Monday 20th July 2015 (series 73, prelim 20)

Andy McGurn · Post by **Andy McGurn** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:50 pm

Countdown recap for Monday 20 July 2015.

C1: Champion Liam Moloney (3 wins, 333 points)– Liam scored three centuries in three games last week as he continues the tradition for Irish Apterites who have been plentiful on countdown in the last few years. He seems relaxed going into a new countdown week.

C2: Challenger Craig Glennie. – A retail assistant from Aberdeenshire who likes astronomy and is also tracing his family tree. Nick comments that Craig is probably descended from cattle rustlers.

DC: Susie Dent and Jenny Eclair.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: S E T A R I C T Q
R02: L S D B U I A E R
R03: 1, 8, 4, 75, 50, 100. Target: 467.
TTT: SUCHABLE - "he's a priest and such he is able to wear this"
R04: L N S H W A O U O
R05: T E D T L A I H T
R06: 6, 8, 2, 3, 7, 100. Target: 995.
R07: M O C I P E N P A
R08: Z S R T O E A R T
R09: 8, 2, 1, 4, 5, 50. Target: 250.
TTT: ABBOTERA - "Hull one, Crew nil"
R10: S D P G I E O D T
R11: V I G A N O R K M
R12: S M Y S E I O S I
R13: B N U R V A E R W
R14: 1, 5, 1, 8, 3, 100. Target: 915.
R15: G R U M P I F E N (conundrum)

And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: S E T A R I C T Q

Liam: SCATTIER (8)
Craig: SCATTIER (8)
DC: STATIC (6) SCATTIER (8)
OT: CITRATES (8) CRISTATE (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)

That Q at the end was a disappointment after all those other letters indicated that a nine might be coming up. But it doesn’t and its eights for both to start.

Round 2: L S D B U I A E R

Liam: BUILDERS (8)
Craig: BRUISED (7)
DC: REBUILDS (8) AUDIBLES (8)
OT: DURABLES (8) RESIDUAL (8)
Score: 16–8 (max 16)

Craig slips to seven as Liam spots another eight. The word AUDIBLES brings back memories for me from my own appearances on the show, it was a word I had that I didn’t risk.

Round 3: 1, 8, 4, 75, 50, 100. Target: 467.

Liam: 467. (4*100)+75-8 (10)
Craig: 467. (4*100)+75-8 (10)
Score: 26–18 (max 26)

Three large often seems to produce easy selections, and here is such an instance as it helps Liam to stay on a max game at the first advert break.

Teatime teaser: SUCHABLE -> CHASUBLE

Round 4: L N S H W A O U O

Liam: SALOON (6)
Craig: waloons
DC: SHAWL (5) HALONS (6)
OT: LOWANS (6) UHLANS (6) UNLASH (6) WAHOOS (6)
Score: 32–18 (max 32)

Craig takes a chance but his word is both misspelled and capitalised, it seemed mega unlikely anyway though.

Round 5: T E D T L A I H T

Liam: TATTLED (7)
Craig: HALTED (6)
DC: LAITHED (7)
Score: 39–18 (max 39)

Liam is now more that 20 ahead and evidence suggests that he is going to win again.

Round 6: 6, 8, 2, 3, 7, 100. Target: 995.
Liam: 995. ((7+3)*100)-(8-(6/2)) (10)
Craig: 996.
Score: 49–18 (max 49)
Craig misses this easy target by one giving Liam an increased lead of ten. The game is over as a contest so the interest in the game is whether Liam can max this game.

DC Guest – Jenny tells a joke about a pig

Round 7: M O C I P E N P A

Liam: APNOEIC (7)
Craig: pomice
OT: CAMPION (7) ENCOMIA (7) PAEONIC (7)
Score: 56–18 (max 56)

Susie tells Craig he could have had PUMICE or POMACE but not pomice.

Round 8: Z S R T O E A R T

Liam: RATTERS (7)
Craig: STARTER (7)
OT: ROSTRATE (8)
Score: 63–25 (max 64)

So there goes the max game, now the interest is just in how high a score Liam can get.

Round 9: 8, 2, 1, 4, 5, 50. Target: 250.

Liam: 250. 5*50 (10)
Craig: 250. 5*50 (10)
Score: 73–35 (max 74)

Craig is not asked to show his solution but I think we’ll let this go despite the breach in the rules.

Teatime teaser: ABBOTERA -> BAREBOAT

Round 10: S D P G I E O D T

Liam: PODGIEST (8)
Craig: DEPOSIT (7)
DC: PODGIEST (8) DODGIEST (8)
OT: PODDIEST (8)
Score: 81–35 (max 82)

There have been some words in this game that Craig has missed which as a non-apterite/ non-wordsmith he’d have no chance of getting anyway, but here with the maxes being PODGIEST and DODGIEST a chance to get eight more points was definitely here in this round.

Round 11: V I G A N O R K M

Liam: ROAMING (7)
Craig: MARKING (7)
DC: GROK
Score: 88–42 (max 89)

Standard –ING suffix words for the contestants but Susie seems keen to talk about her obscure four which is GROK meaning to have empathy or rapport with someone

Round 12: S M Y S E I O S I

Liam: MEIOSIS (7)
Craig: MISSES (6)
DC: MYOSIS (6)
OT: SEMIOSIS
Score: 95–42 (max 97)

Homonyms for Liam and Jenny, but its the contestant and not the DC Guest who takes the spoils for the longer word here.

OoW- Susie talks about the origin of the phrase “Jack the Lad” .

Round 13: B N U R V A E R W

Liam: WARREN (6)
Craig: BARREN (6)
DC: BRAVER (6) BURNER (6) WARNER (6)
OT: BRAWER (6) URBANE (6)
Score: 101–48 (max 103)

Easy to six here and both contestants do. The game has long been over as a contest and there’s just two more dead rubbers to come before the game ends.

Round 14: 1, 5, 1, 8, 3, 100. Target: 915.

Liam: 915. ((8+1)*100)+(5*3) (10)
Craig: 915. ((8+1)*100)+(5*3) (10)
Score: 111–58 (max 113)

Simple one...

Round 15: G R U M P I F E N

Liam buzzes on 4 seconds to say PERFUMING which is correct.
Final Score: 121–58 (max 123)

The game was over as a contest early on but Liam notches up a high score and a 13 max game as he gets halfway to the octochamp. Barring another top apterite coming on this week (which is highly unlikely) Liam will definitely become an octochamp.

The rest of the recappers will take you through his last four games and I’ll be here next Monday as two new contestants join us.

Have a great week all.

Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=73