Good afternoon!
A few short months ago, Mr. Countdown Team scanned the programme archives and selected 41 top notch players spanning the whole history of the series; people whose combined history of competitive wins stretched from 9 April 1984 all the way to 29 June 2012 (apologies to Peter Lee - if a special ruins my fascinating stat, then it never happened!
). Today, with tension mounting and in order to narrow our field into single figures, it so happens that we meet the players who won on those two dates.C1: Series 4 runner-up Christine Hunt (6 wins, 557 points from 11 games) is from Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire, and beat Sandie Simonis in Round 1 on a tie-break conundrum. To her falls the task of single-handedly defending the honour of all players of the female sex, all players who appeared in the 1980s, and all players who appeared in the 1990s.
C2: Series 66 champion Jack Worsley (12 wins, 1,168 points from 12 games) is from Blackpool, currently studies in Bolton, and beat Graeme Cole in Round 1 on a crucial. To him falls the task of single-handedly defending the honour of all dark-haired young men... no, all Series 66 finalists... no, all maths students... no, all people called Jack... no, all people who normally write the Tuesday recap. Yes, that'll do.
DC: Susie Dent and Dr Phil Hammond.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: S N E R M O J N A
R02: D R D X I O E S U
R03: M T E H S A G V I
R04: L N T R A E A E Y
R05: 75, 50, 6, 3, 6, 9. Target: 984.
TTT: DOGHENRY - "It may not be Jumping Jack Flash, but it's definitely a gas."
R06: P G T M O U O W A
R07: R L U S F E C N A
R08: F H N S I A E P T
R09: K R I G D E L N O
R10: 75, 4, 9, 8, 8, 7. Target: 538.
TTT: GENTDIES - "The gent dies because he's done this with the poison."
R11: R T E P D U T D I
R12: R S N L A E O I N
R13: P R E B C U Q D A
R14: 75, 1, 7, 4, 6, 9. Target: 165.
R15: D I S C O H A R P (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: S N E R M O J N A
C1: MANNERS (7)
C2: MOANERS (7)
DC: OARSMEN (7)
OT: MANNOSE (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 7)
A quiet start, and Dr. Phil brings up the four OARSMEN of the apocalypse. That sounds not quite right, but I can't put my finger on why.
MANNOSE is a sugar of the hexose class which occurs as a component of many natural polysaccharides. Mmm, sugar.
Round 2: D R D X I O E S U
C1: OXIDES (6)
C2: RUDDIES (7)
Score: 7–14 (max 14)
Jack takes a punt and finds the darren - when you make something ruddy, you ruddy it, which is ruddy useful to know.
Round 3: M T E H S A G V I
C1: GAMIEST (7)
C2: ATHEISM (7)
OT: MISGAVE (7) SIGMATE (7)
Score: 14–21 (max 21)
Our contenders have no misgivings in picking off half of the available sevens.
Round 4: L N T R A E A E Y
C1: ANTLER (6)
C2: ETERNAL (7)
DC: RENAL (5) REALTY (6)
OT: ENTERAL (7) ANALYTE (7)
Score: 14–28 (max 28)
Jack pulls further ahead with the simplest of the three available 7s. ANALYTE tries to trip up the unwary recapper by not being in ODE2r, but this recapper is equal to the challenge!
Round 5: 75, 50, 6, 3, 6, 9. Target: 984.
C1: 986.
C2: 984. (50*6*3)+75+9 (10)
Score: 14–38 (max 38)
Two large is evil. Pick the right route as Jack did and it's a straightforward 10 points - get seduced by (13*75)+9 as I did and it's not there.
Dr. Phil takes us into the break by explaining why the only thing better for your well-being than a head massager is a head massager poking out of a woolly hat that you've knitted for yourself. I think we can safely assume that it's impossible to come up with anything even better for your well-being than that, so the lead-in to the first break may be rather quiet for the rest of the week.
Teatime teaser: DOGHENRY -> HYDROGEN
Round 6: P G T M O U O W A
C1: GAMUT (5)
C2: OUTGO (5)
Score: 19–43 (max 43)
Horrid selection, and Christine and Jack clear the table leaving me with absolutely nothing to talk about.
Round 7: R L U S F E C N A
C1: CAREFUL (7)
C2: FUNERALS (8)
DC: SCARF (5)
OT: FLANEURS (8) FURNACES (8)
Score: 19–51 (max 51)
I always understood that if you're CAREFUL you shouldn't need to worry about FUNERALS. I was wrong. Dr. Phil knits himself a nice short SCARF, and Jack is quietly STILL ON A MAX GAME
(Is that right, James? 3 emoticons for maxing up to round 7?)Round 8: F H N S I A E P T
C1: PANTIES (7)
C2: FISHNET (7)
DC: PANFISH (7)
OT: THESPIAN (8)
Score: 26–58 (max 59)
The whole studio is somewhat distracted by Jack and Christine's FISHNET PANTIES, except for our esteemed host Mr. Hewer who stuns everyone with THESPIAN. Is this his first ever DC beater? It's impossible to find out.
Round 9: K R I G D E L N O
C1: IGNORED (7)
C2: GODLIER (7)
DC: GROINED (7)
OT: DOGLIKE (7) ERODING (7) GLORIED (7) GODLIKE (7) KINDLER (7) LORDING (7) REDOING (7)
Score: 33–65 (max 66)
The flattest of flat rounds in all flatdom. Jack has drifted away from his earlier ATHEISM, and whilst not totally GODLIKE in LORDING it over Christine, is at least GODLIER than he was.
Susie explains why drinking in dockside pubs was a dangerous thing back in the days of press gangs, but cleverness and glass have made it an entirely safe experience in the modern day. Bottoms up!
Round 10: 75, 4, 9, 8, 8, 7. Target: 538.
C1: 538. (75*7)+9+4 (10)
C2: 538. (75*7)+9+4 (10)
Score: 43–75 (max 76)
One large is not evil. 10 points each, ta very much, on we go.
Teatime teaser: GENTDIES -> INGESTED
Round 11: R T E P D U T D I
C1: PUTRID (6)
C2: PUTRID (6)
DC: PUTTIED (7)
Score: 49–81 (max 83)
Both contestants find the selection rather putrid, but Dr. Phil comes to the rescue with the darren - he's puttied his windows right well to keep them in place.
Round 12: R S N L A E O I N
C1: AILERONS (8)
C2: ROSALINE (8)
DC: SOLANINE (8)
Score: 57–89 (max 91)
Surely the last letter won't be a T? Ah, no it won't. The studio mops up all three 8s, and your recapper skips nimbly past the Countmax trap of alienors^ - it's gone from the book, it's no longer a word, it's never coming back. Unless it's in ODE 4, obviously.
Round 13: P R E B C U Q D A
C1: BREAD (5)
C2: CURBED (6)
DC: BARQUE (6)
OT: APERCU (6) BECARD (6) BRACED (6) BURPED (6) CARPED (6) DAUBER (6) EARBUD (6) REDCAP (6)
Score: 57–95 (max 97)
An unprepossessing selection produces a wide variety of 6s - some common, some less so, and all hide from Christine's grasp. DC continues its nautical theme with a BARQUE which is a kind of sailing ship.
Round 14: 75, 1, 7, 4, 6, 9. Target: 165.
C1: 165. ((6-4)*75)+9+7-1 (10)
C2: 165. ((75+7)*(6-4))+1 (10)
Score: 67–105 (max 107)
Lots of routes to this one. I preferred 75+((6+4)*9), but if you get there it doesn't matter how you get there!
Round 15: D I S C O H A R P
C1 buzzes on 1 second to say HARPSICHORD which is incorrect.
Countdown Team's clever trap is sprung straight away, and an 11-letter guess makes your humble recapper scratch his head about how to handle it properly.
C2 buzzes on 2 seconds to say RHAPSODIC which is correct.
Meanwhile, Jack could take the remaining 28.5 seconds at his leisure, but when you already know it's RHAPSODIC and you're on for a 13-MAX GAME, why dawdle?
Final Score: 67–115 (max 117)
It says much for the standard the series is reaching that 13-max, beaten only by two tricky darrens, might now be described as "quietly flying under the radar". Christine's 7-max is more than respectable and a step up from her first round game, but she heads for home and leaves the fate of the championship to be disputed by nine fellas.
Jack will be back to face Jon O'Neill on Friday while Graeme Cole looks on, by which time I expect James to have squeezed Neil Zussman, Dave Hoskisson and Jonathan Rawlinson into a semi-finalist shaped box; and then, as we do like to keep him busy, Jack'll be back on recapping duty next Tuesday for the last quarter-final between Jack Hurst and David O'Donnell. Probably be rubbish.
It's been an honour and a privilege to take part in recapping this tournament. Thank you all for letting me be part of it!
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=-16
Fixed - ta.