Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

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Anthony Endsor
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Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by Anthony Endsor »

Hello and welcome to another Friday recap. :) This isn't just any old Friday though. This is a very special day in Countdown's history, as it is the 6000th episode of Countdown. Who would have thought back in November 1982 when Countdown entered our screens for the first time that we would still be here almost 32 years later? There are still people alive today who remember those famous words by Richard Whiteley: 'As the Countdown to a new channel ends, so a new Countdown begins.' People gave it a week, 2 weeks if you were lucky, some even a month! Nobody gave it 32 years... and counting! Many of the best players Countdown has seen over the years weren't even born back in 1982. Yet some have developed into the machine-like geniuses that could only be dreamt about in the early years. Do we have any of those geniuses with us today? Well yesterday we saw our now champion Szelong Ng defeat Dave Stanford who had won 7 games previously. So if he can beat a 7 times champion, how far will he progress? Today he plays Paul Bradley from North Shields. Enjoy.

Countdown recap for Friday 5 September 2014.

C1: Champion Szelong Ng (1 win, 75 points.) A student from Bristol studying Physiology at Cardiff University.
C2: Challenger Paul Bradley. From North Shields, Tyne and Wear, big Newcastle Utd fan, plays bass guitar in a pub band called the Cosmic Space Pirates, big fan of the soaps.
DC: Susie Dent and Janet Street Porter.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: T O M G E R A S F
R02: R O N S A D S E B
R03: 7, 3, 6, 50, 75, 100. Target: 973.
TTT: SINGUILT - "He may have guilt about certain sins, but bad language isn't one of them."
R04: J A T L U V E D R
R05: N O U T E M D C N
R06: 6, 7, 10, 75, 100, 25. Target: 496.
R07: G A O W M E M I T
R08: Z R E P S I P A T
R09: 2, 10, 5, 75, 25, 100. Target: 747.
TTT: CHILDGET - "See the child get cross because the computer's broken."
R10: N E T S U N E X I
R11: D U A P E A K R E
R12: L A C S U N I L A
R13: T R O U L V I N A
R14: 6, 8, 8, 4, 7, 75. Target: 553.
R15: D I S O W N Z E D (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: T O M G E R A S F

Szelong: GREATS (6)
Paul: FASTER (6)
DC: FORMATES (8)
OT: FOREMAST (8)
Score: 6–6 (max 8)

Szelong is among the GREATS here. Paul is FASTER but both get 6 points.

Round 2: R O N S A D S E B

Szelong: BADNESS (7)
Paul: BROADENS (8)
DC: DRONES (6) BROADNESS (18)
Score: 6–14 (max 26)

Paul BROADENS his word to 8 letters to go ahead. Szelong soon sees the BADNESS of the situation.

Round 3: 7, 3, 6, 50, 75, 100. Target: 973.

Szelong: -
Paul: 975. (6+3) x 100 + 75 (7)
RR: 973. (100+50) x 7 - 75 - (6/3) (10)
Score: 6–21 (max 36)

Szelong didn't get close, but Paul got 2 away with 975. Rachel got it spot on though.

Teatime teaser: SINGUILT -> LINGUIST

Round 4: J A T L U V E D R

Szelong: VAULTED (7)
Paul: VAULTED (7)
DC: VALUED (6)
OT: VAULTER (7)
Score: 13–28 (max 43)

Both players VAULTED in this round for 7 points.

Round 5: N O U T E M D C N

Szelong: COUNTED (7)
Paul: MOUNTED (7)
DC: DOCUMENT (8)
Score: 20–35 (max 51)

Paul's word MOUNTED to 7 letters. Szelong COUNTED his word and it also came to 7.

Round 6: 6, 7, 10, 75, 100, 25. Target: 496.

Szelong: 497. (75x6) + ((100/25) x 10) + 7 (7)
Paul: -
RR: 496. (75+7) x 6 + (100/25) (10)
Score: 27–35 (max 61)

Paul fails in this round. Szelong falls 1 short of the 496 target so Rachel finishes the job.

Janet Street Porter talks about what she was doing in 1982, the shows she was presenting, etc.

Round 7: G A O W M E M I T

Szelong: gammit
Paul: went
DC: MIAOW (5) GIMME (5) TOWAGE (6)
Score: 27–35 (max 67)

Paul saw a phantom 'n' to declare 'went' while Szelong had 'gammit' disallowed.

Round 8: Z R E P S I P A T

Szelong: ASPIRE (6)
Paul: SPIRIT (6)
DC: PRIZES (6) PRAISE (6) REZIPS (6) ZIPPERS (7) TRAIPSES (8) ZAPPIEST (8)
OT: APPRIZES (8) PERIAPTS (8)
Score: 33–41 (max 75)

Szelong got a 6 to ASPIRE to Paul's SPIRIT, also for 6.

Round 9: 2, 10, 5, 75, 25, 100. Target: 747.

Szelong: 748.
Paul: 747. (75x10) - (5-2) (10)
Score: 33–51 (max 85)

Paul gets a perfect 10. Only after he demonstrates his method does Szelong realise how easy it was.

Teatime teaser: CHILDGET -> GLITCHED

Round 10: N E T S U N E X I

Szelong: TUNES (5)
Paul: UNISEX (6)
DC: EXEUNT (6) TUNNIES (7)
OT: INTENSE (7) SIXTEEN (7) TENNIES (7)
Score: 33–57 (max 92)

Paul gets UNISEX for 6, meaning Szelong's TUNES fails to score.

Round 11: D U A P E A K R E

Szelong: PEAKED (6)
Paul: PEAKED (6)
DC: PARKED (6) PERKED (6)
OT: PARKADE (7)
Score: 39–63 (max 99)

Both players PEAKED in this round for 6 points.

Susie gets a day off today because of something special coming up at the end of the show. If you want to find out what, you'll have to read on. :P

Round 12: L A C S U N I L A

Szelong: canulis
Paul: CLANS (5)
DC: LACUNAS (7)
OT: CALLUNA (7) CLAUSAL (7) LACUNAL (7) UNCIALS (7)
Score: 39–68 (max 106)

Szelong has 'canulis' disallowed and Paul joins the CLANS for 5 points.

Round 13: T R O U L V I N A

Szelong: VALOUR (6)
Paul: TRAIN (5)
DC: LOVAT (5) OUTRIVAL (8)
Score: 45–68 (max 114)

Paul gets the TRAIN in this round, while Szelong goes on with VALOUR to get 6 points back.

Round 14: 6, 8, 8, 4, 7, 75. Target: 553.

Szelong: 549. (75x7) + (6x4) (7)
Paul: 555. Mistake in working.
RR: 553. (75+4) x 7 (10)
Score: 52–68 (max 124)

Paul makes a mistake while attempting to reach 555, and gets 554 instead which would actually be 1 closer if only he'd declared that. So Szelong gets 7 points for 549.
Rachel once more tidies up.

Round 15: D I S O W N Z E D

Paul buzzes on 28 seconds to say WONZIED which is incorrect.
Szelong buzzes on 29 seconds to say WOMANIZED which is incorrect.
The answer was DOWNSIZED.

Neither player gets it. We had 2 silly guesses at the end before a young gentleman in the audience got it right.

Final Score: 52–68 (max 134)

Mark McKinlay, an adjudicator from Guinness Book Of Records makes an appearance to award Countdown the award for the most broadcast game show on television. I think everyone can agree Countdown is well deserving of this accolade. To think such a simple format has held for this long, and there's no reason why it cannot go on for many more years to come. Congratulations to all who have been a part of the programme in any capacity during this time, who have helped make this possible.

So Zselong is defeated on his first defence of his crown as he succumbs to Paul Bradley. Will Paul go on to greater things? Join Andy McGurn on Monday to see whether he can. I am once again banished to the sidelines by the G G's next week, so it'll be another 2 weeks before I return. Please join me then. In the meantime, thank you very much for reading, and goodbye. :)

Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=71

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Last edited by Anthony Endsor on Sat Sep 06, 2014 8:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gavin Chipper
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by Gavin Chipper »

There was a lot of noise where I was watching today, but did DC definitely say EXEUNTS rather than EXEUNT? I thought it was decided somewhere that they weren't going to allow it (along with FLORUITED), and the ODO search bar doesn't like it. Also should MEIOW be MIAOW?

Here is the discussion, although I'm not sure what Graeme's source was initially. Damian on Apterous maybe. EXEUNTED is explicitly mentioned rather than EXEUNTS, but it's the same logic.
mark b davies
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by mark b davies »

Susie definitely said exeunt because I had exeunts. Checked on ODO only to be disappointed. I remember exeunted being allowed so I thought I'd chance the plural.
Giles
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by Giles »

You got Szelong's name spelt right the first time, but then every subsequent time you had 'Zs-'!

And RE EXEUNT and FLORUIT, viewers kicked off about Conor having FLORUITED because FLORUIT is already past tense in Latin and makes no sense to add -ED to it as well. Matt Bayfield also tells me that in actual books and stuff only FLORUIT is used to say when something was active or being used. The ODO doesn't seem to care about this though and even has FLORUITED in one of its example sentences so it would seem silly to disallow it now if Oxford use it explicitly.
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by Giles »

Also I think Szelong declared gammit* rather than gamet*. Not that it makes much difference really.
Giles
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by Giles »

Also, having googled him, the GWR guy is Mark McKinley.
Fred Mumford
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by Fred Mumford »

Anthony Endsor wrote:There are still people alive today who remember..
Wow. For real?
Anthony Endsor
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by Anthony Endsor »

OK. So having read the barrage of complaints, :shock: I have now corrected the points raised. I couldn't be certain whether EXEUNT was pluralised or not so I have gone with the majority verdict and changed it to the singular.
Apologies to Szelong for spelling his name wrong.
Even more embarrassing was I was actually in the audience for this show :P
But all's well that ends well and hopefully this version reaches everyone's satisfaction. :P
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James Robinson
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by James Robinson »

Anthony Endsor wrote:Even more embarrassing was I was actually in the audience for this show :P
And it looks like you missed the chance there and here too for not commenting on "Spiritgate". :P
Anthony Endsor
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by Anthony Endsor »

James Robinson wrote:
Anthony Endsor wrote:Even more embarrassing was I was actually in the audience for this show :P
And it looks like you missed the chance there and here too for not commenting on "Spiritgate". :P
Oh I've only just noticed :shock: is that right? SPIRIT was allowed even though there's only one I in the selection??
Either I'm missing something, or a few (million) other people have done.
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by Kevin Thurlow »

I think the argument on "exeunts" was that although "exeunt" means "they leave", plural of "exit" (he, she or it leaves), an "exeunt" was also a pass given in public schools to allow a pupil off-site, so several pupils would be given "exeunts". So it was colloquial and incorrect use.

A more common example might be, "there are six fluorines in uranium hexafluoride", when really there are six "atoms of fluorine", and that is why plural elements are disallowed, even when they are different isotopes or allotropes.
Gavin Chipper
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Re: Friday 5th September 2014 (Series 71, prelim 41)

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Going back to this, is there anything actually in the rules/guidelines about EXEUNTS/EXEUNTED etc.? If not, it's just something that someone from the Countdown team said in an unofficial capacity in some internet discussion. And that would make EXEUNTS still valid in any reasonable sense.
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