Tuesday 26th April 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 60)

Round-by-round summaries of every game in recent series; for every series in the last 5 years, try cdb, the Countdown database. Obviously this forum contains spoilers!

Moderator: James Robinson

Post Reply
Tim Down
Acolyte
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 12, 2016 9:45 am

Tuesday 26th April 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 60)

Post by Tim Down »

Dave has already come through three crucial conundrums in his two wins so far and will probably be hoping for an easier game today against Ken Steed.

C1: Champion Dave Costello (2 wins, 183 points.) A pensions actuary from Bath. Enjoys riding his motorbike, running and badminton.
C2: Challenger Ken Steed, a clinical support executive from Ilminster in Somerset. Loves amateur dramatics and is usually cast as a drunk or a policeman.
DC: Susie Dent and Charlotte Hawkins.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: K S C I O A L P E
R02: S P A U I R T E D
R03: 25, 50, 100, 10, 9, 3. Target: 278.
TTT: OBOEFLED - "Made someone feel silly? The Who won't let this happen to them again."
R04: M L A I S H E G R
R05: T O A N B L D J U
R06: 50, 2, 8, 5, 5, 9. Target: 448.
R07: N G N R I E U V I
R08: G N S A O N E S I
R09: 4, 5, 1, 5, 10, 7. Target: 223.
TTT: SALTBERT - "No tennis here, just several rackets."
R10: P L A E W S U Z T
R11: V T M O A E D T A
R12: D M G I E R I T L
R13: F D T S O E I O R
R14: 50, 75, 8, 2, 1, 5. Target: 372.
R15: L O V E T E D D Y (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: K S C I O A L P E

Dave: PICKLES (7)
Ken: SPECIAL (7)
OT: OILCAKES (8)
Score: 7–7 (max 8)

A solid start from both players with 7. There is an 8 that eludes everyone:

OILCAKES: An oilcake is a mass of compressed linseed or other plant material left after oil has been extracted, used as fodder or fertilizer.

Round 2: S P A U I R T E D

Dave: traipsed
Ken: SPURTED (7)
DC: TRAIPSED (8)
OT: DISPUTER (8) PASTURED (8) STUPIDER (8) UPRAISED (8)
Score: 7–14 (max 16)

Ken has SPURTED, which possibly distracts Dave enough to miscount the number of letters in his otherwise excellent word.

Round 3: 25, 50, 100, 10, 9, 3. Target: 278.

Dave: 277. 10 × 25 + 3 × 9 (7)
Ken: 275.
RR: 278. (10 − 9 + 100) × 3 − 25 (10)
Score: 14–14 (max 26)

Dave, a man after my own heart, goes 4-large. He fails to deliver an exact solution but one away is good enough for the points and brings him level. Rachel shows how it’s done (although 9 × 25 + 50 + 3 seems simpler to me).

Teatime teaser: OBOEFLED -> BEFOOLED

Round 4: M L A I S H E G R

Dave: MAILERS (7)
Ken: RELISH (6)
DC: REGALISM (8)
OT: ARGILEHS (8)
Score: 21–14 (max 34)

Dave’s MAILERS trump Ken’s RELISH but are themselves outtrumped by DC’s REGALISM. There’s also ARGILEHS; an argileh is variant of narghile, which is an oriental tobacco pipe with a long tube that draws the smoke through water.

Round 5: T O A N B L D J U

Dave: BLOAT (5)
Ken: ABOUT (5)
OT: BUTANOL (7) OUTLAND (7)
Score: 26–19 (max 41)

5s for the contestants and DC. There were 7s available.

Round 6: 50, 2, 8, 5, 5, 9. Target: 448.

Dave: 448. 50 × 9 − 2 (10)
Ken: 448. 50 × 9 − 2 (10)
Score: 36–29 (max 51)

An easy-peasy 1-large selection and Dave stays narrowly ahead.

Charlotte tells a story about getting locked in her dressing room.

Round 7: N G N R I E U V I

Dave: revining
Ken: RUINING (7)
DC: NERVING (7)
OT: ENURING (7) INURING (7) NIGRINE (7) REINING (7) REIVING (7) REUNING (7) UNRIVEN (7) VEINING (7)
Score: 36–36 (max 58)

Dave goes for an extremely optimistic 8-letter RE- word and is unsurprisingly denied, meaning Ken’s 7 wins the round and brings him level.

Round 8: G N S A O N E S I

Dave: SEASONING (18)
Ken: NOSING (6)
Score: 54–36 (max 76)

Dave bounces back in style with a nice 9 while Ken only has a 6.

Round 9: 4, 5, 1, 5, 10, 7. Target: 223.

Dave: 221. (5 × 10 + 5) × 4 + 1 (7)
Ken: -
RR: 223. (4 × 10 + 1 + 5) × 5 − 7 (10)
Score: 61–36 (max 86)

Dave goes 6-small this time and it works well for him. Dave is 2 away as Ken blanks and suddenly Dave has a decent lead. Rachel has the exact solution.

Teatime teaser: SALTBERT -> BLATTERS

Round 10: P L A E W S U Z T

Dave: PLATES (6)
Ken: PLEATS (6)
DC: PULSATE (7) WALTZES (7)
OT: PUTEALS (7) SPATZLE (7)
Score: 67–42 (max 93)

6s for the contestants. Both could have added a U and rearranged their words to get PULSATE or, if feeling adventurous, PUTEALS. A puteal is a stone curb surrounding the mouth of a well, often decorated with figures depicting mythological scenes; (occasionally) a small building or structure housing a well.

Round 11: V T M O A E D T A

Dave: MATTED (6)
Ken: MOATED (6)
OT: ADATOM (6) VATTED (6)
Score: 73–48 (max 99)

More solid 6s and this time it’s the max. Time is running out for Ken.

Susie talks about the origin of the names of spices.

Round 12: D M G I E R I T L

Dave: LIMITED (7)
Ken: LIMITED (7)
OT: DELIMIT (7) LIMITER (7) RELIMIT (7) RIDGLET (7) TIMIDER (7)
Score: 80–55 (max 106)

Good spots by both players from a LIMITED selection. Ho ho.

Round 13: F D T S O E I O R

Dave: roofiest
Ken: FRIED (5)
DC: DEFROST (7) EDITORS (7) FOODIES (7) OOFIEST (7)
OT: DOOFERS (7) FOETORS (7) FOISTED (7) FOODIST (7) FOOSTER (7) FOOTERS (7) FOOTSIE (7) FORDOES (7) FORTIES (7) FROSTED (7) FROSTIE (7) ODORISE (7) OROIDES (7) OSTEOID (7) REFOOTS (7) ROOFIES (7) ROOSTED (7) ROSITED (7) SOFRITO (7) SOOTIER (7) SORTIED (7) STEROID (7) STORIED (7) TOROIDS (7) TRIODES (7)
Score: 80–60 (max 113)

Well, look at that wall of 7s. I believe the term for this is “flat”. I can’t remember seeing a round with more maxes but I bet there has been.

Dave plucks an 8 from the Dictionary of Wishful Thinking and immediately apologises for his error, so Ken’s FRIED prevails and he’s still in the game, just.

Round 14: 50, 75, 8, 2, 1, 5. Target: 372.

Dave: 372. 5 × 75 − 2 − 1 (10)
Ken: 371.
Score: 90–60 (max 123)

Not any more. Dave solves this simple 2-large selection and seals the win.

Round 15: L O V E T E D D Y

Ken buzzes on 5 seconds to say DEVOTEDLY which is correct.
Final Score: 90–70 (max 133)

Ken claws back some respectability with a good conundrum solve.

So, Dave now has three wins. He made a few mistakes in this game but won it with solid numbers and a 9-letter word. Join James to see if he can extend his run.

Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=74
Post Reply