Monday 20th September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 60)

[Rhys Benjamin]

Annedown LIX and it's a Benjo triple bill of recaps - but since no one will read this I'll explain the delayedness on Wednesday's recap.

Countdown recap for Monday 20 September 2021.

Either my sharpness has gone astray or Anne is about to execute me, she's looking even sterner than usual. It's Happiness at Work day - "have you been working with stern people, Rachel??", asks Anne pointedly.

C1: Champion Ryan Sutton (2 wins, 205 points.) Ozzie accountant. Bonza, mate.
C2: Challenger Chris Roust. Has a hairdo which he describes as "the 2021 Anne Robinson", but actually looks more like a mirror of Hitler's. Civil servant. "Make it interesting", demands Anne, and he says he's essentially a middleman by appointment between the UK Government and the Channel Islands.
DC: Susie Dent and Kay Burley.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: T M C K E A O R S
R02: B R O E P D E H C
R03: 100, 7, 1, 9, 4, 6. Target: 519.
TTT: ELASTICME - "I'm stretched all over the place on a very strict one."
R04: N S T A U R Y A T
R05: D F N S E A I R T
R06: 75, 50, 8, 8, 3, 1. Target: 226.
R07: D L M S O E A E U
R08: G T S L O O N I R
R09: 100, 9, 6, 7, 4, 4. Target: 866.
TTT: CUTELAMBS - "The driver and putter play golf together."
R10: L W A I S N P O I
R11: D G L D A E E N J
R12: R F I A N S U O P
R13: R T G C I I E H R
R14: 10, 3, 4, 3, 7, 4. Target: 810.
R15: M E N G O T P I C (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Round 1: T M C K E A O R S

Ryan: MARKETS (7)
Chris: ROCKETS (7)
DC: RACKETS (7) MOCKERS (7)
OT: OCTAMERS (8)
Score: 7–7 (max 8, jos 7)
Darren-o-meter: 1/1 (100%)

Susie confidently declares "you got top marks". Wrong.

Round 2: B R O E P D E H C

Ryan: PROCEED (7)
Chris: HORDE (5)
DC: HOPED (5)
OT: COHERED (7) DERECHO (7) PERCHED (7) PORCHED (7) PRECODE (7) PROCEDE (7)
Score: 14–7 (max 15, jos 14)
Darren-o-meter: 1/2 (50%)

Ryan wins the round with one of many available 7s.

Round 3: 100, 7, 1, 9, 4, 6. Target: 519.

Ryan: 521. Mistake in working.
Chris: 521. (not written down) (100 + 6) × (4 + 1) − 9 (7)
RR: 519. (6 − 1) × 100 + 4 × 7 − 9 (10)
Score: 14–14 (max 25, jos 24)

Ryan is actually on 520, meaning the tie is level at the first break.

Teatime teaser: ELASTICME -> TIMESCALE

Hang on, why are we back to 9-letter teasers? No likey. At all. Boooooooo.

Chris is asked how many languages he speaks in his line of work (answer: one), with Anne somehow thinking that the Channel Islands don't speak English. (Really queen?) Having said that, he speaks Finnish, thanks to his wife.

Round 4: N S T A U R Y A T

Ryan: TRUANTS (7)
Chris: TRYST (5)
OT: SATURANT (8) STATUARY (8)
Score: 21–14 (max 33, jos 31)
Darren-o-meter: 1/3 (33%)

TRUANTS is an excellent spot and it restores Ryan's lead.

Ryan is an international Scrabbler, as pointed out by Anne (which probably does Chris no end of confidence(!)) but Ryan eloquently explains that the two dictionaries are different so it's not all that easy. I suspect that may have been lost on Nick Hewer.

Round 5: D F N S E A I R T

Ryan: STRAINED (8)
Chris: TRAINED (7)
DC: RANDIEST (8)
OT: DETRAINS (8)
Score: 29–14 (max 41, jos 39)
Darren-o-meter: 1/4 (25%)

Classic RETAINS+D here and Chris misses it, especially as DETRAINS was right there for you.

Round 6: 75, 50, 8, 8, 3, 1. Target: 226.

Ryan: 226. 3 × 75 + 1 (10)
Chris: 226. 3 × 75 + 1 (10)
Score: 39–24 (max 51, jos 49)

thank u, next

Kay talks about how she learnt Queen's English pronunciation (which was a must when she started TV) from a ghetto blaster and Ceefax. She's had 44 years in journalism. Anne's not far off, really, if you include Watchdog. Anne then decides to plug Sky News, and seemingly the entire concept of rolling news rather than bulletins (see? Andrew Neil was right, GBN doesn't need bulletins). Kay then basically admits that's she biased regarding patience on interviews. She has not interviewed Boris since he became PM, so even his staunchest critics would say that he's doing something right.

Round 7: D L M S O E A E U

Ryan: MOUSED (6)
Chris: MOULDS (6)
DC: DELOUSE (7) MODULES (7)
OT: DUELSOME (8)
Score: 45–30 (max 59, jos 56)
Darren-o-meter: 2/5 (40%)

How ironic that following Kay's anecdote, Andrea LEADSOM is available in this round.

Round 8: G T S L O O N I R

Ryan: ROOSTING (8)
Chris: ROOSTING (8) (not written down)
DC: STOOLING (8)
OT: ROOTLING (8)
Score: 53–38 (max 67, jos 64)
Darren-o-meter: 2/6 (33%)

The double O getting its money's worth here with all three eights using it.

Round 9: 100, 9, 6, 7, 4, 4. Target: 866.

Ryan: 866. (100 − 4) × 9 + 6 − 4 (10)
Chris: 866. 9 × 100 − (7 × 6 − ​4 − 4) (10)
Score: 63–48 (max 77, jos 74)

Chris describes his solution as "slightly different". What's "very different", then!?

Teatime teaser: CUTELAMBS -> CLUBMATES

Round 10: L W A I S N P O I

Ryan: LIAISON (7)
Chris: PAINS (5)
DC: PIANOS (6)
OT: AILPINS (7)
Score: 70–48 (max 84, jos 81)
Darren-o-meter: 2/7 (29%)

Ryan uses both Is to get his lead up to 22 points, building up the lead silently but steadily.

Round 11: D G L D A E E N J

Ryan: DANGLED (7)
Chris: LEGEND (6)
DC: GLEANED (7) JANGLED (7) GLADDEN (7)
OT: ANGELED (7) DELENDA (7)
Score: 77–48 (max 91, jos 88)
Darren-o-meter: 2/8 (25%)

Chris misses some very straightforward sevens and he's beginning to look like a beaten challenger.

OOW Susie talks about unlucky words and superstitions, but especially within different cultures - the euphemism for MacBeth, "the Scottish play"? 1970s only. "Bear" is also a euphemism, surprisingly. In Portland in Dorset, it's apparently unlucky to say rabbit, so when Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was released, there had to be an entirely different ad campaign in that town (this may be the single most interesting fact to ever come from an OOW slot), and finally that "pig" is apparently unlucky on a ship.

Round 12: R F I A N S U O P

Ryan: INSOFAR (7)
Chris: SPRAIN (6)
OT: PARISON (7) PORINAS (7) SPURION (7) UNPAIRS (7)
Score: 84–48 (max 98, jos 95)
Darren-o-meter: 2/9 (22%)

INSOFAR is one word, not three, as Kay, ahem, 'helpfully' points out, and Ryan extends his lead yet again.

Round 13: R T G C I I E H R

Ryan: ITCHIER (7)
Chris: RIGHTER (7) (risky)
DC: GIRTHIER (8)
Score: 91–55 (max 106, jos 103)
Darren-o-meter: 3/10 (30%)

RIGHTER is allowed per Countdown single-syllable adjective rules, but DC's darren of GIRTHIER causes Rachel to raise a flirtatious eyebrow, suggesting something interesting about Mr Kovalev's anatomy.

Round 14: 10, 3, 4, 3, 7, 4. Target: 810.

Ryan: 810. Mistake in working.
Chris: -
RR: 810. (4 × 4 − 7) × 3 × 3​ × 10 (10)
Score: 91–55 (max 116, jos 113)

Anne accuses Ryan of laughing with 810, and when he gets it wrong (doing 3^3 rather than 3^4), Anne laughs right back at him rudely. Without the double 3, this might have been much harder.

Round 15: M E N G O T P I C

Ryan buzzes on 2.75 seconds to say COMPETING which is correct.
Final Score: 101–55 (max 126, jos 123)

The Anne debate refuses to die down, as Anne says, out loud, "I know who you think isn't nice" to Rachel, playing that character she was infamous for... if it even was a "character"...

Anyway, Ryan wins again. Will he win again? Join us soon.

Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=84

[Gavin Chipper]

Annedown LIX and it's a Benjo triple bill of recaps - but since no one will read this I'll explain the delayedness on Wednesday's recap.

They will.