Monday 5th November 2012 (Series 67, Prelim 65)

[Graeme Cole]

Countdown recap for Monday 5 November 2012.

C1: Champion Philip Jackson (2 wins, 189 points) is a retired teacher from Ascot who's already bagged two wins in the 90s.
C2: Challenger Adrian Summerfield is a teacher from Brentwood who follows Dagenham and Redbridge and West Ham football clubs.
DC: Susie Dent and Janet Street-Porter.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: R G P L F O U E D
R02: L N T A U M E X N
R03: R S T C W A O E R
R04: U E I L R N O K D
R05: 75, 3, 6, 5, 4, 4. Target: 877.
TTT: DIYTWICE - "Sky blue across the whole of Manchester."
R06: S D V F A I E P I
R07: B M H S T A E A B
R08: N S H E I O A L Z
R09: G D T M W I A I E
R10: 50, 25, 1, 10, 9, 2. Target: 339.
TTT: NAILBOLT - "Vote for the chocolate box, perhaps?"
R11: N R D P S A E O A
R12: H T V G I O E S F
R13: T N T S C U E A E
R14: 25, 100, 5, 8, 10, 3. Target: 582.
R15: W E I R D H E M P (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: R G P L F O U E D

C1: GROUPED (7)
C2: FLOURED (7)
DC: POURED (6) PURGED (6)
OT: PLEDGOR (7) PURFLED (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 7)

Good start to the week. One of the sevens available was PURFLED - to purfle something means to decorate it with an ornamental border.


Round 2: L N T A U M E X N

C1: AMULET (6)
C2: MANTLE (6)
DC: AXLE TAXMEN (6)
OT: ANNULET (7) UNMEANT (7)
Score: 13–13 (max 14)

Philip and Adrian are still level, and a couple of sevens go unseen.


Round 3: R S T C W A O E R

C1: COASTER (7)
C2: COASTER (7)
DC: REACTORS (8)
OT: CREATORS (8)
Score: 20–20 (max 22)

More sevens, but Susie and Janet find their first contestant beater of the week with REACTORS.


Round 4: U E I L R N O K D

C1: ROUNDEL (7)
C2: LINKED (6)
DC: unliked
OT: KINDLER (7) KNURLED (7) UNOILED (7)
Score: 27–20 (max 29)

And it's Philip who goes ahead first with ROUNDEL. Janet asks about UNLIKED, which isn't in, although Susie mentions you can have UNLIKE. UNFRIEND is in the dictionary as a verb in its Facebook sense, unlike UNLIKE.


Round 5: 75, 3, 6, 5, 4, 4. Target: 877.

C1: 870.
C2: 876. 3*4*75-6*4 (7)
RR: 877. (75*4-4)*3-(6+5) (10)
Score: 27–27 (max 39)

Adrian gets 1 away on the numbers to draw level at the break.

Janet and Nick talk about fireworks. Nick remembers the time he bought an enormous rocket, took it to a firework party somewhere in London and let it off. It caused great amusement by exploding over an embassy in Berkeley Square, the nationality of which Nick declines to name.


Teatime teaser: DIYTWICE -> CITYWIDE


Round 6: S D V F A I E P I

C1: SPIED (5)
C2: PAVED (5)
DC: ADVISE (6)
Score: 32–32 (max 45)

This selection looks like it has more in it than it does. It's not quite nineworthy, but it's surprising that all that's there is a darrenical six.


Round 7: B M H S T A E A B

C1: BATHES (6)
C2: SHAME (5)
DC: BASTE (5) ABATES (6)
OT: ATHAMES (7) HAMATES (7) SABBATH (7)
Score: 38–32 (max 52)

Philip takes back the advantage with BATHES, but three sevens elude everyone. An ATHAME is a ritual knife used in witchcraft, and a HAMATE is a bone in the hand. The Hebrew word "Shabbat" from which SABBATH is derived isn't valid itself as it's capitalised.


Round 8: N S H E I O A L Z

C1: phantom 6
C2: SHONE (5)
DC: INHALES (7) LESION (6)
Score: 38–37 (max 59)

Philip looks like he's beaten Adrian again, but it turns out he used the S twice in whatever his word was. This means the gap is down to a single point.


Round 9: G D T M W I A I E

C1: MIDGET (6)
C2: MATED (5)
DC: DIMWIT (6) WIDGET (6)
OT: IMAGED (6) WAITED (6)
Score: 44–37 (max 65)

Adrian's been stuck on fives for the whole of part two, and this allows Philip to extend his lead.

Origins of Words: AMETHYST, the purple crystal, takes its name from the Greek for "without drunkenness". It derives from the belief that one can drink wine from a glass of purple quartz without becoming intoxicated.


Round 10: 50, 25, 1, 10, 9, 2. Target: 339.

C1: 339. (25+9)*10-1 (10)
C2: 339. (9-2)*50-10-1 (10)
Score: 54–47 (max 75)

And an uneventful numbers game sees us into the break.


Teatime teaser: NAILBOLT -> BALLOTIN


Round 11: N R D P S A E O A

C1: PONDERS (7)
C2: PONDERS (7)
DC: PARDONS (7) PADRONES (8)
OT: OPERANDS (8) PADRONAS (8) PANDORAS (8)
Score: 61–54 (max 83)

Both contestants are left pondering whether there's anything longer than seven, and Susie finds PADRONES, which are Mafia bosses. OPERANDS are the things operations work on in mathematics (in the expression 7+4, + is the operator and 7 and 4 are the operands) a PADRONA is a female Italian boss or proprietress, and a PANDORA is a mollusc whose shell's unequal valves form the "box" which gives the mollusc its name.


Round 12: H T V G I O E S F

C1: FIGHTS (6)
C2: fogiest
DC: FETISH (6)
OT: EGOIST (6) EIGHTS (6) FOGIES (6) OGIVES (6) SOFTIE (6) SOVIET (6) STOGIE (6)
Score: 67–54 (max 89)

Adrian tries a seven, but he... wait for it... hasn't got the FOGGIEST how to spell it! See what I did there? Hm? Hm?


Round 13: T N T S C U E A E

C1: STANCE (6)
C2: TAUNTS (6)
DC: NUTCASE (7)
OT: ATTUNES (7) CUNEATE (7) NEATEST (7) TAUTENS (7) TENACES (7) TETANUS (7)
Score: 73–60 (max 96)

I now rejoin writing this recap after being distracted by watching old Shooting Stars episodes on YouTube. Anyway, STANCE is one of those words I can never see past for some reason. I suppose it's useful to know that it takes every vowel except O. (Anyone suggesting OCTANES gets this noise.)


Round 14: 25, 100, 5, 8, 10, 3. Target: 582.

C1: 583. 5*100+8*10+3 (7)
C2: 580.
RR: 582. (100+25-8)*5-3 (10)
Score: 80–60 (max 106)

Philip seals his third victory, and a chance to get his third score in the nineties if he gets the conundrum, which is...


Round 15: W E I R D H E M P

C1 buzzes on 8 seconds to say WHIMPERED which is correct.
Final Score: 90–60 (max 116)

Philip goes into his fourth game tomorrow with a total of 279 points. Ever the critic, Nick notes that his scores are slipping - 96, 93, 90. Jack will be recapping tomorrow's show, in which we'll see whether he gets 87.

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

[Stewart Gordon]

I would have expected UNLIKED to be there in the sense of UN-LIKED, rather than UNLIKE-D. But it seems nobody in the whole studio thought of the possibility of that meaning.

[JimBentley]

I would have expected UNLIKED to be there in the sense of UN-LIKED, rather than UNLIKE-D. But it seems nobody in the whole studio thought of the possibility of that meaning.

Maybe they thought that the correct word was DISLIKED?

[David Williams]

I would have expected UNLIKED to be there in the sense of UN-LIKED, rather than UNLIKE-D. But it seems nobody in the whole studio thought of the possibility of that meaning.

Maybe they thought that the correct word was DISLIKED?

I'm with Stewart on this one. UNLIKED is akin to UNLOVED. Compared to Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah I would see the rest of the UK athletics team as being unliked. That doesn't mean they are disliked. I have to admit I'd have offered UNLIKED without a second thought even though I had ROUNDEL as well.