Countdown recap for Thursday 29 September 2011.
C1: Champion Jayne Wisniewski (4 wins, 359 points.) An Apteforumite from Barnt Green, Worcestershire. She was inspired to appear on the series by Mary Adie from the last series.
C2: Challenger Brian Poole. A retired teacher and aerodynamicist from Morchard Bishop, Devon. His ambition is to be the best grandfather in the world. He also runs his own skiffle band.
DC: Susie Dent and Kate Humble.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: S F U A M X E T T
R02: N G O T C E N A S
R03: W R I E M V A O P
R04: L C I D A S E C T
R05: 75, 8, 5, 3, 4, 6. Target: 517.
TTT: TELLBITE - "Don't feel big about making someone feel unimportant"
R06: T S I N E D L A N
R07: R L E A D D E O T
R08: R L I G O L I R E
R09: J P U E Y V O N D
R10: 50, 4, 10, 4, 3, 8. Target: 794.
TTT: YOUNGRAT - "There's no value in getting the answer, it's really not important"
R11: G K A I S R E T M
R12: B S I T E R O P W
R13: S Q U A N H Z E I
R14: 75, 10, 6, 3, 3, 5. Target: 350.
R15: Y O U N G A G E S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: S F U A M X E T T
C1: fumates
C2: STEAM (5)
DC: MUTATE (6) MUTATES (7)
OT: FAUXEST (7)
Score: 0–5 (max 7)
Hmmmm, even Jayne convinced me that fumates was good. Oh well, Brian takes the first lead of the day.
Round 2: N G O T C E N A S
C1: COGNATES (8)
C2: CANTONS (7)
DC: TONNAGE (7)
OT: TONNAGES (8)
Score: 8–5 (max 15)
But Jayne gets back in with an impressive 8, which leaves us debating whether TONNAGE can be pluralised...............
Round 3: W R I E M V A O P
C1: MOPIER (6)
C2: VAMPIRE (7)
DC: IMPROVE (7)
OT: EMPORIA (7) VAMPIER (7)
Score: 8–12 (max 22)
But the see-saw is now in full swing as Brian retakes the lead with his batty 7.
Round 4: L C I D A S E C T
C1: DIALECTS (8)
C2: SLATED (6)
DC: CITADELS (8)
Score: 16–12 (max 30)
And back again in the other direction. This is gonna be another one of those games methinks.............
Round 5: 75, 8, 5, 3, 4, 6. Target: 517.
C1: 517. ((4 + 3) x 75) - 8 (10)
C2: 517. ((4 + 3) x 75) - 8 (10)
Score: 26–22 (max 40)
Nice and easy. Moving on........
Kate talks about a new sport to the UK, slacklining, which is she is practising to climb Castleton Rock, Utah.
Teatime teaser: TELLBITE -> BELITTLE
Round 6: T S I N E D L A N
C1: SLANTED (7)
C2: TENDS (5)
DC: ANNELIDS (8)
OT: DEINSTAL (8) DENTINAL (8) LANDTIES (8)
Score: 33–22 (max 48)
Jayne's lead now extends to double figures, as Brian even forgets SLATED from his last letters game.
DENTINAL relates to DENTIN, the hard, calcareous tissue, similar to but denser than bone, that forms the major portion of a tooth, surrounds the pulp cavity, and is situated beneath the enamel and cementum.
Round 7: R L E A D D E O T
C1: TREADLE (7)
C2: TODDLER (7)
DC: TREADLED (8)
OT: RELOADED (8)
Score: 40–29 (max 56)
Ooooooh, will Jayne forgetting to put the extra D on TREADLE be costly
Interesting that this selection was also the same as on round 9 on Jayne's first show last Friday, and that she also missed the chance of being able to declare LEOTARD for the 3rd time on her run. 
Round 8: R L I G O L I R E
C1: GORIER (6)
C2: GIRLIE (6)
DC: girlier GRILLER (7)
Score: 46–35 (max 63)
Hands up the idiot who blew a max game by not putting the other R on GRILLE.
Round 9: J P U E Y V O N D
C1: POUND (5)
C2: POUND (5)
DC: ENJOY (5) UPEND (5)
OT: DOPEY (5) DOYEN (5) ENVOY (5) JOYED (5) PEONY (5) VODUN (5)
Score: 51–40 (max 68)
Flat 5's here. Let's hope we're not heading down the rubbish route again.................
VODUN is another word for voodoo.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "ferret", "porcupine", "gorilla" and "grenade", which Susie admits to looking up during numbers games of the show.
Round 10: 50, 4, 10, 4, 3, 8. Target: 794.
C1: 793.
C2: 794. (4 x 4 x 50) - ((10 - 8) x 3) (10)
Score: 51–50 (max 78)
Getting that 6 proved tricky for Jayne, but not for Brian, and all of a sudden, Jayne's lead is down to a solitary point.
Teatime teaser: YOUNGRAT -> NUGATORY
Round 11: G K A I S R E T M
C1: MISTAKE (7)
C2: MIGRATES (8)
DC: MAGISTER (8)
OT: SITKAMER (8) STERIGMA (8)
Score: 51–58 (max 86)
And Brian's recovery is complete. The lead is now his again. Can he keep it this time
A SITKAMER is a South African sitting room or lounge.
A STERIGMA is a small stalk that bears a sporangium, a conidium, or especially a basidiospore.
Round 12: B S I T E R O P W
C1: POSTER (6)
C2: TRIBES (6)
DC: WRITES (6) RIPOSTE (7) BOWSPRIT (8)
Score: 57–64 (max 94)
A super impressive darrenic 8 by DC, but this game is still on a knife-edge with that 7 point lead.
Round 13: S Q U A N H Z E I
C1: SHINE (5)
C2: quizes
DC: SEQUIN (6) QUEANS (6)
OT: ASHINE (6) AZINES (6) HEIAUS (6) ZANIES (6)
Score: 62–64 (max 100)
Brian has a 6, Jayne has a 5, is this gonna make a difference
Yes, but not in the way you'd expect as Brian makes a basic faux pas by declaring a word that can never be legally declared on the show 
(Well, not until they put another Z in the consonant box anyway.............. )An AZINE is any of a group of six-membered heterocyclic compounds containing one or more nitrogen atoms in the ring, the number of nitrogen atoms present being indicated by a prefix, as in diazine or triazine.
Round 14: 75, 10, 6, 3, 3, 5. Target: 350.
C1: 350. ((3 / 3) + 6) x 5 x 10 (10)
C2: -
Score: 72–64 (max 110)
Not as easy as it may seem, especially once you realise that 350 isn't devisible by 75, but Jayne copes with the pressure, while Brian folds.
This conundrum could go either way, but since yesterday's was an -ING, I'm guessing a stinker will probably come up today............
Round 15: Y O U N G A G E S
No one buzzes. The answer was SYNAGOGUE.
Final Score: 72–64 (max 120)
............and lo and behold, it does. It's left to Caleb (who according to Jeff, is a studio regular who is celebrating his 18th birthday tomorrow.) to solve the conundrum, and I bet Jayne is relieved to scrape through that one.
Well, she has and now has 5 wins to her name. She now elevates to #7 on the leaderboard, another win tomorrow will take her up to #5. Incidentally, Mark is the only one definitely through to the finals at the moment. But these next few weeks will surely start to see the finals take shape.
I'll be back next Wednesday, when Jayne will have gone, octochampdom or not.
Till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Jayne:
Total score - 72
Raw score - 92
Total % of max - 60
Raw % of max - 77
Total average score per round - 4.8
Raw average score per round - 6.1
Number of maxes - 5
Brian:
Total score - 64
Raw score - 82
Total % of max - 53
Raw % of max - 68
Total average score per round - 4.3
Raw average score per round - 5.5
Number of maxes - 5
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=65