Spoilers For Tuesday December 18th 2012

[James Robinson]

So, we're now at the final quarter-final, and with these 2 contestant split by just 7 points on the leaderboard, this is going to be too close to call.

This last match is between the No.4 Seed Liam "The Skipton Supremo" Shaw and the No.5 Seed Rose "The Dublin Dervish" Boyle.

The winner as we know, will return for tomorrow's 1st semi-final against the No.1 Seed Paul James.

Here are the stats:

Firstly, No.4 Seed Liam "The Skipton Supremo" Shaw - 8 Wins, 708 Points (Average: 88.50)
Highest Score: 104 vs. Natalie Taylor (6th Game)
Lowest Score: 69 vs. Charlotte Estall (3rd Game)
9's Achieved: 0/4
Total Points/Max/%: 708/1002 (71%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 490/685 (72%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 178/237 (75%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 40/80 (50%)

Secondly, No.5 Seed Rose "The Dublin Dervish" Boyle - 8 Wins, 701 Points (Average: 87.63)
Highest Score: 100 vs. Barry Mould (1st Game)
Lowest Score: 73 vs. Sam Leek (7th Game)
9's Achieved: 1/5
Total Points/Max/%: 701/995 (70%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 489/684 (71%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 182/231 (79%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 30/80 (38%)

Jack will be around with the recap later on.

[Peter Mabey]

UNLADEN was a beater of HANDLE etc.

[szodiac]

Tight game so far and Susie has to make a decision:
Round 9: LIPPIES - allow or not allow? What is a lippie? As OED says (mass noun) or slang for lipsticks or what another dictionary says, "an old scottish dry measure".

Mauro

[Jordan F]

I have to say Rose was actually my pick to win this game, I didn't quite expect it to go down like this though. Very nice comeback in those last couple rounds for her. Very unlucky to Liam to slip up on those couple number games, VINDICATE was a great spot from him in particular.

[szodiac]

A great finish to a very tight game, well done to Rose and Liam.

Mauro

[Tony Atkins]

Great come back by Rose. Well done to both for a cracking game. Winning by 7 makes their points total the same now.

I was surprised to see Alistair on University Challenge last night, though I was expecting Rachel on Pointless Celebrities.
Check them out on iplayer if you missed them.

[Adam Gillard]

Excellent game! Well played both, great work coming back from the early unanswered 9, Rose. #4 vs #5 seed in the QFs often provides one of the best competitive games of a series and this was a prime example. Liam, you put in a strong performance and you can certainly bow out with your head (and your new piece of glassware) held high!

[Andy Wilson]

Haven't seen much of the show lately at all. Caught the last ten minutes of today. Brilliant finish. Unlucky Liam and well done Rose. Kudos for picking 2 large Liam. Brave and made the ending so exciting. Will be glued to the box now for rest of week. Must catch up on the last few days on 4od to get me up to speed. Weeeeeee

[Heather Styles]

My understanding is that LIPPIES was allowed on the basis that lipstick is a substance or material of which there is more than one type or variety, so the mass noun can take a plural form.

[Richard Priest]

Great game, very enjoyable viewing. Didn't expect Rose to pull that one out of the bag. Her numbers ability is a real weapon when it's not a straightforward target.

Should be an interesting one against Paul....

[James Robinson]

Wow, what a finish!!!! After Liam got AMOEBA, I thought it was curtains for Rose, but soon as you got that numbers, it brought back memories of the 4 v 5 quarter-final from the last series, when Nick Hall came back from the dead to beat Suzi Purcell.

But, very well done, Rose. It's definitely brilliant to see 2 women in the semi-finals too.

My understanding is that LIPPIES was allowed on the basis that lipstick is a substance or material of which there is more than one type or variety, so the mass noun can take a plural form.

I thought the mass noun rule only came into effect for foods.................

NAMASTE/SMETANA in round 3 and OERSTED in round 12.

1st Numbers Alt.: ((50 / 25) x 100) + (9 x 8) + 1 = 273
2nd Numbers (Slightly Out Of Time) Alt.: ((100 - (4 x 3)) x 10) - 6 + 25 = 899

[Grant Waters]

Stunning comeback from Rose. Well played! I would definitely have picked 1 large on the last numbers.

Alt for the 2nd numbers was: (25-10-6)x100-(4-3) which I was pleased to get in the time but other than that I was well behind these two today. Great stuff.

Looking forward to the semis and final now!

[Kirk Bevins]

Ohhhh what a game. Sleepsuited and a 2 large to boot in round 14 when everyone was expecting a 1 large game.

[Jack Worsley]

Great comeback, Rose! Unlucky for Liam as well who led almost all the way. Never write Rose off because she's come back from dead before and tomorrow's semi should be a good one.

2nd numbers: (100-4-3)x10-25-6 = 899

[Jon Corby]

Cracking game. Congratulations Rose and commiserations Liam. Good finals so far.

Since everyone's alting the 2nd numbers, I did (100-4)*(6+3)+10+25

[Graeme Cole]

Very close game, well done both. Congrats on making the semi-final, Rose.

[szodiac]

My understanding is that LIPPIES was allowed on the basis that lipstick is a substance or material of which there is more than one type or variety, so the mass noun can take a plural form.

I thought the mass noun rule only came into effect for foods.................

If that was the case, then, MASCARAS and LIPSTICKS ought to be allowed too even though the root words are listed as mass nouns

IMHO: Rose got a big help from Susie there

Mauro

[Rose Boyle]

Thanks guys! Nerve wracking even watching it back! The numbers definitely saved me. And lippies - Susie had disallowed it originally btw but after a bit of debate they allowed it.

[David Williams]

My understanding is that LIPPIES was allowed on the basis that lipstick is a substance or material of which there is more than one type or variety, so the mass noun can take a plural form.

I thought the mass noun rule only came into effect for foods.................

If that was the case, then, MASCARAS and LIPSTICKS ought to be allowed too even though the root words are listed as mass nouns

IMHO: Rose got a big help from Susie there

What Heather said. The rule lists quite a few categories, of which food is only one. The last is "other substances and materials", one example given being SUNCREAMS. To me, LIPPIES is at least as good a bet as that. I don't know if mascara comes in different varieties, but LIPSTICKS has only two vowels.

[Adam Gillard]

one example given being SUNCREAMS.

Except that they neglected to stick the S on and wrote 'suncream/suncream' just to confuse matters even more.

[Jon Corby]

The question basically boils down to, can you have "a lipstick"? Does it sound odd to say that? Would you reply to the question "what is this?" with "a lipstick" or just "lipstick"?

I'm not sure either way tbh.

[Adam Gillard]

The question basically boils down to, can you have "a lipstick"? Does it sound odd to say that? Would you reply to the question "what is this?" with "a lipstick" or just "lipstick"?

I'm not sure either way tbh.

Seems perfectly plausible to me. A shop assistant might invite someone to try the different lipsticks / lippies on offer.

[Jon Corby]

The question basically boils down to, can you have "a lipstick"? Does it sound odd to say that? Would you reply to the question "what is this?" with "a lipstick" or just "lipstick"?

I'm not sure either way tbh.

Seems perfectly plausible to me. A shop assistant might invite someone to try the different lipsticks / lippies on offer.

Yeah, but the point is it sounds fine just to say "different lipstick" (as opposed to substituting any countable noun (e.g. car, TV) into your sentence). Lipstick is just the stuff. It's only if you allow "a lipstick" to mean "the little twiddly thing which contains and distributes lipstick" that the plural becomes valid (ignoring the vague mass noun rule). If the dictionary doesn't contain such a definition (which I assume it doesn't), it becomes more difficult to accept it.

I'm kind of playing Devil's Advocate a bit here though, because I also think it's perfectly acceptable - but then I also think that about others (clovers) that have been disallowed previously, so it's always going to cause discussion.

[David Williams]

one example given being SUNCREAMS.

Except that they neglected to stick the S on and wrote 'suncream/suncream' just to confuse matters even more.

I've got an up-to-date one, which has 'suncream/suncreams'.

But I've obviously less experience of trying on lippy than some of our regulars, so my opinions are purely theoretical.

[Jennifer Steadman]

As they say on Football Manager - what a game!!! Excellent comeback, Rose.