Thursday 4th October 2012 (Series 67, Prelim 43)

[James Robinson]

Sorry for the delayed recap, but with the writer out of action, I'm having to use the emergency facilities to make this recap today. But, don't worry, they're as up to date as they can be, and you can thank Mike Brown for that.

Countdown recap for Thursday 4 October 2012.

C1: Champion Tia Corkish (1 win, 91 points.) An Apterite from Bristol. She works as a development support officer.
C2: Challenger David Bratley. A financial assistant from Crewe, Cheshire. He was an intern at the House of Commons, where he worked for Glenda Jackson.
DC: Susie Dent and Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: T R S O U A M H E
R02: S W O I F C U S I
R03: G X K O I E D A R
R04: B T R O E A T F O
R05: 100, 10, 2, 9, 6, 6. Target: 556.
TTT: LIMPLIAM - "You can't bake a cake with this small current"
R06: Q C E I H N G O T
R07: G R M A E T D O N
R08: T V L A E I N T E
R09: C S H U I D P E A
R10: 50, 100, 8, 3, 7, 1. Target: 821.
TTT: PLANDATE - "It's not hard this, in fact, it's bog standard"
R11: N T W I E O R V A
R12: T E S I L P R A D
R13: T S L E I N O P E
R14: 100, 75, 8, 2, 8, 6. Target: 688.
R15: O F F E R T O R N (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: T R S O U A M H E

C1: MOUTHERS (8)
C2: SHOUTER (7)
DC: STORM (5)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)

A very impressive start by Tia here. She's no one-hit wonder based on that start.

Round 2: S W O I F C U S I

C1: FOCUS (5)
C2: musics
DC: COIFS (5)
OT: FICUS (5) FISCS (5) SCOWS (5)
Score: 13–0 (max 13)

Oh dear, David seems to think (presumably) that the W is an M, and it wouldn't have mattered, since you can't pluralise it anyway.

A FICUS is any of numerous chiefly tropical trees, shrubs, and vines belonging to the genus Ficus, of the mulberry family, having milky sap and large, thick or stiff leaves, including the edible fig, the banyan, and many species grown as ornamentals.
A FISC is a royal or state treasury.
A SCOW is any of various vessels having a flat-bottomed rectangular hull with sloping ends, built in various sizes with or without means of propulsion, as barges, punts, rowboats or sailboats.

Round 3: G X K O I E D A R

C1: RADIO (5)
C2: RAGED (5)
DC: DRAKE (5) EXORDIA (7)
Score: 18–5 (max 20)

Another darren, this time spotted by DC, but David's off the mark now.

Round 4: B T R O E A T F O

C1: BATTER (6)
C2: BOATER (6)
DC: FOOTER (6) BORATE (6)
OT: BAREFOOT (8)
Score: 24–11 (max 28)

Just 6's for the contestants and DC too. I did better with ABETTOR, but I should've taken my footwear off to get the darrenic 8.

Round 5: 100, 10, 2, 9, 6, 6. Target: 556.

C1: 556. (100 x 6) - (9 x 6) + 10 (10)
C2: 551.
Score: 34–11 (max 38)

Another good numbers game from Tia, and she's definitely in cruise control in this one.

Sir Ranulph talks about his 3rd ascent of Mount Everest, which he extended because the BBC film crew's camera failed, so he got a photo from a Mexican climber.

Teatime teaser: LIMPLIAM -> MILLIAMP

Round 6: Q C E I H N G O T

C1: ETCHING (7)
C2: ETCHING (7)
DC: HINGE (5) ECHOING (7)
Score: 41–18 (max 45)

Nice -ING-ing by everyone here, even Sir Ranulph, with his HINGE.

Round 7: G R M A E T D O N

C1: GROANED (7)
C2: GRANTED (7)
DC: MANGER (6) DRAGOMEN (8)
OT: DRAGONET (8)
Score: 48–25 (max 53)

Slightly weird round in the fact that just the words were mentioned, not the declaration of the length of the words. (Clearly, that dodgy editor has returned............) But, still an impressive 8 from DC.

A DRAGONET is any fish of the genus Callionymus, the species of which are small and usually brightly coloured.

Round 8: T V L A E I N T E

C1: NATIVE (6)
C2: VALET (5)
DC: VENTILATE (18)
Score: 54–25 (max 71)

Another extension to the lead for Tia, but DC hit the jackpot.

Round 9: C S H U I D P E A

C1: PUSHED (6)
C2: SHAPED (6)
DC: CUPID (5) CUPIDS (6) APHIDES (7)
OT: AUSPICE (7) DUCHIES (7) EDAPHIC (7) UPCASED (7)
Score: 60–31 (max 78)

A pair of 6's from the contestants, but there were a few 7's available here.

EDAPHIC is an adjective meaning related to or caused by particular soil conditions, as of texture or drainage, rather than by physiographic or climatic factors.

Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "cappuccino", "coffee", "chapel" and "chaplain".

Round 10: 50, 100, 8, 3, 7, 1. Target: 821.

C1: 821. (8 x 100) + (3 x 7) (10)
C2: 821. (8 x 100) + (3 x 7) (10)
Score: 70–41 (max 88)

Nice and straightforward here.

Teatime teaser: PLANDATE -> PEATLAND

Round 11: N T W I E O R V A

C1: WINTER (6)
C2: wanton
DC: TINWARE (7) TAWNIER (7)
OT: WAITRON (7)
Score: 76–41 (max 95)

Oh dear, another phantom letter for David, and this game is heading for an inevitable conclusion.

A WAITRON is a person of either sex who waits on tables; waiter or waitress.

Round 12: T E S I L P R A D

C1: PLASTER (7)
C2: spiraled
DC: PRATES (6) PILASTER (8) TRAIPSED (8)
OT: DIPTERAL (8) LARDIEST (8) PREDIALS (8)
Score: 83–41 (max 103)

Lol, the first time that SPIRALLED has appeared since a certain somebody cocked up on a conundrum................, and yet again it disappoints, as David uses the illegal American spelling, which gives our Canadian her second win.

Round 13: T S L E I N O P E

C1: POINTS (6)
C2: PONIES (6)
DC: PINTLES (7) LEPTONS (7) EPSILON (7)
OT: PETIOLES (8)
Score: 89–47 (max 111)

So, yet again, another POINTS/POINTES miss, as well as another darren missed by everyone, not that anyone seems to mind that much.

A PETIOLE is the slender stalk by which a leaf is attached to the stem; leafstalk.

Round 14: 100, 75, 8, 2, 8, 6. Target: 688.

C1: -
C2: 685. (6 x 100) + 75 + 8 + 2 (7)
RR: 688. ((6 / 2) + 8 + 75) x 8 (10)
Score: 89–54 (max 121)

Oh dear, Tia's chances of a century have ended abruptly with a blank declaration in this numbers game, which lets David get his half-century, and Rachel the chance to show off.

Round 15: O F F E R T O R N

No one buzzes. The answer was FOREFRONT.
Final Score: 89–54 (max 131)

And another unsolved conundrum in the main studio leaves Tia isolated on 89 points, but she has another win under belt, and with 180 points so far, she's doing very well too. She definitely has a chance of octochampdom in a week's time, but will she at least reach a hat-trick tomorrow

Join Thomas for that one. And you can join me next Wednesday for my next lot.

Till then, bye bye.

Statistics Corner

Tia:
Total score - 89
Raw score - 89
Total % of max - 68
Raw % of max - 68
Total average score per round - 5.9
Raw average score per round - 5.9
Number of maxes - 5

David:
Total score - 54
Raw score - 73
Total % of max - 41
Raw % of max - 56
Total average score per round - 3.6
Raw average score per round - 4.9
Number of maxes - 2

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=67

[Graeme Cole]

Round 2: S W O I F C U S I

C1: FOCUS (5)
C2: musics
DC: COIFS (5)
OT: FICUS (5) FISCS (5) SCOWS (5)
Score: 13–0 (max 13)

Oh dear, David seems to think (presumably) that the W is an M, and it wouldn't have mattered, since you can't pluralise it anyway.

It's not quite as clear cut as that. At the front of the dictionary on page xiii there's a list of categories of mass noun that can be pluralised. Along with the classic examples of dishes and shades of colours and so on, it says that "types or varieties of... certain languages of subjects" can be pluralised, and it gives MUSICS as an example. Then again, it also says you can have CLOVERS, and that's been disallowed before.

[Adam Gillard]

page xiii

Don't bother.

[Mike Brown]

page xiii

Don't bother.

I think it's fair to say that page xiii can't be used as a guide as to what is and isn't acceptable on Countdown, even if arguably it should be. Hence why aptodic doesn't include the likes of CLOVERS and MUSICS.

[Mike Brown]

Sorry for the delayed recap, but with the writer out of action, I'm having to use the emergency facilities to make this recap today. But, don't worry, they're as up to date as they can be, and you can thank Mike Brown for that.

And perhaps my friend Mike ought to get a mention here too!

[Graeme Cole]

page xiii

Don't bother.

I think it's fair to say that page xiii can't be used as a guide as to what is and isn't acceptable on Countdown, even if arguably it should be. Hence why aptodic doesn't include the likes of CLOVERS and MUSICS.

The rules document I sent when I applied for the show includes a list of "categories of mass nouns that can take a plural". It's almost identical to that list in the dictionary, with a few differences. CLOVERS is not given as an example, but MUSICS is. I think it's reasonable to expect a word to be allowed if it's given as an example of an acceptable word in the rules they send out to contestants.

However, I do agree that it sounds odd. I'm struggling to think of how you'd use it in a sentence. Heavy metal music and classical music are two very different musics?

[Mike Brown]

I think it's reasonable to expect a word to be allowed if it's given as an example of an acceptable word in the rules they send out to contestants.

Can't really argue with that, although seemingly it doesn't necessarily follow! As for MUSICS, most uses of it on the web seem to refer to the musics of different areas of the world, which would seem a reasonable use. I agree it sounds a bit odd, though.