Well Countdown has returned from it's little break away and in good time too since the nation seemed to go a bit crazy in it's absence and even Libya has felt the effects of having no Countdown to watch recently. So thankfully we can all sit down in front of our new plasma TVs and have a cup of Sam Pepper's tea and be calm until 4pm.
I say sit comfortably but already the "short" jokes and terrible banter has started just 2 minutes into the show between Jeff and Rachel. God help me I have not missed this one bit. Let's go fucking mental.
Right, in case anyone has forgotten then here's a little recap of series 65 so far:
- - Graeme Cole became the first octochamp and joined the 800 club.
- Mark Deeks became the second octochamp and nicked the #1 spot from Graeme.
- Matt Croy, Liam Herringshaw and Andrew Halliburton are looking good for a place in the last 8.
- Matt Croy could be a dark horse for the series judging by his improvement on apterous.
- Liam Herringshaw doesn't practise online and despite having natural ability I can't see him doing any damage to the top 3.
- The first woman of the series came in the 30th episode in one of Mark's games. Is there anything Deeks doesn't do?
- Graeme Cole does a mean Jools Holland impression.
- Rachel has had a haircut. It is now shorter. Jury is still out.
C1: Champion Peter Staniland (1 win, 76 points.)
C2: Challenger Andrea Wickham.
DC: Susie Dent and William Roache.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: N D M L O A I E O
R02: H E O T N P I E L
R03: T S R Y U O E N I
R04: T N S A E P R A N
R05: 25, 1, 3, 10, 9, 6. Target: 584.
TTT: DARNBEST - "The Simpson boy finishes his stint pulling pints perhaps"
R06: U S R G E I H C E
R07: X T C K A O E D N
R08: F S T D I A O V E
R09: L G C D A O E T F
R10: 100, 75, 5, 6, 10, 4. Target: 521.
TTT: MYACORNS - "You'll need to think NATO and NASA to get this"
R11: G R T S A O I R U
R12: M T L E A R N I O
R13: J R P M A E A I T
R14: 50, 25, 75, 1, 9, 5. Target: 701.
R15: S T M I C H A E L (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Peter Staniland won the last episode before the break and it was comfortable enough despite not knowing how to spell pylons. He is from Maidstone in Kent which is a cracking town to be from for obvious reasons (DOMINATES/STAMINODE in case that wasn't an obvious reason). He also supports Barcelona FC so bit of a dick really supporting a foreign club.
Andrea Wickham comes from Ireland to have a crack at the teapot and her ambition is to one day run a triathlon despite not knowing how to cycle or swim so good luck with that. She is currently at university and I can't help but think that the two contestants would make a great couple.
Enjoy the show.
Round 1: N D M L O A I E O
C1: loamied
C2: ALMOND (6)
DC: MELANOID (8)
OT: MELODION (8)
Score: 0–6 (max 8)
A bizarre word from Peter is OBVIOUSLY (that was the conundrum he didn't solve in his last game, obviously) gobbledygook and Andrea takes advantage of him. DC get MELANOID which I like to remember as LIMONADE^ (like LEMONADE but with limes even though that's LIMEADE). It's not surprising that Andrea didn't spot MELANOID as she rivals even me for the lack of MELANIN in her. That's not an insult, I like the pale look.
Round 2: H E O T N P I E L
C1: PHONE (5)
C2: peleton
DC: PINHOLE (7) HOPLITE (7)
OT: HOTLINE (7) PETIOLE (7) POTHEEN (7)
Score: 5–6 (max 15)
Andrea unfortunately spells PELOTON wrongly and considering that she doesn't know how to cycle then I would have stayed away from any bikey words if I were her. I'm sure she does know how to cycle by the way, it was obviously just a bit of light hearted humour at the start of the game which everyone found funny. "Haha, the thought of doing a triathlon and not knowing how to cycle or swim. Haha.". The audience laughed anyway. All 7 of them.
Round 3: T S R Y U O E N I
C1: STONIER (7)
C2: RUSTY (5)
DC: TOURNEYS (8) ROUTINES (8)
OT: TYROSINE (8)
Score: 12–6 (max 23)
I quite liked William Roache's pronunciation of TOURNEYS completely different to how I would say it but there's nothing wrong with that. In fact I'd say pronouncing words differently to me is definitely a step in the right direction in life. Oh, and Peter has taken the lead now.
Round 4: T N S A E P R A N
C1: SPANNER (7)
C2: PARENTS (7)
DC: SPARTAN (7)
OT: ANNATES (7) ENTRAPS (7) PASTERN (7) PEASANT (7) TANNERS (7) TARPANS (7) TREPANS (7)
Score: 19–13 (max 30)
Very flat indeed this round. Surprised that SPARTAN doesn't have a capital letter. I think this always surprises me though and I'm probably just like a goldfish when it sees a "new" accessory in its tank that's been there for years. Images of QI and Vandalise+A (Alan Davies) come to mind.
Round 5: 25, 1, 3, 10, 9, 6. Target: 584.
C1: 590.
C2: 581. (3+1)*6*25-10-9 (7)
RR: 584. (9-1)*3*25-10-6 (10)
Score: 19–20 (max 40)
Andrea is now back in front with a decent enough attempt at this numbers. It gets a thumbs up from me anyway and Rachel gets a thumb up too for her solve.
DC Guest Time: I think we're at that stage where William Roache has been a guest long enough now that he doesn't seem to bring much more to the table in terms of anecdotes. Discuss.
Teatime teaser: DARNBEST -> BARTENDS
Round 6: U S R G E I H C E
C1: CHEERS (6)
C2: CHEERS (6)
DC: GUSHIER (7)
OT: CUSHIER (7) EUCHRES (7) HEURIGE (7)
Score: 25–26 (max 47)
Pretty tough 7's I'd say. EUCHRES brings to mind an excellent spot by Graeme Cole in his first game which is certainly up there as one of the spots of the series for me as he picked out EUCHRING to get past Liam Herringshaw. But back to this game CHEERS for 6 is just fine-diddly-ine. The term EUCHRE is a card game but you can use it as a verb to describe some kind of move within this game.
Round 7: X T C K A O E D N
C1: TACKED (6)
C2: DONATE (6)
DC: DEACON (6)
OT: ATONED (6) CANOED (6) CANTED (6) COATED (6) COAXED (6) CONKED (6) DECANT (6) DOCENT (6) DOCKEN (6) DOCKET (6) NOCKED (6) OCTANE (6) TANKED (6) TONKED (6)
Score: 31–32 (max 53)
Yeah. Moving on.
Round 8: F S T D I A O V E
C1: DATIVES (7)
C2: FOISTED (7)
DC: STIFADO (7)
OT: IODATES (7) TOADIES (7) VOIDEST (7)
Score: 38–39 (max 60)
Sound spots particularly DATIVES by Peter mean that these two just cannot be separated but Andrea does have the tightest of...
...advantages.
For some reason I always think STIFADO is a musical term but it's apparently a Greek dish. Like a meal that is, not the type of dish that you eat soup out of.
Round 9: L G C D A O E T F
C1: FLOATED (7)
C2: LOCATED (7)
DC: GATEFOLD (8)
Score: 45–46 (max 68)
Andrea takes a cheeky sip of water just seconds into the round. A new tactic perhaps. Sweeeeeeeeet 8 from DC though whilst I think most people watching would have been content with 7's. Well I was. GELCOAT is another 7 to be had there. Well done DC genuine class. Bill Roache is loving it.
Susie's Section: She tells us why BLUE is associated with being down and says stuff about blue devils being a sign of depression in the 18th century.
Round 10: 100, 75, 5, 6, 10, 4. Target: 521.
C1: 520. 5*100+6+10+4 (7)
C2: 520. (100+4)*5 (7)
RR: 521. (100+10)*4+75+6 (10)
Score: 52–53 (max 78)
Bit of a repeat of the first numbers in that both contestants can't get it but Rachel can. Thankfully for Peter this time he does manage to get 7 points though and he stays with Andrea. They are still separated by just one point which has been the case since round 5.
Teatime teaser: MYACORNS -> ACRONYMS
Round 11: G R T S A O I R U
C1: GROATS (6)
C2: gaiours
DC: RAGOUTS (7) GUITARS (7)
OT: AGOUTIS (7) GIAOURS (7) RIGOURS (7) SAUTOIR (7)
Score: 58–53 (max 85)
Ouch! I almost foresaw this when Andrea said that she'd try a seven. And you can tell she's been picking words up from watching the show but unfortunately for her she makes the mistake of spelling GIAOURS wrongly. She probably shot herself in the foot a bit as she wasn't prompted to spell it but rather proceeded to spell it as soon as she'd tried to pronounce it. A little bit of good acting and confidence here and she maybe could have had the 7 points. How costly will it be? Well, it's already cost her the lead.
Round 12: M T L E A R N I O
C1: LOAMIER (7)
C2: RELATION (8)
DC: LEARNT (6) TRAMLINE (8) TERMINAL (8)
OT: ORIENTAL (8)
Score: 58–61 (max 93)
Peter amusingly gets LOAMIER as opposed to LOAMIED^ (see Round 1) but the jokes on him because Andrea trumps him with a max.
Round 13: J R P M A E A I T
C1: PRIMATE (7)
C2: TAMPER (6)
DC: ARMPIT (6)
Score: 65–61 (max 100)
William Roache has a good old childish giggle at ARMPIT which is to be fair a funny word...when you're like 12. Time for Peter to bite back though after last round and again he takes the lead. Can you hear Rhys' Darren-o-meter going off in London? Yeah, me neither.
Round 14: 50, 25, 75, 1, 9, 5. Target: 701.
C1: 701. 75*9+25+1 (10)
C2: 701. (5+9)*50+1 (10)
Score: 75–71 (max 110)
Slightly strange tactics from Andrea as she says she'll take a risk and go for 3 large. But really from the position she was in before the numbers the only way she could win would be by facing a crucial conundrum so given that it is a preliminary I would have just gone for the simple 1 large to try and make sure of forcing a crucial conundrum. I could be talking complete tactical bollocks but it makes sense to me. Anyway, forget all that shite because what do we know we've got ourselves a crucial conundrum anyway after CECIL dicks about.
Been a good contest although I am hoping Andrea will get this one...
Round 15: S T M I C H A E L
C1 buzzes on 11 seconds to say ALCHEMIST which is correct.
And the final score is SHA-TINGGGG...
Final Score: 85–71 (max 120)
Sadly she doesn't and Peter wins for a second time. Quite a nice scramble this too. Made me smile. Would have been better to do it on St Michael's Day though which I believe is the 29th September. Oh well.
Here's a 5 question quiz on today's edition of Countdown:
1) Who played the role of William Roache in the BAFTA Award Winning drama 'The Road to Coronation Street' first seen in 2010?
2) What Touchdown 9's can you get from Round 3 in today's game?
3) Who or what connects the word spotted by DC in Round 7 of this game, my surname, a planet in our Solar System and a month of the year?
4) What was Rachel wearing today?
5) Who coined the phrase 'SHA-TING' as featured in the recap?
Thank you and good night.
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=65
