Wednesday 23rd January 2013 (30th Championship, R1 Game 4)

[Graeme Cole]

Countdown recap for Wednesday 23 January 2013.

C1: Series 59 Semi-Finalist and Eurovision fan Martin Bishop (9 wins, 977 points from 10 games) achieved octochampdom in his series with 809 points, but lost in the semi-final to the eventual series champion Junaid Mubeen. Of the 17 contestants in Countdown's history to be named after a chess piece, he's the only one to have reached a semi-final.
C2: Series 47 Champion Chris Wills (14 wins, 1767 points) is a research administrator at Manchester Metropolitan University. He's played 17 games in total before this tournament, more than any other player in the competition apart from Darryl Francis, who also played 17. Nick seems to think it's 16 games, though. Maybe he isn't counting Chris's 25th Birthday Special against Conor Travers, which contains at least three extraordinarily unusual things: a 12-round game, no dictionary corner guest, and Conor missing NEUROGLIA.
DC: Susie Dent and Margaret Mountford.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: R S R O A E W N I
R02: M D C A U E N D L
R03: H T S I E O Y F A
R04: P S N U A E G M L
R05: 25, 50, 75, 100, 4, 3. Target: 315.
TTT: CARBOATS - "These performers use their toes during a feat."
R06: R T D I O O B M U
R07: R T W A E I S M E
R08: T Q N O E A R C P
R09: R N D N U O I E N
R10: 75, 4, 7, 1, 9, 10. Target: 201.
TTT: HARDCLIP - "The tablet and the vegetable combine to make fish."
R11: R S K S O E A B I
R12: G S R A U O P T D
R13: L T N U E A E P O
R14: 25, 3, 10, 2, 6, 1. Target: 547.
R15: O P H A M C I T Y (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Round 1: R S R O A E W N I

C1: WARRENS (7)
C2: NARROWS (7)
DC: WORRIES (7)
OT: IRONWARE (8)
Score: 7–7 (max 8)

It looks like seven is all there is, but IRONWARE was lurking in there for eight. Chris and Martin both find sevens to get them off the mark.


Round 2: M D C A U E N D L

C1: UNLACED (7)
C2: CANDLE (6)
OT: CANDLED (7) UNLADED (7)
Score: 14–7 (max 15)

Nobody mentions that Chris could have put a D on CANDLE, because to anybody other than the makers of the dictionary that's just silly. Apparently if you hold an egg up to the light to test it for freshness, you're candling it.


Round 3: H T S I E O Y F A

C1: FEISTY (6)
C2: FAITHS (6)
DC: FETISH (6) SOFTIE (6)
OT: ISOHYET (7)
Score: 20–13 (max 22)

Sixtown this time. There's one seven available which I thought would have a ridiculously long and complicated definition, but it's actually a perfectly sensible thing. You know how ISOBARS on a map are lines connecting points which have the same atmospheric pressure? An ISOHYET is the same, but for rainfall. Other ISO- lines you can put on a map are: ISOHEL, which is the same, but for duration of sunshine (it also gets you a Book of Bevins); ISOCHRON, which is used in geology to connect points on a graph that relate to the same time in history; ISOPACH, also from geology, refers to the thickness of strata beneath the points; ISOPHOTE, which is used in physics and connects points with the same intensity of light; and ISOTHERE and ISOTHERM, which take us back to meteorology and connect places that have the same average summer temperature and general temperature respectively. There's even a generic name for them other than "lines on a map or diagram that connect points which have the same value of something" - these are all specific examples of ISOLINES, also called ISOPLETHS.


Round 4: P S N U A E G M L

C1: PLUMAGES (8)
C2: PLUMAGES (8)
DC: SPANGLE (7) MANGLES (7)
OT: ANGELUS (7) LANGUES (7) LEGUANS (7) MANGELS (7) PLAGUES (7) PLENUMS (7) PLUMAGE (7) PLUNGES (7) PNEUMAS (7) SUNLAMP (7)
Score: 28–21 (max 30)

Martin and Chris try for a plural of a mass noun. It's shaky ground, as it doesn't have a count noun sense, but on the other hand it's not unreasonable to say that two birds have two different plumages (see also TONNAGE), so this was always going to be a tricky call. Susie decides it's valid. aptodic decides it isn't, so the recap generator serves up a boatload of sevens.


Round 5: 25, 50, 75, 100, 4, 3. Target: 315.

C1: 315. ((75+50)/25)+100)*3 (10)
C2: 315. (((75-50)/25)+4+100)*3 (10)
Score: 38–31 (max 40)

Martin picks four large, and both our competitors find that the solution is not so much tricky, just a bit ugly.


Teatime teaser: CARBOATS -> ACROBATS


Round 6: R T D I O O B M U

C1: OUTBID (6)
C2: OUTBID (6)
DC: MORBID (6)
OT: BOUDOIR (7)
Score: 44–37 (max 47)

Another unfound darren, but Chris and Martin find sixes and the gap remains seven.


Round 7: R T W A E I S M E

C1: EMIRATES (8)
C2: WEARIEST (8)
DC: STEAMIER (8)
OT: STEMWARE (8) SWEATIER (8)
Score: 52–45 (max 55)

STEMWARE? Lexplorer, for example.


Round 8: T Q N O E A R C P

C1: PRONATE (7)
C2: PRONATE (7)
DC: ENACTOR (7)
OT: OPERANT (7) PATONCE (7) PROTEAN (7)
Score: 59–52 (max 62)

Quite a few sevens that we see regularly on Countdown. PATONCE is one of those postpositive adjectives from heraldry. A cross patonce is one that broadens from the centre and ends with three pointed lobes.


Round 9: R N D N U O I E N

C1: NEURON (6)
C2: IRONED (6)
DC: UNIRONED (8)
OT: INNUENDO (8)
Score: 65–58 (max 70)

This is the kind of mischief that the god of randomness likes to get up to occasionally. The selection in round nine is an anagram of ROUND NINE.


Round 10: 75, 4, 7, 1, 9, 10. Target: 201.

C1: 201. 75*4+(10+1)*9 (10)
C2: 201. (75-(9-1))*(10-7) (10)
Score: 75–68 (max 80)

The numbers game doesn't trouble our two champions, so Martin is still seven ahead as we head into the third half.


Teatime teaser: HARDCLIP -> PILCHARD


Round 11: R S K S O E A B I

C1: BOSSIER (7)
C2: BOSSIER (7)
DC: baskers SOAKERS (7) ISOBARS (7)
OT: KAIROSES (8)
Score: 82–75 (max 88)

If you were paying attention earlier in the recap you might have got ISOBARS. There's an obscure eight as well, though, KAIROSES. KAIROS is a Greek-derived word for a propitious moment for a decision or action.


Round 12: G S R A U O P T D

C1: dragouts
C2: RAGOUTS (7)
DC: POSTGRAD (8)
Score: 82–82 (max 96)

DRAGOUTS^ sounds dodgy, and it is, so Chris draws level. Margaret seems a bit miffed that POSTGRAD is in the dictionary even though it's an abbreviation. But like BUS, PLANE and PHONE, it's an abbreviation that's so ubiquitous that it's entered the language as a word in its own right.


Round 13: L T N U E A E P O

C1: EELPOUT (7)
C2: epaulet
DC: OPULENT (7) ANTELOPE (8)
Score: 89–82 (max 104)

"I beg your pardon?" says Nick, as Martin offers EELPOUT. "It's a fish," says Martin. Who says apterites don't know the meanings of obscure words?

Chris's offering of EPAULET^ is an American spelling - in British English the spelling is EPAULETTE, so Martin goes seven ahead again.


Round 14: 25, 3, 10, 2, 6, 1. Target: 547.

C1: 547. (25*2+6-1)*10-3 (10)
C2: 547. (10+1)*2*25-3 (10)
Score: 99–92 (max 114)

Another not-too-taxing numbers game means the game has gone to a crucial conundrum. I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this yet, but I've noticed that Nick usually now announces when a conundrum is crucial, and today wasn't an exception. It's good to see Nick is getting into the game and noticing these things, like Jeff did.


Round 15: O P H A M C I T Y

C2 buzzes on 12 seconds to say MYOPATHIC which is correct.
Final Score: 99–102 (max 124)

This was a difficult conundrum, 10/10 on the apterous conundrum scale, and Chris Wills does well to steal the game with it. Later that evening, when I met up with some of the contestants who had recorded that day, Innis showed me and Andy Platt the OPHAMCITY scramble. It took us about 10 minutes of guessing to get what Chris got in 12 seconds under the pressure of a crucial conundrum situation.

Another good competitive game. Martin performed well and led for most of the game, but Chris's brilliant conundrum spot earns him a second round game against Jack Hurst or Wayne Kelly on the 14th of February.

Tomorrow, Series 61 Champion Chris Davies takes on comedian and actor David Walliams. Who knew that the star of Little Britain would turn out to be so good at Countdown? I think that's who it is, anyway. Friday sees Innis Carson play Adam Gillard, then on Saturday about 40 of us are going to meet up in a hall in Lincoln and play Countdown for some of the day and occupy the nearby pub for the rest of it.

I'll be back next Monday to recap a match between two Countdowners of the 1980s, Christine Hunt and Sandie Simonis.


Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=-16

[David Barnard]

Great game, and who thinks Chris Wills is insanely cool? Long live Chris

[Jon O'Neill]

Great game, and who thinks Chris Wills is insanely cool? Long live Chris

Me, and my parents too.

[Gavin Chipper]

I remember for a brief period, Chris Wills was considered as a possible greatest ever. Until one series later when Julian Fell came along. Seems a long time ago now.