Monday 23rd May 2011 (Series 64, Prelim 91)

[Ryan Taylor]

Countdown recap for Monday 23 May 2011.

Good afternoon, settle down and prepare for what is to be a very exciting fortnight in the Countdown world. I've just had my Alphabetti Spaghetti and done the crossword so I'm all worded up for this afternoon's game.

C1: Champion Liam Herringshaw (1 win, 82 points.)
C2: Challenger Jamie Atkins.
DC: Susie Dent and Alistair McGowan.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: O S D U T L E M E
R02: N T P I O S T A O
R03: N V A E R Q A M D
R04: T P M I A U L P A
R05: 50, 9, 10, 7, 6, 3. Target: 959.
TTT: SANDCAVE - "Make romantic moves towards payday loans"
R06: N R S P I E E F O
R07: C G A S O E L R I
R08: B C H E I U W K E
R09: R H T I O G E D W
R10: 100, 1, 9, 6, 2, 5. Target: 182.
TTT: KINDTOES - "His toes might be kind but his hands are dangerous"
R11: D A E N S L I T C
R12: S D R U O D R I G
R13: O F R Z E O J V A
R14: 100, 7, 7, 6, 5, 10. Target: 271.
R15: L I L A C S A C S (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Liam Herringshaw is at the moment a Countdown champion having won on Friday. Liam is a palaeontologist (that thing that Ross does in 'Friends'). He just looks like a smart man, he has that kind of curly mophead hair and glasses to boot so having missed his show on Friday I am eager to see how he performs.

Jamie Atkins doesn't have a mophead hairstyle, in fact, he doesn't have any hair. He works as a bookmaker and Jeff asks him what odds he has on himself to win today. A not so reassuring 6/1 is Jamie's reply. Only time will tell.

Alistair McGowan makes a return to the studio's and in the intro does a very nice impression of Dara O'Briain which made me laugh a bit.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: O S D U T L E M E

C1: MOLESTED (8)
C2: LOUDEST (7)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)

Already after one round I can see that the Fossil Man means business. Darrenic spot to open this awesome week ahead.

Round 2: N T P I O S T A O

C1: POTIONS (7)
C2: POINTS (6)
DC: OPTIONS (7) STATION (7)
OT: POTATIONS (18)
Score: 15–0 (max 26)

Can't spot that tricky fucker for a 9 though can he? Don't think many would to be fair. POTATION is a drink or the act of drinking.

Round 3: N V A E R Q A M D

C1: RAVEN (5)
C2: RAVEN (5)
DC: DRAMA (5) VERANDA (7)
Score: 20–5 (max 33)

Shitty letters here but a lovely darren once again picked out by DC. VERANDA can be spelt with a H (that's AITCH!) on the end. I was a little surprised that VERDANA^ (the font) wasn't valid but yeah I guess they are just capitalised.

Round 4: T P M I A U L P A

C1: IMPALA (6)
C2: plumit
DC: lumpit
OT: PAPULA (6) PULPIT (6)
Score: 26–5 (max 39)

After getting on the board in the last round Jamie is back to his consistent scoring of zero. Two tough sixes surface in this round and Liam impressivle gets one of them whilst PULPIT was perhaps the more obvious well known one.

Round 5: 50, 9, 10, 7, 6, 3. Target: 959.

C1: 956.
C2: 959. (10+9)*50+6+3 (10)
Score: 26–15 (max 49)

What the fuck Liam was doing here I don't know. I just hope he didn' add the 6 to 950 and then not realise he had a 3 to use. Anyway, that mental lapse by Liam means that his early work on the letters has been somewhat undone by conceding 10 points to Jamie who is no doubt feeling a little bit more confident heading into the break.

DC Guest Time: Alistair McGowan reads us a poem which is pretty funny and is all about how you end up becoming just like your father. I might get round to typing the whole thing up some time.

Teatime teaser: SANDCAVE -> ADVANCES

Round 6: N R S P I E E F O

C1: PREENS (6)
C2: piners
DC: forespine PEONIES (7) PIONEERS (8)
OT: ISOPRENE (8)
Score: 32–15 (max 57)

A lot of words missed by both chaps in this round. This is best to be just swept under the rug.

Round 7: C G A S O E L R I

C1: GIRASOLE (8)
C2: GLACIERS (8)
OT: CALORIES (8) CARIOLES (8) SERAGLIO (8)
Score: 40–23 (max 65)

This is more like it. 8 is the max, Liam gets 8, Jamie gets 8, DC get 8, I get 8, you all get 8. Everyone's happy.

Round 8: B C H E I U W K E

C1: CUBE (4)
C2: CHEEK (5)
DC: BEECH (5) WICK WEEK
OT: KEECH (5)
Score: 40–28 (max 70)

Worst. Selection. Ever.

Round 9: R H T I O G E D W

C1: WHITER (6)
C2: -
DC: WRITHED (7) RIGHTED (7) GOITRED (7)
OT: GIRTHED (7)
Score: 46–28 (max 77)

RIGHTED seemed to more or less leap out but clearly not to the contestants. Jamie blobs the round completely. Faillllll.

Round 10: 100, 1, 9, 6, 2, 5. Target: 182.

C1: 182. (100-9)*2 (10)
C2: 182. (100-9)*2 (10)
Score: 56–38 (max 87)

I half expected one of them to do it a retarded way such as saying 2*100-9*(6-5+1) but thankfully they did it the most elegant of ways which for some reason I enjoy. I really hate it when people obliviously go a long way around a numbers game, not seeing that subtracting a number and THEN multiplying cuts out a lot of work. Liam and Jamie didn't do this here though so I don't even know why the fuck I'm complaining. Let's go have a look at Susie's slot...

...Susie's Segment: Susie's little piece is all about the word 'pear-shaped'.

Teatime teaser: KINDTOES -> KENDOIST

Round 11: D A E N S L I T C

C1: SLANTED (7)
C2: CANDLES (7)
DC: DISTANCE (8)
OT: CITADELS (8) DEINSTAL (8) DIALECTS (8) LANDTIES (8)
Score: 63–45 (max 95)

Meh.

Round 12: S D R U O D R I G

C1: RIGOURS (7)
C2: druids
DC: GOURDS (6)
Score: 70–45 (max 102)

Yet another invalid word from Jamie means that Liam is pretty much over the line now. Jamie will have to come up with a beater in the next round to save this game...

Round 13: O F R Z E O J V A

C1: FROZE (5)
C2: FROZE (5)
OT: AFORE (5) FOVEA (5) RAZOO (5)
Score: 75–50 (max 107)

...and he doesn't. Well, with selections like that I don't blame him. Some bitty selections indeed.

Round 14: 100, 7, 7, 6, 5, 10. Target: 271.

C1: 270. (7-5)*100+7*10 (7)
C2: 270. (7-5)*100+7*10 (7)
RR: 271. (10-7)*100-(7*5-6) (10)
Score: 82–57 (max 117)

Rachel makes this numbers game look easy probably because it was relatively easy and for the second time the champion is unable to nail the target. Potential weakness in Liam's numbers game that might be his downfall in a future game perhaps. Why am I not mentioning Jamie's numbers? Because he's beaten and we won't ever see him again. Ever.

Round 15: L I L A C S A C S

No one buzzes. The answer was CLASSICAL.
Final Score: 82–57 (max 127)

For some reason, conundrums with a double C are tricky to get and this proves true since none of them solve this one. I think the letter C is probably my least favourite letter when it comes to Countdown. And then the letter V is when it comes to Scrabble. Oh look Consonant and Vowel. Oh, and Carol Vorderman. COINCIDENCE?!?!?!

Wrapping this mumbo jumbo up: Liam wins for a second time.

I will "see" you next Monday for the recap of the 3rd quarter final which will be Tom Barnes versus Mary Adie.

Ciao bellas.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=64

[Graeme Cole]

Wrapping this mumbo jumbo up: Liam wins for a second time and should he win tomorrow but then lose on Wednesday he might qualify in 8th place for the finals if his cumulative score is high enough. Alternatively he might lose tomorrow and sink into the Series 64 abyss. Or even he might go on and win on Wednesday meaning he would carry over as champion.* Either way the final line up for the series finals will be known by 4pm on Wednesday and we all await what will be a very good set of games through until next Friday.

*I've undoubtedly made a cock up in my calculations and will be corrected soon.

Yup, afraid so.

If Liam wins his third game and loses his fourth then he'd only have three wins, so wouldn't make the finals as Michelle Nevitt has got four. Barring other finalists not turning up, Liam can't be in the finals of series 64.

[Johnny Canuck]

Could he win 4 games, get a total over 366 points and choose to enter the finals unbeaten? This has happened a bunch of times before (in the 9-round era), although he would have to get an average of over 101 points tomorrow and Wednesday.

[Graeme Cole]

Could he win 4 games, get a total over 366 points and choose to enter the finals unbeaten? This has happened a bunch of times before (in the 9-round era), although he would have to get an average of over 101 points tomorrow and Wednesday.

No.

[Ryan Taylor]

Wrapping this mumbo jumbo up: Liam wins for a second time and should he win tomorrow but then lose on Wednesday he might qualify in 8th place for the finals if his cumulative score is high enough. Alternatively he might lose tomorrow and sink into the Series 64 abyss. Or even he might go on and win on Wednesday meaning he would carry over as champion.* Either way the final line up for the series finals will be known by 4pm on Wednesday and we all await what will be a very good set of games through until next Friday.

*I've undoubtedly made a cock up in my calculations and will be corrected soon.

Yup, afraid so.

If Liam wins his third game and loses his fourth then he'd only have three wins, so wouldn't make the finals as Michelle Nevitt has got four. Barring other finalists not turning up, Liam can't be in the finals of series 64.

Knew I'd fuck it up. It somehow feels wrong not being told off by Robbo though.

[Ryan Taylor]

Here is the poem written/read by McGowan for this episode:

Becoming Dad’

I’m becoming my father
Even though I’d rather...
...not.
“Yeah that’s it”

“No there’s more, there’s more”
I find myself looking at BHS cardies
And saying no one makes films now like Laurel and Hardy’s
I’ve got his lines around my eyes
I like the jelly in pork pies
And when I sit, I emit, involuntary sighs
My hair is thinning if it hasn’t thun
And I don’t care whose winning or whose won
The age old battle for number 10
‘Cos nothing really changes when new PM’s are chosen
His hair is growing from my nose
And his hair is growing on my hands
I like local radio and keep rubber bands
I don’t want to go on motorways, ever.
I say “in 5 minutes” when I mean “never”.
I say “I’m just going to the smallest room”
When I mean I’m just going to the toilet for half an hour with a cup of tea, a pipe, a newspaper, the Reader’s Digest and “I wouldn’t go in there for a long time afterwards if I were you”
I take the suagr sachets from canteens and cafe’s – why?
I get annoyed by bad grammar and spelling
I think up bad puns that are not worth the telling
I feel the pace of life in the city
I’ve started to think Harriet Harman is pretty
And last week I thought “that Ann Widdecombe’s not bad”
I am, my dad.