Spoilers for Thursday 17th December 2020 (Series 82, 2nd Semi-Final)

[Rhys Benjamin]

SAM CAPPLEMAN-LYNES
Highest score: 124 vs Phil Savage, game 3
Lowest score: 110 vs Mike Spencer, game 6
Score: 1,060
Average: 117.78
Max faced: 1,178
% score: 90.0%
Raw score: 1,074
Raw average: 119.33
Raw % score: 91.2%
Conundrums: 7/9

LEO SMITH
Highest score: 126 vs Steve Whatmore, game 3
Lowest score: 91 vs Phil Hulme, Quarter Final
Score: 960
Average: 108.63
Max faced: 1,189
% score: 80.7%
Raw score: 1,005
Raw average: 111.67
Raw % score: 84.5%
Conundrums: 6/9

[Gavin Chipper]

Another good game; another joke conundrum.

[Tom S]

Really enjoyed the game- great spots from both and some good camaraderie. Well done Sam on a brilliant display, but Leo has played excellently throughout- definitely one of the best non-apterites of recent years, and am sure he'll be invited back for some Championship tournament in the not too distant future.

[Ryan Lam]

It's nice when you have Sam in the daily chat talking to all of us earlier on, and even more so when there was no in-person audience around to tell us what happened behind-the-scenes (talk about having an exclusive point of view!). Finally, the penultimate episode of Series 82, it's even more fitting when you think about the fact that we will have 182 episodes when we end off tomorrow...

Letters: Brilliant start with REFASHION in Round 1 from both contestants (Interestingly enough, I was commenting about Sam's sweater beforehand and that was a "What the heck" moment for me ). Oh dear, Leo stumbles with outlaid in the next round, but redeems himself with PARBOIL to beat Sam in Round 8 and after the second break, TWOCKED in Round 10, wow! Unfortunately, Sam dealt a fatal blow with SEMITONAL in Round 11 despite his excellent spot of AMNIOTES and Leo stumbles further with wraggles. However, he ultimately ends off on a high note by beating Sam once more with DOPAMINE in Round 13.

Numbers: Just like Damien last Friday, Sam doesn't let Leo off the hook and goes with four large, and it falls flat in the first round with it being ridiculously easy, but afterwards he beat the latter with his amazing solve in Round 9 which is tremendous! Just like Ian yesterday, Leo chooses to bow out in style with three large and with both players getting the target on the dot, it was a nice way to nearly finish today's episode.

Conundrum: I was only starting to think when Sam buzzed in with SUCCOTASH! I would have blanked out on this one, and being keen on food dishes certainly does pay off like in this case for him as he mentioned on the daily chat! Excellent work!

I thought this was going to be a close match with Sam beating Leo by around 20 points, but the gap was far wider at 41 points. Leo, you played brilliantly here and gave all of us at home an entertaining game to watch, not to mention your fighting spirit to try and catch up with Sam. In the end, it wasn't enough to save you and you had to go. But hey, if you're seeing this post, you're no doubt in some of our minds one of the stronger Non-Apterites that's ever made it to the Finals (such as the likes of people like Maggie Barlow or Moose Rosser in recent times) and you fought a valiant battle. You might not have had the biggest smile as some people pointed out in the daily chat, but you certainly had the energy and vigour to play to the best of your ability!

For the fourth Series in a row, it's still #1 Seed against #2 Seed in the Grand Final. It's the battle involving people with hyphenated names (and I think this is the very first time both Series finalists had that feature ) So, who's going to have their name inscribed on the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy tomorrow? Will it be the favourite Luke or could it be Sam who might cause a surprising upset? It's happened before and it's still possible, find out in less than 24 hours from now!

Progress:
QF1 (10 December): Luke Johnson-Davies (#1) vs David Kempshall (#8) (136 - 89)
QF2 (11 December): Sam Cappleman-Lynes (#2) vs Damien Doughty (#7) (121 - 71)
QF3 (14 December): Leo Smith (#3) vs Phil Hulme (#6) (91 - 80)
QF4 (15 December): Ian Volante (#4) vs Ryan Styles (#5) (82 - 76)
SF1 (16 December): Luke Johnson-Davies (QF1 Winner) vs Ian Volante (QF4 Winner) (112 - 65)
SF2 (17 December): Sam Cappleman-Lynes (QF2 Winner) vs Leo Smith (QF3 Winner) (124 - 83)
GF (18 December): Luke Johnson-Davies (SF1 Winner) vs Sam Cappleman-Lynes (SF2 Winner)

[Adam Dexter]

R5: SCANDIUM

[Owen Carroll]

Cannot wait!!

[Andy McGurn]

Every series I have a personal favourite contestant and this series it was Leo. Gutted to see him lose but he had a great run

[Thomas Cappleman]

A couple of rounds falling particularly nicely for Sam there - a neat 937.5 opportunity, and a 9 new enough to have not even made it to Apterous at time of recording

[Tracey Anne Mills]

R5: SCANDIUM

Muscadine for 9 in that round

[Toby McDonald]

R6 Alt.: ((9+9+2)*100)/8 = 250