Wednesday 9th June 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 113)

[Rhys Benjamin]

Countdown recap for Wednesday 9 June 2021.

Nick talks about sustainability and buying and selling used items. Including underpants.

C1: Challenger Matt Wilson. An actuary from Surrey. Insurance worker.
C2: Challenger Declan McSweeney. Retired software engineer.
DC: Susie Dent and Gloria Hunniford.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: E N L I B T A I H
R02: A E E N D K P O T
R03: 25, 2, 5, 10, 3, 9. Target: 247.
TTT: CUBABEER - "People ate outdoors on 12 April, and there was a long wait for a haircut."
R04: E O U C N F A S R
R05: G T E J O O D R A
R06: 25, 50, 10, 9, 9, 2. Target: 450.
R07: M I U E O R N R T
R08: E O S S I Y L W D
R09: 8, 6, 8, 1, 4, 2. Target: 803.
TTT: CAFEINNS - "The cafes and inns are open again, giving a much-needed boost to these."
R10: I U O M B N I C G
R11: R T A S O O T R I
R12: E E I P D S P F O
R13: U V T W M S A E N
R14: 75, 50, 100, 5, 3, 4. Target: 218.
R15: T O N I C F E E D (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: E N L I B T A I H

Matt: LINE (4)
Declan: TABLE (5)
DC: INHABIT (7)
Score: 0–5 (max 7, jos 7)
Darren-o-meter: 1/1 (100%)

Declan takes an early lead here as Dictionary Corner picks up the seven.

Round 2: A E E N D K P O T

Matt: TANKED (6)
Declan: TOKEN (5)
DC: NOTEPAD (7)
OT: ADOPTEE (7) PENTODE (7) TONEPAD (7)
Score: 6–5 (max 14, jos 14)
Darren-o-meter: 1/2 (50%)

Matt hits back immediately, taking the lead back straight away. Another seven for Susie.

Round 3: 25, 2, 5, 10, 3, 9. Target: 247.

Matt: 247. 10 × 25 − 3 (10)
Declan: 247. 10 × 25 − 3 (10)
Score: 16–15 (max 24, jos 24)

Ariana.

Teatime teaser: CUBABEER -> BARBECUE

Round 4: E O U C N F A S R

Matt: FACES (5)
Declan: FURNACES (8)
DC: NACREOUS (8)
Score: 16–23 (max 32, jos 32)
Darren-o-meter: 1/3 (33%)

Declan extends his lead with FURNACES. Dictionary Corner offers the other 8.

Round 5: G T E J O O D R A

Matt: goader
Declan: GORED (5)
DC: TODGER (6)
OT: ROOTAGE (7)
Score: 16–28 (max 39, jos 38)
Darren-o-meter: 2/4 (50%)

GOADER^ is not specified, and thus Declan extends his lead to 12. Susie has a TODGER, but misses ROOTAGE.

Round 6: 25, 50, 10, 9, 9, 2. Target: 450.

Matt: 450. 10 × 25 − 25 × 2 (10)
Declan: 450. 9 × 50​ (10)
Score: 26–38 (max 49, jos 48)

Ariana.

Gloria talks about Jack Charlton and an audience the football team had with the Pope. The Pope was an ex-goalkeeper, leading to an underwhelming punchline about "even the Pope could have saved that".

Round 7: M I U E O R N R T

Matt: MOURNER (7)
Declan: TREMOR (6)
DC: REMOUNT (7) RUNTIME (7)
OT: ROUTINER (8)
Score: 33–38 (max 57, jos 55)
Darren-o-meter: 3/5 (60%)

Matt reduces the gap with a good seven, whilst Susie drops another point.

Round 8: E O S S I Y L W D

Matt: SOILED (6)
Declan: WIDELY (6)
DC: LOWSIDES (8)
Score: 39–44 (max 65, jos 63)
Darren-o-meter: 4/6 (67%)

Matt and Declan soil themselves widely, whilst DC takes us to eight.

Round 9: 8, 6, 8, 1, 4, 2. Target: 803.

Matt: -
Declan: 801. Mistake in working.
RR: 804. (8 × 8 + 4 − 1) × 6 × 2 (7)
Score: 39–44 (max 72, jos 70)

Matt's gamble backfires, but also on Declan too as he uses the two twice. Rachel, for once, shows us her method for one away, but this one was impossible.

Teatime teaser: CAFEINNS -> FINANCES

Round 10: I U O M B N I C G

Matt: COMBING (7)
Declan: COMBING (7)
DC: IMBONGI (7)
OT: IMBUING (7) NIOBIUM (7)
Score: 46–51 (max 79, jos 77)
Darren-o-meter: 4/7 (57%)

Matt and Declan are COMBING through these letters games. Susie offers us a nice South African English word.

Round 11: R T A S O O T R I

Matt: STAIR (5)
Declan: RATIOS (6)
DC: ROTATORS (8) RISOTTO (7)
OT: TRAITORS (8)
Score: 46–57 (max 87, jos 85)
Darren-o-meter: 4/8 (50%)

Declan extends his lead. Nick seems to think this is a difficult round, as he sarcastically asks Susie for her nine, and indeed she's not far off a nine...!

Susie gets an email asking why Y is classified as a consonant and not a vowel.

Round 12: E E I P D S P F O

Matt: SIPPED (6)
Declan: DEPOSE (6)
DC: EPISODE (7)
OT: DOPPIES (7)
Score: 52–63 (max 94, jos 92)
Darren-o-meter: 4/9 (44%)

Gloria asks Nick how many EPISODEs he's done and it goes way over Nick's head (2,117).

Round 13: U V T W M S A E N

Matt: MEATS (5)
Declan: MAVENS (6)
OT: MAUNTES (7) MAUVEST (7) UNMATES (7)
Score: 52–69 (max 101, jos 98)
Darren-o-meter: 4/10 (40%)

The final letters round gives Declan another lead extension and all he needs now is an Ariana to win the game.

Round 14: 75, 50, 100, 5, 3, 4. Target: 218.

Matt: 218. Mistake in working.
Declan: 218. 100 + 75 + 50 − 3 − 4 (10)
Score: 52–79 (max 111, jos 108)

Well, it should have been another "thank u, next", but Matt gets to 218 and then for seemingly no reason takes away another 4, giving him 214... oops!

Round 15: T O N I C F E E D

Matt buzzes on 9.5 seconds to say DEFECTION which is correct.
Final Score: 62–79 (max 121, jos 118)

But he does get the conundrum as a little bit of a booby prize. Nick always enjoys the loser getting the conundrum and today is no exception.

Gloria asks if she can tap-dance across the desk. Nick says yes. Gloria doesn't go through with it. Boo.


Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=83