Spoilers for Thursday 25 September

[Mark Kudlowski]

Game 1 : MBNIEUTRO

Two chemical elements here: BROMINE and TERBIUM.

Number game 1: Alternative

9 7 4 8 6 3 - target 251

9 x 4 x 7 = 252; 6 + 3 - 8 = 1; 252 - 1 = 251

[Mark Kudlowski]

DSRAAEONT - the contestants and panellists missed out RODENTS.

[Charlie Reams]

Good day for me today I think, missed TRIGONAL but got everything else (DC beaters notwithstanding.) Was impressed with Junaid finding PEAHEN, that's the sort of thing you can usually count on as a winner when you're playing at home. Looks likely now that he's heading for the finals and should comfortably be #2 seed by the end of the week.

[DaveC]

R13: IMBUES

Not a maximum but the only 6 I see. MUMMIES is an interesting one, with 3 M's out of the 4 in the whole consonant stack not exactly a common word.

Junaid is certainly giving me some good games from home. A lot of fun.

DC

[Kirk Bevins]

I thought that, Charlie. I needed something like PEAHEN to pull away as I didn't risk FRIENDED nor PAROLING (stupidly I thought it might be a double L). With the scores at 75-75 after Round 10 and we both got PEAHEN and a 5, it's 86-86 with 3 rounds to go. Luckily for me I got MUMMIES and then beat him to the crucial conundrum so won 113-96. His best game by far - yesterday's was a higher score but he missed more I think.

[Richard Priest]

I narrowly beat Junaid today, for which I have Mr.Reams to thank as he taught me WAZOOS (or rather the singular form) in our COOT game

[Charlie Reams]

I narrowly beat Junaid today, for which I have Mr.Reams to thank as he taught me WAZOOS (or rather the singular form) in our COOT game

I learnt it from Martin Gardner (about 3 years ago in a Scrabble context) when he alerted me to the pleasing triplet RAZOO/WAZOO/KAZOO. All three are valid in Countdown.

[Julian Fell]

Junaid's sharpened up loads since his first two games hasn't he? He's really cut down on the disallowed words, and on this form will be really hard to beat for any opponent. I saw FRIENDED today but never seriously considered going for it, oh well...

Kirk and Rich, don't make posts like that when Charlie's on TV in a few weeks, otherwise he'll get annoyed with you

[Kirk Bevins]

Junaid's sharpened up loads since his first two games hasn't he? He's really cut down on the disallowed words, and on this form will be really hard to beat for any opponent. I saw FRIENDED today but never seriously considered going for it, oh well...

Kirk and Rich, don't make posts like that when Charlie's on TV in a few weeks, otherwise he'll get annoyed with you

Yeah, I know it's the age old thing about posting your scores on a forum like this and will the contestant get offended - after all, they're under pressure etc. I enjoy competing with people but I can be tactful (!) and so I may not post my efforts when Charlie's on - unless I get my 15/15 maxes.

[Charlie Reams]

Yeah, I know it's the age old thing about posting your scores on a forum like this and will the contestant get offended - after all, they're under pressure etc. I enjoy competing with people but I can be tactful (!) and so I may not post my efforts when Charlie's on - unless I get my 15/15 maxes.

For the record, I don't mind. A little tact is good (recognise that I'm not playing against you even though you're playing against me) but if I play crap and you beat me then hey-ho.

[Kirk Bevins]

Yeah, I know it's the age old thing about posting your scores on a forum like this and will the contestant get offended - after all, they're under pressure etc. I enjoy competing with people but I can be tactful (!) and so I may not post my efforts when Charlie's on - unless I get my 15/15 maxes.

For the record, I don't mind. A little tact is good (recognise that I'm not playing against you even though you're playing against me) but if I play crap and you beat me then hey-ho.

That's the spirit!

[Dinos Sfyris]

Two chemical elements here: BROMINE and TERBIUM.

Also I got PAROLING but didn't risk FRIENDED. Was this another word spelt completely backwards as it came out in the selection?