Thursday 23rd September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 63)

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Rhys Benjamin
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Thursday 23rd September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 63)

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Annedown LXII and despite having napped earlier I am absolutely finished.

Countdown recap for Thursday 23 September 2021.

OTD in 1974, the first TV teletext started. We all remember Ceefax, don't we? Rachel reminisces about buying a holiday from teletext.

C1: Champion Steven Grady (1 win, 109 points.) 29. From Edinburgh. Apterite. Nicknamed "Baldy". Anne is still surprised he won yesterday.
C2: Challenger Daaniyal Ali. 17. From Swindon. Anne asks if he can take her clubbing, and Daaniyal says she's too old! :o But it gets Kay rolling on the floor laughing, so expect Anne to get her own back on Daaniyal all day.
DC: Susie Dent and Kay Burley.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: I F D N U S I A O
R02: O R T E A D R P O
R03: 75, 9, 3, 1, 5, 3. Target: 250.
TTT: SHEDREADS - "She dreads having to wear this at the carnival. It's just too hot."
R04: I U S M D L M A I
R05: O O R S T G E A R
R06: 75, 50, 5, 8, 7, 3. Target: 175.
R07: U E N M C E O D N
R08: L T Q O I E U S T
R09: 50, 5, 5, 8, 4, 1. Target: 341.
TTT: TENNISSET - "The tennis went down to the fifth set. What a nerve-wracking game."
R10: I O E W S B E T R
R11: I O N F M A E S L
R12: H S W L A I E N C
R13: E S Y T U O P G A
R14: 50, 25, 100, 9, 2, 7. Target: 247.
R15: B E D A R R N E D (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: I F D N U S I A O

Steven: AUDIONS (7)
Daaniyal: UNSAID (6)
DC: FUSION (6)
OT: DISINFO (7) INDUSIA (7) SUIDIAN (7) UNIOIDS (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7, jos 7)
Darren-o-meter: 0/1 (0%)

Lovely stuff from Steven to get us up and running.

Round 2: O R T E A D R P O

Steven: eardrop (two words)
Daaniyal: PREDATOR (8)
DC: TEARDROP (8) OPERATOR (8)
OT: PARROTED (8) PRORATED (8) TOREADOR (8) TRAPDOOR (8)
Score: 7–8 (max 15, jos 15)
Darren-o-meter: 0/2 (0%)

Although Anne also says she got EARDROP^, it's only available as two words, so Daaniyal takes the lead. Kay rubs Steven's nose in it by saying that prefixing his word with a T would have got him eight.

Round 3: 75, 9, 3, 1, 5, 3. Target: 250.

Steven: 250. 75 ÷ 3​ × (9 + 1) (10)
Daaniyal: 250. 75 ÷ 3​ × (9 + 1) (10)
Score: 17–18 (max 25, jos 25)

Simple enough for these two.

Teatime teaser: SHEDREADS -> HEADDRESS

Round 4: I U S M D L M A I

Steven: MISDIAL (7) (risky)
Daaniyal: muslim (risky) (capitalised)
DC: DUALISM (7) mamils
OT: LAMIUMS (7) MISLAID (7)
Score: 24–18 (max 32, jos 32)
Darren-o-meter: 0/3 (0%)

MUSLIM is capitalised so no dice for Daaniyal here, but in any case Steven had him beaten anyway.

Round 5: O O R S T G E A R

Steven: ROOTAGES (8) (try)
Daaniyal: GRATERS (7) (try)
DC: ROOSTER (7) STORAGE (7) TOERAGS (7)
Score: 32–18 (max 40, jos 40)
Darren-o-meter: 1/4 (25%)

ROOTAGES is a great spot and Susie can't find anything in the definition for ROOTAGE to suggest +S is unacceptable, so he takes a very nice 8 points.

Round 6: 75, 50, 5, 8, 7, 3. Target: 175.

Steven: 175. (7 − 5) × 50 + 75 (10)
Daaniyal: 175. (7 − 5) × 50 + 75 (10)
Score: 42–28 (max 50, jos 50)

Ariana.

Anne asks Kay about being a travelling single mother. Basically, it's her friends, au pairs, etc. Her best story ever? Er, breaking the news of Diana's death on air - odd choice - and then name-drops and says she knew ar Di a bit. :roll:

Round 7: U E N M C E O D N

Steven: ENCODE (6)
Daaniyal: ENCODE (6)
DC: DENOUNCE (8)
OT: ENOUNCED (8)
Score: 48–34 (max 58, jos 58)
Darren-o-meter: 1/5 (20%)

Dictionary Corner DENOUNCE the contestants' ENCODEd offerings.

Daaniyal is asked about how long he was been watching Countdown for, and says he hasn't missed a show since November 2014. He also says he has a very good memory for dates and days, and is asked that 26 September 1944 (Anne's birthday) is a Tuesday, 7 October 1959 (Simon Cowell's birthday) was a Wednesday, and 8 January 1935 was "I think" a Tuesday (Elvis's birthday).

Round 8: L T Q O I E U S T

Steven: OUTLIES (7)
Daaniyal: TOILETS (7)
DC: OUTLETS (7)
OT: LITOTES (7) TITULES (7)
Score: 55–41 (max 65, jos 65)
Darren-o-meter: 1/6 (17%)

Let's be honest - if you didn't see TOILETS, do you have a sense of humour?

Round 9: 50, 5, 5, 8, 4, 1. Target: 341.

Steven: 341. (8 − 1) × 50 − 5 − 4​ (10)
Daaniyal: 341. (8 − 1) × 50 − 5 − 4​ (10)
Score: 65–51 (max 75, jos 75)

Another simple numbers round, but not quite Ariana level this time.

Teatime teaser: TENNISSET -> INTENSEST

Round 10: I O E W S B E T R

Steven: STROBE (6)
Daaniyal: WEBSITE (7)
DC: ROWEITES (8)
OT: BEEWORTS (8) REBESTOW (8)
Score: 65–58 (max 83, jos 83)
Darren-o-meter: 1/7 (14%)

ROWEITES is a mineral (surprise, surprise) but Daaniyal's offering of WEBSITE halves the deficit.

Round 11: I O N F M A E S L

Steven: FINALES (7)
Daaniyal: SEMOLINA (8)
OT: FLAMINES (8) INFLAMES (8) LAMINOSE (8)
Score: 65–66 (max 91, jos 91)
Darren-o-meter: 1/8 (13%)

I always get that word mixed up with salmonella, but Daaniyal now leads.

OOW What is the connection between "your ugly mug" (Dyer, 2013) and mugs we drink out of? Basically, they used to have faces on them.

Round 12: H S W L A I E N C

Steven: CLEANISH (8)
Daaniyal: INHALES (7)
DC: WINCHES (7) WHALES (6)
Score: 73–66 (max 99, jos 99)
Darren-o-meter: 2/9 (22%)

Steven strikes back with CLEANISH, which is an excellent darren, and this game is almost certainly going down to the wire.

Round 13: E S Y T U O P G A

Steven: spoutage (try)
Daaniyal: AUTOPSY (7) (risky)
DC: UPSTAGE (7) POSTAGE (7)
OT: OUTAGES (7) PAYOUTS (7) POTAGES (7) TEAPOYS (7)
Score: 73–73 (max 106, jos 106)
Darren-o-meter: 2/10 (20%)

Nothing risky at all about AUTOPSY. SPOUTAGE^, on the other hand, isn't anywhere to be seen. Susie turns into Google and says spRoutage is fine, but not spoutage.

Round 14: 50, 25, 100, 9, 2, 7. Target: 247.

Steven: 248. 100 × 2 + 50 − (9 − 7) (7)
Daaniyal: 248. (not written down) 50 × 7 − 100 − 2​ (7)
RR: 246/248. (7) (at the end)
OT: 247. 50 × 7 − 100 − (25 + 2) ÷ 9​ (10)
Score: 80–80 (max 116, jos 113)

"About a million ways for one away", according to Rachel after the conundrum.

Crucial conundrum time!

Round 15: B E D A R R N E D

Daaniyal buzzes on 13 seconds to say REBRANDED which is correct.
Final Score: 80–90 (max 126, jos 123)

And Daaniyal knocks Steven off his chair! Daaniyal will take home a teapot and he'll be back tomorrow. It's a real shame we've had such strong contestants this week in Ryan, Steven, and now Daaniyal.

Join us again for Countdown. Goodbye. ;)


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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