c4countdown

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:20 pm**

Does anyone want to do this and keep it a rolling thing as episodes air?

1) Word of the tournament. Can be for a word nobody has heard of or just a really good spot from an otherwise rubbish selection (example: VIHUELAS)
2) Spot of the tournament. Can be for an everyday word that is hard to see...has two Cs and thus low probability for apterites etc (example: ECSTATIC)

When this tournament was announced I really wanted to learn a word I'd never heard of being offered by a contestant and thus qualify for prize number 1. I think this has already happened but I can't remember and haven't got time to check right now but I do think it might be a good idea to collate such words and then, after 1st March, have a vote? What's everyone's opinion on this?

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:29 pm**

That's cool. I think a discussion would beat a vote, and I think you've volunteered yourself to make the final decision.

You could also expand it from best words to best everything. Best looking (me), best joke (we don't want Brendan Rogers getting into our gardne) etc.. And worst for all of those (you, "3!") etc.

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:18 pm**

SLUGFEST was a good spot by Adam I thought.

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:39 pm**

Best enunciation: Kai Laddiman.
Best conundrum spot: HATESSNOW

STONEWASH.

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:43 pm**

I think you should state in the title of the thread that it contains spoilers.

SPOILER WARNING JUST IN CASE

Yep I very much liked SLUGFEST. And SULFATES too.

I liked:
Tournoff and Deller both picking up LIFEBOAT
Hulme's DEADBOLT
McCullagh/Rawlinson's NEOTENY
Rowell's PARADIGM
Hawkins' NEUROSIS and VIHUELAS (back-to-back)
Davies' trio of ABSENTED, PINNULE and ISOGAMY (in consecutive letter rounds) plus ECSTATIC
And Innis' COGITABLE today trumped my OBLIGATE which I felt sure would be the max.

Adding to this the last four conundrums from this week FRETBOARD, MYOPATHIC, SAUCISSON and RADICCHIO were all great solves. Just Jono letting the week down by not getting ALGEBRAIC.
STONEWASH and CRAFTSMAN double from Rawlinson was insanely quick.

Too much to chew on so far and we're only in Round 1. I love it!

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:48 pm**

Ryan Taylor wrote:I think you should state in the title of the thread that it contains spoilers.

SPOILER WARNING JUST IN CASE

I hope this is a joke. I considered doing this but then realised it's in the spoilers thread so that's a given!

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:51 pm**

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:I think you should state in the title of the thread that it contains spoilers.

SPOILER WARNING JUST IN CASE

I hope this is a joke. I considered doing this but then realised it's in the spoilers thread so that's a given!

I never really browse the forum by the sections on it. I only ever click "View new posts" and so I wasn't aware that it was in the Spoiler section. I think a lot of people would do the same, so probably best thing to do just to be on the safe side Kirky.

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 7:02 pm**

MYOPATHIC is the best conundrum spot so far, shortly followed by RADICCHIO

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 7:05 pm**

Ryan Taylor wrote:
Kirk Bevins wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:I think you should state in the title of the thread that it contains spoilers.

SPOILER WARNING JUST IN CASE

I hope this is a joke. I considered doing this but then realised it's in the spoilers thread so that's a given!
I never really browse the forum by the sections on it. I only ever click "View new posts" and so I wasn't aware that it was in the Spoiler section. I think a lot of people would do the same, so probably best thing to do just to be on the safe side Kirky.

Also, "word of the tournament" implies it's gonna be full of spoilers so it's your own fault!

Posted: **Sat Jan 26, 2013 1:34 am**

A few more that I've liked that aren't mentioned so far:

ESCARGOT by Deeks/Hurst
STOTTY by Wilson
FLORUITED/SUBSPACE/TOURNOIS all by Travers
HEPARIN by Francis

LORAZEPAM by DC is probably better than anything any contestant has spotted so far though. There's just nothing there to work from, not even a hint that it's a selection where it's worth looking for something big.

Posted: **Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:07 pm**

Nick Deller wrote: LORAZEPAM by DC is probably better than anything any contestant has spotted so far though. There's just nothing there to work from, not even a hint that it's a selection where it's worth looking for something big.

This must be best DC spot ever - but did it come from a solver

Posted: **Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:09 pm**

We don't use solvers. Never have, never will.

LORAZEPAM isn't the best DC spot ever, think it was CUNJEVOIS about a year ago.

Posted: **Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:11 pm**

I missed lorazepam on apterous a couple of days before that show was recorded. Maybe damo was online and remembered it brilliantly

Posted: **Mon Jan 28, 2013 1:30 pm**

Countdown Team wrote:We don't use solvers. Never have, never will.

LORAZEPAM isn't the best DC spot ever, think it was CUNJEVOIS about a year ago.

I remember QUODLIBET being a DC word a few years back...that was impressive.

Posted: **Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:21 pm**

Think VIHUELAS was the pick of the games so far.
That will surely change over the coming days / weeks.
Bear in mind, the Countdown team can look things up before declaring. Susie has a dictionary. You guys have nothing but instinct, memory and skill. It's easy to find a great word under zero pressure.

Posted: **Tue Jan 29, 2013 2:57 pm**

FLORUITED impressed me the most from Conor, although I was sitting next to Andy in the audience and he got it too

Posted: **Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:36 pm**

Kirk Bevins wrote:SLUGFEST was a good spot by Adam I thought.

Thanks! I was well chuffed with it!

Posted: **Tue Jan 29, 2013 4:49 pm**

yeah SLUGFEST is good, VIHUELAS is wonderful for a non-apterous player (it comes up quite a bit and doesn't stem, even the singular only takes S, so it's typically always the max too). I reckon Chris's conundrum is quality too, SAUCISSON. never heard of it, don't even recognise it from online play. FLORUITED is a good obscure word but comes up in the chat window regularly enough to say it's not an unusual spot if you play online

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2013 3:26 pm**

SPOILERS FOR FRIDAY 1st FEBRUARY

ALAMEDA is the clear frontrunner now for me. A darrenic max, never heard of it, and it was to maintain the max game going. Phenomenal!

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2013 3:42 pm**

ALAMEDA was very good; I agree. BEVATRON would have been better though :p

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:48 pm**

Kirk Bevins wrote:after 1st March, have a vote? What's everyone's opinion on this?

I say have a vote on whether to have a vote.

Jon O'Neill wrote:I think a discussion would beat a vote

For both votes, or just one of them?

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2013 10:24 pm**

I think Kirk made this thread with his game today in mind :p

Posted: **Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:47 pm**

Andy Platt wrote:I think Kirk made this thread with his game today in mind :p

Posted: **Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:50 pm**

SPOILERS
.
.
.
(OBVIOUSLY)

MALAMUTE, CAJEPUT and SHIGELLA are all excellent spots from the last couple of games.

Posted: **Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:50 am**

Adam Gillard wrote:SPOILERS
.
.
.
(OBVIOUSLY)

MALAMUTE, CAJEPUT and SHIGELLA are all excellent spots from the last couple of games.

I didn't know this at the time but SHIGELLA is still unpencilled. Looks like I learnt it in a game vs Conor on apterous days before filming.

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2013 1:18 am**

Just remembered STOTTY.

Posted: **Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:28 pm**

Now that it has ended, let's vote on the WOTT.

LORAZEPAM was DC's finest hour.

In terms of contestant words, VIHUELAS gets our vote.

Posted: **Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:35 pm**

I think PONYTAILS for being the most crucial and almost the most unexpected 9 of the lot (next to LORAZEPAM) gets my vote.

Posted: **Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:02 pm**

MALAMUTE and CAJEPUT a worthy 2nd and 3rd but ALAMEDA wins it for me!

Posted: **Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:05 pm**

Countdown Team wrote:Now that it has ended, let's vote on the WOTT.

LORAZEPAM was DC's finest hour.

In terms of contestant words, VIHUELAS gets our vote.

Were you by any chance watching chat nines when I missed it on apterous not long before the filming?

Either way, that was incredible, I didn't even see it second time round.

ALAMEDA great too to keep that max game going.

Posted: **Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:20 pm**

Loads of fabulous stuff, but Ben's STOTTY takes it for me. An obscure and ridiculous darren using a highly unlikely subset of TGYEOETST, and the only round Conor lost in the entire tournament. What's not to like?

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:12 pm**

Nick Deller wrote:Loads of fabulous stuff, but Ben's STOTTY takes it for me. An obscure and ridiculous darren using a highly unlikely subset of TGYEOETST, and the only round Conor lost in the entire tournament. What's not to like?

It's not that obscure for northerners....common word for a breadcake/barm/roll/bap.

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:48 pm**

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Nick Deller wrote:Loads of fabulous stuff, but Ben's STOTTY takes it for me. An obscure and ridiculous darren using a highly unlikely subset of TGYEOETST, and the only round Conor lost in the entire tournament. What's not to like?
It's not that obscure for northerners....common word for a breadcake/barm/roll/bap.

I'm a proud northerner and I've never heard of STOTTY until Ben mentioned it

Although, my mum did as she has north-eastern heritage (ish.....

)

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:59 pm**

I've gone through the game recaps on the wiki and here are some other words not mentioned yet in this thread (although they may have been praised already in the relevant spoilers threads). I've picked what I thought were either good words or good spots (or both), as Kirk outlined in the original post: LACTONES from Mike Whiteoak; PUKIEST from Graeme Cole; BUSLOAD, CULTIGEN, VENDETTA and SEICENTO from Kirk Bevins; FORTALICE, QUANTICS and SAPIENTS from David O'Donnell; UNREALITY, COMPLEAT, PIRAGUA and CERULEAN from Jack Hurst; COWPEA from Chris Wills and Jack Hurst; LAUREATE, FORERIBS and UPTEMPO from Conor Travers; NEGRONIS, DRUPELET and FIREDOG from Jon O'Neill; IDEOGRAM, DISABUSE and JONESING from Jon O'Neill and Jack Worsley; LAIRAGES from Innis Carson; JASMINE from Neil Zussman; IONISABLE and ALEURONE from Jonathan Rawlinson; VENDACES from Jack Hurst and Conor Travers.

Also THESPIAN from Nick Hewer; EUHEDRAL and WARFARE from Jenny Eclair / Susie Dent.

Just for the sake of completion, the other words mentioned so far in this thread (excluding conundrums) are VIHUELAS, ECSTATIC, SLUGFEST, SULFATES, LIFEBOAT, DEADBOLT, NEOTENY, PARADIGM, NEUROSIS, ABSENTED, PINNULE, ISOGAMY, COGITABLE, ESCARGOT, STOTTY, FLORUITED, SUBSPACE, TOURNOIS, HEPARIN, LORAZEPAM (DC), ALAMEDA, MALAMUTE, CAJEPUT, SHIGELLA and PONYTAILS.

All in all, a great selection of words and spots there. I'll think about this a bit more before choosing my favourite(s), but hopefully there's food for thought there.

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2013 11:07 pm**

Definitely not WARFARE, I spotted that and that's a pretty good marker for not good enough.

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2013 11:32 pm**

I would say that any "showboating" word wouldn't count in my book - i.e. when there is an equal length word that's more "normal". Certainly any word equalled by their opponent (with a word that isn't considered particularly great) wouldn't count.

I don't think you'll ever get a definitive "best word" anyway. I remember in the past people have gone on about GUNSMITH and WARPATH. Good spots I'm sure - but a lot of what people think is good is words that they happen not to have come across themselves. You've no idea why the person spotted it themselves (unless they say).

Posted: **Wed Mar 06, 2013 12:26 am**

I found it really difficult to pick the word of the tournament from so many outstanding candidates, but after much deliberation, I made a decision. I'll take you through my process. I started with the 52 words declared by contestants that I mentioned in my previous post, leaving the excellent Dictionary Corner jokers of LORAZEPAM and EUHEDRAL to one side in an effort to find the ace in the pack (52 - see what I did there?). Even being quite harsh, I only managed to narrow it down to 16 words initially.

12 particularly impressive darrenic spots: PUKIEST, VENDETTA, FORTALICE, FORERIBS, UPTEMPO, DRUPELET, VIHUELAS, DEADBOLT, NEOTENY, STOTTY, ALAMEDA and MALAMUTE.
4 other nice words: SLUGFEST (narcissism), ISOGAMY, CAJEPUT and SHIGELLA.

I could have happily picked any of the above as my word of the tournament, but then I tried to remember which of them really knocked my socks off when watching and that left me with 7 words: FORTALICE, FORERIBS, UPTEMPO, DRUPELET, STOTTY, ALAMEDA and SHIGELLA.

After much umming and aahing, I plumped for ALAMEDA as the word of the tournament, beating FORERIBS into second place, with FORTALICE earning 18 points in third place. Anyway, that's my tuppenny's worth. I don't know if we'll come to some sort of consensus in the end, but reading through other people's picks, ALAMEDA, VIHUELAS and STOTTY seem to be the top three so far.

Posted: **Wed Mar 06, 2013 7:07 pm**

I really liked ALAMEDA, MORPHIA, UPTEMPO and DRUPELET. Have a soft spot for VENDACES as well, mainly because I once spent about 4 hours trying to get it to come up in Goatdown after becoming convinced it was the way to get the ace in the apterous card hunt. Nope. Overall SLUGFEST was my favourite.

LORAZEPAM would have cruised this if it was a contestant offering.

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