Wednesday 10th November 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 97)

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Rhys Benjamin
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Wednesday 10th November 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 97)

Post by Rhys Benjamin »

Annedown XCVI on a day where the Anne/Rachel feud refuses to die down in the press. As I'm sure Alastair Campbell will tell you, things either last one news cycle or forever, and the fact this has been in the tabloids non-stop for more than a week now is a bad sign for Anne's future on this programme... basically, if it were untrue, it wouldn't be rumbling on for so long.

Countdown recap for Wednesday 10 November 2021.

On this day in 1969, Sesame Street arrived, "teaching children from a very early age the world is run by muppets".

C1: Champion Roddie Bell (5 wins, 516 points.) Wearing a black T-shirt underneath a formal shirt. Is it really that cold in the studio!?
C2: Challenger Graham Grant. From Liverpool ("hiya, Anne"). Ran a coach company for 25 years before moving into property... until 2008, where he lost £5m in the recession, which he says is an incredible feat as he only had £4m to start with. He's also wearing a proper paper poppy, unlike everyone else.
DC: Susie Dent and Alastair Campbell, who Anne describes as a "good-looking spin doctor". Horny jail for you, Anne. Because he's not. That's even without that god-awful shirt he's wearing.
RR: Rachel Riley, who appears to be wearing her household curtains again.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: M T G A O U N S E
R02: S R D H A U A N E
R03: 25, 4, 10, 9, 2, 6. Target: 760.
TTT: ONEBUILD - "They played a trick and served this type of egg with his soldiers."
R04: Y E E O R T G E P
R05: T N P I E U M S I
R06: 2, 2, 4, 6, 7, 7. Target: 520.
R07: T L R D E E I E J
R08: S D N D A I E M N
R09: 25, 100, 50, 75, 7, 9. Target: 245.
TTT: ACEVISIT - "I had an ace visit to the dentist; he found none of these."
R10: I E O U R P R N S
R11: R T W O E I S H A
R12: O E I T V E G C T
R13: L R L N O O I F A
R14: 50, 2, 7, 8, 4, 1. Target: 453.
R15: D A D A T B E C K (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: M T G A O U N S E

Roddie: AMOUNTS (7)
Graham: MONTAGES (8)
DC: MEGATONS (8) SEAMOUNT (8)
OT: AUGMENTS (8) GEOMANTS (8) MAGNETOS (8) METAGONS (8) MUTAGENS (8)
Score: 0–8 (max 8, jos 8)
Darren-o-meter: 0/1 (0%)

No MEGANUTS, sadly.

Round 2: S R D H A U A N E

Roddie: HARDENS (7)
Graham: HARDENS (7)
DC: UNSHARED (8) UNHEARD (7)
Score: 7–15 (max 16, jos 16)
Darren-o-meter: 1/2 (50%)

UNSHARED is an excellent darren as both contestants are on seven.

Round 3: 25, 4, 10, 9, 2, 6. Target: 760.

Roddie: 759.
Graham: 760. ((6 + 2) × 9 + 4) × 10 (10)
Score: 7–25 (max 26, jos 26)

Roddie's been excellent at the numbers until now so for Graham to get 10 points via LNAFP is quite a shock.

Teatime teaser: ONEBUILD -> UNBOILED

Round 4: Y E E O R T G E P

Roddie: gropey (risky)
Graham: GREET (5)
DC: PROTEGEE (8)
Score: 7–30 (max 34, jos 34)
Darren-o-meter: 2/3 (67%)

Susie explains that PROTEGE(E) is a gendered word, one of a few remaining in English, such as blond(e). Nowadays most usage of PROTEGE is with a singular E.

Round 5: T N P I E U M S I

Roddie: MINUTES (7)
Graham: NUMPTIES (8) (try) - "a bit Scottish"
DC: MUTINIES (8)
OT: UNPITIES (8)
Score: 7–38 (max 42, jos 42)
Darren-o-meter: 2/4 (50%)

"Not Scottish at all", says Susie, "we had it here too". Yeah... you spotting it doesn't make it non-Scottish, Susie.

Round 6: 2, 2, 4, 6, 7, 7. Target: 520.

Roddie: 512. (7 × 7 + 2) × (4 + 6) + 2​ (5)
Graham: 512. (7 × 7 + 2) × (4 + 6) + 2​ (5)
RR: 520. (6 + 7) × 2​ × 4 × (7 − 2) (10)
Score: 12–43 (max 52, jos 52)

I got that 512 method too, but Rachel shows us it was possible.

Alastair talks about what happened when Diana died. His pager woke him up with "Car crash in Paris. Dodi dead. Di seriously hurt. This is not a joke. Number 10". Then he called Tony Blair, and got no more sleep that night. He said that unlike Philip, there was no protocol for her death (as she was not a royal). He claims he can't remember who came up with "the people's princess". He also had to walk to meetings at Buckingham Palace in the aftermath thanks to the abundance of crowds and flowers on The Mall. Anne is basically asking whether anything in "The Queen" was true.

Round 7: T L R D E E I E J

Roddie: RETILED (7)
Graham: retiled - misdeclared as 6
DC: JILTED (6) JEERED (6)
OT: DELEERIT (8) DELIERET (8)
Score: 19–43 (max 60, jos 59)
Darren-o-meter: 2/5 (40%)

Bit odd here. Susie seems to think Graham missed out the D, whereas Graham indicated he misdeclared: "I just didn't count them properly"... either way Roddie gets some much-needed points.

Round 8: S D N D A I E M N

Roddie: DANDIES (7)
Graham: MAIDENS (7)
DC: DEMANDS (7)
OT: MANNIDES (8)
Score: 26–50 (max 68, jos 66)
Darren-o-meter: 3/6 (50%)

Sevens each and once again the computer beats the studio.

Round 9: 25, 100, 50, 75, 7, 9. Target: 245.

Roddie: 243.
Graham: 244. 7 × 50 − 100 − (9​ − 75 ÷ 25) (7)
RR: 245. (after ads) (9 × 100 − (75 − 50)) ÷ 25 × 7 (10)
Score: 26–57 (max 78, jos 76)

Graham pulls out another 7 after Roddie's 4 large gamble fails.

Teatime teaser: ACEVISIT -> CAVITIES

Round 10: I E O U R P R N S

Roddie: REPOURS (7)
Graham: PRISONER (8) (not written down)
DC: SUPERIOR (8) PRUINOSE (8)
OT: PRONEURS (8)
Score: 26–65 (max 86, jos 84)
Darren-o-meter: 3/7 (43%)

An excellent spot from Graham and now Roddie is running out of time to rescue the game. Anne doesn't believe Alastair got SUPERIOR on his own. Susie confirms that he did.

Round 11: R T W O E I S H A

Roddie: HOARIEST (8)
Graham: SHOWER (6)
DC: WATERISH (8)
OT: THEORIAS (8) WORTHIES (8)
Score: 34–65 (max 94, jos 92)
Darren-o-meter: 3/8 (38%)

The damage from the last round is reversed, but even so the gap is 31 points with just 4 rounds to go... is that enough time? Of course, a letters win of more than 7 for Graham in the next round would end the game...

OOW Cranbazzled, one of Susie's favourite words, is a Yorkshire dialect word for... a hangover, basically. And she talks about the origin of groggy, traced to Admiral Edward Vernon in the 18th century, and his "grogram" coat.

Round 12: O E I T V E G C T

Roddie: vective (risky - phantom V and invalid anyway)
Graham: EVICT (5) (not written down)
DC: COVET (5) OCTET (5)
OT: GEOTIC (6)
Score: 34–70 (max 100, jos 97)
Darren-o-meter: 4/9 (44%)

Well, Roddie is clinging on like a limpet up a whale's arse here... just. An embarrassing double negative blunder, with VECTIVE^ having a phantom V and being not in the dictionary anyway, means the gap is 36 points - he needs a nine now.

Round 13: L R L N O O I F A

Roddie: FLAIR (5)
Graham: FRAIL (5) (not written down)
DC: FLORAL (6) FLORIN (6)
OT: ORILLON (7)
Score: 39–75 (max 107, jos 103)
Darren-o-meter: 5/10 (50%)

Roddie virtually throws his pen down on the desk in frustration. An awful round at the worst time gives Graham the teapot and ends Roddie's impressive spell in the champion's chair.

Round 14: 50, 2, 7, 8, 4, 1. Target: 453.

Roddie: 453. (8 + 1) × 50 + 7 − 4 (10)
Graham: 453. (8 + 1) × 50 + 7 − 4 (10)
Score: 49–85 (max 117, jos 113)

Some score inflation at the end here.

Round 15: D A D A T B E C K

Roddie buzzes on 4 seconds to say BACKDATED which is correct.
Final Score: 59–85 (max 127, jos 123)

And Roddie gets a consolation prize of a conundrum but that's no good for him. He loses his grip on the champion's chair and Graham takes over.

Join us again for less Countdown. Until then, stay Countdown!


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