)So, fanfares ready and enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 29 November 2012.
C1: Champion David Barnard (7 wins, 682 points.) An Apteforumite and charity shop volunteer from Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.
C2: Challenger Virginia Arena. From Ewell, Surrey. Her daughter and grand-daughter live in Australia, and she regularly goes to see them, but hasn't quite managed to work Skype, so she can talk to them at this end.
DC: Susie Dent and John Inverdale.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: D G C N O E U T A
R02: M K N I E I F T H
R03: M R N D E A U S G
R04: N D X I E U D R S
R05: 100, 75, 25, 50, 2, 6. Target: 940.
TTT: VANSSIGH - "If you can't get the answer to this, then hard cheese"
R06: T V S A O I L Q E
R07: V C H S A I O Y R
R08: N F L E A O T S E
R09: D T J R A E U N C
R10: 75, 9, 3, 5, 1, 2. Target: 469.
TTT: SNOWTHUD - "When all has come grinding to a halt"
R11: G D N M A O E S N
R12: T P H A O E G B I
R13: M R S R A I O D E
R14: 50, 7, 4, 10, 9, 2. Target: 572.
R15: D E C E N T L E G (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: D G C N O E U T A
C1: DECAGON (7)
C2: COUNTED (7)
DC: UNCOATED (8)
OT: OUTDANCE (8)
Score: 7–7 (max 8)
A pair of sevens for the contestants, but a slightly unusual 8 is found by DC, even if John and Nick both seem to want to denounce it.
Round 2: M K N I E I F T H
C1: FINITE (6)
C2: FINITE (6)
DC: FIT (3)
OT: HITMEN (6)
Score: 13–13 (max 14)
Both contestants go FINITE for 6, avoiding the HITMEN, which is always a good thing.
Round 3: M R N D E A U S G
C1: REMUDAS (7)
C2: SUNDER (6)
DC: GUARDSMEN (18)
Score: 20–13 (max 32)
David makes the first breakthrough with his interesting 7, but there was a 9 around, got by DC I might add.
Round 4: N D X I E U D R S
C1: sundried
C2: INSURED (7)
OT: RUDDIES (7)
Score: 20–20 (max 39)
I thought it was good too, either as "sun" dried, or to do with sundries, but clearly not.
So, the scores return to level pegging.Round 5: 100, 75, 25, 50, 2, 6. Target: 940.
C1: 941. Mistake in working.
C2: 950. ((6 + 2) x 100) + 75 + 25 + 50 (5)
RR: 940. (100 - 6) x (50 / ((75 / 25) + 2)) (10)
Score: 20–25 (max 49)
Time to bring out the 4 large ones
And even a sky-high method to boot. But wait,............... David's gone wrong. 
But luckily for him, Virginia only got to 10 away, so just a 5 point lead for her after this round. Is the chance of being an octochamp giving David some unwanted nerves, I wonder............ 
John talks about filling time on Radio 2 (and subsequently Radio 5 Live) when Wimbledon was rained off, which involved Russ Abbot doing a tennis joke involving head actions. (A bit hard on the radio, you understand.
)Teatime teaser: VANSSIGH -> SHAVINGS
Round 6: T V S A O I L Q E
C1: VIOLATES (8)
C2: VALETS (6)
Score: 28–25 (max 57)
Well, clearly not, as he bounces back immediately with the darrenic 8.
Round 7: V C H S A I O Y R
C1: CHAIRS (6)
C2: CHAIRS (6)
DC: CHOIRS (6) RAVISH (6)
OT: CHOISYA (7)
Score: 34–31 (max 64)
Loadsa loadsa 6's, but there is a well weird 7 that I've never even heard of
CHOISYA is a small genus of aromatic evergreen shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as Mexican orange or mock orange due to the similarity of their flowers with those of the closely related orange, both in shape and scent.
Round 8: N F L E A O T S E
C1: ETALONS (7)
C2: FOLATES (7)
OT: LATEENS (7) LEANEST (7) LOANEES (7) OLEATES (7) ONESELF (7)
Score: 41–38 (max 71)
Sevens at 7 o'clock.
And those 7 points means that, win or lose, David is in the finals. An OLEATE is an ester or a salt of oleic acid.
Round 9: D T J R A E U N C
C1: CENTAUR (7)
C2: TRANCED (7)
DC: UNDERACT (8)
OT: UNCRATED (8) UNTRACED (8)
Score: 48–45 (max 79)
A nice trio of 8's here. But, just the one from DC means that this game is still evenly poised heading into the 2nd numbers game.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "hi-de-hi" and "heyday".
Round 10: 75, 9, 3, 5, 1, 2. Target: 469.
C1: 469. Mistake in working.
C2: 463. Mistake in working.
RR: 469. (((75 x 3) + 5) x 2) + 9 (10)
Score: 48–45 (max 89)
Dear oh dear oh dear. David messes up his method again, as does Virginia, even though she almost tried to cheat by trying to say that she used different numbers to get her method, but Rachel literally manages to get her to show her working out, and if you look carefully, you can she she accidentally crossed out the 5, instead of the 3, which meant she messed up her answer. So, it's a stalemate in this one.
NEXT
Teatime teaser: SNOWTHUD -> SHUTDOWN
Round 11: G D N M A O E S N
C1: MANGOES (7)
C2: MOANED (6)
DC: OMEGAS (6)
OT: DAEMONS (7) MANNOSE (7) MASONED (7) NONAGES (7)
Score: 55–45 (max 96)
David decides that going fruity might not be a bad idea, and indeed, it gives him a double figure lead for the first time today.
A MANNOSE is a hexose, C6H12O6, obtained from the hydrolysis of the ivory nut and yielding mannitol upon reduction.
Round 12: T P H A O E G B I
C1: OPIATE (6)
C2: BATHE (5)
DC: BOTHIE (6)
OT: BOATIE (6) HOAGIE (6) PHOBIA (6) POTAGE (6)
Score: 61–45 (max 102)
Now it's the turn of six 6's, and yet again, David spots one of them and his lead now goes up to 16 with 3 rounds to go. But, is he going to try and pull out all the stops in this last letters to avoid his Achilles' heel of the day, the numbers
In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, a HOAGIE (or HOAGY) is a hero sandwich.
Round 13: M R S R A I O D E
C1: AIRDROMES (18)
C2: MARRIED (7)
DC: RAMRODS (7) MARRIEDS (8)
Score: 79–45 (max 120)
WOAH! WOAH!! WOAH!!! WOAH!!!! Well, he started his run with a 9, and he's gonna finish it with a 9 too.
A super impressive 9 not only gives him the win, but it guarantees him the #2 spot in the finals, with the #1 spot now out of his reach. Round 14: 50, 7, 4, 10, 9, 2. Target: 572.
C1: 572. ((50 + 7) x 10) + 2 (10)
C2: 572. ((50 + 7) x 10) + 2 (10)
Score: 89–55 (max 130)
Well, at least that Achilles' heel only worked for 2 numbers rounds today.
Now, can David coolly finish off with a 99 Round 15: D E C E N T L E G
No one buzzes. The answer was NEGLECTED.
Final Score: 89–55 (max 140)
Unfortunately not, but hey ho, I'm sure he's not that fussed.
So, David's 8 wins and 771 points mean that he is currently the #2 seed, but he'll only be overtaken if whoever wins tomorrow wins all the last 8 games, to become the 8th octochamp of the series, which would be only the 2nd time in the show's history that would have happened.
So, assuming that there are no more new entries, David will return in 2 weeks time to face Chris Marshall in the 2nd quarter-final, which in itself sounds like a cracker of a game.
Join Thomas tomorrow for the Friday show.
I'll be back on Wednesday, when hopefully I'll be in a brilliant mood, after seeing Huddersfield Town give Leeds United a good thrashing on Saturday lunchtime.
So, till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
David:
Total score - 89
Raw score - 89
Total % of max - 64
Raw % of max - 64
Total average score per round - 5.9
Raw average score per round - 5.9
Number of maxes - 7
Virginia:
Total score - 55
Raw score - 85
Total % of max - 39
Raw % of max - 61
Total average score per round - 3.7
Raw average score per round - 5.7
Number of maxes - 4
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=67
