C1: Champion Zarte Siempre (2 wins, 232 points), a sexy man.
C2: Challenger Brenda Widger, a housewife. She is currently living in Altrincham and is a fan of theatre and classical music. A certain little birdie - we'll call him J Robinson ... no, wait, that's far too obvious - we'll call him James R ... tells me that Brenda has actually appeared before, namely in Series 10, where she lost on a crucial conundrum to eventual series quarter-finalist David Whiting.
DC: Susie Dent and the legendary Jon Culshaw, who clearly only shows up when there is a devilishly charming contestant going on.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: D S N T E I U O V
R02: S F L E A I F R L
R03: 25, 50, 75, 3, 7, 5. Target: 386.
TTT: SEMISTAR - "They're big stars, but not the biggest group. "
R04: S D B O U E W G R
R05: M R Y L E I A O M
R06: 75, 2, 1, 7, 4, 8. Target: 149.
R07: T G K V I E O P R
R08: T W H E O N E D P
R09: 100, 25, 9, 2, 5, 1. Target: 880.
TTT: BIGGATES - "The sort of trousers they wear at West Bromwich, perhaps?"
R10: R S G A O A M S I
R11: J R L H A O A E Q
R12: S N T A U I C P A
R13: N S T H E I O N T
R14: 100, 1, 6, 3, 9, 4. Target: 777.
R15: C I T R U S H O P (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: D S N T E I U O V
C1: OUTSIDE (7)
C2: DIVEST (6)
DC: DEVIOUS (7) OUSTED (6)
OT: ENVIOUS (7) NIVEOUS (7) SNOUTED (7) TEDIOUS (7) VEINOUS (7) VOIDEST (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)
Good start for "The Siempre" (really, Nick? That's the best you can do? Surely Farty Zarte or something, at least) - however, that good start might be tinged with a slight sprinkling of disappointment as C or N would have given nine-letter words. I'll leave those to you to figure out. But yeah, anyway, Brenda can only find 6 in a fairly flat round. Gonna have to recover quick against a player of Zarte's calibre (and Zarte would know all about calibre - they don't call him Mr 44mm for nothing)
Round 2: S F L E A I F R L
C1: RAFFLES (7)
C2: RALLIES (7)
DC: FALLERS (7) REFILLS (7)
OT: FILLERS (7) RIFFLES (7)
Score: 14–7 (max 14)
Good from both. That round arguably looked really stodgy without a final vowel at the end to open things up. Points for all, though, and Brenda is off the mark.
Round 3: 25, 50, 75, 3, 7, 5. Target: 386.
C1: 386. (50 + 5) × 7 + (75 ÷ 25) ÷ 3 (10)
C2: 383.
Score: 24–7 (max 24)
It's a tricky numbers. Zarte needs about 3 whole days to finally give his solution but it's there, and Nick's still awake. Brenda can't find it under the pressure of an early deficit and playing in the studio. That happens, man.
Teatime teaser: SEMISTAR -> ASTERISM
Round 4: S D B O U E W G R
C1: BROWSED (7)
C2: BROWSED (7)
DC: BODGERS (7) GROUSED (7)
OT: BROGUES (7) DROGUES (7) GOURDES (7) ROSEBUD (7)
Score: 31–14 (max 31)
Yeah, another shared letters maximum for both contestants. There were surprisingly quite a few sevens actually, in a round that looked a little stodgy again due to the six consonant selection.
Round 5: M R Y L E I A O M
C1: MEMORIAL (8)
C2: MEMOIR (6)
Score: 39–14 (max 39)
Boom. Take a bow, son. I was sitting there smugly with MYELOMA thinking it was probably the maximum, but then Zarte takes out his neon-painted lightsaber and smacks me round the face with it.
Round 6: 75, 2, 1, 7, 4, 8. Target: 149.
C1: 149. 2 × 75 − 1 (10)
C2: 149. 2 × 75 − 1 (10)
Score: 49–24 (max 49)
Too easy. Here is a list of more productive things you could instead do with 30 seconds:
- Watch 0.296% of classic 1998 war film Saving Private Ryan
- Watch Davide Gualtieri score for San Marino against England in 1993 straight from kick-off 3.61 times
- Get 0.104% of your recommended 8 hours of daily sleep
- Pour a perfect quarter-pint of Guinness
In today's guest slot, Jon performs a little verse about the history of Countdown using the voice of Terry Wogan.
Round 7: T G K V I E O P R
C1: GOITRE (6)
C2: pivoter
DC: OVERTIP (7) VERTIGO (7)
Score: 55–24 (max 56)
Unlucky from the challenger here. There are lots of agent nouns that make it in, and lots of agent nouns that don't. It's very difficult to draw a line. Zarte has GOITRE. Well, not literally. His neck isn't THAT fat. But with that the potential MAX GAME! is lost.
Round 8: T W H E O N E D P
C1: PENTODE (7)
C2: PHONED (6)
OT: POTHEEN (7)
Score: 62–24 (max 63)
Boom. He looks about as confident about declaring PENTODE as Paris Hilton would look performing a lecture on quantum mechanics at Harvard, but it's in the dictionary - a device with five electrodes.
Round 9: 100, 25, 9, 2, 5, 1. Target: 880.
C1: 880. 100 × 9 − 25 + 5 (10)
C2: 883.
Score: 72–24 (max 73)
Good numbers once again from The S ... I mean, Farty Zarte. It's more straightforward than at first glance, so it comes as a little bit of a surprise that Brenda can't pull it out of the bag here.
Teatime teaser: BIGGATES -> BAGGIEST
Round 10: R S G A O A M S I
C1: ORGASMS (7)
C2: IMAGOS (6)
OT: MARGOSAS (8)
Score: 79–24 (max 81)
Zarte gets a few hearty laughs from the audience and presenters alike with his declaration of orgasms, to which Nick wittily retorts "ah so more than one, then?" prompting even more laughter. So Zarte's solid seven (ooh err) extends his lead but there is a quality eight there, MARGOSAS. It's a tree.
Round 11: J R L H A O A E Q
C1: AREOLA (6)
C2: ALOHA (5)
Score: 85–24 (max 87)
Ha, after the last round ending in ORGASMS, Zarte picks up another cheeky word - AREOLA is any darkened area of skin but normally means your nipple.
Origins of Words sees Susie talk about symposium - a word originally meaning a drinking table or gathering of people to drink. She also refers to words like company, or companion, which comes from 'shared bread', and mate/meat which have a shared origin.
Round 12: S N T A U I C P A
C1: CAPTAINS (8)
C2: CAPTAINS (8)
Score: 93–32 (max 95)
Yep. Really good unique max from both of the contestants. (Edit: keen experts might have noticed that an O at the end would have given a 9 - but it's not to be here, unfortunately).
Round 13: N S T H E I O N T
C1: hottens
C2: INTONES (7)
DC: THINNEST (8)
OT: TINSTONE (8) TONTINES (8)
Score: 93–39 (max 103)
It's a trap that a lot of contestants have fallen into in the past, and unfortunately Zarte also grabs at the poisoned chalice here as HOTTENS^ is probably one of the most commonly declared invalid words. Considering other words in a similar situation (i.e. not truly words, as such, but (mis)used so commonly by the general public that they have crept into the dictionary, remember MINISCULE from the start of Series 68?) then it's actually pretty unlucky that HOTTENS^ isn't in (yet?)
Round 14: 100, 1, 6, 3, 9, 4. Target: 777.
C1: 777. (100 − 4) × (9 − 1) + 6 + 3 (10)
C2: 780.
Score: 103–39 (max 113)
This one is surprisingly tricky without a 7! Awesome stuff from the champ.
Round 15: C I T R U S H O P
C2 buzzes on 21 seconds to say COURTSHIP which is correct.
That's a familiar-looking conundrum! Sure we've seen that somewhere else before. Although obviously Zarte won't have seen that broadcast at the time when he filmed for the show. Which is unfortunate really. Good spot from the challenger to reduce the deficit somewhat. But it's still a convincing win for Zante/The Siempre/Farty Zarte/whatever you like
Edit: Join James on Monday who will be doing the recap instead of Graeme who is going in for a colonic irrigation
Final Score: 103–49 (max 123)
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=69
Whether it's a pint or a quarter-pint it would still take 2 minutes to settle.