Spoilers for Friday, 17th October

Joseph Bolas · Post by **Joseph Bolas** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:21 pm

Good luck to Charlie on his 3rd game

.

Joseph Bolas · Post by **Joseph Bolas** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:39 pm

1st Numbers Alt: (75 - ((6 x 5) - 8)) x 4

Mark Kudlowski · Post by **Mark Kudlowski** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:46 pm

1st numbers alt: (8 x 6) + 5 = 53; 53 x 4 = 212.

2nd numbers alt: 7 x 9 x 5 x (3-1) = 315; (315 x 2) - 4 = 626.

John Douglas · Post by **John Douglas** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:49 pm

AMIOTIC? (R7) Sorrry - the word is AMNIOTIC!

Joseph Bolas · Post by **Joseph Bolas** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:52 pm

SQUIRTER as an equaller.

Peter Mabey · Post by **Peter Mabey** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:58 pm

R7 - DIATOMIC

Nick Wainwright · Post by **Nick Wainwright** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:07 pm

parador in round 13 (which I missed in one of my games)

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:16 pm

Another solid win so well done, but the first two games were more impressive. I expect many more centuries to come though.

Jeff Clayton · Post by **Jeff Clayton** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:17 pm

R11: CONVENT + A = COVENANT.

Jeff

Kai Laddiman · Post by **Kai Laddiman** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:20 pm

Tuned in on R11. Got:

R11: COVENANT
R12: POODLE
R13: PARRY
R14: (10-9)x8x10+(7x5)
R15: CRUMBLING on 1 second

Well done Charlie!

Diane Allinson · Post by **Diane Allinson** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:25 pm

Is parador in the Concise Oxford Dictionary? It's not in my 1991 edition, do i need an updated one?
If it is, that means i beat the lovely Charlie today, sorry chick

Jimmy Gough · Post by **Jimmy Gough** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:31 pm

Congratulations Charlie!

I haven't watched Countdown in a while but I just turned it on yesterday and saw you were on. You've been just as good as I'd have thought. What an irritating opponent (as far as the game's concerned anyway!) he does bad and then really well and that selection of 6 small was a bit silly.

You come across so modest though. Best contestant in ages both in ability and personality!

I got FARTIEST, I don't think it has been mentioned - can you have it or am I just being stupid?

Well played again and good luck in the quarter finals

Diane Allinson · Post by **Diane Allinson** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:40 pm

R2 SILAGES
R3 RISSOLE

1st numbers alt: (75-4) x (8-5) - (6/6)

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:18 pm

Kai Laddiman wrote:Tuned in on R11. Got:

R11: COVENANT
R12: POODLE
R13: PARRY
R14: (10-9)x8x10+(7x5)
R15: CRUMBLING on 1 second

Well done Charlie!

There's confidence for you, he can't even be bothered to check out the competition for the first 10 rounds. Haha.

What's Denirosdoll's initials (review purposes)?

There's a real preliminary version up there, full version coming perhaps this evening or tomorrow. My 199th, one more before everyone can look forward to regular friday reviews from Joseph and others I believe, whatever gets arranged.

DC

Diane Allinson · Post by **Diane Allinson** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:28 pm

DaveC wrote: What's Denirosdoll's initials (review purposes)?
DC

Review of what Dave?

Paul Howe · Post by **Paul Howe** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:40 pm

Nice going, lots of tricky maxes today. That run of 38 consecutive scoring rounds won't have been bettered by many.

Joseph Bolas · Post by **Joseph Bolas** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:24 pm

DaveC wrote:There's a real preliminary version up there, full version coming perhaps this evening or tomorrow. My 199th, one more before everyone can look forward to regular friday reviews from Joseph and others I believe, whatever gets arranged.

When you say "regular", do you mean using the recap writer? Because I don't use the recapper myself.

Also speaking of which, no-one has put their name down to alternate with me on the Friday recaps, so if anyone does want to, please let me know.

Richard Priest · Post by **Richard Priest** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:27 pm

I pondered BAGLESS (in relation to vacuum cleaners) in round 2 but it's not in the ODE.James Dyson isn't either.

Martin Gardner · Post by **Martin Gardner** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:37 pm

Nice effort today, I suppose you were unlikely to get 960 in 8 games, but it would have been nice if you had scored 100 again. A bit unlucky as I think you had either SQUIRMER or SQUIRTER and you'd have risked it had you been declaring second.

Keith Bevins · Post by **Keith Bevins** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:01 pm

Well played again Charlie. I actually managed to outscore Charlie today ( can't say beat him as we were not competing directly) for the first time ever either on his TV games or online.

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:57 pm

Joseph Bolas wrote:
DaveC wrote:There's a real preliminary version up there, full version coming perhaps this evening or tomorrow. My 199th, one more before everyone can look forward to regular friday reviews from Joseph and others I believe, whatever gets arranged.
When you say "regular", do you mean using the recap writer? Because I don't use the recapper myself.

Also speaking of which, no-one has put their name down to alternate with me on the Friday recaps, so if anyone does want to, please let me know.

hi Joseph, apologies for the length, it just ended up that way. haha.

Well, actually it's out of my hands on both counts, but it seems easy to say that if nobody else wants to do Fridays, as seems to be the case then it'll be you every week if that's what you want. One thing I can say for sure, recap writing does help you learn new words. I defeat TV contestants from home on days when I couldn't find an anagram of TABLE if I were surrounded by noisy sheep, just by leaning on better word knowledge.

Again if you want to use the recap writer or not is entirely up to you, it's not for me to say. I suspect I've been seen as a bit of an opponant of the recap writer, which is probably not entirely fair. Before Charlie added the "find best words" or whatever it's called dictionary search thing I didn't use it. It was as easy to use a previous review as a template with a spreadsheet doing some calculations (and equation checking) in the background. Jim Bentley was at the time E-mailing me word lists for inclusion anyway.

In the most recent reviews I've used output from the recap writer as my starting point, as I think many people do. It picks up quite a lot of possible errors, does a lot of the maths for you and takes a lot of the leg work out of the review writing process. It is definitely to be recommended in that respect. I don't think it checks the equation you put in, and last time I tried it didn't check the validity of what C1 and C2 put in so that is for you to do. Also sub-optimal words are sometimes worthy of inclusion for whatever reason, the recap writer being a software tool doesn't know what humans would find interesting and just gives you optimal words, so I type any others I want to include afterwards. I like to add little initials for who saw what, any interesting numbers solutions etc, etc, etc.

I don't see any good reason to not use the recap writer, it's a well written tool and will definitely save you time. It spits out it's wares in the form of raw text which you can then copy and paste into a text editing tool and tinker with to your hearts desire. Can't really argue with that.

DC

Joseph Bolas · Post by **Joseph Bolas** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:19 am

DaveC wrote:hi Joseph, apologies for the length, it just ended up that way. haha.

No need to apologise

DaveC wrote:Well, actually it's out of my hands on both counts, but it seems easy to say that if nobody else wants to do Fridays, as seems to be the case then it'll be you every week if that's what you want.

I honestly thought someone might've wanted to alternate

DaveC wrote:In the most recent reviews I've used output from the recap writer as my starting point, as I think many people do. It picks up quite a lot of possible errors, does a lot of the maths for you and takes a lot of the leg work out of the review writing process. It is definitely to be recommended in that respect. I don't think it checks the equation you put in, and last time I tried it didn't check the validity of what C1 and C2 put in so that is for you to do. Also sub-optimal words are sometimes worthy of inclusion for whatever reason, the recap writer being a software tool doesn't know what humans would find interesting and just gives you optimal words, so I type any others I want to include afterwards. I like to add little initials for who saw what, any interesting numbers solutions etc, etc, etc.

I wasn't sure if you could add your own comments and initials etc, like you normally do on the recaps. It is nice to give credit to the players who find obscure words and number solutions etc.

DaveC wrote:One thing I can say for sure, recap writing does help you learn new words. I defeat TV contestants from home on days when I couldn't find an anagram of TABLE if I were surrounded by noisy sheep, just by leaning on better word knowledge.

I don't see any good reason to not use the recap writer, it's a well written tool and will definitely save you time. It spits out it's wares in the form of raw text which you can then copy and paste into a text editing tool and tinker with to your hearts desire. Can't really argue with that.

I suppose you can't argue with that. I might use it then.

Allan Harmer · Post by **Allan Harmer** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:44 am

[quote="Joseph Bolas"]

I honestly thought someone might've wanted to alternate

Jospeh - I would be happy to alternate on Fridays with you - If that's ok, you can pm me or email me at aagharmer@hotmail dot co dot uk.

Cheers - Allan

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:15 am

I was quite happy to get FILABEGS in round 2 and then when I checked it wasn't in ODE2r and it's spelt FILIBEGS. I thought I had mislearnt a word (shock!) but turns out it is in my version of Countmax so that's where I got it from (or apterous - would be nice to have a search facility on apterous actually). Anyway I also had PARADOR as a beater and a nice equaller in round 3 with ATRESIA. However, in Fell corner, I did miss MONSTERA/ALMONERS in round 8 which I'm not letting myself off for missing.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:12 am

Just to say, another good reason to use the recap writer is that it automatically builds the version of the recap that we put on the wiki. (I imagine many frequent users don't realise this, because it's all done in the background.) And even if you're not a fan of the wiki, that's also a good thing because it's the data from the wiki that is fed into apterous's Classic Games feature. So if you want your recaps to be playable on apterous in the near future, the recap writer is the way to go.

Joseph Bolas · Post by **Joseph Bolas** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:42 am

aagharmer wrote:
Joseph Bolas wrote:
I honestly thought someone might've wanted to alternate
Joseph - I would be happy to alternate on Fridays with you - If that's ok, you can pm me or email me at aagharmer@hotmail dot co dot uk.

Cheers - Allan

Hey Allan,

Yes, that's fine with me

. Thank you for offering to help out

.

Joseph.

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:10 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:Just to say, another good reason to use the recap writer is that it automatically builds the version of the recap that we put on the wiki. (I imagine many frequent users don't realise this, because it's all done in the background.) And even if you're not a fan of the wiki, that's also a good thing because it's the data from the wiki that is fed into apterous's Classic Games feature. So if you want your recaps to be playable on apterous in the near future, the recap writer is the way to go.

Ah yes, I didn't realise this was going on. Most people, it seems, do like to take a review as produced from the tool then make various additions and so on. I'm in that camp also. I'm wondering if there's a way of tripping the bit that sends it off to the wiki ( or makes that bit easiest ) without at the same time sending it to be posted on here. That's if it matters all that much... which it probably doesn't.

DC

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:21 pm

Yep, it posts the wiki version back to the server as soon as you click "Make text recap".

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:51 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:Yep, it posts the wiki version back to the server as soon as you click "Make text recap".

Excellent stuff.

Friday's has a f**k up in it then, because "filabegs" (dropped variant spelling) is in the recap writers dictionary.

Apologies for all the crap I probably sent you while I was exploring how the recap writer worked, haha.

DC

DaveC · Post by **DaveC** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:35 pm

denirosdoll wrote:
DaveC wrote: What's Denirosdoll's initials (review purposes)?
DC
Review of what Dave?

The review of the game, as seen in the recaps thread. http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=993

Some reviewers credit with initials the finds listed in the spoilers thread.

DC

Joseph Bolas · Post by **Joseph Bolas** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:37 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:Yep, it posts the wiki version back to the server as soon as you click "Make text recap".

So say I was to do a practice run of using the recapper (just to get used to using it) by recapping my game from 2004, would that not work then, because there is already a recap in the Countdown Wiki?

Julie T · Post by **Julie T** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:54 pm

Jimmy wrote: I got FARTIEST, I don't think it has been mentioned - can you have it or am I just being stupid?

Not in the dictionary, as the recap mentions, Jimmy.
Not stupid, though. I often think of that word when those letters come up, but then remember it's only a Ben Elton comedy routine word.
Farty being a noun meaning someone who's a prat (more or less), or and adjective for someone behaving like a prat. Should be in the dictionary IMHO!

Well done, Charlie! I equalled most of your rounds, and outscored on round 2 and 10. I'm sure I'd flag with 3 games on the trot.
If I ever got onto the show, I doubt I'd last that long, though.
Still a convincing win, and reassuring, I suppose, that you can still triumph when not at your best.
What's the most games you had to film in one day, or would that be a spoiler?

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 6:10 pm

Finally managed to watch the show (was travelling whilst it was on and in the end got my dad to tape the More4 repeat, I'm that committed). When I saw who you were up against I first thought "haha, I bet he's going to be good" (it's like gaydar only for countdown, and apparently about as reliable). In my deliciously relaxed environment I got TIRELESS and the second numbers (the 5x7x2x9 way), but missed MONSTERA because I was too busy wondering about LAMENTORS (well, that and I suck, obviously). Wasn't sure if I'd've risked SQUIRMER either (although I noticed that during origin of words SQUIRTER was on the board behind Carol - odd that they cut that bit of DC time when they seemed to have loads of space at the end of the show).

But yeah, you were awful, and make sure you remember that you're awful when we play our Plate game

edit: oh yeah - the favourite letter tangent was epic

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:48 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
edit: oh yeah - the favourite letter tangent was epic

Haha yes I enjoyed that little tangent too - you should have elaborated and asked her what her favourite number was and why.

Richard Priest · Post by **Richard Priest** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:50 pm

Julie T wrote:[What's the most games you had to film in one day, or would that be a spoiler?

Countdown film 5 shows a day Julie (the DC guest is usually only there for a day) and as Charlie's debut game was the second of Anne Widdecombe's current run of shows I would imagine he would have filmed 4 that day - after all we now know he's won at least 3. I don't know how his filming block worked - he could have had to return the very next day to carry on filming or maybe not had to return until the following week. Maybe he'll fill you in once the risk of spoileration has gone.

Matt Coates · Post by **Matt Coates** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:36 am

i didnt know Charlie was going to be on, thats brill.

does anyone know where i can download his last 2 episodes from?

i used to download them from http://www..the-box.bz, but no-one uploads them now.

i think i know who will win the series now, well done Charlie

Julian Fell · Post by **Julian Fell** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 7:43 am

From 4oD, Matt.

Charlie, EXORCISE was a fantastic spot (double darren as well!) - knocked me right into touch. So that's three shows in a row you've beaten me on a letters round

Strange opponent too, as a few others have remarked. He had a few rounds where he was pretty decent - indeed, PARODY was excellent - and a few rounds where Hazel Wheeler could've beaten him. Have to put it down to nerves, although he didn't seem that nervous on-screen.

Paul, I also remember the talk about Tom H's mammoth run of consecutive scoring rounds at the start of his run, but likewise I can't remember the exact number - does anyone? Mike Brown, if you're there? I think it was (slightly) more than 38 - but that's still a mightily impressive number, Charlie. Has no one like Conor / Beevers etc. put together a massive scoring run since Tom H?

Matt Coates · Post by **Matt Coates** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:04 am

downloading them now Julian, thanks

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:36 pm

I can answer without any real spoilage. I arrived on the first day of a new block (so I never got to meet Kai) and was on second, which was pretty good because I got to watch my first opponent from the comfort of the audience. I have to admit I was hoping Sue would win (despite her being a complete psychopath) because she was clearly much weaker than Jon and was quite fortunate to force a crucial conundrum. Anyway, the game to be shown tomorrow was the last one filmed that day. Whether I made it to a second day of filming, well, you'll just have to watch.

Martin Gardner · Post by **Martin Gardner** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:49 pm

Julian Fell wrote:From 4oD, Matt.

Charlie, EXORCISE was a fantastic spot (double darren as well!) - knocked me right into touch. So that's three shows in a row you've beaten me on a letters round

Yeah I had CORGIS in this round, well done.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:06 pm

I'm surprised no one has commented on the ridiculous way I said "EX-OR-CISE" (from the Richard Priest book of enunciation). I was totally expecting Des to say "EXERCISE?" so went for a preemptive strike.

JimBentley · Post by **JimBentley** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:15 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:I have to admit I was hoping Sue would win (despite her being a complete psychopath)

Come on man, you can't leave that hanging! Spill beans, plz.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:05 pm

That was a teaser; you'll have to wait for my Countdown Experience on TCDP!

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:44 pm

Julian Fell wrote:Charlie, EXORCISE was a fantastic spot (double darren as well!) - knocked me right into touch. So that's three shows in a row you've beaten me on a letters round

Yes! That means I beat you in a letters round as well.

Julie T · Post by **Julie T** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:32 pm

Rich Priest wrote:
Julie T wrote:[What's the most games you had to film in one day, or would that be a spoiler?
Countdown film 5 shows a day Julie (the DC guest is usually only there for a day) and as Charlie's debut game was the second of Anne Widdecombe's current run of shows I would imagine he would have filmed 4 that day - after all we now know he's won at least 3. I don't know how his filming block worked - he could have had to return the very next day to carry on filming or maybe not had to return until the following week. Maybe he'll fill you in once the risk of spoileration has gone.

Charlie Reams wrote:I can answer without any real spoilage. Anyway, the game to be shown tomorrow was the last one filmed that day. Whether I made it to a second day of filming, well, you'll just have to watch.

Thanks, Charlie (and Richard). I'm looking forward to tomorrow's episode.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:42 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:I'm surprised no one has commented on the ridiculous way I said "EX-OR-CISE" (from the Richard Priest book of enunciation). I was totally expecting Des to say "EXERCISE?" so went for a preemptive strike.

I'd have pronounced it the same way - no point saying "exercise" knowing he'll ask to spell it or something and waste more time.

Conor · Post by **Conor** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 7:03 pm

Just watched your episodes on 4od and my verdict: very good. I played better "today", but was beaten on a few rounds on your other shows. I think you were slightly unlucky, what with declaring first in round 9 and yet another 6 small numbers game selection. AMITOTIC was there as an equaller in round 7. 332 points from 3 games -- if you continue playing well you could be hovering in the late 800s and early 900s.

Diane Allinson · Post by **Diane Allinson** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 9:05 pm

DaveC wrote:
denirosdoll wrote:
DaveC wrote: What's Denirosdoll's initials (review purposes)?
DC
Review of what Dave?
The review of the game, as seen in the recaps thread. http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=993

Some reviewers credit with initials the finds listed in the spoilers thread.

DC

Ah I see Dave, my initials are DA, i should really have registered using my real name as username, didn't realise that's what most do on here, maybe i'll re-register

Howard Somerset · Post by **Howard Somerset** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 9:08 pm

Well done once again, Charlie. So far, out of three episodes, I've only managed to beat you on two rounds, both numbers. Still hoping, probably in vain, to beat you on a letters round.