Monday 27th July 2015 (series 73, prelim 25)

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Andy McGurn
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Monday 27th July 2015 (series 73, prelim 25)

Post by Andy McGurn »

Countdown recap for Monday 27 July 2015.

C1: Champion Stephen Briggs (2 wins 201 points.) Sixth form college administrator from Birmingham, he won two games last week including a surprise win over apterite Liam Moloney.

C2: Challenger Tom Pitt-Brooke. – A German and History student from London, spent a year as a teaching assistant in Bremen Germany, now on his way back to Germany to do his Masters degree (Susie tells us she also studid German to Masters level).

DC: Susie Dent and Michael Buerk.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: D M J O E S P U O
R02: M R P E A T S E R
R03: 2, 10, 2, 9, 8, 75. Target: 792.
TTT: REFRANTS - "change flights on the way to Manhatten perhaps"
R04: X M G I E O C R N
R05: N R H U I U T M E
R06: 5, 9, 7, 1, 3, 75. Target: 142.
R07: D N G O I A T N O
R08: R Y S A O E G F I
R09: 1, 3, 2, 5, 7, 75. Target: 224.
TTT: BEANTUNE - "hes never lost a game and his rugs are dusty"
R10: T L S E A O T B I
R11: N T S E A E L N O
R12: R G W I O V P W A
R13: S R C I U E P T A
R14: 9, 2, 5, 1, 3, 75. Target: 707.
R15: G R E E N B I L L (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: D M J O E S P U O

Stephen: MOUSED (6)
Tom: JUMPED (6)
DC: MOPEDS (6) DUOMOS (6)
OT: ODEUMS (6) PSEUDO (6) SOUPED (6) SPUMED (6)
Score: 6–6 (max 6)

Michael tells us he got JUMPED which is just five, despite Tom having just scored six points with it.

Round 2: M R P E A T S E R

Stephen: TAMPERERS (18)
Tom: TEMPERS (7)
DC: REPEATS (7) PREMASTER (18)
Score: 24–6 (max 24)
Stephen seemed as unsure as its possible to be with his nine, but its allowed and he shoots ahead with that max.

Round 3: 2, 10, 2, 9, 8, 75. Target: 792.

Stephen: 792. (75*10)+((9-2)*(8-2)) (10)
Tom: 791.
Score: 34–6 (max 34)

Nice one by Stephen sees him jump to 28 ahead after just three rounds.

Teatime teaser: REFRANTS -> TRANSFER

Round 4: X M G I E O C R N

Stephen: CRINGE (6)
Tom: GNOME (5)
DC: COMER (5) INCOMER (7)
OT: GENOMIC (7)
Score: 40–6 (max 41)

Tom spots GNOME but he may well CRINGE at missing the six. With Susie’s help,Michael stumbles his way to INCOMER after first spotting COMER.

Round 5: N R H U I U T M E

Stephen: MINUTE (6)
Tom: HUNTER (6)
DC: MUNTER (6) MINUET (6)
OT: RUTHENIUM (18)
Score: 46–12 (max 59)
R5
Stephen said he’d stick with a six, maybe he was considering minuter, which is someone who minutes a meeting (but its not valid however).
A nice chemical niner was there in RUTHENIUM

Round 6: 5, 9, 7, 1, 3, 75. Target: 142.

Stephen: 142. ((9-7)*75)-5-3 (10)
Tom: 142. ((5-3)*75)-(9-1) (10)
Score: 56–22 (max 69)

Its an easy one and both scores increase by ten.

DC Guest – Michael recounts some stories regarding sports reporting on TV and some blunders that presenters have made over the years. He finishes with a weatherman blunder.

Round 7: D N G O I A T N O

Stephen: DONATION (8)
Tom: DONATION (8)
DC: DONATING (8)
Score: 64–30 (max 77)

Contestant guidelines state that contestants should not offer more than one word. This round highlights the reasons for that, both contestants offer DONATION, which means that DC can match them with DONATING (which doubtless the contestants had as well as DONATION).

Round 8: R Y S A O E G F I

Stephen: FORAGES (7)
Tom: GREASY (6)
DC: GRIEF (5) FORAYS (6) ARGOSY (6)
Score: 71–30 (max 84)

I’ve always thought of FORAGES (and similars) as an easy word to spot and in this round its a darrenic spot. Tom misses it though and Stephen (as he has since the first advert break) is looking very strong.

Round 9: 1, 3, 2, 5, 7, 75. Target: 224.

Stephen: 224. (3*75)-1 (10)
Tom: 224. (3*75)-1 (10)
Score: 81–40 (max 94)

This numbers game is even easier than the last one and its ten more points each.

Teatime teaser: BEANTUNE -> UNBEATEN

Round 10: T L S E A O T B I

Stephen: BOTTLES (7)
Tom: TABLETS (7)
DC: TOTALISE (8)
Score: 88–47 (max 102)

Stephen’s clearly a good player but rounds like this demonstrate that he’ll need to improve to have a chance against the apterites ion the series finals (assuming he gets there of course).

Round 11: N T S E A E L N O

Stephen: LEANEST (7)
Tom: TALONS (6)
DC: LOANEES (7) NEONATES (8)
Score: 95–47 (max 110)

Stephen is beating his opponent comprehensively today and missing some maxes clearly doesn’t matter in this game.

Round 12: R G W I O V P W A

Stephen: GROW (4)
Tom: GAWP (4)
DC: VIRAGO (6) PAVIOR (6)
Score: 99–51 (max 116)

Just fours for both here, meaning Susie can look good on tv again by telling us the two maxes.

Round 13: S R C I U E P T A

Stephen: PRACTISE (8)
Tom: PRICES (6)
DC: PICTURES (8) CAPTURES (8) CREPITUS (8)
OT: CRISPATE (8) PICRATES (8) SURICATE (8)
Score: 107–51 (max 124)

Seven max words in a round where eight is the best is quite unusual. Stephen gets one and is in with a chance of a big score

Round 14: 9, 2, 5, 1, 3, 75. Target: 707.

Stephen: 707. ((75+3)*9)+5 (10)
Tom: 706.
Score: 117–51 (max 134)
40 points out of 40 for Stephen on the numbers today, admittedly a couple of them were very easy but hes clearly a skilled mathematician.


Round 15: G R E E N B I L L

Stephen buzzes on 9 seconds to say REBELLING which is correct.
Final Score: 127–51 (max 144)

And the conundrum spot takes his final score to a very impressive 127. He also scored in every round which is also very good.

He’s not gonna be able to continue his run until next Monday however as horses take priority for the rest of the week

Glad to hear that CONOT went well, no doubt Milton Keynes, Huddersfield and Dublin will be a similar success.

Hope your all having a great summer.


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