Friday 3 June 2011 (Series 64, Grand Final)

[Mike Brown]

Countdown recap for Friday 3 June 2011 (Series 64, Grand Final).

C1: #1 Seed Adam Gillard (10 wins, 1128 points.)
C2: #2 Seed Edward McCullagh (10 wins, 1117 points.)
DC: Susie Dent and Gregg Wallace.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

At the time of the last final, the weather was rather poor, but as we reach the latest climax to a series of Countdown, the weather is thankfully rather more clement. On this lovely sunny day in June (at least it was here), the two contestants battling it out to take home the dictionaries (still looking rather cheap in their non-leather-bound format), a ‘top of the range’ laptop and a lifetime subscription to Oxford Online are ‘Stanmore Sensation’ Adam Gillard and ‘Newry Knockout’ Edward McCullagh. As Jeff points out in his intro, there’s only 11 points separating their aggregate scores after ten games each, so it’s almost too close to call, but call it we must, so let’s see what happened...

R01: W I B E S O R C N
R02: A P R O D R I T E
R03: L I G A J I N F T
R04: E D T I D T E S W
R05: 8, 1, 7, 5, 6, 1. Target: 785.
TTT: YAKREALM - "A lot of yakking about a load of old nonsense."
R06: I G N E P S A N R
R07: S E T A S I M N E
R08: A S D E R B A D E
R09: M A C U P A T K H
R10: 25, 2, 6, 5, 4, 3. Target: 895.
TTT: CRISPROD - "Don't pull them too hard - you might tear your trousers."
R11: R O V I N A L U S
R12: I V F A E T M R A
R13: D I C O R A Q U Y
R14: 75, 7, 5, 5, 4, 6. Target: 139.
R15: A R G U E T O S S (conundrum)


The final week of Series 64 was sponsored by Vitabiotics Wellwoman.

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The usual opening banter is replaced by final-related matters as it is, like, the final and that.

Round 1: W I B E S O R C N

C1: CORBIES (7)
C2: BROWNIES (8)
DC: BROWNIES (8) COWRIES (7)
Score: 0–8 (max 8)

The Corby family makes another appearance on the show, while Edward is thinking about chocolate, but to be fair it does give him an unexpected early advantage. Gregg makes a slightly dubious joke about liking brownies of the cake variety, as opposed to Girl Guides.

Round 2: A P R O D R I T E

Having already said he’s feeling ‘less than hopeless’, Edward precedes his selection by saying, “thanks Jeff, and best of luck, Adam.” What a nice touch.

C1: PRIORATE (8)
C2: PREDATOR (8)
DC: PARROTED (8)
OT: PRORATED (8) TEARDROP (8)
Score: 8–16 (max 16)

Two good offerings from Adam and Edward. Interestingly, all the eights apart from PRIORATE are anagrams of each other. No yawning at the back, please, this is the final.

Round 3: L I G A J I N F T

C1: FAILING (7)
C2: JAILING (7)
DC: LIFTING (7)
OT: FATLING (7) JILTING (7) TAILING (7)
Score: 15–23 (max 23)

He might be five behind, but Adam certainly isn’t FAILING. And with only a five point lead, Edward isn’t out of JAIL yet.

Round 4: E D T I D T E S W

C1: TWISTED (7)
C2: TWISTED (7)
DC: TEDDIES (7) DEWIEST (7)
Score: 22–30 (max 30)

Our contestants are a little TWISTED. Between them and DC, all the top words are spotted. Good work.

Round 5: 8, 1, 7, 5, 6, 1. Target: 785.

C1: -
C2: 792. (6+5)x8x(7+1+1) (5)
Score: 22–35 (max 35)

A tough first numbers game, to which Rachel raises her arms in bewilderment. Ed did well to get to 792; in fact, you can’t get any closer and he’s still on a max game.

Before the break, Gregg touches on various things, including bumping into someone who had worked on Masterchef in the corridors at Granada Studios and discussing with them how television adds pounds to your apparent weight. Jeff also asks him how his restaurant in Putney is going. Not badly, it seems. He’s been good in DC this week; I expect he’ll be back again soon.

Teatime teaser: YAKREALM -> MALARKEY

Round 6: I G N E P S A N R

C1: SPEARING (8)
C2: SPEARING (8)
DC: GRANNIES (8)
OT: EARNINGS (8) ENGRAINS (8) PANNIERS (8)
Score: 30–43 (max 43)

Round 7: S E T A S I M N E

C1: AMNESTIES (18)
C2: AMNESTIES (18)
DC: MEATINESS (18)
Score: 48–61 (max 61)

Nothing to add; a class act all round.

Round 8: A S D E R B A D E

C1: BEARDED (7)
C2: BEARDED (7)
DC: BREADED (7)
OT: ABRADED (7) ABRADES (7) BARDEES (7) BEDDERS (7) DEBASED (7) DEBASER (7) REBASED (7)
Score: 55–68 (max 68)

The flattest round of this final. BARDEES (also BARDIES) are edible larvae; like Ed I’ll be sticking to the chocolate brownies.

Round 9: M A C U P A T K H

C1: PATCH (5)
C2: MATCH (5)
DC: MATCHUP (7)
OT: CHAMPAK (7)
Score: 60–73 (max 75)

Ed’s max game is blown out of the water at last; DC offer one of those nasty ‘does it really not have a hyphen?’ words; a CHAMPAK is an evergreen tree of the magnolia family; and if you had MAKUTA, bad luck because (like its singular form LIKUTA) it’s no longer in.

Ryan Taylor inter alia, sleep now.

OoW: Susie discusses the origins of the terms ‘lotus eater’ and ‘lotus position’. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with Formula 1 cars (sorry, Rhys).

Ryan, etc. - you can wake up now...

Round 10: 25, 2, 6, 5, 4, 3. Target: 895.

Edward points out that he would usually ask Rachel to choose, but as it’s the final, he doesn’t trust her! (and given some of her previous decisions, he’s probably got a point.)

C1: 895. ((4+2)x6x25)-5 (10)
C2: 895. ((6+3)x4x25)-5 (10)
Score: 70–83 (max 85)

Teatime teaser: CRISPROD -> RIPCORDS

Round 11: R O V I N A L U S

C1: INSULAR (7)
C2: INSULAR (7)
DC: VARIOUS (7) URINALS (7)
OT: AVULSION (8)
Score: 77–90 (max 93)

Well done to Richard Priest (and anyone else) who got AVULSION.

Round 12: I V F A E T M R A

C1: VARIATE (7)
C2: VARIATE (7)
OT: FERMATA (7)
Score: 84–97 (max 100)

Adam pronounces VARIATE correctly, but it only leads to confusion. I also spotted AMATIVE^ for seven, but sadly it was removed with the publication of COD8, although it probably remains valid for Scrabble. A similar tale applies to TAILORESS^, which came up on Thursday.

Round 13: D I C O R A Q U Y

C1: CURIO (5)
C2: CARDIO (6)
OT: QUADRIC (7)
Score: 84–103 (max 107)

At this stage in the contest, Adam really needs to make up some ground, but it’s Edward who comes up trumps with CARDIO. The gap is 19 with only 20 points available; can Adam pull off a last minute comeback...?

Round 14: 75, 7, 5, 5, 4, 6. Target: 139.

C1: 139. ((7-5)x75)-6-5 (10)
C2: 139. ((7-5)x75)-6-5 (10)
Score: 94–113 (max 117)

... With a straightforward numbers game (which once again Edward insists on choosing, for obvious reasons), the answer is a resounding ‘no’ and Rachel finishes off the Irishman’s working-out with the words “for the championship”.

Round 15: A R G U E T O S S

C1 buzzes on 22.5 seconds to say TROUSSAGE which is incorrect.
C2 does not buzz.
The answer was STEGOSAUR.
Final Score: 94–113 (max 127)

I wonder if Adam realised at the time that TROUSSAGE describes the sexual relations between a man and his female servant? Whatever, it’s not a valid word in English (or at least not in this dictionary), whereas STEGOSAUR is. Incidentally, a few people in the audience had the answer (Josh Hurst being one of them), but due to time constraints (I suspect), the gathered throng weren’t consulted.

The show ended with the usual presentation, with Gregg presenting the £1000 cheque to Adam and Rachel presenting the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy to Edward. I think Edward was thinking about kissing it, but then seemed to change his mind – perhaps he was worried about who might have kissed it already! In a nice change to recent finals, the end credits are displayed over the chatting group, rather than us being subjected to a rather bland blue screen. As ever, the next series of Countdown starts on Monday when Liam Herringshaw will be defending his seat in the studio and Shobna Gulati will be in Dictionary Corner – for a full five days this time! See you next week.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=64

[Liam Tiernan]

Countdown recap for Friday 3 June 2011 (Series 64, Grand Final).



Round 5: 8, 1, 7, 5, 6, 1. Target: 785.

C1: -
C2: 792. (6+5)x8x(7+1+1) (5)
Score: 22–35 (max 35)

A tough first numbers game, to which Rachel raises her arms in bewilderment. Ed did well to get to 785; in fact, you can’t get any closer and he’s still on a max game.

[Mike Brown]

Ed did well to get to 785; in fact, you can’t get any closer and he’s still on a max game.

Thanks Liam, all sorted...

[Adam Gillard]

Adam pronounces VARIATE correctly, but it only leads to confusion. Well noted!
[...]
I wonder if Adam realised at the time that TROUSSAGE describes the sexual relations between a man and his female servant? No

Thanks for this excellent recap, Mike. It was nice to meet you (albeit briefly) at the finals.

[Soph K]

...What a complicated and long recap...........who won?????????

[Ryan Taylor]

...What a complicated and long recap...........who won?????????

¬_¬