I've got a better idea. Put Countdown on at 4.30pm, and shunt Deal Or No Deal around instead. Do I have to think of everything?C1: Champion Heather Styles (3 wins, 301 points) still holds the highest score of the series so far with her debut score of 114.
C2: Challenger Tracy Turner is a housewife from Bristol. She has four children and has just started to learn the saxophone.
DC: Susie Dent and Connie Fisher. Connie tells us about the time she mistook Bobby Ball for a Chuckle brother. Don't worry, such silly mistakes won't ever darken the threshold of this recap. I did think Nick was somewhat remiss in not asking her about when she played Princess Leia, though.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: P N F M O I A E P
R02: S Y A T E N P A G
R03: I U E A C D V H U
R04: T R L O I T A E N
R05: 100, 1, 4, 6, 4, 7. Target: 947.
TTT: GRINDIED - "His grin died when they began doing this to him."
R06: S T O W N U R O E
R07: T Q S T A I O E X
R08: M T C S A O I T E
R09: F R M C U E I O N
R10: 100, 50, 9, 9, 2, 6. Target: 908.
TTT: OLDLOYAL - "My dog's old and loyal, but it's gone a bit bonkers."
R11: A I E A S V C M D
R12: S N F I E O T N E
R13: D S W D A O I O L
R14: 100, 25, 4, 2, 8, 2. Target: 747.
R15: C O R N E D V E G (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Enjoy the show.
Round 1: P N F M O I A E P
C1: FAMINE (6)
C2: FINE (4)
DC: MOPANE (6) MOPANI (6) FAME PIANO (5)
OT: ANOMIE (6) PEPINO (6) PIEMAN (6)
Score: 6–0 (max 6)
Champion Heather opens the batting with FAMINE.
Round 2: S Y A T E N P A G
C1: AGNATES (7)
C2: PAGANS (6)
DC: PASTY (5) PAGEANTS (8)
OT: PEASANTY (8)
Score: 13–0 (max 14)
Heather goes further in front with AGNATES. An AGNATE is a person descended from the same male ancestor as someone else. Susie finds PAGEANTS. I looked up PEASANTY, because obviously it wouldn't be an adjective from PEASANT, as in "he's a bit peasanty", it'll be some kind of word for the peasant class, or the state or office of a peasant, in the same vein as BARONY or DUCHY. And it turns out I was completely wrong - it is indeed just the adjective from PEASANT.
Round 3: I U E A C D V H U
C1: CAVED (5)
C2: CAVED (5)
DC: ADIEU (5)
OT: ADVICE (6)
Score: 18–5 (max 20)
Tracy gets off the mark, Connie finds ADIEU, and ADVICE eludes everyone.
Round 4: T R L O I T A E N
C1: RELATION (8)
C2: NATTIER (7)
DC: ORIENTAL (8)
OT: TENTORIA (8) TOLERANT (8) TONALITE (8)
Score: 26–5 (max 28)
Perhaps surprisingly, RELATION stems with only four letters, and T isn't one of them. Heather spots the eight to go further in front.
Round 5: 100, 1, 4, 6, 4, 7. Target: 947.
C1: -
C2: 942. (4+4+1)*100+7*6 (7)
RR: 947. (4+4+1)*(100+6)-7 (10)
Score: 26–12 (max 38)
But now Tracy gets to pull some points back, as Heather is too far away from the target.
Teatime teaser: GRINDIED -> DERIDING
Round 6: S T O W N U R O E
C1: UNREST (6)
C2: WORSEN (6)
DC: ONEROUS (7) TONSURE (7)
OT: OUTWORE (7) OUTWORN (7) UNROOTS (7)
Score: 32–18 (max 45)
I went with SWOONER^. Turns out it's spelt with a ^ and there's no ^ in the selection.
Round 7: T Q S T A I O E X
C1: EXIST (5)
C2: taoist
DC: TOASTIE (7)
OT: OATIEST (7)
Score: 37–18 (max 52)
TAOIST^, a follower of the Chinese philosophy Taoism, was a good effort by Tracy, but it's capitalised in the dictionary so Heather takes the points. Connie finds TOASTIE, and is rather happy at beating both contestants. This is what I like to see from DC, someone who takes an interest in the show and plays along.
Round 8: M T C S A O I T E
C1: MOSAIC (6)
C2: TAMEST (6)
DC: TOASTIE (7) COSTATE (7)
OT: AMOSITE (7) ATOMIES (7) ATOMISE (7) ATOMIST (7) CATTIES (7) COTTISE (7) MATIEST (7) OATIEST (7) SOMATIC (7) STATICE (7) STOMATE (7) TOMCATS (7) TOTEMIC (7)
Score: 43–24 (max 59)
TOASTIE makes an encore, but our contestants are stuck on six each.
Round 9: F R M C U E I O N
C1: formic
C2: CONIFER (7)
DC: CUNEIFORM (18)
Score: 43–31 (max 77)
FORMIC^ is only listed in the dictionary under "formic acid", so not valid. CONIFER takes the points, but Susie finds CUNEIFORM, which literally means "wedge-shaped" and refers to the characters of that shape which you might find on ancient stone tablets.
Round 10: 100, 50, 9, 9, 2, 6. Target: 908.
C1: 908. 9*100+6+2 (10)
C2: 908. 9*100+6+2 (10)
Score: 53–41 (max 87)
Next please.
Teatime teaser: OLDLOYAL -> DOOLALLY
Round 11: A I E A S V C M D
C1: CAVIES (6)
C2: ADVISE (6)
DC: ADVICE (6) ADVICES (7)
OT: MEDIVACS (8)
Score: 59–47 (max 95)
Normally ADVICE is a mass noun, but a formal notice of a financial transaction can be called an advice, and that can be pluralised. Susie tells us the word ADVICES is a Shakespearean term too. To MEDIVAC means to transport someone to hospital by aircraft.
Round 12: S N F I E O T N E
C1: FINEST (6)
C2: FINEST (6)
DC: NOTES (5) INTONES (7) INTENSE (7)
OT: TENNIES (7) TENSION (7)
Score: 65–53 (max 102)
Heather and Tracey find FINEST, and Heather's still in front. TENNIES are tennis shoes.
Round 13: D S W D A O I O L
C1: WOLDS (5)
C2: WOODS (5)
DC: LOADS (5) DIALS (5) WADIS (5)
OT: LADDOOS (7) WOODSIA (7)
Score: 70–58 (max 109)
A question mark hangs over WOLDS, but it's fine - it's a piece of high, open uncultivated land. A LADDOO is an Indian sweet, and WOODSIA is a small tufted fern.
Round 14: 100, 25, 4, 2, 8, 2. Target: 747.
C1: 748. (100-25)*(8+2)-2 (7)
C2: 746. 8*100-25*2-4 (7)
RR: 747. (100-4)*8-25+2+2 (10)
Score: 77–65 (max 119)
Both Heather and Tracy get one away, and this gives Heather her fourth win. Rachel demonstrates that if the target is odd and you've only got one odd number, you'll probably (but not always) have to keep it back for adding or subtracting at the end rather than multiplying by it.
Round 15: C O R N E D V E G
C1 buzzes on 5.5 seconds to say CONVERGED which is correct.
Final Score: 87–65 (max 129)
And Heather rounds off her fourth win with her third conundrum solve to take her to 87 and her total so far to 388. Tracy did keep it a reasonably close game though, and finishes on a respectable 65.
Now, as you probably know, next week sees the start of recording for the 30th anniversary championship. Some of you probably also know that games featuring Mark Deeks are so popular that tickets for the recording session with him in it ran out weeks ago. Even tickets for the adjacent recordings ran out, as Mark's superlative popularity transcends such piffling irrelevances as not actually being there. And then, only last Friday, a ticket for that very recording unexpectedly landed on my doormat. I don't say this randomly out of the blue just out of smugness (well, maybe a bit) - mainly I mention it because this means I won't be able to do next Monday's recap. So, see you again in two weeks.
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=67
