
Views: 3873

Re: Spoilers for Friday 20 January 2023 - The 16th Championship of Champions Grand Final

Very close back-and-forth game which you don't see often, especially in a final. Congratulations to Ahmed on the well-deserved victory, especially winning it on the conundrum in a competition with conundrums of that difficulty level. Congratulations also to James for playing a great tournament to fi...
by Graeme Cole
Sat Jan 14, 2023 1:49 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 13th January 2023 - CoC XVI QF 2
Replies: 29
Views: 3268

Re: Spoilers for Friday 13th January 2023 - CoC XVI QF 2

Two first-class players and a game which could easily have gone either way. Dan effectively treated it like a 14-round game with his last numbers pick, which turned out to be the right call. My opinion: a non-obscure conundrum, even if it's solved on a buzzer race, is preferable to an obscure word t...
by Graeme Cole
Tue Jan 10, 2023 1:06 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: REALLY obvious things you've just realised
Replies: 630
Views: 276138

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Deceiving an opponent within the rules of a game is a completely different thing from deceiving the referee.
by Graeme Cole
Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:16 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Words and expressions that grind your gears
Replies: 108
Views: 21018

Re: Words and expressions that grind your gears

Mark Deeks wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 11:10 am Menus that shorten coleslaw to 'slaw.
Couldn't agree more. Blatant erasure of my salad-pioneering ancestors.
by Graeme Cole
Sun Jan 08, 2023 2:44 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Getting back on for a second go
Replies: 88
Views: 19431

Re: Getting back on for a second go

I don’t understand why some contestants get another go after 3 or 5 years and others have to wait 9 or 10. This “10 year rule” is inconsistent, woolly and misleading. May as well say you can come back in at least 3 years’ time. Are contestants genuinely asked to have another bite at the cherry with...
by Graeme Cole
Sun Jan 08, 2023 1:17 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Getting back on for a second go
Replies: 88
Views: 19431

Re: Getting back on for a second go

Regarding online application vs posting a piece of paper... There persists this strange superstition that applying for something on paper is "more likely to work" than filling in an online form. This belief is held far more widely than for applications to Countdown or even game shows in ge...
by Graeme Cole
Sun Jan 08, 2023 11:50 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Getting back on for a second go
Replies: 88
Views: 19431

Re: Getting back on for a second go

Formally, there’s no chances. Informally, you can get back on after 10 years. Even more informally, it’ll be on a case-by-case basis (see Zarte Siempre, Glen Webb for ones which were very generous to give them a second go). How new is this “online form”? I distinctly recall posting mine off but eve...
by Graeme Cole
Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:55 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 6 January 2023 - CoC XVI, Prelim 5
Replies: 34
Views: 3800

Re: Spoilers for Friday 6 January 2023 - CoC XVI, Prelim 5

I wonder if they would have given STEALINGS. @Countdown Team could you confirm whether it’s valid or not, please? I went for that and scored it as it's on Apterous. I don't have the dictionary subcription so didn't go into it any finer. This might count as STEALING but here is the dictionary defini...
by Graeme Cole
Mon Jan 02, 2023 6:35 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Corrections to numbers methods on the wiki
Replies: 7
Views: 1778

Re: Corrections to numbers methods on the wiki

1. Series 4: Episode 163 , round 4. C2 uses the 3 twice. There's no way to make a 3 from the remaining numbers, but perhaps one of the 8s in the selection was actually a 3? For 1, you can do 75-9*8 for the 3. It's not a very intuitive solution, but could very well be the answer? Thanks, I hadn't se...
by Graeme Cole
Mon Jan 02, 2023 2:23 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Corrections to numbers methods on the wiki
Replies: 7
Views: 1778

Corrections to numbers methods on the wiki

A few days ago, someone pointed out that the wiki page for a Countdown episode listed a contestant's method incorrectly, because it used a number twice. After fixing it, I ran a script on my database (which is derived from the wiki), and found there were hundreds of other cases where a supposedly va...
by Graeme Cole
Fri Dec 30, 2022 5:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27783

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

Or maybe they'll troll us again with all -INGs except in the final Out of interest I had a browse through that. Episode 1331 contains 25 5 2 6 3 6 → 682 CV: 681 Best: 682 = (6 + 3) × 6 ÷ 2 × 25 + 5 + 2 I think 682 = (5 x 6 - 2) x 25 - 3 x 6 is better, seeing as it only uses each of the numbers once...
by Graeme Cole
Fri Dec 23, 2022 5:50 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 23 December 2022 - Series 86 Grand Final
Replies: 34
Views: 2821

Re: Spoilers for Friday 23 December 2022 - Series 86 Grand Final

Congratulations Tom, and commiserations to Ed. Great game, worthy of the final.

R14: ((50*5-4)*100-75)/25 = 981. Got it in the 30s. I'm pretty sure both players would have beaten me in the rest of the game, but, hey, I got that one.
by Graeme Cole
Fri Dec 23, 2022 5:35 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Is Colin Murray making Countdown too competitive?
Replies: 42
Views: 4722

Re: Is Colin Murray making Countdown too competitive?

Someone's also nominated the low scores page on the wiki for deletion, for example. Fuck that page. Worst page on there - absolutely unnecessary. Agreed that the deletion of that page is worthy of discussion I agree with this. Why have a list of 15-round scores under 30? What's it for? The lowest s...
by Graeme Cole
Mon Dec 19, 2022 10:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: David Barnard, 1991-2022
Replies: 85
Views: 12023

Re: Please say a prayer for David Barnard

Mark Deeks wrote: Fri Dec 16, 2022 6:15 pm David's funeral service is available to watch here.

https://screenrec.com/share/qELHatc348
RIP David. Thanks to Mark for a great eulogy.
by Graeme Cole
Mon Dec 19, 2022 6:54 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: C4C appears to have been pwned
Replies: 18
Views: 2123

Re: C4C appears to have been pwned

Charlie Reams wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 12:09 pm It's quite annoying that they weren't proactive about this, but let's see if that fixes the issue. Please let me know if you continue to see this happening as of now.
Just happened again for me when reloading the C4C main page.
by Graeme Cole
Sat Dec 17, 2022 5:14 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: C4C appears to have been pwned
Replies: 18
Views: 2123

Re: C4C appears to have been pwned

Occasionally, when you request a page on the C4Countdown forum... This hasn't happened to me yet on C4C, but it did happen to me on wiki.apterous.org yesterday. wiki.apterous.org resolves to the same IP as c4countdown.co.uk, so I guess they share the same web server. apterous.org itself is a differ...
by Graeme Cole
Sat Dec 17, 2022 4:26 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: C4C appears to have been pwned
Replies: 18
Views: 2123

C4C appears to have been pwned

Occasionally, when you request a page on the C4Countdown forum, it will 302-redirect to a website called "bongacams". After a brief inspection of this dubious online resource, I was disappointed to find that the quality of Countdown discussion there is far below what I expect from C4C. The...
by Graeme Cole
Wed Dec 14, 2022 9:27 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1615
Views: 632103

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

When plastic milk bottles were introduced, why did they use a completely different colour code from the foil tops on the glass bottles which had used an unchanged colour code for decades and which everyone already knew? It's not like the plastic colour code was invented long after everyone had forg...
by Graeme Cole
Wed Dec 14, 2022 9:00 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1615
Views: 632103

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

When plastic milk bottles were introduced, why did they use a completely different colour code from the foil tops on the glass bottles which had used an unchanged colour code for decades and which everyone already knew? It's not like the plastic colour code was invented long after everyone had forgo...
by Graeme Cole
Wed Dec 07, 2022 8:46 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 7 December 2022 (Series 86, Heat 123)
Replies: 6
Views: 695

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 7 December 2022 (Series 86, Heat 123)

R14: First ever numbers round in which both contestants have scored with different 10-away targets.
by Graeme Cole
Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:59 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 6th December 2022 (Series 86, Heat 122)
Replies: 11
Views: 935

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 6th December 2022 (Series 86, Heat 122)

I don't know which was the last contestant whose name is an anagram of a valid 9, but contestants' names have been used as conundrum scrambles before.

Mike Grant had his name used as a scramble a few months after his appearance, and Ian Talbot was given his own name as a conundrum.
by Graeme Cole
Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Is Colin Murray making Countdown too competitive?
Replies: 42
Views: 4722

Re: Is Colin Murray making Countdown too competitive?

I like how Colin Murray clearly understands the game and follows along with the match. He knows when the conundrum is crucial, when a trailing contestant is starting a comeback, and why picking an easier/harder numbers selection in R14 is significant. They're little things, but it shows he doesn't s...
by Graeme Cole
Fri Dec 02, 2022 1:50 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 25 November 2022 (Series 86, Heat 115)
Replies: 10
Views: 898

Re: Spoilers for Friday 25 November 2022 (Series 86, Heat 115)

Rachel would want to cop herself on with the stern referee habit she's picked up in the last year or two. 1000-47 is actually NOT and identical method to 1000-50+3. He should not have had to show over his paper. Close enough to ask them to show their paper, I think. FWIW, Quantum Tombola treats the...
by Graeme Cole
Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:20 am
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Lost letters packs
Replies: 10
Views: 2309

Re: Lost letters packs

Graeme did some maths and worked out that this was what they are using on TV in recent serieseseseses. Not so recent any more - this analysis was based on Series 66 , and the letters distribution used on Countdown may have changed a bit since then. Even at the time there were comments that I'd gues...
by Graeme Cole
Mon Nov 28, 2022 8:51 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 28 November 2022 (Series 86, Heat 116)
Replies: 26
Views: 2773

Re: Spoilers for Monday 28 November 2022 (Series 86, Heat 116)

Johnny Canuck wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 8:17 pm FOUNDEST^ apparently not in, but since it's on Lexplorer it blocks seeing the real maxes. Does anyone have a word list I could use to get all the 7s?
What makes you think FOUNDEST isn't in? They didn't say in the episode that it wouldn't be allowed. Have they disallowed it in a previous game?
by Graeme Cole
Tue Nov 22, 2022 10:40 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 22 November 2022 (Series 86, Heat 112)
Replies: 6
Views: 582

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22 November 2022 (Series 86, Heat 112)

UNSTINTED for a 9 in round 12. Also (paraphrasing): Moira - CS Lewis died on this day in 1963. Have you read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe? Rachel - No, but let me tell you about some incident with a potty that no-one cares about. Moira - OK... And nobody mentioned the elephant in the room. ...
by Graeme Cole
Sun Nov 06, 2022 9:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: How do I know if my word is valid?
Replies: 57
Views: 59765

Re: How do I know if my word is valid?

As Fiona mentioned here , Tom Chafer-Cook has made a checker that doesn't require any sort of account . I thought this would be a good place to mention that. I'm not sure exactly how it works though - whether it takes it directly from Apterous or whether it has a stored list from Apterous that may ...