c4countdown

Countdown recap for Monday 15 March 2010, the first of four specials!!1!.

C1: 'Challenger' Chris Davies. Famous for: winning Series 61, lightning Rubik's Cube solves, appearing on Celebrity Big Brother
C2: 'Challenger' Kirk Bevins. Famous for: losing to Richard Pay, coming 2nd in loads of CO-events, formerly being ranked the 2nd highest human on apterous.
DC: Susie Dent and Gary Osborne. Famous for: co-writing (the latest CO-event) songs such as 'Forever Autumn' (one of Lesley's favourite songs) with Elton John, amongst others.
RR: Rachel Riley. Famous for: being generally awesomesauce both on and off screen.
OT: Other words or solutions. Famous for: [OK, you're pushing it. Ed]

R01: H J L E R O E M I
R02: S Z V I A O T U S
R03: L I D O S H E G D
R04: R V B A E U C O Y
R05: 37, 12, 5, 8, 6, 4. Target: 949.
TTT: DIDFLING - "Cooking the books while Rome burns, perhaps."
R06: G N M E I I E D G
R07: C R T I C A A E O
R08: F T R I E A P I B
R09: D T E I R E P G F
R10: 37, 6, 6, 5, 1, 3. Target: 296.
TTT: SWAPNHOP - "Swap your goods for money here, then hop it."
R11: S W X U O E S N T
R12: Q P S O A A E D L
R13: N R O S A N E A L
R14: 37, 4, 2, 9, 4, 2. Target: 828.
R15: C A N T E B U R Y (conundrum)

So the two champions of 2009 go head-to-head in what can only be described as Special episode S26. This promises to be an awesome game, with high-quality spots, the possibility of lots of bottle and a 'little curvature'...

And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: H J L E R O E M I

C1: HOMELIER (8)
C2: HOMELIER (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)

Both contestants start off with a darren to fire the audience up.

Round 2: S Z V I A O T U S

C1: VISTAS (6)
C2: VISTAS (6)
Score: 14–14 (max 14)

And another, possibly slightly easier.

Round 3: L I D O S H E G D

C1: DISLODGE (8)
C2: ISOHEL (6)
Score: 22–14 (max 22)

Kirk manages to miss DILDOES and DISLODGE ,whilst Chris remains on the max with another darren.

Round 4: R V B A E U C O Y

C1: CABOVER (7)
C2: CABOVER (7)
DC: OVERBUY (7)
Score: 29–21 (max 29)

A ridiculous American word gives both of our 'champs' 7 points.

And here comes the little twist...

Round 5: 37, 12, 5, 8, 6, 4. Target: 949.

C1: 950. ((37 + 12) x 4 - 6) x 5 (7)
C2: 948. (8 x 5 + 6 - 4 + 37) x 12 (7)
OT: 949. 37 x (12 + 8 + 5) + 6 x 4 (10)
Score: 36–28 (max 39)

What has Rachel done with the 4 large? Now she has changed the big 4 and picks the selections. *cue evil laugh*
However, neither player spotted the 82% difficulty solve.

Our DC newbie Gary Osborne tells of his experiences with Elton John.

Teatime teaser: DIDFLING -> FIDDLING

Round 6: G N M E I I E D G

C1: EDGING (6)
C2: DEEMING (7)
Score: 36–35 (max 46)

Kirk seems visibly surprised when Chris declares only 6, as did I

Round 7: C R T I C A A E O

C1: ORECTIC (7)
C2: CARIOCA (7)
OT: ACRATIC (7) EROTICA (7)
Score: 43–42 (max 53)

Some lovely spots all round. (I have lots of those. All over my face.)

Round 8: F T R I E A P I B

C1: PIRATE (6)
C2: APERITIF (8)
Score: 43–50 (max 61)

Again Kirk pulls a darren out of the bag to snatch Chris' lead...

Round 9: D T E I R E P G F

C1: EDGIER (6)
C2: FREED (5)
DC: FIDGETER (8)
Score: 49–50 (max 69)

But the longest word evades them for the first time, and Chris closes the gap up to 1 point.

OoW: Susie delves into the origins of BEEFEATER.

Round 10: 37, 6, 6, 5, 1, 3. Target: 296.

C1: 297. (37 - (5 - 1)) x (6 + 3) (7)
C2: 296. Mistake in working.
RR: 296. (5 + 3) x 37 (10)
Score: 56–50 (max 79)

If, the next time you speak to Kirk, he seems unhappy, this is why. Oh how we mocked how he hesitated after saying "5 + 3..." and then added the 1 before multiplying by 37. Still, at least he should have written down his 37 times tables now, so he should have no problems with the final numbers. (...)

Teatime teaser: SWAPNHOP -> PAWNSHOP

Round 11: S W X U O E S N T

C1: SEXTONS (7)
C2: SEXTONS (7)
OT: TWONESS (7)
Score: 63–57 (max 86)

Another really ugly word pops up in CountMax, but the two of them remain 6 points apart. This could go down to the wire...

Round 12: Q P S O A A E D L

C1: PEDALOS (7)
C2: PEDALOS (7)
Score: 70–64 (max 93)

Freddie Flintoff's favourite mode of transport [That's enough emoticons. Ed]

Round 13: N R O S A N E A L

C1: LOANERS (7)
C2: ANNEALS (7)
DC: ARSENAL (7) LANNERS (7)
OT: ENSNARL (7)
Score: 77–71 (max 100)

Both of them spot a max to seal their near-perfectness at the letters. Erm, yup.

Round 14: 37, 4, 2, 9, 4, 2. Target: 828.

C1: 826.
C2: 828. (37 x 2 + 4 x 4 + 2) x 9 (10)
Score: 77–81 (max 110)

Kirk produces a great spot which nearly makes up for his earlier mistake (nearly) and so he is in front going in to the conundrum. A crucial...

Round 15: C A N T E B U R Y

Chris buzzes on 24.5 seconds to say TENUBRACY which is incorrect.
Kirk doesn't buzz. Dinos in the audience gets the answer which was CYBERNAUT.
Score: 77–81 (max 120)

And so a thrilling game comes to its conclusion. A game of drama, skill and bottle. Oh yes. Hopefully the other specials (broad cast late July/early August) can live up to the standard.
As there is no Countdown on now for the rest of the week (damn horse racing), I suggest we all pop over to the Pass the time? thread. See ya later.

Statistics Corner

Chris:
Total score - 77
Raw score - 96
Total % of max - 64
Raw % of max - 80
Total average score per round - 5
Raw average score per round - 6
Number of maxes - 8

Kirk:
Total score - 81
Raw score - 92
Total % of max - 68
Raw % of max - 77
Total average score per round - 5
Raw average score per round - 6
Number of maxes - 10

[Note: the author cannot be held responsible for any subliminal shouts of 'apterous.org' during applause]

Good recap, but Chris buzzed in with TENUBRACY on 24.5 secs.

Alec Rivers wrote:Good recap, but Chris buzzed in with TENUBRACY on 24.5 secs.

And DC got OVERBUY in round 3.

Kai Laddiman wrote:Round 9: D T E I R E P G F

C1: EDGIER (6)
C2: GREED(5)
DC: FIDGETER (8)
Score: 49–50 (max 69)

Did Kirk say GREED, becuase the subtitles gave it as FREED.

James Robinson wrote:Did Kirk say GREED, becuase the subtitles gave it as FREED.

He clearly says FREED.

Yeh OK, I didn't watch it

Fixed.

Kai Laddiman wrote:Round 3: L I D O S H E G D

C1: DISLODGE (8)
C2: ISOHEL (6)
Score: 22–14 (max 22)

Not to be mean to Kirk or anything, but I love it when a nerdy-obsessive-practice word like ISOHEL gets its arse kicked into touch by something regular like DISLODGE. (Obviously it happens to me too from time to time, but I still enjoy it even then.)

Jon Corby wrote:Just to be mean to Kirk, I love it when a nerdy-obsessive-practice word like ISOHEL gets its arse kicked into touch by something regular like DISLODGE.

You mean like in round 8 of this game?

Jon Corby wrote:
Not to be mean to Kirk or anything, but I love it when a nerdy-obsessive-practice word like ISOHEL gets its arse kicked into touch by something regular like DISLODGE. (Obviously it happens to me too from time to time, but I still enjoy it even then.)

It's not mean mate. As the letters came out, I wrote down ISOHEL (hoping for an S) and then I looked for 7s and 8s etc. Couldn't see any. Davies told me he saw LODGES/LODGE and the prefix DIS- and job's a good'un. Sadly I didn't see LODGES as I was trying to spot 7s. Saw LODDIES^ and couldn't remember if I was sure it had a 7 from it...turns out it did - DILDOES.

Kirk Bevins wrote:It's not mean mate.

Glad you understood where I was coming from, despite Dinos's best efforts to shit-stir

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:
Not to be mean to Kirk or anything, but I love it when a nerdy-obsessive-practice word like ISOHEL gets its arse kicked into touch by something regular like DISLODGE. (Obviously it happens to me too from time to time, but I still enjoy it even then.)

It's not mean mate. As the letters came out, I wrote down ISOHEL (hoping for an S) and then I looked for 7s and 8s etc. Couldn't see any. Davies told me he saw LODGES/LODGE and the prefix DIS- and job's a good'un. Sadly I didn't see LODGES as I was trying to spot 7s. Saw LODDIES^ and couldn't remember if I was sure it had a 7 from it...turns out it did - DILDOES.

At least you weathered the storm and this slip-up wasn't a barometer of your performance.

Kai Laddiman wrote:Fixed.

Not quite.

Kai Laddiman wrote:Round 7: C R T I C A A E O

C1: ORECTIC (7)
C2: CARIOCA (7)
DC: EROTICA (7)
OT: ACRATIC (7)
Score: 43–42 (max 53)

I watched it again (wanted to hear it rather than read the subtitles (reference to the spoiler thread)) and noticed that DC made no declarations of any sort in that round. As much we would liked them to have had EROTICA (maybe they did at the recording, but it got cut out), it wasn't transmitted during the show.

I'm sort of sounding very annoying now. It must be a lack of Countdown this week.

They did mention EROTICA during the recording which is maybe where Kai picked it up from but I also noticed it was removed from transmission.

Re-fixed

Also thanks James, Derek and Stewart for sorting out the wikifications.