general enquiry

[fidelis odukoya]

hi there new member here, got two questions:
1, is there any other way to appear as a contestant on countdown without downloading the application form.
2, I have watched countdown for close to 10 yrs but still not sure of the maximum number of consonants or vowels that can be selected in one round.

[James Doohan]

1. You could e-mail them at countdown@channel4.com or write to

Contestant Application,
Countdown,
Yorkshire Television Ltd,
The Television Centre,
Leeds LS3 1JS

and request the application form

2. Maximum Vowels - 5, Minimum Consonants - 4
Maximum Consonants - 6, Minimum Vowels - 3

Thats all to the best of my knowledge, i'm sure someone will correct me

[Julie T]

Welcome to the forum, Fidelis! Hope to see you on the show sometime.

Excellent advice from James there.

A good place to practise your Countdown skills is by playing online on apterous:

http://www.apterous.org/index.php

When I play on apterous, I usually choose 4 consonants and 3 vowels first, to get the compulsory ones out of the way, and then make my real choices.

[Marc Meakin]

Welcome Fidelis
I find when playing the bots, 6 consonants and 3 vowels help me to keep up, particularly against The Guardian.

[JackHurst]

There was one show a good few years ago where I noticed just two vowels in one of the rounds, I got really excited about it and started shouting at Grandma and Grandad.

[Marc Meakin]

I wonder how many 9's there are with just 2 vowels?

[Matthew Tassier]

I wonder how many 9's there are with just 2 vowels?

Approx 1910 I believe.

[Charlie Reams]

I wonder how many 9's there are with just 2 vowels?

Approx 1910 I believe.

Impressive if you knew that off the top of your head. Apterous makes it 1,922. A further 25 have only 1 vowel:-

CRYPTONYM
DYSTHYMIC
DYSTROPHY
FLYSPECKS
GYPSYWORT
HYDROXYLS
HYPERNYMS
KLYSTRONS
LYNCHPINS
POLYPTYCH
PSYCHISMS
SCHMALTZY
SKYLIGHTS
SPRIGHTLY
STRENGTHS
STYLISHLY
SYMPHYLAN
SYMPHYSES
SYMPHYSIS
SYMPLASMS
SYMPLASTS
SYNCHRONY
TRIGLYPHS
TRIPTYCHS
TWELFTHLY

[Alec Rivers]

And only one 9-letter-word has 7 unique consonants in ascending alphabetical order. Its 2 vowels are also in order. Anyone?

[Matthew Tassier]

I wonder how many 9's there are with just 2 vowels?

Approx 1910 I believe.

Impressive if you knew that off the top of your head. Apterous makes it 1,922. A further 25 have only 1 vowel:-

Surely Scary rather than Impressive that I knew that off the top of my head.
On another topic, is there a place that the latest dictionary file that apterous uses is kept? The one I use for my own ends seems out of date.

[JackHurst]

Surely Scary rather than Impressive that I knew that off the top of my head.
On another topic, is there a place that the latest dictionary file that apterous uses is kept? The one I use for my own ends seems out of date.

I asked Jim Bentley nicely, and he had some sort of up to date version of the apterous/countdown dictionary.

[JimBentley]

On another topic, is there a place that the latest dictionary file that apterous uses is kept? The one I use for my own ends seems out of date.

The latest one I have is this one, but it's probably around due for an update (Kirk's been busy lately in the errors thread).

[Kirk Bevins]

(Kirk's been busy lately in the errors thread).

Sorry mate

[JimBentley]

(Kirk's been busy lately in the errors thread).

Sorry mate

God no, don't apologise. FIND MORE!

[Charlie Reams]

The apterous dictionary is now maintained separately from JimDic because it's much easier me for to just maintain my own database rather than keep synchronised with Jim. But the differences are probably trivial for all practical purposes.

[Matthew Tassier]

On another topic, is there a place that the latest dictionary file that apterous uses is kept? The one I use for my own ends seems out of date.

The latest one I have is this one, but it's probably around due for an update (Kirk's been busy lately in the errors thread).

Thanks Jim, that's cool.
I think NOWNESSES is my least favourite new word. Also HALEST is barely worth it's place, let alone the two occurances you've given it!

[Alec Rivers]

... let alone the two occurances you've given it!

And you gave 'occurrences' none at all!

[Matthew Tassier]

... let alone the two occurances you've given it!

And you gave 'occurrences' none at all!

More than 9 letters. No need to spell it correctly.

[Alec Rivers]

... let alone the two occurances you've given it!

And you gave 'occurrences' none at all!

More than 9 letters. No need to spell it correctly.

Hyper variants?

[Matthew Tassier]

More than 9 letters. No need to spell it correctly.

Hyper variants?

Hyper? Impossabley Compilicated. Not worth trying.

[Alec Rivers]

More than 9 letters. No need to spell it correctly.

Hyper variants?

Hyper? Impossabley Compilicated. Not worth trying.

lol.