Thursday 21st February 2008 (Series 58, Game 37)

[Jon Corby]

Countdown recap for Thursday 21st February 2008.

C1: Champion Brian Morley (1 win, some points.)
C2: Challenger Barbara Fletcher.
DC: Susie Dent and John Inverdale.
CV: Carol Vorderman.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: E A S P N E I G S
R02: N R N E A C E D I
R03: O O L B I E S O S
R04: Y Q M A E W O D I
R05: 25, 100, 5, 7, 9, 6. Target: 289.
TTT: CLAIMSUS - "There's Joseph and Oliver in this family"
R06: T U R N A T D A O
R07: T F E A I N D O T
R08: U E L G O M N E X
R09: T R O U I H T E S
R10: 50, 4, 1, 9, 6, 10. Target: 527.
TTT: NVERDALE - "Can be blue or green, dilly dilly"
R11: P J A E I L H N E
R12: C R U M I S O S L
R13: V T A I D R E A R
R14: 50, 9, 7, 8, 8, 3. Target: 425.
R15: C H E W S O P I E (conundrum)


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Okeydoke, let's see what happened. Right. Brian came through a close entertaining game yesterday on a crucial conundrum, buzzing in on around ten seconds to declare INTERRING. Excellent stuff. It wasn't the correct answer, but let's not get too bogged down in detail. He has 5 children, 11 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren, which is a lot of birthdays to remember. Actually, there's almost a 50% chance of some shared birthday in that lot if you include him and his wife in that little pool, so that might help. How would he fare today against Barbara? Barbara is a retired teacher, married to a teacher, with three daughters, also all teachers, who between them have amassed around 80 years of teaching. I don't think that means 80 full years of actually teaching, as that would be over 700,000 hours worth, which is a little absurd. Still, Barbara's an attractive lady with a nice smile, and I wouldn't mind a butchers at her daughters.

John Inverdale joins Susie again in the corner, and hopefully he'll repeat his solid performance of yesterday. Interesting anecdotes, a good awareness of the game, all round good stuff. Okeydoke. Let's crack on.

Round 1: E A S P N E I G S
C1: PANSIES (7)
C2: PANSIES (7)
DC: SINGES (6) SEEPING (7)
OT: ASSIGNEE (8)
An ASSIGNEE is a person appointed to act for another, or a person to whom a right or liability is legally transferred. Seeing as it's an anagram of "seeing as", seems like a nice one to remember. It would be pointless and childish to mention all of the rude words available from this selection, which include PENIS, PEEING and NIPS.
Score: 7–7 (max 8)

Round 2: N R N E A C E D I
C1: craned (misdeclared as 7)
C2: CANNIER (7)
DC: RANCID (6) CRANNIED (8)
OT: DECENNIA (8) DERACINE (8)
Decennia is the plural of decennium, which is an archaic word for a decade. A Déraciné is a person who has been or feels deracinated (uprooted from their natural environment).
Score: 7–14 (max 16)

Round 3: O O L B I E S O S
C1: BOILS (5)
C2: BOILS (5)
DC: SLOBS (5) SOLOS (5) LOOIES (6)
OT: LESBOS (6) LOOSES (6) BLOOIE (6) BOSIES (6) SOLOES (6)
Lesbos is, of course, a Greek island in the Aegean, so I'm a little surprised to find that this isn't capitalised. Maybe there is some kind of fruit or something which originates from the island and takes its name, I'm not sure. Maybe I'll Google it later. There is a verb "to loose", meaning to set free, hence looses is fine. Blooie is a variant spelling of blooey, which is a stupid American word to describe something that has gone wrong. A bosie is an Aussie word for a googly in cricket, and there is a verb "to solo" meaning to do something unaccompanied, something which may become pertinent when I do that Google search I mentioned earlier. Ahem.
Score: 12–19 (max 22)

Round 4: Y Q M A E W O D I
C1: YAWED (5)
C2: MADE (4)
DC: MEADOWY (7)
OT: MIAOWED (7)
Score: 17–19 (max 29)

Round 5: 25, 100, 5, 7, 9, 6. Target: 289.
C1: 289.Mistake in working.
C2: 290.Mistake in working.
CV: 289. 7*25+100+9+5 (10)
Score: 17–19 (max 39)

Teatime teaser: CLAIMSUS -> MUSICALS

Round 6: T U R N A T D A O
C1: TRUANT (6)
C2: RATTAN (6)
DC: DATURA (6)
OT: ROTUNDA (7)
A rotunda is a building or room with a dome.
Score: 23–25 (max 46)

Round 7: T F E A I N D O T
C1: FAINTED (7)
C2: FAINTED (7)
DC: DEFIANT (7) ANTIDOTE (8)
OT: TETANOID (8)
Tetanoid is the adjective from tetanus. I feel silly now when I think back to all the times that I've referred to something as being a bit "tetanussy".
Score: 30–32 (max 54)

Round 8: U E L G O M N E X
C1: MOGUL (5)
C2: LEMON (5)
DC: LOUNGE (6) LEGUME (6)
OT: EUGENOL (7)
Eugenol is a liquid present in oil of cloves, and other such oils used in perfumery.
Score: 35–37 (max 61)

Round 9: T R O U I H T E S
C1: TITHES (6)
C2: HOTTER (6)
DC: HITTERS (7) TOURIST (7) THEORIST (8)
OT: HURTIEST (8) SHOUTIER (8)
Hurtiest and shoutier are two stupid words that mean exactly what you think they mean, and you can't use either without sounding like a soppy pouting little girl.
Score: 41–43 (max 69)

Round 10: 50, 4, 1, 9, 6, 10. Target: 527.
C1: 535.50*10+4*9-1 (5)
C2: 525.Mistake in working.
CV: 527. (50+9-6)*10-4+1 (10)
Score: 46–43 (max 79)

Teatime teaser: NVERDALE -> LAVENDER

Round 11: P J A E I L H N E
C1: PANEL (5)
C2: ALPINE (6)
DC: PEAHEN (6)
OT: PENILE (6) PINEAL (6) INHALE (6)
A pineal is a pea-sized conical mass of tissue behind the third ventricle if the brain, which secretes a hormone-like substance in some mammals.
Score: 46–49 (max 85)

Round 12: C R U M I S O S L
C1: MUSIC (5)
C2: CURIOS (6)
DC: SCRUMS (6)
OT: Lots of other sixes which I can't be bothered to list.
Score: 46–55 (max 91)

Round 13: V T A I D R E A R
C1: variated
C2: TARDIER (7)
DC: VARIATE (7) ARRIVED (7) TARRIED (7)
OT: AIRDATE (7) AVIATED (7) RADIATE (7)
Variate is in as a noun only, which was bad luck for Brian. Airdate is the date on which a radio or television programme is scheduled to be broadcast.
Score: 46–62 (max 98)

Round 14: 50, 9, 7, 8, 8, 3. Target: 425.
C1: 424.50*8+3*8 (7)
C2: 424.50*8+9+7+8 (7)
CV: 425. 50/(3-(8-7))*(9+8) (10)
Score: 53–69 (max 108)

Round 15: C H E W S O P I E
No one buzzes. The (I thought very tricky) answer was SHOWPIECE, as offered by a gentleman in the audience.
Score: 53–69 (max 118)

So congratulations to Barbara, commiserations to Brian. But at least he got a teapot. A close game until the final third where Brian failed to score on any of the three letters games, but sadly I don't see Barbara staying in the champions chair for much longer than Brian.


Further summaries are at:
http://www.thecountdowncorral.com/cd/se ... ?series=58

[Dinos Sfyris]

Smashing recap Corby. Can't wait for next week's

Re LESBOS: From my study of Latin, I believe there was a poet called Catullus, infatuated with the beautiful woman Lesbia, who I think lived on said island, which thereafter took its name. Unfortunately for Catullus, Lesbia liked minge and he expresses his angst through his Myspace-esque poems which are short, sweet and quite sad.

Don't know why I brought that up, but when I know something like that I just like to say it

[Jon Corby]

Smashing recap Corby. Can't wait for next week's

Cheers mate. Erm... can you wait a week?

[David O'Donnell]

Great recap!