Tuesday 12th October 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 76)

[Rhys Benjamin]

Annedown LXXV and thanks to Chloe Jones for allowing me to see this one.

Countdown recap for Tuesday 12 October 2021.

Today is Face Your Fear Day.

C1: Champion Matt Watts (1 win, 86 points.) Masters Degree in Engineering from Oxford. (May or may not have beaten Stewart Gordon in 2006.)
C2: Challenger Adam Beach. Extremely nervous. Has hair from the 1960s, so Anne asks about how to get big hair.
DC: Susie Dent and Keith Allen.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: L N D E A O R G A
R02: N P E U A C S E R
R03: 50, 75, 5, 5, 6, 3. Target: 882.
TTT: DADSHERE - "These distinctive women make a perfect match."
R04: L N P I E E R S O
R05: C G M A O O U R S
R06: 50, 2, 5, 2, 4, 7. Target: 223.
R07: B T N A I E D J A
R08: B R K E I U E T L
R09: 5, 1, 8, 3, 6, 2. Target: 144.
TTT: see below
R10: M I F U E S T E F
R11: D P G O E A N L O
R12: E U R A S D A S V
R13: R Y M I E A H S L
R14: 25, 50, 3, 6, 5, 9. Target: 777.
R15: H A I R Y T O U T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: L N D E A O R G A

Matt: GROANED (7)
Adam: GROANED (7)
DC: GRENOLA (7) GARLAND (7) reangle
OT: LARGANDO (8)
Score: 7–7 (max 8, jos 7)
Darren-o-meter: 1/1 (100%)

Off we go. No perfect score for Susie today, but sevens each for the contestants.

Round 2: N P E U A C S E R

Matt: unspace (dodgy)
Adam: PRANCES (7)
DC: ESCAPER (7)
OT: UNCREASE (8) UNPEACES (8)
Score: 7–14 (max 16, jos 14)
Darren-o-meter: 1/2 (50%)

No UNSPACE^, so Adam doubles his total and his overall score.

Round 3: 50, 75, 5, 5, 6, 3. Target: 882.

Matt: -
Adam: 883. (6 + 5) × 75 + 50 + 5 + 3​ (7)
RR: 882. (50 − 5 ÷ 5) × 3 × 6 (10)
Score: 7–21 (max 26, jos 24)

Matt blanks and Adam gets one away. Rachel shows us how it's done.

Teatime teaser: DADSHERE -> REDHEADS

Adam talks about his University plans (set designer), and is asked for set design tips for the studio. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any. Wrong answer. Bring back the wings!!

Round 4: L N P I E E R S O

Matt: persoline (try)
Adam: PIONEERS (8)
DC: PENSILE (7) RELINES (7) OPENERS (7)
OT: ISOPRENE (8) LEPORINE (8) PELERINS (8) PENSIERO (8) PEREIONS (8) PLEIONES (8) PLERIONS (8)
Score: 7–29 (max 34, jos 33)
Darren-o-meter: 1/3 (33%)

PERSOLINE^ isn't a great try, but Matt says it was that or a 7, so it's fair enough. Susie misses all the other eights.

Round 5: C G M A O O U R S

Matt: COUGARS (7)
Adam: COUGARS (7)
DC: AMOROUS (7)
OT: MAGUROS (7)
Score: 14–36 (max 41, jos 40)
Darren-o-meter: 1/4 (25%)

Many laughs are had at the prospect of AMOROUS COUGARS.

Round 6: 50, 2, 5, 2, 4, 7. Target: 223.

Matt: 223. (50 + 7) × 4 − 5​ (10)
Adam: 223. 50 × 4 + (5 − 2) × 7 + 2 (10)
Score: 24–46 (max 51, jos 50)

Lovely jubbly.

Keith, after giving a solution for Round 6, gives his anecdote, and today it's about "what I got up to in lockdown, part 2", including "build your own golf course", and played golf in the park during the first lockdown, which may have been unlawful, but anyway...

Round 7: B T N A I E D J A

Matt: BAITED (6)
Adam: BANDIT (6)
DC: bandita
OT: BADIANE (7)
Score: 30–52 (max 58, jos 56)
Darren-o-meter: 2/5 (40%)

Susie is incensed at the lack of BANDITA - after all, you can have BANDITO...

Round 8: B R K E I U E T L

Matt: REBUILT (7) (not written down)
Adam: BUTLER (6)
DC: REBUKE (6) TREBLE (6)
OT: BULKIER (7)
Score: 37–52 (max 65, jos 63)
Darren-o-meter: 2/6 (33%)

Matt is asked how he was able to sustain himself financially during his Masters degree. He worked at Chessington World of Adventures, and now has an overly large stock of giant teddy bears in his house. WHEREDOYOULIVEMATTINEEDTHEM

Round 9: 5, 1, 8, 3, 6, 2. Target: 144.

Matt: 144. (8 + 2) × 5 × 3 − 6​ (10)
Adam: 144. 6 × 8--

Oh, hang on. The episode has frozen.

And now we're on the ads. Just like Friday's game.

Anyway, Anne will, luckily, tell us the teaser after the break.

Teatime teaser: MOONSIDE -> DOMINOES
"And I left you with the clue "Derek drew a blank with these." And the answer? DOMINOES."

Round 10: M I F U E S T E F

Matt: mufties
Adam: STIFF (5)
DC: MUFFIES (7) STUFFIE (7)
OT: TUMEFIES (8)
Score: 47–67 (max 83, jos 80)
Darren-o-meter: 3/7 (43%)

No MUFTIES^, which gets the lead up to 20 points.

Round 11: D P G O E A N L O

Matt: lagooned
Adam: POODLE (6)
DC: PONDAGE (7)
OT: GONDOLA (7) POLONGA (7)
Score: 47–73 (max 90, jos 87)
Darren-o-meter: 4/8 (50%)

For the second time today, Susie loses faith in the dictionary and bemoans PONDAGE being in but LAGOONED^ not.

OOW Susie talks about the origin of the Waltz. Don't tell Rachel. She'll probably have flashbacks. (At least she didn't give the origin of the Salsa...) Adam tells Anne he can't do the Waltz. Strictly 2022 if he wins the series? Or I'll teach him, I don't know.

Round 12: E U R A S D A S V

Matt: ASSURED (7)
Adam: ready (phantom Y)
OT: RADEAUS (7)
Score: 54–73 (max 97, jos 94)
Darren-o-meter: 4/9 (44%)

Adam gets the V mixed up for a Y, and Matt manages to get himself within 20, crucially.

Round 13: R Y M I E A H S L

Matt: mashier (risky)
Adam: mashier (risk; invalid not written down)
DC: MISHEAR (7) EARLYISH (8)
Score: 54–73 (max 105, jos 102)
Darren-o-meter: 5/10 (50%)

Double invalidness here from Adam. He didn't write his word down... and it's not in anyway.

Round 14: 25, 50, 3, 6, 5, 9. Target: 777.

Matt: 778.
Adam: 777. (9 + 6) × 50 + 25 + 5 − 3​ (10)
Score: 54–83 (max 115, jos 112)

Adam seals the deal with a perfect, if nervous, numbers spot.

Round 15: H A I R Y T O U T

No one buzzes. Rachel gives the answer (with a South Park reference to go with it), which was AUTHORITY.
Final Score: 54–83 (max 125, jos 122)

So Adam takes it, then, with 83 points. He'll be back on Wednesday. Goodbye.


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

[Ryan Lam]

The rerun of this episode aired on 04 November 2021. I can confirm Adam's solution was 6 × 8 × 3