C1: Champion Rob Gibney (1 win, 105 points) is a director of a business consultancy from St Albans. Three-time winner John Bird looked like he could go far until Rob beat him with a score of 105 yesterday.
C2: Challenger Jason Atkinson, 17, from Oldham. He's just about to start a new job in sales.
DC: Susie Dent and Anneka Rice.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: A W E S D U G A S
R02: Y I E R J A E G N
R03: A L B C O E U P O
R04: E A U Z N T I D M
R05: 50, 3, 7, 8, 8, 5. Target: 211.
TTT: UPLONGER - "His job involves taking a plunge into the kitchen sink."
R06: R S O E T N A E D
R07: O R I S E H T O V
R08: R A C I A D T E P
R09: U L I O T D T S C
R10: 25, 5, 8, 2, 1, 3. Target: 372.
TTT: BENTOVER - "Bent over? That's not allowed, surely?"
R11: V E A X O R P S A
R12: M R E L O I S L E
R13: A W E L I S P E A
R14: 25, 5, 6, 1, 9, 7. Target: 296.
R15: K E N S P O E M S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: A W E S D U G A S
C1: ASSUAGED (8)
C2: GASSED (6)
DC: SAUSAGE (7)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)
Strong start from Rob spotting ASSUAGED.
Round 2: Y I E R J A E G N
C1: REGAIN (6)
C2: JEERING (7)
Score: 8–7 (max 15)
Jason spots the darrenical 7 and gets off the mark. Nick mentions that he gets a lot of JEERING.
Round 3: A L B C O E U P O
C1: COUPLE (6)
C2: COUPE (5)
DC: CUPOLA (6)
NH: PLACEBO (7)
Score: 14–7 (max 22)
Jason struggles to a five, but Rob extends his lead by the addition of one letter. The darren PLACEBO initially looks to have eluded everyone, but Nick casually mentions that he spotted it.
Round 4: E A U Z N T I D M
C1: MEDIANT (7)
C2: -
DC: UNTAMED (7)
NH: TEDIUM (6)
OT: DEUTZIA (7) MINUTED (7)
Score: 21–7 (max 29)
Rob spots a word that crops up from time to time, MEDIANT, which relates to musical scales. Jason blanks, and DC and Nick find between them some UNTAMED TEDIUM.
Round 5: 50, 3, 7, 8, 8, 5. Target: 211.
C1: 211. (5+7-8)*50+8+3 (10)
C2: 213.
Score: 31–7 (max 39)
Rob pushes even further ahead to take a commanding lead at the anecdote. Anneka tells us about her trips to faraway places around the world.
Teatime teaser: UPLONGER -> PLONGEUR
Round 6: R S O E T N A E D
C1: ROASTED (7)
C2: ROASTED (7)
DC: RESONATED (18)
Score: 38–14 (max 57)
"Oh, come on, the selection basically spells out RESONATED, how'd you miss that?" Anneka carefully avoids saying.
Round 7: O R I S E H T O V
C1: OVERHITS (8)
C2: SHIVER (6)
DC: OVERSHOT (8)
Score: 46–14 (max 65)
But Rob spots one of the two OVER- words to push even further into the lead.
Round 8: R A C I A D T E P
C1: PAIRED (6)
C2: RADIATE (7)
DC: PIRATED (7) PICRATE (7)
OT: ADAPTER (7) ADIPATE (7) DIPTERA (7) PARETIC (7) PARTIED (7) PREDICT (7) READAPT (7)
Score: 46–21 (max 72)
Jason starts to mount the comeback now as he spots one of a bunch of sevens.
Round 9: U L I O T D T S C
C1: OCULIST (7)
C2: COILS (5)
OT: CULTIST (7)
Score: 53–21 (max 79)
And this attempted comeback is cut short as Rob finds his form again and spots one of the two trickyish maxes here. Jason's got a bit of work to do as we go into Origins of Words...
OOW: Susie talks about the origins of the phrases "dead ringer" and "spitting image".
Round 10: 25, 5, 8, 2, 1, 3. Target: 372.
C1: 372. 5*3*25-2-1 (10)
C2: 372. (5+8+2)*25-3 (10)
Score: 63–31 (max 89)
Jason's still clinging on to the game as he matches Rob's ten points here, but at this stage he's got a bit of a mountain to climb.
Teatime teaser: BENTOVER -> VERBOTEN
Round 11: V E A X O R P S A
C1: PROVES (6)
C2: PEARS (5)
DC: OPERAS (6)
OT: PAREOS (6) PAVERS (6) SARAPE (6)
Score: 69–31 (max 95)
Bit of a rubbish selection, and six is the best there is. A PAREO (also PAREU) is a kind of sarong, a PAVER as you'd expect is someone who lays paving stones, and a SARAPE (or SERAPE) is a Latin American shawl or blanket.
Round 12: M R E L O I S L E
C1: SMELLIER (8)
C2: MILLERS (7)
DC: MOLLIES (7)
Score: 77–31 (max 103)
Rob spots his second darren of the day, one which guarantees he'll be back on Monday. DC come up with MOLLIES, which are a type of fish.
Round 13: A W E L I S P E A
C1: PLEASE (6)
C2: PLEASE (6)
OT: ASLEEP (6) ELAPSE (6) ESPIAL (6) LIPASE (6) PALAIS (6) PALEAE (6) PESEWA (6) PILEAS (6) SAPELE (6) WASPIE (6) WEASEL (6)
Score: 83–37 (max 109)
Nothing particularly interesting about this round either, except you could have got a Document of Deeks for PESEWA.
Round 14: 25, 5, 6, 1, 9, 7. Target: 296.
C1: 296. (7+5)*25-(9+1-6) (10)
C2: -
Score: 93–37 (max 119)
Rob gets a perfect numbers round for the third time today to set him up for a second century if he gets the conundrum...
Round 15: K E N S P O E M S
C2 buzzes on 2 seconds to say SPOKESMEN which is correct.
Final Score: 93–47 (max 129)
But Jason grabs it on two seconds to take him up to 47. Rob's now on 2 wins averaging 99 points. We'll see who's facing him again in the challenger's chair on Monday, when I'll be doing the recap again and Jenny Eclair will be making her debut in the corner.
Look forward to seeing some of you at COREA tomorrow.
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=66