Welcome to today’s Countdown recap, brought to you by Joseph Krol. As the royal wedding draws nearer, I remain in a state of complete unbotheredness. Anyway let’s get on with the show.
C1: Champion Adrian Turner (1 win, 73 points.) An accountant from London. His most memorable moment was gorilla-watching in Rwanda. However anagrams suggest that DURR, he’s A TRANNIE. However, his shows will have a RADIANT RERUN, so everything’s fine.
C2: Challenger Scott Robson. A customer services adviser who hails from Portsmouth but supports Liverpool. His ambition is to be either a football manager or a pundit. His anagrams are BRONCOS TOTS but he also can CONTORT his BOSS.
DC: Susie Dent and Patti Clare.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: N O D E R T D A L
R02: R T I N O A M E C
R03: R O U T F S N E A
R04: V R E G I A M I P
R05: 75, 25, 100, 50, 9, 10. Target: 114.
TTT: QUEENPAT - "Queen Pat was moved to play this game"
R06: S C A R O A B L I
R07: M E W A E D X L M
R08: B V U P O A S G T
R09: R E U N E S Q H R
R10: 75, 6, 2, 7, 9, 4. Target: 731.
TTT: BESTSACK - "Even the best suffer these along the way"
R11: D O P E S U T D S
R12: R T I E Y A N C O
R13: S E D U J S H A G
R14: 25, 3, 10, 5, 7, 4. Target: 154.
R15: W I D E L O R R Y (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature: (Minigame: find the line which is unique.)
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Jeff opens the show by talking about the British film industry and suggests that there should be a movie about Rachel’s life so far. Rachel requests that Gwyneth Paltrow play her, and Charlie Sheen play Jeff.
Round 1: N O D E R T D A L
C1: RODENT (6)
C2: TRODDEN (7)
DC: LEOTARD (7) DONATED (7)
OT: ADORNED (7) DELATOR (7) TALONED (7) TODDLER (7)
Score: 0–7 (max 7)
A flat selection which looks like it would yield something longer only gives points to Scott.
TALONED is an adjective used to describe something with talons.
Round 2: R T I N O A M E C
C1: CANTER (6)
C2: CREMATION (18)
DC: MANTICORE (18)
Score: 0–25 (max 25)
Lovely nine from Scott sees Adrian still pointless, meanwhile DC get a Formulary of Fell.
A MANTICORE is a mythical creature which I gather to be a hodgepodge of loads of big scary things.
Round 3: R O U T F S N E A
C1: FASTEN (6)
C2: FORTUNES (8)
DC: AFTERSUN (8) SEAFRONT (8)
Score: 0–33 (max 33)
Three eights there but Adrian is looking in dire straits at the moment.
AFTERSUN means denoting a product applied to skin after solar exposure.
Round 4: V R E G I A M I P
C1: PAGER (5)
C2: PAGER (5)
DC: VAMPIRE (7) EPIGRAM (7)
OT: VAMPIER (7) VIREMIA (7)
Score: 5–38 (max 40)
Finally some points for Adrian while DC get half of the sevens.
VIREMIA (also VIRAEMIA) is the presence of viruses in the blood.
Round 5: 75, 25, 100, 50, 9, 10. Target: 114.
C1: 115.
C2: 114. 100+9+((75+50)/25) (10)
Score: 5–48 (max 50)
Simple 4 large is missed by Adrian but Scott is getting many piles of points.
Patti talks about Corrie and her on-screen relationship with Rita Sullivan (Barbara Knox).
Teatime teaser: QUEENPAT -> PETANQUE
Round 6: S C A R O A B L I
C1: CAROLS (6)
C2: SCARAB (6)
DC: ISOBAR (6) SOLARIA (7)
OT: ASOCIAL (7) BAILORS (7) BASILAR (7) CABRIOS (7) LORICAS (7) SCRIBAL (7)
Score: 11–54 (max 57)
Many sevens are there, they just needed finding. Six apiece for Adrian and Scott.
BASILAR means residing at the base of something.
Round 7: M E W A E D X L M
C1: WAXED (5)
C2: WAXED (5)
DC: LAMMED (6)
OT: MEWLED (6) WEALED (6)
Score: 16–59 (max 63)
3 odd-ish sixes available. I would have sworn that MEALED was in but anyway the contestants both get WAXED.
Round 8: B V U P O A S G T
C1: BOAST (5)
C2: BOAST (5)
DC: POSTBAG (7)
Score: 21–64 (max 70)
DC go darrenic, however if the V had come out as an R then GASTROPUB would be an available 9.
Round 9: R E U N E S Q H R
C1: QUEENS (6)
C2: QUEENS (6)
DC: RERUNS (6)
OT: ENSURE (6) ENURES (6) NESHER (6) QUEERS (6) QUERNS (6) RUSHER (6)
Score: 27–70 (max 76)
Sixes all round, and our contestants are happy with the same one.
OoW: Susie continues the Italian food theme. Tiramisu (good DoD word) means pick-me-up, macchiato means marked, and cappuccino means Capuchin monk, whose robes looked the colour of a cappuccino apparently.
Round 10: 75, 6, 2, 7, 9, 4. Target: 731.
C1: 732. ((6+4)*75)-(9*2) (7)
C2: 732. ((6+4)*75)-(9*2) (7)
JS: 731. (75*9)+((6+2)*7) (10)
Score: 34–77 (max 86)
Jeff takes the glory as the players are stuck on seven points. The trick here was to go up from 675.
Teatime teaser: BESTSACK -> SETBACKS
Round 11: D O P E S U T D S
C1: SPOUTED (7)
C2: DESPOTS (7)
DC: SPOUTED (7) DESPOTS (7)
OT: PSEUDOS (7)
Score: 41–84 (max 93)
Rachel finds Old Trafford’s team appearing in the first eight letters but seven is the max and two of the available three are snapped up by the contestants.
A PSEUDO is an insincere person.
Round 12: R T I E Y A N C O
C1: CANTER (6)
C2: CREATION (8)
DC: REACTION (8)
OT: ACTIONER (8)
Score: 41–92 (max 101)
Adrian is beaten by one of a trio of eights, and with that his loss is confirmed.
Round 13: S E D U J S H A G
C1: JUDGES (6)
C2: GASHED (6)
DC: SHADES (6) GUSHED (6) GASHED (6)
OT: DEGAUSS (7) JUDASES (7)
Score: 47–98 (max 108)
Two sevens available but they go unfound in the studio, I think some forumites found them so congrats.
To DEGAUSS is to remove magnetism from a monitor or TV to enable correct display.
Round 14: 25, 3, 10, 5, 7, 4. Target: 154.
C1: 154. (((10-7)+3)*25)+4 (10)
C2: 153.
Score: 57–98 (max 118)
A not-too-hard numbers game passes Scott by and now he needs the conundrum to have a debut century.
Round 15: W I D E L O R R Y
C2 buzzes on 7 seconds to say WORRIEDLY which is correct.
Final Score: 57–108 (max 128)
And yes, he gets it and has a very impressive opening game. Come back tomorrow when James will update you about the latest developments as the finals become ever closer.
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=64
