Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Wednesday 24 August 2011.
C1: Champion Dave Taylor (1 win, 112 points.) From Sunderland, Tyne & Wear. He is a retired transport manager. He has made about 90 blood donations, as he is a loyal blood donor.
C2: Challenger Pat Bourne. From Dublin. He works as a diplomat in the Irish Foreign Service, and has been to many places as part of his job including the Middle East, Australia and most recently, India. He even met Nelson Mandela while doing his job too.
Noticably, Pat has a black box to his left, which we can only assume is a TV screen for him to see the selections.DC: Susie Dent and William Roache.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: N E K T A L I R O
R02: D A S O M Z I E T
R03: Q U B W A I R S E
R04: S A P S O D E L I
R05: 100, 9, 10, 6, 3, 2. Target: 660.
TTT: CLEVERAT - "If you're a clever sausage, you'll get the answer to this"
R06: V E O G H M E U P
R07: D A W F O T U R E
R08: T U N I G C E R B
R09: G O H D U R A E N
R10: 25, 75, 4, 1, 9, 10. Target: 625.
TTT: USEDCARD - "Tom was given help when he campaigned for change"
R11: X O S T I G C E A
R12: R I N J T E F O L
R13: P E R T A E Y N I
R14: 6, 7, 5, 10, 2, 5. Target: 954.
R15: C A T S A U C E R (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: N E K T A L I R O
C1: RELATION (8)
C2: RELATION (8)
DC: ORIENTAL (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)
Hmmm, now where have I seen these letters before
Ah yes, they were the same as round 9 yesterday. 
Round 2: D A S O M Z I E T
C1: ATOMISED (8)
C2: ATOMISED (8)
DC: DIATOMS (7)
OT: ATOMIZED (8) ATOMIZES (8)
Score: 16–16 (max 16)
Hmmm, now where have I seen these letters before
Ah yes, they were the same as round 4 yesterday 
Clearly the letters shuffler person needs to be shot for sub-standard shuffling.
Round 3: Q U B W A I R S E
C1: SQUARE (6)
C2: BRUISE (6)
DC: SQUIRE (6) BRAISE (6)
OT: BARQUES (7)
Score: 22–22 (max 23)
Another even sharing of points in this round, but the darrenic 7 is left alone.
Round 4: S A P S O D E L I
C1: PASSED (6)
C2: SPOILED (7)
DC: DESPOILS (8) episodal
Me: ELASIPODS (18)
Score: 22–29 (max 41)
Pat takes the first lead in today's game, as I surpass DC with a nice 9.
An ELASIPOD is an order of holothurians mostly found in the deep sea. They are remarkable for their bilateral symmetry and curious forms.
Round 5: 100, 9, 10, 6, 3, 2. Target: 660.
C1: 660. (100 + 10) x 6 (10)
C2: 660. (100 + 10) x 6 (10)
Score: 32–39 (max 51)
Another nice and straightforward numbers game this week. That's 7 out of 7 so far......
William talks about more stuff that he did as part of Corrie's 50th Anniversary, including 9 webisodes in Ken & Deirdre's bedroom.
He also gives a plug for the musical, Corrie.Teatime teaser: CLEVERAT -> CERVELAT
Round 6: V E O G H M E U P
C1: MOPE (4)
C2: HUMP (4)
DC: VOGUE (5)
Score: 36–43 (max 56)
Just a darrenic 5 is the best this time, leaving Dave & Pat to MOPE about HUMPs.
Round 7: D A W F O T U R E
C1: readout
C2: OUTWARD (7)
OT: OUTDRAW (7) OUTDREW (7) OUTWEAR (7)
Score: 36–50 (max 63)
Dave's not written down 7 turns out to be not written down in the dictionary. Well, not without a hyphen anyway.....
Round 8: T U N I G C E R B
C1: CURBING (7)
C2: CRINGE (6)
OT: BRUCITE (7) TRIBUNE (7) TRUEING (7) TURBINE (7)
Score: 43–50 (max 70)
But he recovers well with his 7 in this one.
BRUCITE is a mineral, magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)2, occurring in tabular, foliated crystals: used in magnesia refractories.
Round 9: G O H D U R A E N
C1: ROUGHEN (7)
C2: ROUGHED (7)
DC: UNHEARD (7)
OT: AGROUND (7) GROANED (7) GUERDON (7) NURAGHE (7) RONDEAU (7) UNDERGO (7)
Score: 50–57 (max 77)
The first proper pancake round after the summer break.
A NURAGHE is any of the large, tower-shaped, prehistoric stone structures found in Sardinia and dating from the 2nd millennium BC to the Roman Conquest.
A RONDEAU is a short poem of fixed form, consisting of 13 or 10 lines on two rhymes and having the opening words or phrase used in two places as an unrhymed refrain.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about a list of lovers compiled by the Webster's Dictionary in America, which include "ailurophile" (lover of cats), "oenophile" (wine lover) and "tourophile" (lover of cheese).
Round 10: 25, 75, 4, 1, 9, 10. Target: 625.
C1: 625. (75 / (4 - 1)) x 25 (10)
C2: 625. ((9 - 1) x 75) + 25 (10)
Score: 60–67 (max 87)
Not the first time that 25 x 25 has been useful this series........
Teatime teaser: USEDCARD -> CRUSADED
Round 11: X O S T I G C E A
C1: CAGIEST (7)
C2: COAST (5)
DC: EXOTICA (7)
OT: GEOTAXIS (8)
Score: 67–67 (max 95)
And now the scores are levelled up thanks to Dave's CAGIEST choice, but the darrenic 8 is missed by all.
A GEOTAXIS is an oriented movement of a motile organism toward or away from a gravitational force.
Round 12: R I N J T E F O L
C1: JOINTER (7)
C2: florint
DC: FLORIN (6) LOFTIER (7) TREFOIL (7)
OT: JETFOIL (7) JOLTIER (7) RETINOL (7)
Score: 74–67 (max 102)
Oh dear, Pat seems to have fused FLORIN and FORINT to create the illegal florint here, which gives Dave the lead for the first time today.
A JETFOIL is a passenger-carrying, jet-propelled hydrofoil, often having a control and stabilization system like that of an aircraft.
Round 13: P E R T A E Y N I
C1: PERTAIN (7)
C2: PAINTER (7)
DC: APERIENT (8)
Score: 81–74 (max 110)
DC's turn to go darrenic this time, but with the gap at 7, this last numbers game could be oh so vital.....
Round 14: 6, 7, 5, 10, 2, 5. Target: 954.
C1: -
C2: -
RR: 954. (((5 + 5) x 10) + 6) x (7 + 2) (10)
Score: 81–74 (max 120)
.....or not, as both contestants blank out on what was a fairly simple numbers game, if you know your 106 times table that is.
So, crucial conundrum time it is then
Round 15: C A T S A U C E R
C2 buzzes on 25.5 seconds to say CRUCIATES which is,.......... INCORRECT.
C1 does not buzz.
The answer was CRUSTACEA.
Final Score: 81–74 (max 130)
Pffffftt, what a stinker for a preliminary match. But, I'm sure Dave won't mind as it means he has survived a real scare today, after being behind for the majority of the match. He now has his 2nd win under his belt, and another one tomorrow should see him break into the top 8.
Join me tomorrow to see if he can work his way closer to possible octochampdom.
So, till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Dave:
Total score - 81
Raw score - 87
Total % of max - 62
Raw % of max - 67
Total average score per round - 5.4
Raw average score per round - 5.8
Number of maxes - 7
Pat:
Total score - 74
Raw score - 85
Total % of max - 57
Raw % of max - 66
Total average score per round - 4.9
Raw average score per round - 5.7
Number of maxes - 6
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=65
