And with the top 4 seeds still in play, this should be a great finish to the series. 
Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Wednesday 25 June 2014.
C1: #1 Seed Mark "The Bristol Bombardier" Murray (9 wins, 997 points.) An Apterite from Bristol, originally from Dublin. He defeated the #8 seed Andy Gardner 95-63 in his quarter-final the Friday before last.
C2: #4 Seed Neil "The Cardiff Crusher" Green (7 wins, 739 points.) A Scrabbler and comedy writer from Cardiff. He defeated the #5 seed Sean Fletcher 84-55 in his quarter-final yesterday.
DC: Susie Dent and Mark Foster.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: E I E S C R H A N
R02: B R H B O E I T L
R03: 75, 50, 100, 10, 10, 4. Target: 335.
TTT: RIOTYACT - "The sort of act that could lead to riots across the land"
R04: P N D R A O U G E
R05: I E R T J D O S A
R06: 75, 6, 4, 10, 2, 3. Target: 641.
R07: D F V E I O S A X
R08: S W T N I E U Z I
R09: 100, 25, 50, 6, 9, 2. Target: 626.
TTT: HOPEVERY - "I hope very much they don't exaggerate their claims"
R10: R N V M O E I A T
R11: L S Y E I O N R E
R12: L O S U D A T N O
R13: R K E U O E R M O
R14: 75, 3, 10, 4, 7, 6. Target: 924.
R15: G O O D D A N C E (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: E I E S C R H A N
Mark: ARSENIC (7)
Neil: INCREASE (8)
DC: RANCHES (7)
OT: ENRICHES (8) INARCHES (8)
Score: 0–8 (max 8)
Hmmm, we're left to wonder what risky word Mark might've had, but it's a great start for Neil, who INCREASEs his score from 0 to 8.
To INARCH is to graft by uniting a growing branch to a stock without separating the branch from its parent stock.
Round 2: B R H B O E I T L
Mark: lobbier
Neil: trilobe
DC: BROTHEL (7) HOBBLER (7) BIBELOT (7)
OT: BLITHER (7)
Score: 0–8 (max 15)
Oh dear, oh dear, a pair of illegal 7's here, and we retain the same scores..............
Round 3: 75, 50, 100, 10, 10, 4. Target: 335.
Mark: 335. ((75 + 10) x 4) - (10 / (100 / 50)) (10)
Neil: 330.
Score: 10–8 (max 25)
Mark goes 3 large and despite a ridiculously long way round, he does get the target, while Neil is 5 away.............
Teatime teaser: RIOTYACT -> ATROCITY
Round 4: P N D R A O U G E
Mark: PADRONE (7)
Neil: AGROUND (7)
DC: POUNDAGE (8) POUNDER (7)
Score: 17–15 (max 33)
A pair of 7's from the contestants, but DC get the darrenic 8.
Round 5: I E R T J D O S A
Mark: ASTEROID (8)
Neil: ASTEROID (8)
DC: ROADIES (7) TIRADES (7)
Score: 25–23 (max 41)
This time it's the contestants who go darrenic with the 8.
Round 6: 75, 6, 4, 10, 2, 3. Target: 641.
Mark: 641. ((75 - 4) x (6 + 3)) + 2 (10)
Neil: 641. ((75 + 6) x (10 - 2)) - 4 - 3 (10)
Score: 35–33 (max 51)
Two very different methods for this numbers game, but two lots of 10 points for our contestants.
Mark talks about his role models when he was growing up, mainly one Duncan Goodhew.
Round 7: D F V E I O S A X
Mark: OXIDASE (7)
Neil: AVOIDS (6)
DC: VIDEOS (6)
Score: 42–33 (max 58)
A possibly decisive darren here from Mark, but the lead is still in single figures, and Neil's Scrabble knowledge means he is still more than a reasonable threat in this game.
Round 8: S W T N I E U Z I
Mark: UNITIZES (8)
Neil: UNITIZES (8)
Score: 50–41 (max 66)
Double darren time
Round 9: 100, 25, 50, 6, 9, 2. Target: 626.
Mark: 625. (100 x 6) + 25 (7)
Neil: 625. (100 x 6) + 25 (7)
OT: 626. ((50 x 6) + 9 + (100 / 25)) x 2 (10)
Score: 57–48 (max 76)
The simple one away from both players here. Even Rachel couldn't get it
(I must admit I thought I had it within a few seconds, then I double-checked, and I realised I had 629 
)Teatime teaser: HOPEVERY -> OVERHYPE
Round 10: R N V M O E I A T
Mark: NORMATIVE (18)
Neil: OVERMAN (7)
DC: VARMINT (7)
Score: 75–48 (max 94)
WOAH! WOAH!! WOAH!!! NOW THAT'S A REAL GAME CHANGER
A brilliant time to get a 9, and all of a sudden, Mark looks well secure in his champions' chair. Round 11: L S Y E I O N R E
Mark: RELINES (7)
Neil: sneerily
OT: LIERNES (7) LOERIES (7)
Score: 82–48 (max 101)
Certainly not a rubbish guess from Neil there, and maybe in the past or in another dictionary, sneerily is there, but not here........
Susie's Origins of Words talks about the origins of the word "derby", as in the West Yorkshire derby (no reason why I mentioned that one in particular.........
)Round 12: L O S U D A T N O
Mark: outlands
Neil: outlands
DC: SANDLOT (7)
OT: ANDOSOL (7) ASTOUND (7) DALTONS (7) OUTSOLD (7) UNLOADS (7)
Score: 82–48 (max 108)
Surely outlands (or even outland) will be in the dictionary soon, seem amazing that they aren't, yet OUTLANDER is.........
Round 13: R K E U O E R M O
Mark: moorer
Neil: ROOMER (6)
OT: KERERU (6) KORERO (6)
Score: 82–54 (max 114)
Nothing much to get from in this round, but Neil finds a 6, which Mark could've had too with a slight alteration..........
But, that all pales into insignificance as Mark has now got his place confirmed in Friday's GRAND FINAL A KERERU is another name for the New Zealand pigeon, a large fruit-eating native pigeon, Hemiphagia novaeseelandiae, of forest areas.
A KORERO is a Maori term for a talk or discussion.
Round 14: 75, 3, 10, 4, 7, 6. Target: 924.
Mark: 923. (3 x 4 x 75) + 10 + 7 + 6 (7)
Neil: 924. Mistake in working.
RR: 924. ((75 x 3) + 6) x 4 (10)
Score: 89–54 (max 124)
Another numbers that goes unsolved by the players, after Neil realises that he's used the 4 twice, which also means that Mark is going miss out on another century again, although I'm sure he's more than happy of securing his place in the final.
Round 15: G O O D D A N C E
Neil buzzes on 1.5 seconds to say DODECAGON which is correct.
Final Score: 89–64 (max 134)
After a bit of a musical mess-up by the editing team, Neil manages to get out the DODECAGON and restrict Mark's winning margin to 25 points.
So, thanks mainly to NORMATIVE, Mark weathered the storm of the Scrabbler, Neil Green, and book his place in the final on Friday, against the winner of tomorrow's semi-final between the #2 seed, Samir Pilica and the #3 seed, Andy Naylor. Join me for that recap tomorrow.
So, till then, bye for now.
Statistics Corner
Mark:
Total score - 89
Raw score - 96
Total % of max - 66
Raw % of max - 72
Total average score per round - 5.9
Raw average score per round - 6.4
Number of maxes - 7
Neil:
Total score - 64
Raw score - 84
Total % of max - 48
Raw % of max - 63
Total average score per round - 4.3
Raw average score per round - 5.6
Number of maxes - 6
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=70