Thursday 20th March 2008 (Series 58, Game 53)

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Jon Corby
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Thursday 20th March 2008 (Series 58, Game 53)

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Countdown recap for Thursday 20th March 2008.

C1: Champion Tony Durrant (1 win.)
C2: Challenger Keith Brown.
DC: Susie Dent and Dennis Taylor.
CV: Carol Vorderman.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: T N S E O R R L O
R02: E I A I T H M N S
R03: K N D W A E C A R
R04: E O E A Y N D T S
R05: 75, 100, 3, 7, 9, 7. Target: 727.
TTT: ELKSREST - "Ken Loach's feathered friends?"
R06: E I U O N L B D E
R07: R N P R O E O T T
R08: A I U E H G S L T
R09: P S T L A O U C E
R10: 75, 100, 7, 6, 1, 4. Target: 747.
TTT: EARPERCH - "Dusty's boyfriend's dad?"
R11: L M R D O A I N C
R12: D J R M S A O E E
R13: P S P R I E A S Q
R14: 75, 2, 7, 2, 4, 3. Target: 376.
R15: U L C E R F L A Y (conundrum)


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It's taken me a good 5 minutes to work out what number game this should be, as I was convinced the numbering system had got messed up somewhere along the line. Then I remembered that we'd lost a whole week because of bloody Cheltenham. Bah.

Tony conquered Andrew Swale (conqueror of Joe Denniss) yesterday in a gripping game of exceptional quality which required him to solve two conundrums. Given this chain of conquests, you'd expect him to go on to achieve greatness, but Countdown can be quite unpredictable (which is something that often surprises me but I won't go into that now.) Anyway, Tony's a window cleaner from Manchester who at one time played pool for England, and today he faces Keith Brown from Newcastle. Keith is a civil servant, but also an actor and singer apparently. Will Keith continue the current theme of overthrowing impressive champions in their first defences, or will the Newcastle Brown ail?

Jesus Christ.

I think we'd better see what happened:


Round 1: T N S E O R R L O
C1: LOOTERS (7)
C2: SENT (4)
DC: SNORTER (7) ROOTLES (7)
OT: TOOLERS (7) TOREROS (7) RETOOLS (7) ROOSTER (7) ROOTERS (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)
According to the ODE, a torero is a bullfighter, especially one on foot. Off the top of my head I can't think that I've ever seen a bullfighter not on foot. The poor bull would stand even less of a chance if he was in an FA-18 Interceptor or something.

Round 2: E I A I T H M N S
C1: manish
C2: STAMEN (6)
DC: THIAMINE (8) HISTAMINE (18)
Score: 7–6 (max 25)

Round 3: K N D W A E C A R
C1: CRANKED (7)
C2: WRACKED (7)
DC: DANKER (6) CANKER (6)
Score: 14–13 (max 32)
A grinning Dennis cheekily leads you towards wanker with the other two rhyming words, but stops short of actually saying it. We'd all already spotted wanked in the first six letters though, hadn't we?

Round 4: E O E A Y N D T S
C1: DONATES (7)
C2: DENOTES (7)
DC: STANDEE (7)
OT: NOSEYED (7) NOYADES (7)
Score: 21–20 (max 39)
A noyade is an execution carried out by drowning, with its origins in French where apparently there was some kind of mass execution by drowning in 1794 (Google it if you want to know more, I can't be bothered.) Nowadays the word would add a touch of class to the act of lobbing unwanted kittens off a bridge in a sack.

Round 5: 75, 100, 3, 7, 9, 7. Target: 727.
C1: 727.7*100+3*9 (10)
C2: 727.7*100+3*9 (10)
Score: 31–30 (max 49)

Teatime teaser: ELKSREST -> KESTRELS

Round 6: E I U O N L B D E
C1: DOUBLE (6)
C2: DOUBLE (6)
DC: UNOILED (7)
Score: 37–36 (max 56)

Round 7: R N P R O E O T T
C1: TROOPER (7)
C2: TROOPER (7)
OT: PORTENT (7) POTRERO (7) TORRENT (7)
Score: 44–43 (max 63)
A potrero is a paddock or pasture for horses or cattle in South America.

Round 8: A I U E H G S L T
C1: SLEIGHT (7)
C2: LAUGHS (6)
DC: UGLIEST (7)
OT: ALIGHTS (7) LATEISH (7) LIGATES (7)
Score: 51–43 (max 70)

Round 9: P S T L A O U C E
C1: POSTAL (6)
C2: CASTLE (6)
DC: COPULATES (18)
Score: 57–49 (max 88)
Once we've finished sniggering at the rude niner, spare a thought for Andrew Swale who must be wondering how he managed to come unstuck against an opponent who declares six from a selection which includes a nine, 7 eights and 28 sevens.

Round 10: 75, 100, 7, 6, 1, 4. Target: 747.
C1: 747.(100+6)*7+1+4 (10)
C2: -
Score: 67–49 (max 98)

Teatime teaser: EARPERCH -> PREACHER

Round 11: L M R D O A I N C
C1: NOMADIC (7)
C2: ORDINAL (7)
DC: CORDIAL (7)
OT: IRONCLAD (8)
Score: 74–56 (max 106)

Round 12: D J R M S A O E E
C1: SMEARED (7)
C2: MAJORED (7)
DC: RADOMES (7)
Score: 81–63 (max 113)
Radomes are domes for protecting radars. Does the middle D come from radar or dome? Who knows.

Round 13: P S P R I E A S Q
C1: ASPIRES (7)
C2: PASSER (6)
DC: APPRISES (8)
Score: 88–63 (max 121)
Apprise means to inform or tell somebody something.

"Be careful what you call out, you need to get this right" Des informs Keith before his final numbers selection. Indeed he will, if he wants to stand a chance of achieving that 5 point loss that every player dreams about.

Round 14: 75, 2, 7, 2, 4, 3. Target: 376.
C1: 376.(3+2)*75+7-4-2 (10)
C2: 375.
Score: 98–63 (max 131)

Round 15: U L C E R F L A Y
C2 buzzes on 10 seconds to say CAREFULLY which is correct.
Score: 98–73 (max 141)

Poor Andrew (and probably Joe) will be kicking themselves as they watch a game which either would have most likely won. Still, Tony triumphs once again which is rightly all he'll care about, but I certainly hope he'll have to raise his game again soon as this was a bit of damp squib after this week's shows so far. Oh well.

I've also just remembered that I've seen bullfighters in little jeeps.

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