Let's find out. Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 12 July 2012.
C1: Champion Paul James (4 wins, 410 points.) An Apterite from Brampton, Cumbria. His favourite book is Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson.
C2: Challenger Melanie Korepta. A writer from Bolton, Lancashire, although she is still waiting to publish her first book.
DC: Susie Dent and Jo Brand.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: Q N H T O E A I S
R02: T A R E N T A W D
R03: G T C V U I E A E
R04: R O T E M O R B D
R05: 50, 25, 100, 75, 7, 1. Target: 748.
TTT: DREAMPET - "Interfered with something in Florida, perhaps?"
R06: R I S E N C N U S
R07: R L D B E A E O S
R08: Z A L P R I N O I
R09: D G T P O U E F J
R10: 25, 100, 6, 4, 6, 10. Target: 345.
TTT: ATTESTIT - "The scruffiest potato in the bag, perhaps?"
R11: L S T R A O I O M
R12: N A V I M R I L S
R13: F S D T U E I A C
R14: 50, 100, 25, 75, 6, 9. Target: 366.
R15: S I L L Y F E E T (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: Q N H T O E A I S
C1: HASTEN (6)
C2: HONEST (6)
DC: TEA (3) HISTONE (7)
OT: ATONIES (7)
Score: 6–6 (max 7)
No rush today with those 6's, as DC makes the first breakthrough with the 7.
In phonetics, an ATONY is lack of a stress accent.
Round 2: T A R E N T A W D
C1: RANTED (6)
C2: WANTED (6)
DC: wartent
OT: ADNATE (6) ADWARE (6) ARDENT (6) ATTEND (6) NATTER (6) RATTAN (6) RATTED (6) TANTRA (6) TARTAN (6) TARTED (6) TETRAD (6) WANDER (6) WANTER (6) WARDEN (6) WARNED (6)
Score: 12–12 (max 13)
Super flat round time.
ADWARE is software that displays advertisements and is integrated into another program offered at no charge or at low cost.
A RATTAN (or RATTAN PALM) is any of various climbing palms of the genus Calamus or allied genera.
In Hinduism and Buddhism, the TANTRA are the sacred books of Tantrism, written between the 7th and 17th centuries AD, mainly in the form of a dialogue between Shiva and his wife.
A TETRAD is a group of 4.
Round 3: G T C V U I E A E
C1: ACTIVE (6)
C2: ACTIVE (6)
DC: gutvice
OT: AUGITE (6)
Score: 18–18 (max 19)
Both contestants are clearly ACTIVE today getting that 6.
An AUGITE is a silicate mineral, chiefly of calcium, magnesium, iron, and aluminium: a dark-green to black variety of monoclinic pyroxene, characteristic of basic rocks.
Round 4: R O T E M O R B D
C1: BOREDOM (7)
C2: MOTORED (7)
DC: motorbed
OT: BEDROOM (7) BROODER (7)
Score: 25–25 (max 26)
Just 7's here in this one. Nice, flat and even so far.
Round 5: 50, 25, 100, 75, 7, 1. Target: 748.
C1: 748. (7 x 100) + 50 - ((75 / 25) - 1) (10)
C2: 748. (7 x 100) + 50 - (75 / 25) + 1 (10)
Score: 35–35 (max 36)
Even the numbers wasn't that taxing either.
Jo talks about her dislike of initialisms, such as BFF, LOL, FYI, etc.
She also disapproves of emoticons 
Teatime teaser: DREAMPET -> TAMPERED
Round 6: R I S E N C N U S
C1: SUNRISE (7)
C2: SUNNIER (7)
DC: cressnun
OT: SCUNNERS (8)
Score: 42–42 (max 44)
Paul decides to stick with 7, don't know what his 8 was, but what I do know is that the gap is still non-existent.
A SCUNNER is an irrational dislike.
Round 7: R L D B E A E O S
C1: LEADERS (7)
C2: BOLDER (6)
DC: roseblade LEEBOARDS (18)
Score: 49–42 (max 62)
WOAH!!! An exact match to round 2 yesterday, yet no-one mentions EARLOBES. Yet more bizarrely, DC do get the 9-er this time, while Paul breaks the deadlock.
Round 8: Z A L P R I N O I
C1: PLAIN (5)
C2: POLAR (5)
DC: APRON (5)
OT: AIOLI (5) NOPAL (5) NORIA (5) ORPIN (5) PANIR (5) PAROL (5) PIANI (5) PIANO (5) PORIN (5) PRIAL (5) PRION (5) ZONAL (5)
Score: 54–47 (max 67)
Flatness of 5 here.
AIOLI is a garlic-flavored mayonnaise of Provence, served with fish and seafood and often with vegetables.
An ORPIN (or ORPINE) is a plant, Sedum telephium, of the stonecrop family, having purplish flowers.
PRIAL is a corruption of "pair royal".
A PRION is any of several petrels of the genus Pachyptila, located in the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere and having serrated edges on the bill.
Round 9: D G T P O U E F J
C1: POUTED (6)
C2: POUTED (6)
DC: outpeg
Score: 60–53 (max 73)
Just going darrenic again. The gap is still only at 7, as Melanie is holding on for dear life at the moment.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "anon", "soon" and "probably".
Round 10: 25, 100, 6, 4, 6, 10. Target: 345.
C1: 346. (4 x 100) - (10 x 6) + 6 (7)
C2: -
RR: 345. ((100 - 6) x 4) - 6 - 25 (10)
Score: 67–53 (max 83)
Is this the crack that will turn into a chasm, maybe.................
Teatime teaser: ATTESTIT -> TATTIEST
Round 11: L S T R A O I O M
C1: MORALIST (8)
C2: MISTRAL (7)
DC: AMORIST (7) motorsail
OT: ISOLATOR (8)
Score: 75–53 (max 91)
It certainly looks like it now. A brilliant spot by Paul sees his lead go past the 20 mark. Remarkably, Jo almost stole the round with an impressive 9. But, unfortunately only MOTORSAILOR is in.
Round 12: N A V I M R I L S
C1: SIMILAR (7)
C2: VIRALS (6)
DC: MARLINS (7)
Score: 82–53 (max 98)
While Melanie tries a risky 6, Paul's 7 puts him in touching distance of his 5th win.
Round 13: F S D T U E I A C
C1: FASTED (6)
C2: FASTED (6)
DC: catfeud SIDECUT (7)
OT: FAUCETS (7)
Score: 88–59 (max 105)
While Jo seems to want to start a catfight, both contestants have FASTED, which means that Paul has his 5th win under his belt.
Round 14: 50, 100, 25, 75, 6, 9. Target: 366.
C1: 366. (6 x 50) + 75 - 9 (10)
C2: 366. (6 x 50) + 75 - 9 (10)
Score: 98–69 (max 115)
Melanie decides to do a Paul and go 4 large too, and like before they both get the 10, meaning that Paul can now go for his highest score again, as well as keeping his conundrum record up at 100%.
Round 15: S I L L Y F E E T
No one buzzes. The answer was LIFESTYLE.
Final Score: 98–69 (max 125)
Well, this conundrum even stumps the audience and Rachel. So, Paul now has his lowest score of his run, but if your lowest is 98, then you've got nothing to worry about.
Paul now has 5 wins under his belt and looks very much like he's going to get 8 wins on Tuesday, but you never know what's going to be around the corner................
Join Thomas tomorrow for game #10 of the series.
I'll be back next Wednesday, by which time Paul will have departed, so it'll be interesting to how different it will be then.
So till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Paul:
Total score - 98
Raw score - 98
Total % of max - 78
Raw % of max - 78
Total average score per round - 6.5
Raw average score per round - 6.5
Number of maxes - 9
Melanie:
Total score - 69
Raw score - 88
Total % of max - 55
Raw % of max - 70
Total average score per round - 4.6
Raw average score per round - 5.9
Number of maxes - 7
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=67