It could be a pivotal day over at Media City as a 6th win for Steve Redfern will confirm him and Gavin Woolnough as the last two finalists for Series 72 of Countdown. But first Nick starts us off with a story about a lifeboat men who lost his wedding ring at sea, only for his mates to find it six years later in the water, and how Nick lost his "specs" in the water while windsurfing only to be found by a friend 30 yards out of the water. Nick Hewer windsurfing, now THAT is something I'd love to see
C1: Champion Steve Redfern (5 wins, 400 points.) An IT manager and Apterite from Droitwich.
C2: Challenger Jamie Smith. An English teacher from Loughborough and self-confessed Star Wars geek, a weird coincidence as I was watching Revenge of the Sith this morning.
DC: Susie Dent and Steve Backshall.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: T M P L I E O G P
R02: D N D I A E G T A
R03: 8, 1, 6, 4, 3, 100. Target: 729.
TTT: BELLMATE - "Cheese, snow and a heart are all this"
R04: M T W S U I E T U
R05: B H R Q A E O E M
R06: 50, 100, 10, 3, 2, 9. Target: 406.
R07: J K L F A I O S N
R08: U C I E R L H A N
R09: 6, 3, 6, 9, 7, 50. Target: 892.
TTT: RACEREEF - "This sort of person is definitely not high maintenance"
R10: Y R N E A E S B O
R11: R T X V E I A U R
R12: S N D R A I E O F
R13: D T R M I U E S R
R14: 10, 6, 2, 9, 75, 50. Target: 742.
R15: O L D C U R I O S (conundrum)
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Round 1: T M P L I E O G P
Steve: TOPPLE (6)
Jamie: POET (4)
DC: GIMLET (6) PILOT (5)
OT: LIMPET (6) MEGILP (6) MOPPET (6) MOTILE (6) PEGTOP (6) PIGLET (6) PIMPLE (6) PIOLET (6) POLITE (6) TIPPLE (6) TOPPIE (6)
Score: 6–0 (max 6)
Steve TOPPLEs Jamie straight away with a max in a flat round to start the day
Round 2: D N D I A E G T A
Steve: DATING (6)
Jamie: ending
DC: TAGINE (6)
OT: TEDDING (7)
Score: 12–0 (max 13)
No happy ending for Jamie as he sees a phantom second N and to double Steve's lead. Our first Darren of the day goes unnoticed
Round 3: 8, 1, 6, 4, 3, 100. Target: 729.
Steve: 728. (6+1)*100+(8*3)+4 (7)
Jamie: 728. (100-6-4+1)*8 (7)
RR: 729. (100-6-3)*8+1 (10)
Score: 19–7 (max 23)
Jamie gets on the scoreboard but he would have taken all ten points if he had just rejigged his solution slightly
Teatime teaser: BELLMATE -> MELTABLE
Round 4: M T W S U I E T U
Steve: MUTES (5)
Jamie: TEST (4)
DC: MUTTS (5) WETSUIT (7)
Score: 24–7 (max 30)
Difficult selection but DC impress with the Darrenic 7, which Steve Backshall says he spends a lot of his life in
Round 5: B H R Q A E O E M
Steve: BEAMER (6)
Jamie: BEAR/BARE (4)
DC: HARE (4) BOAR (4) HOAR (4)
OT: AEROBE (6) HOMBRE (6) REHOME (6)
Score: 30–7 (max 36)
Another difficult one as Steve B recites more animals he found. It wasn't made clear which spelling Jamie was declaring so I've put both in the recap.
Round 6: 50, 100, 10, 3, 2, 9. Target: 406.
Steve: 406. 50*10-100+(3*2) (10)
Jamie: 410.
Score: 40–7 (max 46)
Steve is in complete control today as Jamie is only 4 away. The pressure of the studio seems to have sadly got to Jamie
DC: Steve talks about the more emotional moments of his work, which is often working with gorillas (didn't we have this with Graeme Le Saux earlier in the year), and how a young gorilla once came up to him and took his hand, and how he burst into tears.
Round 7: J K L F A I O S N
Steve: FLANKS (6)
Jamie: FAIN (4)
DC: KAOLIN (6) FINALS (6)
Score: 46–7 (max 52)
I wonder if Jamie has broken the record for the most 4s declared in a single game? Steve spots one of the three 6s here and DC clear up with the other ones.
Round 8: U C I E R L H A N
Steve: LICHEN (6)
Jamie: HAILER (6)
DC: URCHIN (6) LAUNCHER (8)
OT: ECHIURAN (8) RELAUNCH (8)
Score: 52–13 (max 60)
Jamie gets his first letters points but 8s are available for the first time today
Round 9: 6, 3, 6, 9, 7, 50. Target: 892.
Steve: 892. 3*6*50-9+(7-6) (10)
Jamie: -
Score: 62–13 (max 70)
It's not a difficult numbers but Jamie blanks and will need to pull something special out of the bag now to deny Steve win no 6.
Teatime teaser: RACEREEF -> CAREFREE
Round 10: Y R N E A E S B O
Steve: ENROBES (7)
Jamie: YEARNS (6)
DC: SABER (5) BARNEYS (7)
OT: SEABORNE (8)
Score: 69–13 (max 78)
Jamie YEARNS for more points but is denied by Steve as a Darren is missed by the studio
Round 11: R T X V E I A U R
Steve: ARRIVE (6)
Jamie: VIRTUE (6)
DC: ARTIER (6)
Score: 75–19 (max 84)
Just three 6s here but they are mopped up by the contestants and DC
OoW: Susie continues the body them by talking about some of the words coming from our fingers.
Round 12: S N D R A I E O F
Steve: SANDIER (7)
Jamie: FINDERS (7)
DC: ANEROIDS (8)
OT: ANODISER (8)
Score: 82–26 (max 92)
Two 7s here to confirm Steve and Gavin's places in the finals as DC declare ANEROIDS, but leave out its more common anagram
Round 13: D T R M I U E S R
Steve: STIRRED (7)
Jamie: trimers
DC: MUSTIER (7)
OT: STURDIER (8)
Score: 89–26 (max 100)
It just isn't Jamie's day is it as he unsuccessfly TRIMs his word. Another Darren is missed by DC, making it four photos of a man called Eadie on one post (I don't think even our own Mr Eadie has that many on here)
Round 14: 10, 6, 2, 9, 75, 50. Target: 742.
Steve: 742. 75*10-(6+2) (10)
Jamie: 742. 75*10-(6+2) (10)
Score: 99–36 (max 110)
Easy numbers to end the day and leave Steve in touching distance of his first century
Round 15: O L D C U R I O S
No one buzzes. The answer was DISCOLOUR.
Final Score: 99–36 (max 120)
But noone can get the conundrum, so it goes to the audience...... and again it's a former contestant, this time Series 71 finalist Mark Davies, who answers and wins himself a free mug. Well done Mark.
Jamie is sent of to Loughborough, but now we know the full line up for the Series 72 finals which start next Thursday, the only thing we don't know is what seed Steve will be, but on current form I would guess he will be No 7 seed. Join Robbo tomorrow to see if he can continue improving his score and maybe challenge Jordan Barker's octotal of 713 and sneak into No 6.
See you next week
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=72