Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 8 September 2011.
C1: Champion Carl Williams (2 wins, 168 points.) From Burton-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire. Before taking up powerlifting, he was a keen hockey player, playing at county and regional level, but couldn't quite make the grade to national.
C2: Challenger Beth Tafat. From London, but originally from Shrewsbury, Shropshire. She works for the Food Standards Agency in the Incidence Response Department. Her unusual surname is such, because her husband, who she married a year ago, is Algerian. She enjoys cooking and rollerblading, which she does in Hyde Park. She even looks like a complete dead ringer of Samantha Cameron too.
DC: Susie Dent and Gloria Hunniford.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: N D R A I E G S U
R02: W T E O R P I G E
R03: W U A E T R J M X
R04: R N S O I O R D E
R05: 3, 10, 10, 2, 4, 8. Target: 910.
TTT: GLUMBINT - "Belly button jewellery that's falling down"
R06: S N R A O E F H U
R07: D P M S A E A Z L
R08: B Y N I E C P O A
R09: E E I N D T S L G
R10: 100, 6, 10, 3, 6, 8. Target: 807.
TTT: NICEDIME - "These balls can be hard to swallow"
R11: T F S L B U E O M
R12: S L R I E T A N O
R13: G M V I E U T D A
R14: 100, 1, 6, 9, 6, 7. Target: 962.
R15: M A C A B I L L K (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: N D R A I E G S U
C1: DANGERS (7)
C2: GRAINED (7)
DC: READINGS (8)
OT: DENARIUS (8) GRADINES (8)
Score: 7–7 (max 8)
There'd probably be plenty of 9's available in a Touchdown game, as it is, there are 3 available 8's, of which only 1 is spotted in the studio.
Round 2: W T E O R P I G E
C1: PEWTER (6)
C2: potier
DC: GOITRE (6) PROTEGE (7)
Score: 13–7 (max 15)
Carl takes the early lead as DC go darrenic with their late 7.
Round 3: W U A E T R J M X
C1: EXTRA (5)
C2: WATER (5)
DC: MATURE (6)
OT: RAMJET (6)
Score: 18–12 (max 21)
EXTRA WATER. I don't think that's needed in the US Open, especially if you saw what Andy Roddick was up to today.
A RAMJET is a jet engine operated by the injection of fuel into a stream of air compressed by the forward speed of the aircraft.
Round 4: R N S O I O R D E
C1: SENIOR (6)
C2: SOONER (6)
DC: EROSION (7)
OT: INDORSER (8) ODORISER (8)
Score: 24–18 (max 29)
2 8's missed here, but the game is still close at the moment.
Round 5: 3, 10, 10, 2, 4, 8. Target: 910.
C1: 900. (4 + 2 + 3) x 10 x 10 (5)
C2: 900. (8 + 2 - (4 - 3)) x 10 x 10 (5)
RR: 910. ((8 x 10) + (2 x 4) + 3) x 10 (10)
Score: 29–23 (max 39)
Carl clearly looks desperately for 900, as he completely forgot about the 8 to get just 2 away.
Gloria talks about her meeting film stars in interviews after basically growing up with watching films plenty of times in her Northern Irish village.
Teatime teaser: GLUMBINT -> TUMBLING
Round 6: S N R A O E F H U
C1: REASON (6)
C2: houser
DC: senora SENHORA (7)
OT: HOARSEN (7) UNHORSE (7)
Score: 35–23 (max 46)
No houser in the dictionary and no senora either, not that Susie realised, but at least SENHORA was spotted.
Round 7: D P M S A E A Z L
C1: AMAZED (6)
C2: LAMPS (5)
DC: SAMPLED (7)
Score: 41–23 (max 53)
I was actually AMAZED that SAMPLED was the darren in this one.
Round 8: B Y N I E C P O A
C1: BEACON (6)
C2: BONEY (5)
DC: CANOPY (6)
OT: PAEONIC (7)
Score: 47–23 (max 60)
This time the darren is missed by all, but Beth is still stuck on 23, as Carl is starting to pull away.
Round 9: E E I N D T S L G
C1: GLISTENED (18)
C2: STEEL (5)
DC: INGESTED (8)
Score: 65–23 (max 78)
He wasn't away then, he is now, as Carl gets the 9 to put him in cruise control. That also happens to be the first contestant max of the day.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "salt and pepper" in terms of money.
Round 10: 100, 6, 10, 3, 6, 8. Target: 807.
C1: 807. (8 x 100) + 10 - 3 (10)
C2: 807. (8 x 100) + 10 - 3 (10)
Score: 75–33 (max 88)
A nice easy numbers breaks Beth's scoring drought, but she's gonna have to pull off a miracle and a half to win this one.
Teatime teaser: NICEDIME -> MEDICINE
Round 11: T F S L B U E O M
C1: TUMBLES (7)
C2: BUSTLE (6)
DC: FUMBLES (7)
OT: BEFOULS (7) BOLETUS (7) EMBOLUS (7) FOULEST (7) FULSOME (7) STUMBLE (7)
Score: 82–33 (max 95)
It doesn't look like it's going to happen today. Beth needs 2 9's and Carl to suddenly freeze to be in with a shout.
An EMBLOUS is undissolved material carried by the blood and impacted in some part of the vascular system, as thrombi or fragments of thrombi, tissue fragments, clumps of bacteria, protozoan parasites, fat globules, or gas bubbles.
Round 12: S L R I E T A N O
C1: RELATIONS (18)
C2: RETAILS (7)
DC: ORIENTALS (18)
OT: TENSORIAL (18)
Score: 100–33 (max 113)
There's a 9
Unfortunately for Beth, Carl gets it and with it the win, and a century to boot too. Round 13: G M V I E U T D A
C1: IMAGED (6)
C2: TIMED (5)
DC: MIDGET (6) TEDIUM (6) DATIVE (6)
OT: AUGITE (6) DUGITE (6) MIDGUT (6)
Score: 106–33 (max 119)
Plenty of 6's here, but Beth's letters nightmare is over at least.
AUGITE is a silicate mineral, chiefly of calcium, magnesium, iron, and aluminum: a dark-green to black variety of monoclinic pyroxene, characteristic of basic rocks.
A DUGITE is a medium-sized venomous snake, Pseudonaja affinis, of Central and Western Australia, having a small head and slender olive-coloured body with black specks.
Round 14: 100, 1, 6, 9, 6, 7. Target: 962.
C1: 962. ((100 + 7) x 9) - 1 (10)
C2: 949.
Score: 116–33 (max 129)
Another good numbers solve by Carl means that he's now in line to equal the highest score of the series. Can he do it
Round 15: M A C A B I L L K
C2 buzzes on 5.25 seconds to say BLACKMAIL which is correct.
Final Score: 116–43 (max 139)
The answer is NO
Beth manages to regain some credibilty with an impressive conundrum solve there. But after yesterday's nailbiter, it was a clinical annihilation by Carl here.He might be slightly disappointed at not getting the 126, but it will at least give him a huge bout of confidence into tomorrow, where he'll hope to reach half-octochampdom.
Join Mike tomorrow for that, and join me next week for what could possibly be Carl's 7th and 8th games.
So, till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Carl:
Total score - 116
Raw score - 116
Total % of max - 83
Raw % of max - 83
Total average score per round - 7.7
Raw average score per round - 7.7
Number of maxes - 6
Beth:
Total score - 43
Raw score - 76
Total % of max - 31
Raw % of max - 55
Total average score per round - 2.9
Raw average score per round - 5.1
Number of maxes - 2
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=65
