I have the pleasure of recapping the only show of this week. Go me. It is a special because it is the first all female contest of series 65. I think. Even though it's not part of the series. So who are the two buxom babes? Well...
C1: Challenger Claudia Tyson. 6 Wins, 2 Losses, 620 Points
C2: Challenger Debbi Flack. 6 Wins, 3 Losses, 747 Points
DC: Susie Dent and Penny Smith.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: R C P O S I U N A
R02: T X E I H W D O N
R03: D S E J S O I T G
R04: Y L P A O U T Z D
R05: 75, 3, 10, 4, 6, 8. Target: 770.
TTT: BUTINGOD - "But in God, Thomas may have lost faith"
R06: M T E I G H A S P
R07: D E S R N U E L O
R08: C E I E M R W O L
R09: V R M E U N Q E A
R10: 100, 5, 4, 10, 3, 7. Target: 725.
TTT: ANGERING - "You're not just angering them, you're sending them ballistic"
R11: N S D T I E U F A
R12: T M G E I R B U S
R13: N L I E N S A R E
R14: 75, 100, 7, 4, 10, 8. Target: 316.
R15: B U R S T W A R T (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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So Claudia Tyson was on like a year ago and she managed to get to the finals stage but didn't win. Along the way though she did beat one person who obviously wasn't very happy about it but has chosen to speak only now of his bitterness:
And this is why I love OpenBook.
Debbi Flack was on almost 3 years ago now and she too made the finals. However she was unfortunate to be knocked out in the quarter final as only a last ditch numbers solve from the little shit Kai Laddiman thwarted her route to the semis.
Enjoy the show.
Round 1: R C P O S I U N A
C1: PROSAIC (7)
C2: PRISON (6)
DC: CARIOUS (7)
OT: CURIOSA (7) PARISON (7) PICAROS (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)
A cute spot by Claudia means that she opens a lead on her female rival already. Sadly PARSONIC is not a word so I don't know what you were thinking.
Round 2: T X E I H W D O N
C1: HINTED (6)
C2: WHITEN (6)
DC: TWINED (6)
OT: HONIED (6) OXHIDE (6) TOWNIE (6) WHINED (6) WHITED (6) WONTED (6)
Score: 13–6 (max 13)
This is just about the flattest thing we will see all day.
Round 3: D S E J S O I T G
C1: STODGE (6)
C2: JOISTED (7)
DC: STOGIES (7)
OT: DIGESTS (7) EGOISTS (7)
Score: 13–13 (max 20)
Debbi wasn't convinced of her 7 but it's perfectly fine to tie the match.
Round 4: Y L P A O U T Z D
C1: playout
C2: outlap
DC: OUTPLAY (7)
Score: 13–13 (max 27)
Claudia has a blonde moment as she seems to think that PLAYOUT^ is more likely than OUTPLAY. Sadly I think she realised when she said it and Susie just delivered the sucker punch.
Round 5: 75, 3, 10, 4, 6, 8. Target: 770.
C1: 770. (75+6-4)*10 (10)
C2: 770. (8-6+75)*10 (10)
Score: 23–23 (max 37)
Rachel get's all girly and excited at a special first numbers round and seems to skip when putting up the numbers. Very hormonal today.
DC Guest Time: Penny Smith talks about some novels she has written.
Teatime teaser: BUTINGOD -> DOUBTING
Round 6: M T E I G H A S P
C1: PASTIME (7)
C2: ATHEISM (7)
DC: stig MAGPIES (7)
OT: MATESHIP (8) SHIPMATE (8)
Score: 30–30 (max 45)
Penny Smith seems to say Stig or something which isn't a word. Just a fictional character who is the king of dumps and a TV guy who some say his first name really is "The".
Round 7: D E S R N U E L O
C1: ROUNDELS (8)
C2: ROUNDELS (8)
JS: SLENDER (7)
OT: ENSOULED (8) UNSOLDER (8) URODELES (8)
Score: 38–38 (max 53)
The only set of balls on the show today spotted SLENDER but Claudia and Debbi max out with big 8's.
Round 8: C E I E M R W O L
C1: RECOIL (6)
C2: LOWER (5)
DC: wormie COMELIER (8)
OT: WELCOMER (8)
Score: 44–38 (max 61)
Claudia spots RECOIL well after the time and it ends up beating Debbi. Penny Smith goes all silly again by thinking she can have "wormie" and then Susie goes even sillier by saying that she had the pen cam on a similar word. So naturally, thinking she had it on EELWORM (the whole worm link) she fools everybody by actually having it on COMELIER. COMELIER is an incestuous sport (a bit like milking a cow) involving Cordelia, Goneril, Regan and their father. I heard Goneril usually wins and is rewarded with gonorrhea.
On reflection...WTF am I talking about?
Round 9: V R M E U N Q E A
C1: MEANER (6)
C2: MARQUEE (7)
Score: 44–45 (max 68)
Yey Debbi darrens a round and in doing so takes the lead for the first time. Although she thought her spelling was shaky.
Susie: Apparently the two most asked questions to the OED people are "What rhymes with orange?" - SPORANGE and "Which words contain the 5 vowels in alphabetical order?" - (most commonly) FACETIOUS and ABSTEMIOUS. I always find things like this hard to believe because who the fuck is still writing in letters or phoning these people up to find things like this out. It's the 21st century FCOL.
Round 10: 100, 5, 4, 10, 3, 7. Target: 725.
C1: 725. (100+3)*7+4 (10)
C2: 725. 100*7+10*3-5 (10)
Score: 54–55 (max 78)
Easy numbers. Rachel has calmed down a bit by now.
Teatime teaser: ANGERING -> ENRAGING
Round 11: N S D T I E U F A
C1: DEFIANT (7)
C2: AUNTIES (7)
DC: FAINTED (7)
OT: DESTAIN (7) DETAINS (7) FEUDIST (7) FUNDIES (7) FUSTIAN (7) INFUSED (7) INSTEAD (7) SAINTED (7) SATINED (7) SINUATE (7) SNAFUED (7) STAINED (7) TIENDAS (7)
Score: 61–62 (max 85)
A very fruity selection indeed.
Round 12: T M G E I R B U S
C1: GUTSIER (7)
C2: IMBUES (6)
DC: BUSTIER (7)
OT: RESUBMIT (8)
Score: 68–62 (max 93)
A tricky max to spot here, even though I remember thinking "ooo SUBMITTER in Touch" without seeing the darren. DC chip in with the very appropriate 7 whilst I feel the need to point out that Debbi could have slipped in the R for IMBRUES. That's the only flack I'll give her. BOOM!
Round 13: N L I E N S A R E
C1: REALISE (7)
C2: REALISE (7)
DC: ENSNARE (7) NAILERS (7)
OT: ANSERINE (8)
Score: 75–69 (max 101)
Another solitary 8 max in a row but you can't blame anybody for not spotting this devil. ANSERINE resembles a goose. Goose is quite a funny word when you think about it. Goose.
Round 14: 75, 100, 7, 4, 10, 8. Target: 316.
C1: 316. 4*100-75-(10-(8-7)) (10)
C2: 317.
Score: 85–69 (max 111)
A pretty easy numbers game manages to undo Debbi's hard work throughout the game as we now know that Tyson has won this Fight of the Females. Again though, OpenBook allows an insight into how the public found the round and it would seem that not everyone thought this numbers game was that easy:
Round 15: B U R S T W A R T
C2 buzzes on 7 seconds to say BRATWURST which is correct.
Final Score: 85–79 (max 121)
Debbi Flack manages to get the sausage out of her mouth so that she's no longer in the 69 position but Claudia is the victor of this week's solitary Countdown and she can hold her head up high.
A close game between capable Countdowners with some nice spots along the way too.
Right, so this is your only fix of Countdown recaps for this week. You should have rationed it to maybe reading a round a day or something. And it's Glorious Goodwood starting tomorrow all this week but after Rachel's appearance today you may find Goodwood coming early.
Toodle pip!
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=-14
