After the sparkly new titles, Nick Hewer welcomes us to the first show of 2012. In a short introduction he pays tribute to his four predecessors and promises to do as well as he possibly can to follow them and justify his place in the chair. Countdown welcomes Nick too.
C1: Champion Jack Worsley (1 win, 103 points.)
We last saw Jack in the last heat of series 65, where he made an impressive victory over six-time champion Phyllis Styles. He's a gap year student from Blackpool who intends to move into either accountancy or criminology.
C2: Challenger Brian Tuohy.
We don't get to hear where he's from, only that his name is Irish. His hobbies are fishing, ornithology and owning three more sheds than necessary.
DC: Susie Dent and Paul Zenon.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: T S D T O E I R O
R02: D E L A W E R A D
R03: F S G T I O A O V
R04: L E S A D E P I L
R05: 25, 75, 50, 100, 7, 10. Target: 753.
TTT: WITHSOME - "With some help from Rachel and Susie, this'll be great fun."
R06: Y T A I N R O T D
R07: L L B U E I S U T
R08: G E M U H R O N A
R09: T R N S E A E N I
R10: 75, 1, 10, 6, 7, 1. Target: 247.
TTT: NINEZEST - "They form large communities, but they don't live together."
R11: B P S Q E A E V N
R12: G O X E R A M J A
R13: N T R T I O A E P
R14: 25, 3, 5, 5, 2, 1. Target: 997.
R15: F L U E N T L I P (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: T S D T O E I R O
C1: ODORISE (7)
C2: ROOSTED (7)
DC: ROOTIEST (8)
OT: TORTOISE (8)
Score: 7–7 (max 8)
Sevens to start with, but Susie and Paul spot one of the eights. Interestingly*, it seems the person who picked the letters declares first now. Jeff always did it the other way round, but I think the Deses did it Nick's way. Can't remember how Richard did it.
* may not actually be interesting
Round 2: D E L A W E R A D
C1: wealder
C2: DRAWLED (7)
DC: AWARDED (7) WADDLER (7)
OT: AWARDEE (7) DAWDLER (7) LEEWARD (7)
Score: 7–14 (max 15)
Jack tries a "dodgy seven", which unfortunately for him is too dodgy for the ODE3. An old-fashioned spelling of WELDER, apparently. LEEWARD means the side of a ship or building which is sheltered from the wind.
Round 3: F S G T I O A O V
C1: FOIST (5)
C2: GOATS (5)
DC: AFOOT (5) VISTA (5)
OT: AGIOS (5) AGIST (5) FATSO (5) FIATS (5) FOOTS (5) GAITS (5) GIFTS (5) GOOFS (5) IOTAS (5) OSTIA (5) SOFTA (5) TOGAS (5) VIGAS (5) VITAS (5)
Score: 12–19 (max 20)
First pancake of series 66.
Round 4: L E S A D E P I L
C1: PLEASED (7)
C2: SPILLED (7)
OT: SPADILLE (8)
Score: 19–26 (max 28)
Sevens again, but SPADILLE, a term for the ace of spades, eludes everyone. Brian still holds on to his lead.
Round 5: 25, 75, 50, 100, 7, 10. Target: 753.
C1: 753. 100*7+50+75/25 (10)
C2: 752.
Score: 29–26 (max 38)
Brian's one away, and Jack declares spot on. Nick very politely asks Jack if he'd "be good enough to work with Rachel on this" and Jack illustrates his method. Jack's been practising his four large, so this one shouldn't have posed him any trouble. The ten points put him ahead for the first time in the game.
Paul Zenon welcomes our new host by playing a card trick with him. "Don't pick the ace of spades", he says, or the spadille as I suppose we'll start calling it.
Teatime teaser: WITHSOME -> SHOWTIME
Clue: With some help from Rachel and Susie, this'll be great fun.
Round 6: Y T A I N R O T D
C1: RATION (6)
C2: DAINTY (6)
OT: DITTANY (7)
Score: 35–32 (max 45)
"Well, it seems to be sort of level pegging, apart from the score..." observes Nick. Classic.
Round 7: L L B U E I S U T
C1: BULLIES (7)
C2: BULLIES (7)
OT: BILLETS (7) BULLETS (7) TUBULES (7)
Score: 42–39 (max 52)
As soon as the last letter comes out, Nick remarks "law graduates will enjoy that one". I wonder, was he referring to SUIT? Or BULLIES?
Round 8: G E M U H R O N A
C1: NEUROMA (7)
C2: HOMAGE (6)
DC: ROUGHEN (7)
OT: ENAMOUR (7) MEGARON (7) MENORAH (7) NURAGHE (7) ORGANUM (7)
Score: 49–39 (max 59)
Nick initially mishears Jack's offering. "It's my age, Jack", he explains. A MENORAH is an eight-branched Jewish candlestick, a NURAGHE is a type of ancient stone tower found in Sardinia, ORGANUM is "an early type of polyphonic music based on plainsong" and a MEGARON is a million people called Ronald.
Round 9: T R N S E A E N I
C1: TRANNIES (8)
C2: INSERT (6)
DC: ENTRAINS (8)
OT: TANNERIES (18)
Score: 57–39 (max 77)
Jack extends his lead, but TANNERIES was lurking unfound for nine.
Origins of Words: Susie tells us about some idioms that come from Morse code. To "make a good fist" of something originally described someone good at sending Morse. Nick tells us about an old friend of his who worked at Bletchley Park during the war. He found that the way someone keyed Morse code was as individual as their handwriting, and the radio operators got to know which agent, Allied or otherwise, was sending the message just from how it was keyed. Say what you like about Origins of Words, but I found this interesting.
Round 10: 75, 1, 10, 6, 7, 1. Target: 247.
C1: 247. (75+6+1)*(10-7)+1 (10)
C2: -
Score: 67–39 (max 87)
Brian opts for the supposedly safe one large, but it's not as straightforward as perhaps he was hoping. Nevertheless, nothing's stopping Jack and he grabs another ten points.
Teatime teaser: NINEZEST -> NETIZENS
Clue: They form large communities, but they don't live together.
After the teaser answer is revealed, Nick pulls that disapproving frown we all know from that other show he does. NETIZEN is one of those blended words, in this case from net and citizen. Nick asks Susie how we'd get it excised from the dictionary.
Round 11: B P S Q E A E V N
C1: BEANS (5)
C2: PAVES (5)
DC: EVENS (5)
OT: VEENAS (6)
Score: 72–44 (max 93)
Five looks like the best it gets here, but VEENAS were there for six. They're stringed musical instruments from India.
Round 12: G O X E R A M J A
C1: GAMER (5)
C2: ROAM (4)
DC: MAJOR (5)
OT: AGORAE (6)
Score: 77–44 (max 99)
Rubbish selection. "I'm afraid a four", says Brian. "Hmmmmm", says Nick, with far too many Ms. But Jack spotted GAMER which puts him even further in front. I spotted OMEGA for once.
Round 13: N T R T I O A E P
C1: ATROPINE (8)
C2: PERTAIN (7)
OT: PATENTOR (8) TENTORIA (8)
Score: 85–44 (max 107)
The apto-favourite ATROPINE makes an appearance. It's a poisonous compound found in deadly nightshade, and it puts Jack out of Brian's reach.
If you were thinking TRITANOPE^, well spotted but no points - it went out with the introduction of the ODE3.
Round 14: 25, 3, 5, 5, 2, 1. Target: 997.
C1: 997. (3+5)*5*25-(2+1) (10)
C2: 997. (3+5)*5*25-(2+1) (10)
Score: 95–54 (max 117)
Ten points each, which takes Brian past the half century.
Round 15: F L U E N T L I P
C1 buzzes on 0.5 seconds to say PLENTIFUL which is correct.
Final Score: 105–54 (max 127)
Nick had hardly finished introducing the conundrum when Jack buzzed. "Wow, Jack, it's not possible!" he exclaims. But Jack spots PLENTIFUL to bag his second century in two games, taking his total to 208. Brian started strongly, but Jack turned it round quite convincingly to become the first winner under Nick Hewer.
Nick's certainly showing promise in the chair, in my opinion. His first episode wasn't without the odd pause and stumble here and there, but for someone who's never done TV presenting before I thought he coped quite well. Time will tell, but I expect that after a few weeks he'll have got into the swing of it.
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=66
