Black To Front | Friday 10th September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 54)

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Rhys Benjamin
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Black To Front | Friday 10th September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 54)

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Welcome to Black Countdown. Blackdown?

Now, no Adele Hannigan today - we *think* the winner of this game plays her on Monday.

Countdown recap for Friday 10 September 2021.

Trevor gets us started with a conversation about home schooling. Anne-Marie gets her CV read out to her by Trevor.

C1: Challenger Jodine Lawrence. From Birmingham. Hotel night manager. Also a cook, likes cooking stereotypical Caribbean food. Also a self-taught pianist. This is also her third run in 10 years, having appeared in 2012 and 2018.
C2: Challenger Samuel Williams. Student at Loughborough. Plays basketball. 6 foot 5, apparently. Not in those chairs he's not.
DC: Lemn Sissay and Marverine Cole. Lemn is the show's first male lexicographer since the late Michael Wylie in 2007.
AMI: Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon.
Host: Sir Trevor McDonald
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: D L S U I D L O P
R02: N P S A O O I V R
R03: 100, 75, 2, 5, 10, 7. Target: 276.
TTT: GREATSAM - "The great Sam Cooke is known as this in the music world."
R04: L U S I E E N G T
R05: A I P N E U D S M
R06: 50, 25, 100, 75, 1, 2. Target: 775.
R07: A O A L T R H E D
R08: L E T R N O I J K
R09: 100, 50, 7, 2, 4, 9. Target: 367.
TTT: AVERSETO - "She's not averse to tucking into a huge portion."
R10: N G O E A S T E M
R11: A I E W N R I A G
R12: C O B W T M O I E
R13: S F C E O A S N E
R14: 25, 3, 8, 6, 3, 10. Target: 865.
R15: P E E R D R O P S (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: D L S U I D L O P

Jodine: SOLID (5)
Samuel: SOLID (5)
DC: LUPOID (6)
OT: DILDOS (6) PILOUS (6) POILUS (6) UPSOLD (6)
Score: 5–5 (max 6, jos 6)
Darren-o-meter: 0/1 (0%)

Both contestants get us started off with SOLID fives. Anne-Marie is VERY slow at putting the letters up. I have a sneaky suspicion that round two was sped up.

Round 2: N P S A O O I V R

Jodine: PIANOS (6)
Samuel: PRISON (6)
DC: SOPRANO (7)
OT: PRONOIAS (8)
Score: 11–11 (max 14, jos 13)
Darren-o-meter: 1/2 (50%)

Any racist jokes about a black person spotting PRISON will not be tolerated. Marverine gets a wonderful spot with SOPRANO but it's no max for Lemn & Marverine, boo.

Round 3: 100, 75, 2, 5, 10, 7. Target: 276.

Jodine: 275. 100 × 2 + 75 (7)
Samuel: 275. 100 × 2 + 75 (7)
AMI (after ads): 276. (100 − 75 − 2) × (5 + 7) (10)
Score: 18–18 (max 24, jos 23)

Anne-Marie writes neatly in the squares, which is VERY cute.

Teatime teaser: GREATSAM -> MEGASTAR

Round 4: L U S I E E N G T

Jodine: LUSTING (7)
Samuel: SEEING (6)
DC: SLEETING (8)
OT: EUGENIST (8) LINGUETS (8) STEELING (8)
Score: 25–18 (max 32, jos 31)
Darren-o-meter: 1/3 (33%)

Jodine LUSTs after the lead, taking a 7-point lead and breaking the deadlock. With winter on its way, Dictionary Corner get it started early with SLEETING.

Round 5: A I P N E U D S M

Jodine: SPINED (6)
Samuel: UPENDS (6)
DC: IMPENDS (7)
OT: DAMPENS (7) MAIDENS (7) MANDIES (7) MEDIANS (7) MEDINAS (7) MEDUSAN (7) MINDAES (7) PANDIES (7) PANSIED (7) PEMUDAS (7) PNEUMAS (7) SIDEMAN (7) UNIPEDS (7) UNMAIDS (7)
Score: 31–24 (max 39, jos 38)
Darren-o-meter: 1/4 (25%)

Jodine and Samuel see sixes, whilst Dictionary Corner spot only one of the million available 7s.

Round 6: 50, 25, 100, 75, 1, 2. Target: 775.

Jodine: -
Samuel: 750.
AMI: 775. (25 − 1) ÷ 2 × 50 + 100 + 75​ (10)
Score: 31–24 (max 49, jos 48)

Anne-Marie's solution is a bit odd when you first see it, but it's a variation on the Tony Atkins 625 method.

Marverine is a "beer sommelier", so talks about the black history of beer. Not much more to say, really. She brings some intersectionality into it and talks about females as well, and how, initially, men were too uncivilised, allegedly, to drink beer. The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Round 7: A O A L T R H E D

Jodine: LOATHED (7)
Samuel: LOATHED (7)
OT: HATORADE (8) RATHOLED (8)
Score: 38–31 (max 57, jos 55)
Darren-o-meter: 1/5 (20%)

Both contestants are on seven, and Dictionary Corner drop another point by failing to spot either eight.

Round 8: L E T R N O I J K

Jodine: TINKLER (7) (try)
Samuel: JOINER (6)
DC: RETINOL (7)
OT: JOINTER (7) JOLTIER (7) REJOINT (7)
Score: 45–31 (max 64, jos 62)
Darren-o-meter: 1/6 (17%)

TINKLER is a great spot as Jodine doubles her lead. Marverine gets RETINOL, not to be confused with Rohypnol.

Round 9: 100, 50, 7, 2, 4, 9. Target: 367.

Jodine: 367 (not written down). Mistake in working.
Samuel: 367. 50 × 7 + 2 × 4 + 9​ (10)
Score: 45–41 (max 74, jos 72)

Jodine makes a mistake, having done 100 x 4 - 50 and you can't get 17 from 9, 2, and 7, so it's left to Samuel to show us a way that isn't one of the many dead ends, and it gets him back in the contest.

Teatime teaser: AVERSETO -> OVEREATS

Round 10: N G O E A S T E M

Jodine: MANGOES (7)
Samuel: MAGNETS (7)
DC: MONTAGES (8) GEMSTONE (8)
OT: GEOMANTS (8) MAGNETOS (8) MEGATONS (8) METAGONS (8)
Score: 52–48 (max 82, jos 80)
Darren-o-meter: 1/7 (14%)

Lots of eights here but they're all missed by both contestants.

Round 11: A I E W N R I A G

Jodine: WEARING (7)
Samuel: WEARING (7)
OT: ANERGIA (7) NAGWARE (7)
Score: 59–55 (max 89, jos 87)
Darren-o-meter: 1/8 (13%)

Three sevens available: one common word and two obscure words - which one did the contestants go for, I wonder(?)

We do get an origins of words segment, surprisingly, and Lemn delivers it in the form of a poem (how about it, Susie?) and tells us about the universalness of English, but talks about lots of cognates as well.

Round 12: C O B W T M O I E

Jodine: BOOTIE (6)
Samuel: bowtie
OT: COOMBE (6) COOTIE (6) TOMBIC (6)
Score: 65–55 (max 95, jos 93)
Darren-o-meter: 1/9 (11%)

BOWTIE^ is either hyphenated or two words, allowing Jodine to extend her lead out to 10 points.

Round 13: S F C E O A S N E

Jodine: FENCES (6)
Samuel: SEASON (6)
DC: ENCASES (7)
OT: CAFONES (7) CASSONE (7) CONFESS (7) FOSSANE (7) SEANCES (7)
Score: 71–61 (max 102, jos 100)
Darren-o-meter: 1/10 (10%)

And once again both contestants are level, thus taking it down to the final two rounds.

Round 14: 25, 3, 8, 6, 3, 10. Target: 865.

Jodine: -
Samuel: -
AMI: 865. ((6 + 3) × 3 + 8) × 25 − 10​ (10)
Score: 71–61 (max 112, jos 110)

Never mind. On to the conundrum!

Round 15: P E E R D R O P S

Jodine buzzes on 4.75 seconds to say PROSPERED which is correct.
Final Score: 81–61 (max 122, jos 120)

And Jodine prospers and takes the win! She will (probably) play Adele on Monday.

So... what did we all think? I'll tell you what I thought. Trevor: good. Anne-Marie: not so good. Lemn: very good. Marverine: very good.

Right, well... we're back to normal on Monday. Join us then.


Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=84
The forum's resident JAILBAKER, who has SPONDERED several times...
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