On a more sombre note, Stanley's first wife (and the mother of four of Stanley's kids) had her funeral on the day this episode was broadcast, so much so that Rachel Johnson - in a rare intervention, given she is an ardent remainer (Lib Dem and CHUK in 2019!) - has defended Boris's lack of visibility this week.
Countdown recap for Tuesday 28 September 2021.
It's Ask a Stupid Question Day.
C1: Champion Daaniyal Ali (3 wins, 253 points.)
C2: Challenger Siân Davies. From Stratford upon Avon. Retired. Anne and her argue about how to avoid making the first cup of tea in the morning.
DC: Susie Dent and Stanley Johnson, who reminds us that Boris is not his only child, but having six kids he embarrassingly managed to forget one on Have I Got News For You, so writes them down on his hands now.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: E E L O D N T O R
R02: F L C A U E G E T
R03: 50, 100, 3, 2, 9, 5. Target: 179.
TTT: TELLYNINE - "If you can't get this nine, I'll treat you in a merciful way."
R04: P N C I O E L R A
R05: E A N S W R I S O
R06: 75, 10, 4, 2, 9, 5. Target: 623.
R07: E F T P U E I G S
R08: W R B E A O T D A
R09: 50, 25, 3, 4, 6, 1. Target: 365.
TTT: MEGAMINTS - "He had a certain charm about him which attracted all sorts."
R10: G P D O E A T O M
R11: S D N O I U A H U
R12: B S M A E E R G A
R13: T K I E I N C L E
R14: 25, 75, 6, 9, 1, 8. Target: 398.
R15: M O D E S T C O P (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Enjoy the show.
Round 1: E E L O D N T O R
Daaniyal: NOODLE (6)
Siân: RODENT (6)
DC: REDOLENT (8)
OT: RETOOLED (8) RONDELET (8)
Score: 6–6 (max 8, jos 8)
Darren-o-meter: 0/1 (0%)
Sixes to get us underway, but an excellent eight from Susie.
Round 2: F L C A U E G E T
Daaniyal: FAUCET (6)
Siân: FAUCET (6)
DC: LEGATE (6)
OT: TEGULAE (7)
Score: 12–12 (max 15, jos 14)
Darren-o-meter: 1/2 (50%)
American tap water gets both contestants six more, whilst Dictionary Corner manage to miss the darren.
Round 3: 50, 100, 3, 2, 9, 5. Target: 179.
Daaniyal: 179. (not written down) 100 + 50 + 2 + 9 × 3 (10)
Siân: 169.
Score: 22–12 (max 25, jos 24)
Daaniyal scores a crucial 10 points at this early stage of proceedings.
Teatime teaser: TELLYNINE -> LENIENTLY
Round 4: P N C I O E L R A
Daaniyal: PORCELAIN (18) (risky)
Siân: PRINCE (6)
Score: 40–12 (max 43, jos 42)
Darren-o-meter: 2/3 (67%)
Nothing risky about this at all. PORCELAIN is an excellent nine and all of a sudden the gap is 28 points.
Round 5: E A N S W R I S O
Daaniyal: WARINESS (8) (risky)
Siân: ANSWERS (7)
DC: swearin
OT: SENSORIA (8)
Score: 48–12 (max 51, jos 50)
Darren-o-meter: 2/4 (50%)
This one is certainly riskier than the last round, but once again it's another extension of the lead form Daaniyal and he now leads by 36!
Round 6: 75, 10, 4, 2, 9, 5. Target: 623.
Daaniyal: 623. (75 − (9 + 4)) × 10 + 5 − 2 (10)
Siân: 614.
Score: 58–12 (max 61, jos 60)
Make that 46 as Siân has now not scored since round two, and Daaniyal's intelligent 62 x 10 is the way forward here.
Anne asks Stanley what his proudest moment is and, unsurprisingly, it's Boris's election win in December 2019. But his second-proudest moment is winning an Oxford University prize for poetry to an illustrious crowd in 1962 including Charlie Chaplin, joining previous winners including Oscar Wilde. Robert Graves(?) says it was one of the best poems he'd ever heard. Although it was in Latin, Anne asks him to recite it anyway - and he gives a shortened version in English. Pam Ayres, eat your heart out. He says that he wanted to quit whilst he was ahead, so hasn't written much since.
I've also realised we've had two Covid rule-breakers in two weeks. Dominic Cummings in the near future?
Round 7: E F T P U E I G S
Daaniyal: GUISE (5) (not written down)
Siân: GIFTS (5)
DC: UPSET (5) STEEP (5)
OT: GIFTEES (7)
Score: 63–17 (max 68, jos 65)
Darren-o-meter: 3/5 (60%)
Fives across the board here as Siân may kick herself when she reads this and sees GIFTFEES was there for the taking.
Round 8: W R B E A O T D A
Daaniyal: BOATED (6)
Siân: ABROAD (6)
DC: ABORTED (7)
OT: AEROBAT (7) BADWARE (7)
Score: 69–23 (max 75, jos 72)
Darren-o-meter: 3/6 (50%)
Sixes for both contestants, Stanley realises that WARDROBE has a phantom R, which deflates him a touch, as they "only" have ABORTED instead.
Round 9: 50, 25, 3, 4, 6, 1. Target: 365.
Daaniyal: 363. (not written down) (6 + 1) × 50 + 25 − 3 × 4 (7)
Siân: 357.
RR: 365. (50 + 25 − 6 ÷ 3) × (4 + 1) (10)
Score: 76–23 (max 85, jos 82)
Rachel's solution looks messy but in reality it's just 73 x 5, whereas Daaniyal does a more "normal" method and gets to two away.
Teatime teaser: MEGAMINTS -> MAGNETISM
Siân talks about her hobbies, including golf and driving. She's got a Porsche (which she insists is Porsch-er) and as it's 10 years old and still depreciating, it's not a classic car, then.
Round 10: G P D O E A T O M
Daaniyal: MOATED (6) (dodgy)
Siân: MOOTED (6)
DC: DOTAGE (6) MEGAPOD (7)
OT: PAGEDOM (7) POETDOM (7)
Score: 82–29 (max 92, jos 89)
Darren-o-meter: 3/7 (43%)
Sixes for each of the contestants, but MEGAPOD is a brilliant spot from Susie.
Round 11: S D N O I U A H U
Daaniyal: AUDIONS (7)
Siân: HOUNDS (6)
Score: 89–29 (max 99, jos 96)
Darren-o-meter: 4/8 (50%)
A lovely darren from Daaniyal and he wraps up the contest with four rounds to go.
OOW Given Stanley's love of animals, Susie talks about a word with a hidden animal meaning, shrewd, which derives from shrew.
Round 12: B S M A E E R G A
Daaniyal: MERGES (6)
Siân: MEAGRE (6)
DC: BEAMERS (7) AGREE (5)
OT: AMBAREES (8)
Score: 95–35 (max 107, jos 103)
Darren-o-meter: 5/9 (56%)
BEAMERS is a cricketing term, so unsurprising that Stanley gets it. I once scored a match that included one of Stanley's grandkids.
Round 13: T K I E I N C L E
Daaniyal: TICKLE (6)
Siân: CLIENT (6)
DC: CENTILE (7) linket clinket
OT: NICKELITE (18)
Score: 101–41 (max 125, jos 110)
Darren-o-meter: 6/10 (60%)
I presume NICKELITE is a mineral term, but can't really be too concerned to look it up.
Round 14: 25, 75, 6, 9, 1, 8. Target: 398.
Daaniyal: 398. (75 − 25) × 8 − (9 − 6 − 1) (10)
Siân: 400.
Score: 111–41 (max 135, jos 120)
Daaniyal extends his lead to 70 with this final numbers game, and probably his best numbers spot of the day as I was only on 399.
Round 15: M O D E S T C O P
Daaniyal buzzes on 6.75 seconds to say COMPOSTED which is correct.
Final Score: 121–41 (max 145, jos 130)
And Daaniyal wraps it up with a conundrum to post a ridonkulous score of 121, which is 83% of the max, which is an excellent, excellent score.
Join us for more Countdown. Goodbye.
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=84