Tuesday 19th July 2011 (Series 65, Prelim 32)

[Liam Tiernan]

Countdown recap for Tuesday 19 July 2011.

C1: Champion Mark Deeks (5 wins, 500 points.)
C2: Challenger Linda Muchmore.
DC: Susie Dent and Mark Durden-Smith.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: N T I E R M A R N
R02: N P O M I R A T I
R03: B E P V I E L A L
R04: T N Q O A E S T O
R05: 75, 25, 50, 100, 1, 2, . Target: 625.
TTT: SCHUBERT - "No classical music here, but strings and hooks."
R06: T R E U L T G O E
R07: S O K W E C S I G
R08: R F B T O E O F A
R09: M S D I U A T E I
R10: 25, 5, 10, 1, 6, 3. Target: 899.
TTT: IMAGINER - "I can't have my oats, I've got a headache."
R11: U H D T A O D E S
R12: G D D E A U M W A
R13: R E N V I A S L Y
R14: 25, 6, 10, 7, 6, 3. Target: 940.
R15: D O E A C H N U T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Champion Mark Deeks is back for his sixth appearance, averaging 100 points a game. Besides being a big basketball fan, Mark is also a film buff, especially war films, thrillers or anything involving men in suits walking around swearing. Probably a Tarantino fan then, but his favourite film is "Full Metal Jacket"

Challenger Linda Muchmore is originally from New Zealand but now lives in Exeter. She travels back to New Zealand regularly, despite her fear of flying. Her ambition is to drive from Cairo to Cape Town in a 2CV (the upside-down pram much loved by hippy environmentalists for years because of its low fuel consumption, which ironically turned out to be one of the most polluting cars for its size of all time).

Jeffs' opens with a gag comparing Vanessa Feltz to a whale, for which he then tries to pin the blame on Rachel (probably correctly, judging by her reaction).

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: N T I E R M A R N

C1: MARINER (7)
C2: ENTRAIN (7)
DC: MARINE (6) REMNANT (7) RAIMENT (7)
OT: INERRANT (8) TRAINMEN (8)
Score: 7–7 (max 8)

Both contestants today start their journeys with solid 7's, Mark by sea and Linda by land, while everybody misses the two 8's available.

Round 2: N P O M I R A T I

C1: TIMPANI (7)
C2: partion
DC: IMPRINT (7)
OT: MAINTOP (7) RAMPION (7) TAMPION (7)
Score: 14–7 (max 15)

Mark rolls out TIMPANI to take an early lead.
A TAMPION is plug or cover for the muzzle of a cannon or gun. RAMPION is a flower. TIMPANI is the correct name for kettledrums. A MAINTOP on a sailing ship is not, as I thought, a sail, but the platform at the top of the mainmast.

Round 3: B E P V I E L A L

C1: LIABLE (6)
C2: VEIL (4)
DC: LIVEABLE (8)
OT: LEVIABLE (8)
Score: 20–7 (max 23)

Mark sticks with his reLIABLE 6 as LInda only declares 4. I'm guessing that he had PLIABLE. DC find one of the two 8's available.

Round 4: T N Q O A E S T O

C1: NOTATES (7)
C2: ATONES (6)
OT: TOSTONE (7)
Score: 27–7 (max 30)

Mark makes his mark again with this spot, much to Lindas sorrow.
To NOTATE means to mark with spots or lines, as in sheet music. TOSTONES are a Latin American dish, fried plantains (similar to bananas).

Round 5: 75, 25, 50, 100, 1, 2. Target: 625.

C1: 625. (50/2)*25 (10)
C2: -
Score: 37–7 (max 40)

Shocking miss from Linda here, to be honest.

In the guest spot, the other Mark tells about the time he conducted a 3-minute live interview with the wrong person, much to his embarrassment.

Teatime teaser: SCHUBERT -> BUTCHERS
Clue: "No classical music here, but strings and hooks." Nice scramble here.

Round 6: T R E U L T G O E

C1: GUTTER (6)
C2: GUTTER (6)
DC: ROULETTE (8)
Score: 43–13 (max 48)

Both players collect the points here, while DC spot a winner.

Round 7: S O K W E C S I G

C1: SICKOS (6)
C2: cowies
DC: sockies
OT: COSIES (6) COSSIE (6) GECKOS (6)
Score: 49–13 (max 54)

Mark doesn't deviate from his own winning ways here, with Linda again offering an invalid word. Susie makes it a pair of invalid words with sockies^.

Round 8: R F B T O E O F A

C1: OFFBEAT (7)
C2: FOOTER (6)
DC: BAREFOOT (8)
Score: 56–13 (max 62)

Mark continues to beat off the opposition , kicking Linda further out of touch. Susies sockies are off again, but this time she's got it right.


Round 9: M S D I U A T E I

C1: AUTISM (6)
C2: ADMITS (6)
DC: MISDATE (7) STADIUM (7)
Score: 62–19 (max 69)

Linda isn't ready to admit defeat just yet though.

In Origin of Words Susie points out that updating the OED is not just about adding new words, but also new meanings and usages for older words, even words as simple as as.

Round 10: 25, 5, 10, 1, 6, 3. Target: 899.

C1: 899. (((10*3)+6)*25)-1 (10)
C2: 899. (((10*3)+6)*25)-1 (10)
Score: 72–29 (max 79)

Another easy numbers game, even Linda can't miss this one. (I did, though ). Next time I won't be so quick to criticise.

Teatime teaser: IMAGINER -> MIGRAINE
Clue: "I can't have my oats, I've got a headache."

Round 11: U H D T A O D E S

C1: DEATHS (6)
C2: SHOUTED (7)
OT: SOUTHED (7)
Score: 72–36 (max 86)

Mark fails to kill the game off here, but Linda's still a long way from roaring back into contention.

Round 12: G D D E A U M W A

C1: DAMAGED (7)
C2: wadge
Score: 79–36 (max 93)

Lindas' third invalid word leaves her challenge damaged beyond repair.

Round 13: R E N V I A S L Y

C1: RAVINES (7)
C2: SLAVERY (7)
DC: NAIVELY (7) RAVELINS (8)
OT: VIRELAYS (8)
Score: 86–43 (max 101)

It's anything but a narrow victory for Mark, as his score is exactly twice Lindas.
A RAVELIN is a small outwork used to protect the inner defenses of a fortification.VIRELAYS are a chiefly French verse form having stanzas of indeterminate length and number, alternating long and short lines.
If Mark had gone for a fourth vowel, btw, instead of a consonant on the last letter, four of the five would have yielded nines.

Round 14: 25, 6, 10, 7, 6, 3. Target: 940.

C1: 940. (25*6*6)+((7-3)*10) (10)
C2: 937.
Score: 96–43 (max 111)

No comment.

Round 15: D O E A C H N U T

No one buzzes. The answer was HEADCOUNT.

After the audience also draws a blank, it's left to Rachel, appropriately enough (although Mark had his hand up too), to give the correct answer.
Jeff closes the show by asking guest Mark about the time on "I'm A Celebrity..." when he had to eat bull testicles, which are, according to him, chewy (yecch) and spherical (obviously). Not hard to swallow, that. Jeff asks Rachel out to dinner so they can have a ball (or two) .

Final Score: 96–43 (max 121)


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

[Graeme Cole]

Mark sticks with his reLIABLE 6 as LInda only declares 4. I'm guessing that he had pliable^, which I thought was valid, but seemingly not, so well left if so. DC find one of the two 8's available.

Nope, PLIABLE is in.

[Thomas Carey]

Can we have the round 10 selection please?

[Liam Tiernan]

Mark sticks with his reLIABLE 6 as LInda only declares 4. I'm guessing that he had pliable^, which I thought was valid, but seemingly not, so well left if so. DC find one of the two 8's available.

Nope, PLIABLE is in.

Yep, that's what I thought. Figured out what I did wrong though. When I copied the word into Lexplorer to double-check, I also copied a full stop.

[Mark Deeks]

I did have PLIABLE, but I didn't go for it in the end. Partly because the camera-induced paranoia convinced me that it had a Y in it, and because I didn't have to because Linda only had 4. They did edit out the bit where we discussed whether PLIABLE was acceptable.

When Rachel first put BAREFOOT in the board, she put it in as BEARFOOT. There was a break in the filming while we all laughed at her.

My favourite film is actually Ingourious Basterds, but you can't say that on Channel 4.

Didn't see SHOUTED, somehow.

I asked Jeff in the make-up room after the show whether that joke meant that Feltz would never again appear in DC. He said "not while I'm around," and that the consensus amongst the crew was that it was OK to make fun of her since no one liked her.

[Gavin Chipper]

When Rachel first put BAREFOOT in the board, she put it in as BEARFOOT. There was a break in the filming while we all laughed at her.

Did it end up on the board (correctly) on the show? I didn't notice a shot of it.

[Mark Deeks]

They didn't show either version in the end.

[Gavin Chipper]

That's rideekulous.

[Mark Deeks]

The stupid face I pulled in shot while Linda was being introduced was due to the fact that a wire underneath the desk had come loose and had placed itself lovingly across my crotch. While Linda was talking, I was trying to steathily yet aggressively reattach it with the remnants of its less-than-effective electrical tape cradle. I was not, as it may have initially appeared, just being a dick.

[Matt Morrison]

I asked Jeff in the make-up room after the show whether that joke meant that Feltz would never again appear in DC. He said "not while I'm around," and that the consensus amongst the crew was that it was OK to make fun of her since no one liked her.

Makes sense, but I'm still surprised Jeff gets away with slash chooses to use these kind of jokes from time-to-time. It comes across a bit awkward when Countdown tries to get edgy, and taking the piss out of fat people doesn't seem like it would sit well with half the supposed audience.

[Gavin Chipper]

I obviously wasn't listening. What was the joke - something about her being a whale? Was that immediately before he said that Rachel had penned the joke? Yeah, I wasn't listening at that point.

[Mike Brown]

Rather more dully than the other posts, re Round 13: can I just point out that INLAYER(S) is no longer valid?