Wednesday 22nd June 2011 (Series 65, Prelim 13)

[James Robinson]

Welcome to the Wednesday Robinson Recap, and with the light now starting to fade, we'll soon be heading off in the dark, but don't worry, I'll be the shining light to guide you through these recaps.

Enjoy.

Countdown recap for Wednesday 22 June 2011.

C1: Champion Matt Croy (3 wins, 282 points.) An Apterite from Oldham, Greater Manchester. He works as a police officer patrolling the Tameside area of Manchester.
C2: Challenger Chris Hemingway. From Walton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire. He's a senior team member in a bingo hall, although when he does his calls, he strictly DOESN'T do all the popular calls such as legs 11, etc. Amongst his previous jobs was being an assistant professional golfer when he was 19, and was even professional for 6 years.
DC: Susie Dent and Tim Vine.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: D M E B O A R I T
R02: O N C E O G N A S
R03: Y T E P I A F O G
R04: P R U H R I A G U
R05: 50, 1, 4, 6, 8, 9. Target: 228.
TTT: OPTINGIN - "Aiming the finger towards the brickwork, perhaps?"
R06: D M I S L U I Z E
R07: D V U E T A S I N
R08: H S U O R F N A O
R09: P C E M E U T R T
R10: 50, 6, 7, 6, 3, 5. Target: 133.
TTT: DASHESIN - "Dashes into the pub, but doesn't drink the strong stuff"
R11: L X I D E N O D E
R12: L T R I A E S G N
R13: D S I A R O T A E
R14: 2, 3, 7, 4, 9, 5. Target: 948.
R15: H E A R S D I N G (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: D M E B O A R I T

C1: MEDIATOR (8)
C2: ADMIRE (6)
DC: ORBITED (7)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)

An impressive darrenic start by Matt, which Chris can only ADMIRE.......

Round 2: O N C E O G N A S

C1: CANOES (6)
C2: CANES (5)
DC: NONAGE (6) NONAGES (7)
OT: ANCONES (7) NEOCONS (7)
Score: 14–0 (max 15)

Chris is probably thinking "O, bother", as Matt sticks the O in CANES to paddle further ahead.

An ANCON is an elbow, or a bracket or a console in architecture.
A NEOCON is short for neoconservative.

Round 3: Y T E P I A F O G

C1: POTAGE (6)
C2: OPIATE (6)
DC: TEAPOY (6) GAIETY (6)
Score: 20–6 (max 21)

All 6's present and accounted for.

Round 4: P R U H R I A G U

C1: GRAPH (5)
C2: PAIR (4)
DC: ghriurp RUPIAH (6)
Score: 25–6 (max 27)

A very sticky rounf this, but DC go darrenic as Tim tries to find a 7 lurking in the dictionary.

Round 5: 50, 1, 4, 6, 8, 9. Target: 228.

C1: 228. ((50 + 9) x 4) - 8 (10)
C2: 228. (50 + 6 + 1) x 4 (10)
Score: 35–16 (max 37)

A nice easy numbers game, seemingly a rarity this week.....

Tim explodes into action with his fantastic impressions of amongst other things, an instant facelift, the Bee Gees, and a police radio.

Teatime teaser: OPTINGIN -> POINTING

Round 6: D M I S L U I Z E

C1: SMILED (6)
C2: SLIMED (6)
DC: MIDSIZE (7)
OT: MILIEUS (7)
Score: 41–22 (max 44)

DC's MIDSIZE offering gets them 7, while the contestants stick with 6's.

A MILIEU is the surroundings, especially of a social or cultural nature.

Round 7: D V U E T A S I N

C1: DATIVES (7)
C2: STAINED (7)
DC: DETAINS (7) DEVIANTS (8)
Score: 48–29 (max 52)

Another darren for DC. Clearly on very good form today.

Round 8: H S U O R F N A O

C1: HONOURS (7)
C2: HONOURS (7)
DC: SUNROOF (7) UNROOFS (7)
Score: 55–36 (max 59)

Another clean sweep all round.

Round 9: P C E M E U T R T

C1: TRUMPET (7)
C2: CRUMPET (7)
DC: MUTE (4) PERMUTE (7)
OT: CURETTE (7) TEMPTER (7)
Score: 62–43 (max 66)

The rhyming 7's are found. The standard today is exceptional. Chris must certainly be worried about his start now.

Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "heart", and the controversial attempt by the OED to include "heart" or ♥ as a verb.

Round 10: 50, 6, 7, 6, 3, 5. Target: 133.

C1: 133. (50 x 3) - (6 + 6 + 5) (10)
C2: 133. (50 x 3) - (6 + 6 + 5) (10)
Score: 72–53 (max 76)

Another easy numbers game means that the gap has stayed at 19 points for 6 rounds running.

Teatime teaser: DASHESIN -> SHANDIES

Round 11: L X I D E N O D E

C1: INDEXED (7)
C2: dioxene
Score: 79–53 (max 83)

Ouchy, Chris was clearly watching yesterday's game too closely and tried to hope that DIOXANE might also have another variant. Very bad luck, but Matt spots the darren again and is still looking very impressive.

Round 12: L T R I A E S G N

C1: STEALING (8)
C2: STARLING (8)
DC: GNARLIEST (18) TRIANGLES (18) INTEGRALS (18)
Score: 87–61 (max 101)

SCRAP THAT LAST STATEMENT

Anyone who misses those 3 9's are clearly not THAT intelligent.

Round 13: D S I A R O T A E

C1: ASTEROID (8)
C2: ASTEROID (8)
DC: ROADIES (7)
OT: RADIATES (8)
Score: 95–69 (max 109)

Matt "sort of" recycles another word that he used earlier this week, and wraps up the game in the process.

Round 14: 2, 3, 7, 4, 9, 5. Target: 948.

C1: 940.
C2: 949. (9 x 7 x 5 x 3) + 4 (7)
RR: 948. ((2 x 5 x 7) + 9) x 3 x 4 (10)
Score: 95–76 (max 119)

Cheeky Chris goes for a 6 small to finish with, and gets to within 1, while Rachel, like her gorgeous pink dress, sparkles on the route to success.

Round 15: H E A R S D I N G

C1 buzzes on 2.5 seconds to say SHREADING which is, as the revolving board says, INCORRECT.

Yes, you heard right, Jeff actually said, "Let's take a look......", and the bottom board revealed the word, INCORRECT

C2 buzzes on 27 seconds to say GARNISHED which is correct.
Final Score: 95–86 (max 129)

Well, after that surprising finish, this game has just about had everything

Another impressive performance by Matt, but Chris will be ruing his nervous start, which has cost him this match.

But, Matt is now a half-octochamp, and just 4 games away from the magic 8 mark. Can he do it

Join me tomorrow to see if he can get one step closer......

Till then, bye bye.

Statistics Corner

Matt:
Total score - 95
Raw score - 102
Total % of max - 74
Raw % of max - 79
Total average score per round - 6.3
Raw average score per round - 6.8
Number of maxes - 8

Chris:
Total score - 86
Raw score - 101
Total % of max - 67
Raw % of max - 78
Total average score per round - 5.7
Raw average score per round - 6.7
Number of maxes - 7

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=65

[Peter Mabey]

R11: there is actually a chemical called DIOXENE* - an unsaturated DIOXANE, but it'll only be mentioned in specialist chemical literature, so I'm not surprised it's not in the NODE

[James Robinson]

R11: there is actually a chemical called DIOXENE* - an unsaturated DIOXANE, but it'll only be mentioned in specialist chemical literature, so I'm not surprised it's not in the NODE

A bit behind the times, Peter. That's 3 dictionaries ago. It's the ODE3 nowadays.

[Peter Mabey]

Whatever - I actually rely on Lexplorer for checking. (On my pension, I can't really afford each new edition of every dictionary )

[JimBentley]

Round 12: L T R I A E S G N

C1: STEALING (8)
C2: STARLING (8)
DC: GNARLIEST (18) TRIANGLES (18) INTEGRALS (18)
Score: 87–61 (max 101)

SCRAP THAT LAST STATEMENT

Anyone who misses those 3 9's are clearly not THAT intelligent.

Bit harsh, James!

[Ryan Taylor]

I've notice Robbo's becoming more and more brutal in his old age.

[Clive Brooker]

Anyone who misses those 3 9's are clearly not THAT intelligent.

I missed all three nines.

[Thomas Carey]

James has a point there. Even I got all 3, and I'm crap.

[Steve Balog]

I'm pretty bad at letters but I would've seen TRIANGLES. But ONLY because of the particular order of the scramble -- if the letters came out in a different order I'd probably have missed all the 9s there (or perhaps caught a different one).

And there's a pretty decent chance I see ALTERING close to immediately and go for alterings^ in a lot of scrambles.

[Gavin Chipper]

Anyone who uses ability to spot nines as a measure of intelligence is clearly not THAT intelligent.