Countdown recap for Tuesday 14 September 2021.
Today's the birthday of Margaret Sanger, who coined the phrase "birth control". Loose Women-down has returned!
C1: Champion Jodine Lawrence (2 wins, 159 points.) Black to Front winner, as well as Monday's winner, and on her third separate run on the show within the last 10 years.
C2: Challenger Mike Lee. Not the same Mike Lee from 2013. Apterite and a bond transaction manager. Naturally, Anne has no idea what that means, so he has to define it for good measure. He also asked me to go easy on him. We'll see about that.
DC: Susie Dent and Pam Ayres.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: N L T H O A I S O
R02: N C W U A T E E S
R03: 100, 50, 5, 10, 2, 2. Target: 862.
TTT: OBOEHARM - "To get this, you're going to need a lot of bottle."
R04: R D R P O I E J N
R05: L R S A A E K N P
R06: 75, 8, 3, 2, 10, 9. Target: 906.
R07: D S T D A I U L O
R08: H R S E I E M T R
R09: 75, 50, 8, 8, 7, 1. Target: 822.
TTT: BRIESTAR - "They order two of these at the bistro, and Brie is definitely the star"
R10: C S M O A A L D U
R11: G T R E O E T S A
R12: F N B E E M I A S
R13: I E U R D G B O S
R14: 75, 3, 6, 2, 4, 3. Target: 270.
R15: B E M I R E R O D (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: N L T H O A I S O
Jodine: SALOON (6)
Mike: LOTIONS (7)
DC: SLOTH (5)
OT: OLATIONS (8)
Score: 0–7 (max 8, jos 7)
Darren-o-meter: 1/1 (100%)
Mike takes a brilliant and amazing and smashing early lead.
Round 2: N C W U A T E E S
Jodine: unsweet
Mike: STANCE (6)
DC: SWEET (5) CUNEATE (7)
OT: NUTCASE (7) TENACES (7)
Score: 0–13 (max 15, jos 14)
Darren-o-meter: 1/2 (50%)
UNSWEET^ is not in the dictionary, meaning the super smashing great Mike takes out another incredible 6 points.
Round 3: 100, 50, 5, 10, 2, 2. Target: 862.
Jodine: 860. (5 + 2 + 2) × 100 − 50 + 10 (7)
Mike: 860. (10 − 2) × 100 + 50 + 5 × 2 (7)
RR: 861. (7)
OT: 862. (100 − 10) × (50 − 2) ÷ 5 − 2 (10)
Score: 7–20 (max 25, jos 24)
Rachel says "one away" but 863 is not possible here. In fact, that's the only solution for 862 as well. Seven each.
Teatime teaser: OBOEHARM -> REHOBOAM
Round 4: R D R P O I E J N
Jodine: REJOIN (6)
Mike: PERIOD (6)
DC: PRONER (6) JOINDER (7) POINDER (7)
OT: PONERID (7) PORNIER (7)
Score: 13–26 (max 32, jos 30)
Darren-o-meter: 1/3 (33%)
Lexico specifies that something can be PORNIER than... er, other porn? Like... really?
Round 5: L R S A A E K N P
Jodine: plankers (try)
Mike: RANKLES (7)
DC: slaker SPANKER (7) SPARKLE (7) ARSENAL (7)
OT: PRENASAL (8)
Score: 13–33 (max 40, jos 37)
Darren-o-meter: 2/4 (50%)
Even though it's a bit of a 2013 word, I'm surprised PLANKERS^ has never been valid according to Apto. Lots of sevens but everyone misses the one eight. But that's OK, Mike, it was a horrible word anyway and the super smashing great Mike takes out another 7 points.
Round 6: 75, 8, 3, 2, 10, 9. Target: 906.
Jodine: 906. (10 + 2) × 75 + 9 − 3 (10)
Mike: 906. (9 + 3) × 75 + 8 − 2 (10)
Score: 23–43 (max 50, jos 47)
Easy enough for both contestants and that's another 10 points in the bag.
Pam gives her origin story: BBC Radio Oxford followed by Opportunity Knocks. Anne then plugs Pam's new book, which is a collection of her poems about animals, but then overlaps into Susie's territory by telling us that having the brain of a limpet is a good thing. Then she gives a poem from her book about her limpet. And with no audience, someone in the sound department thought throwing in canned laughter was a good idea. It wasn't.
Round 7: D S T D A I U L O
Jodine: outlaid
Mike: OUTSAIL (7)
DC: DUALIST (7)
OT: ADULTOIDS (18)
Score: 23–50 (max 68, jos 65)
Darren-o-meter: 3/5 (60%)
OUTLAID^ was only added a couple of weeks ago, which is very unlucky for Jodine as she's ahead of her time on that one, which means the super smashing great Mike adds another wonderful and amazing 7 points.
Round 8: H R S E I E M T R
Jodine: HERMITS (7)
Mike: HERMITS (7)
DC: SHIRE (5) MERITERS (8)
OT: ERETHISM (8) ETHERISM (8) MERRIEST (8) TRIREMES (8)
Score: 30–57 (max 76, jos 73)
Darren-o-meter: 3/6 (50%)
Both contestants are HERMITS (except for Mike, because he's not a HERMIT, he's super smashing great) but there are several eights available.
Round 9: 75, 50, 8, 8, 7, 1. Target: 822.
Jodine: -
Mike: 823. (8 + 8) × (50 + 1) + 7 (7)
Score: 30–64 (max 83, jos 80)
One away is as good as it gets here, meaning that Mike now has more than double Jodine's score! Super smashing great.
Teatime teaser: BRIESTAR -> RAREBITS
Round 10: C S M O A A L D U
Jodine: CLOUDS (6)
Mike: CLOUDS (6)
DC: CASUAL (6) MOULDS (6) AMADOU (6)
OT: ACOUSMA (7) CALAMUS (7) MALOCAS (7) MUCOSAL (7)
Score: 36–70 (max 90, jos 86)
Darren-o-meter: 3/7 (43%)
More undue canned laughter when Susie defines AMADOU. I'm also not sure what any of those sevens are, just a load of letters dumped on the screen it would seem.
Round 11: G T R E O E T S A
Jodine: TOASTER (7)
Mike: GAROTTES (8) (try)
DC: GREATEST (8)
OT: STRATEGE (8)
Score: 36–78 (max 98, jos 94)
Darren-o-meter: 3/8 (38%)
Super smashing great! Although not the GREATEST.
Tony Radevsky has emailed in to ask about the fact sanction has two meanings diametrically opposed to each other. The technical term is a "contronym" and they both come from the same origin, originally from law and decree, which, of course, also has a positive and negative sense.
Round 12: F N B E E M I A S
Jodine: FAMINES (7)
Mike: BEANIES (7)
OT: AMBIENS (7) BASEMEN (7) FEMINAS (7) MEANIES (7) NEMBIES (7) NEMESIA (7)
Score: 43–85 (max 105, jos 101)
Darren-o-meter: 3/9 (33%)
Lots of sevens available here and both contestants oblige.
Round 13: I E U R D G B O S
Jodine: BUDGIES (7)
Mike: BRIDGES (7)
DC: BODGERS (7) BOUGIES (7)
OT: BEGIRDS (7) BODGIES (7) BORIDES (7) BOURGIE (7) BROGUES (7) BROIGES (7) BROIGUS (7) BRUISED (7) DISROBE (7) DROGUES (7) EBRIOUS (7) GOURDES (7) GROUSED (7) GUIDERS (7) ROSEBUD (7) RUBIGOS (7)
Score: 50–92 (max 112, jos 108)
Darren-o-meter: 3/10 (30%)
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Round 14: 75, 3, 6, 2, 4, 3. Target: 270.
Jodine: -
Mike: 270. 75 × 4 − (3 + 2) × 6 (10)
Score: 50–102 (max 122, jos 118)
And the super smashing great Mike gets himself above the 100 point barrier with this relatively straightforward game.
Round 15: B E M I R E R O D
Jodine buzzes on 26 seconds to say EMBROIDER which is correct.
Final Score: 60–102 (max 132, jos 128)
Jodine does a Nick Hewer solve and closes out on 60 points, which is by no means a bad score. She'll probably be let back on in a few years time again anyway.
Anyway, the super smashing great Mike gets a super smashing great win and will be back tomorrow. Join us then. Goodbye.
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=84