C1: Champion Rod Chatfield (2 wins, 175 points) is a guest house owner from Ilfracombe, Devon. He got his Countdown teapot on Thursday, deposing incumbent champion Bea Hill on a sudden death conundrum.
C2: Challenger Rowena Martin is a housewife from Eastbourne. One of her hobbies is international folk dancing.
DC: Susie Dent and Dan Walker.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: T Y G U E F S A R
R02: L N L D E O A G P
R03: 75, 5, 8, 3, 10, 2. Target: 530.
TTT: DULYENDS - "The film duly ends, but very abruptly."
R04: V S L T O E E H A
R05: T M X E E A M T S
R06: 25, 9, 3, 7, 2, 1. Target: 578.
R07: S N D E I G N E S
R08: L B M C I E I N O
R09: 25, 9, 4, 1, 8, 4. Target: 692.
TTT: DATEDHER - "The needle is ready but the bolt's shot."
R10: V R H P A A I T O
R11: D F B I O G T O C
R12: P R S N I O I D E
R13: M D H A O J N A E
R14: 50, 3, 8, 9, 5, 2. Target: 130.
R15: D E R A W E G G S (conundrum)
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Round 1: T Y G U E F S A R
C1: GRAFTS (6)
C2: RAGES (5)
DC: SAFETY (6) ARGUES (6) GYRATES (7)
OT: ESTUARY (7)
Score: 6–0 (max 7)
Rowena RAGES as champion Rod takes the first round. Then he's beaten by Susie's GYRATES.
Round 2: L N L D E O A G P
C1: PLANED (6)
C2: GALLOPED (8)
DC: PAGED (5)
Score: 6–8 (max 15)
But Rowena GALLOPED in front in response. Dan wonders if PAGED is still a thing nowadays.
Round 3: 75, 5, 8, 3, 10, 2. Target: 530.
C1: 530. (75-10)*8+3+2+5 (10)
C2: 530. ((8+2)*5+3)*10 (10)
Score: 16–18 (max 25)
The first numbers is no problem for either contestant, and Rowena even solves it without using the large number.
Teatime teaser: DULYENDS -> SUDDENLY
Round 4: V S L T O E E H A
C1: HOTELS (6)
C2: VALETS (6)
DC: SOLVATE (7) LOATHES (7) loveseat
OT: OLEATES (7) VELETAS (7)
Score: 22–24 (max 32)
Dan wonders about LOVESEAT^, but it's two words. An OLEATE is a salt or ester of oleic acid, and a VELETA (or VALETA) is a ballroom dance which is in triple time like a waltz, but faster.
Round 5: T M X E E A M T S
C1: STEAM (5)
C2: TEAMS (5)
DC: EXAMS (5) SEXTET (6)
OT: METATES (7)
Score: 27–29 (max 39)
Fives apiece from this unpromising selection, although DC do find a word with a SEXTET of letters in it. Left to the circling vultures in the spoiler thread are METATES, which are grain-grinding surfaces in Central America.
Round 6: 25, 9, 3, 7, 2, 1. Target: 578.
C1: -
C2: 570. (25*2+7)*(9+1) (5)
RR: 578. ((9-1)*2+7)*25+3 (10)
Score: 27–34 (max 49)
Rowena declares 8 away, but Rod's nowhere, so she bags five points out of it. Nick's reaction is this...
Round 7: S N D E I G N E S
C1: DESIGNS (7)
C2: SENDING (7)
DC: SENDINGS (8)
OT: DINGESES (8) EDGINESS (8)
Score: 34–41 (max 57)
Susie confirms that you can put an S on the end of SENDING - the noun SENDING means some kind of evil thing supposedly sent by someone supernaturally and maliciously. DINGES, or DINGUS, is a South African term for "thingummy" or "whatchamacallit". Also, it's useful to remember that SEEDINGS^ is not valid, but its anagram EDGINESS is.
Round 8: L B M C I E I N O
C1: COMBINE (7)
C2: NIMBLE (6)
DC: BONCE (5)
OT: EMBOLIC (7)
Score: 41–41 (max 64)
Rowena finds NIMBLE, but Rod finds one of the two sevens in this round, COMBINE, to draw level.
Round 9: 25, 9, 4, 1, 8, 4. Target: 692.
C1: 691. (8-1)*4*25-9 (7)
C2: 691. (8-1)*4*25-9 (7)
RR: 692. ((9-1)*4-4)*25-8 (10)
Score: 48–48 (max 74)
Both one away on the numbers, and still level pegging. Well done. Ish.
Teatime teaser: DATEDHER -> THREADED
Round 10: V R H P A A I T O
C1: PATIO (5)
C2: PATIO (5)
DC: AVIATOR (7)
OT: HAVARTI (7)
Score: 53–53 (max 81)
Our contestants continue to stick to each other, but Susie and Dan go higher with AVIATOR. There was one other seven, HAVARTI, which is a Danish cheese. Its days as a valid word are numbered, though, as it's capitalised in the online edition.
Round 11: D F B I O G T O C
C1: BIGOT (5)
C2: BIGOT (5)
DC: bigfoot bogof
OT: COGITO (6)
Score: 58–58 (max 87)
Dan comes up with two possible words in this round, BIGFOOT^ and BOGOF^, but the former has a capital B and the latter has a capital everything, so nothing doing there. COGITO is a philosophical concept which you might recognise from "cogito ergo sum", or "I think therefore I am".
Round 12: P R S N I O I D E
C1: PRISONED (8)
C2: PRISONED (8)
DC: INSPIRED (8) DERISION (8)
OT: IRONISED (8) PRESIDIO (8) RESINOID (8) RIPIENOS (8)
Score: 66–66 (max 95)
Rod isn't sure about PRISONED, but nothing wrong with it. Its use is chiefly literary and it means just the same as IMPRISON.
To IRONISE means to use ironically; a PRESIDIO is a word for a fortified military settlement, mainly in Hispanic countries; RESINOID is the adjective and noun from RESIN; and a RIPIENO is a musical term from baroque concertino music.
Round 13: M D H A O J N A E
C1: MOANED (6)
C2: DAEMON (6)
DC: HEADMAN (7)
OT: ADENOMA (7)
Score: 72–72 (max 102)
For the first time since round 8 our contestants have different offerings, even though they're anagrams of each other, and we're guaranteed a crucial conundrum. Susie and Dan find HEADMAN - you might remember its plural coming up last week.
Round 14: 50, 3, 8, 9, 5, 2. Target: 130.
C1: -
C2: 131. Timed out.
RR: 130. 8*5*2+50 (10)
Score: 72–72 (max 112)
This is by no means the hardest of numbers games, but the pressure gets to Rod and he blobs it.
There's also what might be a trace of controversy here - Rowena declares 131 and gets as far as 3*50=150, 5*2=10, then there's five seconds of silence, at which point Nick hurries her along. A couple of seconds of silence after that, Rowena says "plus nine" just as Nick times her out. I think it was clear where she was going with her solution when she said "plus nine", but the way I saw it, by that time the team had already made the decision that she'd had too long. And when that decision is made, it's got to be enforced, otherwise you're just saying "tell her she's had too long, but if she starts speaking before you tell her, then let her carry on", which is silly.
All of this means that going into the conundrum, the scores are still 72-all.
Round 15: D E R A W E G G S
Rod buzzes on 5 seconds to say SWAGGERED which is correct.
Final Score: 82–72 (max 122)
I don't think the ruling on the numbers round was necessarily wrong, but happily it hasn't affected the outcome of the game anyway. Rod has SWAGGERED in to his fourth game, which will be the penultimate preliminary of the series. With at least six wins required to qualify for the quarter-finals, neither Rod nor anyone else can win enough games this series to overtake Gemma Church as 8th seed, so we already know the line-up for the finals. So I'll be back next week for the matchup between Glen Webb and Jonathan Liew.
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=69