Tuesday 8 January 1991 (CoC V Grand Final)

[Mike Brown]

Countdown recap for Tuesday 8 January 1991 (CoC V Grand Final)

C1: Champion Gino Corr (8 wins, 428 points.)
C2: Champion Tim Morrissey (11 wins, 1 draw, 706 points.)
DC: Catherine Clarke and Dinah Sheridan.
CV: Carol Vorderman.
OT: Other words or solutions.

Another Champion of Champions final, the fourth, according to Richard Whiteley in his introduction: another fine example of why we loved him as the presenter of Countdown. Jeff already tells the bad jokes; we just need him to be a bit more inaccurate! The combatants this time around were: Series 19 runner-up Gino Corr, a Scot with a big personality and famous for having seen almost every edition of the programme, and Dublin prodigy Tim Morrissey, who was still only 14 when this game was played, having been only twelve when he first appeared on the show in 1989 on his way to becoming the number one seed of Series 17. Despite the fact that Tim was knocked out in the semis of his series, he returned for a one-off special against another Countdown wunderkind Allan Saldanha (billed as the ‘1000th programme), which he lost by only a single point, so a victory for finalist Gino was a far cry from being an odds-on bet. Like CoC VI, the dictionary in use for this show was still the trusty COD8, so grab it once more and let’s see what happened!

R01: B G G K I A E D N
R02: R M E I A D S I S
R03: 8, 9, 5, 5, 1, 1. Target: 461.
R04: T F R J E U A T S
R05: O S A L N E T O W
R06: 50, 25, 75, 7, 10, 1. Target: 870.
R07: C A G Y W A L L S (conundrum)
R08: N P D I E O A P N
R09: E A B L T I S C S
R10: 50, 100, 75, 25, 2, 4. Target: 409.
R11: R E I T U Y D S R
R12: R G D A E I N W V
R13: 75, 25, 100, 50, 2, 4. Target: 558.
R14: S O M E F A I N T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Tim is wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan “I get enough exercise, just pushing my luck”, of which more later.

Round 1: B G G K I A E D N

C1: BEADING (7)
C2: badging
DC: KEDGING (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)

KEDGING means moving a ship; BADGING is OK now, but it wasn’t back in the day.

Round 2: R M E I A D S I S

C1: MISREADS (8)
C2: MISREADS (8)
DC: MISREADS (8)
OT: DIARISES (8)
Score: 15–8 (max 15)

SIDEARMS was hyphenated back then and AIRSIDES was just too plain modern.

Round 3: 8, 9, 5, 5, 1, 1. Target: 461.

C1: 462. ((9x8)+5)x(5+1) (7)
C2: 468.
CV: 461. (((9x8)+5)x(5+1))-1 (10)
Score: 22–8 (max 25)

Carol points out the extra ‘1’ to Gino and he declares himself a “silly billy”.

Round 4: T F R J E U A T S

C1: jutters
C2: STATURE (7)
OT: ASTUTER (7)
Score: 22–15 (max 32)

As he often used to do, Richard starts the round with that immortal catchphrase “that’s the line-up; 30 seconds, that will be the time up”. Priceless.

Round 5: O S A L N E T O W

C1: TOWELS (6)
C2: TALONS (6)
DC: ETALONS (7)
OT: WOOLENS (7)
Score: 28–21 (max 39)

ETALONS are pretty common on Countdown these days, but they were pretty rare in 1991. WOOLENS were allowed at the time because US spellings were not verboten.

Round 6: 50, 25, 75, 7, 10, 1. Target: 870.

C1: 875.
C2: 868. ((10+1)x75)+50-7 (7)
CV: 870. (((50/25)x(7-1))+75)x10 (10)
Score: 28–28 (max 49)

Round 7: C A G Y W A L L S

C2 buzzes on 1 second to say SCALLYWAG which is correct.
Score: 28–38 (max 59)

Richard reckons there are eight rounds to go; he must have been psychically predicting the advent of 15-round games in 2001.

Round 8: N P D I E O A P N

C1: OPINED (6)
C2: PINNED (6)
OT: APPEND (6) NAPPED (6) NIPPED (6) PAINED (6) PANNED (6) PINNAE (6)
Score: 34–44 (max 65)

Round 9: E A B L T I S C S

C1: CABLES (6)
C2: ELASTICS (8)
OT: ASTILBES (8) SCALIEST (8) STABILES (8)
Score: 34–52 (max 73)

Round 10: 50, 100, 75, 25, 2, 4. Target: 409.

C1: 409. ((100+2)x4)+((75-25)/50) (10)
C2: 409. ((100+2)x4)+((75-25)/50) (10)
Score: 44–62 (max 83)

Round 11: R E I T U Y D S R

C1: STUDY (5)
C2: STURDIER (8)
DC: STURDIER (8)
Score: 44–70 (max 91)

Round 12: R G D A E I N W V

C1: WAVERING (8)
C2: WAVERING (8)
DC: WAVERING (8)
Score: 52–78 (max 99)

Round 13: 75, 25, 100, 50, 2, 4. Target: 558.

C1: 558. ((100+25+2)x4)+50 (10)
C2: 550.
Score: 62–78 (max 109)

Richard encourages Tim to select four large like Gino, so he does, and, as Carol points out, he ends up with the same six numbers to play with, although thankfully the target figure is different.

Round 14: S O M E F A I N T

No one buzzes. The answer was MANIFESTO.
Score: 62–78 (max 119)

After the conclusion of proceedings, Richard asks Tim to explain the meaning of the slogan on his shirt (“as long as it isn’t political”) and he then persuades him to put his broken ankle (which is in plaster) up on the desk, accompanied by the encouraging words “let’s go mad”. Apparently, Tim had injured himself while playing rugby. Turning to Gino, Richard points out Gino has only ever missed five editions of Countdown, to which the Scot helpfully responds that the figure is “now seven, unfortunately”. Richard also says that Gino will be appearing on companion show Countdown Masters in a week or two’s time. Tim is presented with his engraved glass bowl, while Gino asks whether his slightly smaller bowl can be “filled with something for me”, to which RW replies “we might get round to that”. No doubt another legendary evening in the YTV bar ensued!

And so it was that Tim Morrissey became the first C of C winner not to have an N in his name. Join me again soon for some more RRT (Recap Replacement Therapy). And b****r me, it’s snowing again...

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=-8

[Johnny Canuck]

And so it was that Tim Morrissey became the first C of C winner not to have an N in his name.

Pop quiz: Who was the first one not to have an R in their name?

[Gavin Chipper]

And so it was that Tim Morrissey became the first C of C winner not to have an N in his name.

Pop quiz: Who was the first one not to have an R in their name?

Paul Gallen?

Also, Mike, was there any mention of seedings for the earlier CofCs? I'm convinced they were seeded. http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=438

[Mike Brown]

Also, Mike, was there any mention of seedings for the earlier CofCs? I'm convinced they were seeded. http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=438

Just gone through them all and the first six C of C's were definitely seeded. From a first glance it looks like most were based on total points, although at least one appears to be based on something slightly different (average score?). Since then, none have been seeded, as far as I can ascertain, although of note are C of C VII, where a random number generator was used to determine the quarter-final and semi-final pairings, and C of C X, where the two unbeaten players had byes in the 'quarter-finals', due to it being a six-game competition.

[Gavin Chipper]

Also, Mike, was there any mention of seedings for the earlier CofCs? I'm convinced they were seeded. http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=438

Just gone through them all and the first six C of C's were definitely seeded. From a first glance it looks like most were based on total points, although at least one appears to be based on something slightly different (average score?). Since then, none have been seeded, as far as I can ascertain, although of note are C of C VII, where a random number generator was used to determine the quarter-final and semi-final pairings, and C of C X, where the two unbeaten players had byes in the 'quarter-finals', due to it being a six-game competition.

Have you got the seed listings to see if they match my guesses?

[Mike Brown]

Have you got the seed listings to see if they match my guesses?

Will have a bash at this at the weekend for you.

[Gavin Chipper]

Have you got the seed listings to see if they match my guesses?

Will have a bash at this at the weekend for you.

Cheers. I can't really work out CofC I.