Friday 19th July (Series 68, Prelim 15)

[Andy Platt]

Countdown recap for Friday 19 July 2013.

C1: Champion Margaret Lawless (4 wins, 297 points), our resident champion, looking to round the week off with a win.
C2: Challenger Rory Coleman, a semi-pro footballer who has been on Scunthorpe's books in the past, but is now looking for a new lower league club for the start of the new football season.
DC: Susie Dent and Brendan Cole.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: R N P A E O Q U T
R02: R G V E A I L S M
R03: 50, 3, 1, 8, 4, 3. Target: 589.
TTT: LEAFCAPE - "Did this cowboy look like a bucket?"
R04: B W S G O A E O R
R05: D G F R A A E J P
R06: 25, 3, 7, 9, 2, 6. Target: 963.
R07: C S T N O I E I B
R08: T D R E O I A S N
R09: 100, 25, 2, 7, 6, 7. Target: 578.
TTT: IRANISLE - "If you travel from Iran to the isle of Capri, you might need these."
R10: V N E O T S M E W
R11: R L U I A E P N H
R12: N S X I E O T R U
R13: E O A S F L R T M
R14: 25, 7, 6, 10, 8, 3. Target: 812.
R15: W O N T E D M E N (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: R N P A E O Q U T

C1: PARQUET (7)
C2: POUTER (6)
DC: PRONATE (7)
OT: EQUATOR (7) OPAQUER (7) OPERANT (7) PROTEAN (7) QUORATE (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)

Poor start for Rory, there's a few common typical Countdown sevens available. No mistake from Margaret though.

Round 2: R G V E A I L S M

C1: REALISM (7)
C2: REALISM (7)
DC: REGALISM (8)
Score: 14–7 (max 15)

It gets past both contestants that it is possible to slip the G in to REALISM to get the darrenic eight.

Round 3: 50, 3, 1, 8, 4, 3. Target: 589.

C1: 591.
C2: 589. (50 − 1) × (8 + 4) + 3 ÷ 3 (10)
Score: 14–17 (max 25)

Yeah, good solve from Rory. Fairly simple, perhaps, but it's very easy to mess up your first numbers round on TV as we have seen so so many times, so good job of keeping cool here.


Teatime teaser: LEAFCAPE -> PALEFACE


Round 4: B W S G O A E O R

C1: BORAGE (6)
C2: WAGERS (6)
DC: BOOGERS (7)
OT: BORAGES (7) GOOBERS (7)
Score: 20–23 (max 32)

Unlucky from the champ who could have pluralised BORAGE! Cheeky 7 from DC and that's the max in that round.

Round 5: D G F R A A E J P

C1: PARADE (6)
C2: graped
OT: DEFRAG (6) PARGED (6)
Score: 26–23 (max 38)

Invalid word from the challenger, who perhaps felt obligated to risk a 6 upon hearing what Margaret had? If that is the case, then he probably made the right call by taking on the risk. But it's not to be here, and Margaret retakes the lead.

Round 6: 25, 3, 7, 9, 2, 6. Target: 963.

C1: 962. Mistake in working.
C2: 966. (7 × 6 − 3) × 25 − 9 (7)
RR: 963. ((6 − 2) × 25 + 7) × 9 (10)
Score: 26–30 (max 48)

Lovely back-and-forth contest brewing here! Rory was perhaps a little fortuitous there, as he had a 2 left over in his method for 966 and thus could have picked up 964 just as easily.


In today's guest section, Brendan mentions some accidents he had in the past - cutting his leg with a chainsaw and injuring his hand with a nail gun to mention just a couple!


Round 7: C S T N O I E I B

C1: BONIEST (7)
C2: BONIEST (7)
DC: BISECTION (18)
Score: 33–37 (max 66)

Boom. For there to be a 9, there needed to be a B or a V as the final letter. Good spot from the corner. Contestants share sevens.

Round 8: T D R E O I A S N

C1: RATIONED (8)
C2: seration
DC: DERATIONS (18) NOTARISED (18) ORDINATES (18)
Score: 41–37 (max 84)

Another invalid from the challenger. SERRATION is fine, and it's possible that SERATION used to be valid in previous instances of the dictionary but it's correctly disallowed from Susie on this occasion. The champion sweeps up the round with an 8, but most experts will be able to reel off all three of the nines from this selection - which is also statistically the most likely selection to occur when picking 5 consonants.

Round 9: 100, 25, 2, 7, 6, 7. Target: 578.

C1: 575.
C2: 578. 100 × 6 − 25 + 2 + 7 ÷ 7 (10)
Score: 41–47 (max 94)

Good stuff, young Rory. Back into the lead you go.


Teatime teaser: IRANISLE -> AIRLINES


Round 10: V N E O T S M E W

C1: EVENTS (6)
C2: VENOMS (6)
DC: TOWNEES (7)
OT: TEMENOS (7) TONEMES (7)
Score: 47–53 (max 101)

Solid sixes from both contestants as DC mop up one of the available sevens.

Round 11: R L U I A E P N H

C1: PRIAL (5)
C2: PLAINER (7)
DC: PRALINE (7) HARELIP (7)
OT: HAULIER (7) HEPARIN (7) HERNIAL (7) INHALER (7)
Score: 47–60 (max 108)

Yeah, good spot from the challenger. There are quite a few sevens available but the champion seems to go a bit blank! That puts Rory 13 points ahead and he can push on now and try to get the win whilst avoiding the dreaded crucial conundrum with a couple of solid rounds here....


... but he'll have to wait until after Origins of Words. Susie talks about libertines - freed slaves, whose hedonistic antics gave rise to the modern usage of the word - anyone seen as a bit of a moral rogue. Also bigot apparently descended from an act of defiance by Charles the Simple and comes from someone being set in their traditional ways.


Round 12: N S X I E O T R U*

C1: STONIER (7)
C2: outrise
DC: ROUTINES (8) UNISEX (6)
OT: EXTRUSION (18)
Score: 54–60 (max 126)

*Rachel pulled a vowel from the board in spite of Rory asking for a final consonant.

Interesting how that slipped through the net to be honest. Not that I'm complaining, though, because there's a 9 on the horizon! It goes missed by dictionary corner, while Rory's declaring invalid words yet again. If his letters were as strong as his numbers, then he'd have won this game a long long time ago. Possibly setting up for a great comeback from Margaret?!

Round 13: E O A S F L R T M

C1: FLOATERS (8)
C2: FLOATERS (8)
OT: FOREMAST (8) FORMATES (8) REFLOATS (8)
Score: 62–68 (max 134)

Yeah solid stuff from both contestants. Rory's going to need a good numbers game here to avoid the crucial...

Round 14: 25, 7, 6, 10, 8, 3. Target: 812.

C1: 810.
C2: 811. (25 × 3 + 6) × 10 + 8 − 7 (7)
RR: 812. (25 × 8 + 3) × (10 − 6) (10)
Score: 62–75 (max 144)

It probably seems stupid of me to do so, bearing in mind the result of the round, but I think Rory was wrong to pick 1 large number here. He clearly has the numbers advantage over Margaret and in my opinion should have been trying to sew up the game before the conundrum by taking one of the trickier selections. As it is, however, neither of them can find the tricky-but-doable target under studio pressure. But Rory was the closest of the two contestants and thus has his decision to go 1 large vindicated - he has now won the game.

Round 15: W O N T E D M E N

C2 buzzes on 15 seconds to say ENDOWMENT which is correct.

And he tops it off with a good solve on the conundrum.

So Rory wins that very watchable game and returns on Monday to defend the champion's chair. His consistency on the letters looks like it needs work, but he might well be good for a few wins.
And look at the points available! It's almost a travesty that this game didn't end up in the hands of someone like Glen / Zarte / Dylan / Jen because the current 146 record would likely have been smashed!

Typical.


Final Score: 62–85 (max 154)


Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=69

[James Robinson]

C1: Champion Margaret Lawless (3 wins, 297 points), our resident champion, looking to round the week off with a win.

Monday + Tuesday + Wednesday + Thursday = 4 last time I looked.....

Round 11: R L U I A E P N H

C1: PHIAL (5)
C2: PLAINER (7)
DC: PRALINE (7) HARELIP (7)
OT: HAULIER (7) HEPARIN (7) HERNIAL (7) INHALER (7)
Score: 47–60 (max 108)

I had that as PRIAL, and Susie even gave it's definition too....

[Andy Platt]

Gay.

[Guy Barry]

Andy wrote:

Unlucky from the champ who could have pluralised BORAGE!

BORAGE is the name of a herb. Why would a plural have been allowed?

[Anthony Endsor]

Andy wrote:

Unlucky from the champ who could have pluralised BORAGE!

BORAGE is the name of a herb. Why would a plural have been allowed?

Because it is a mass noun exception which applies to any food or plants according to Countdown rules.

[Guy Barry]

I don't pretend to understand the Countdown pluralization rules, but wouldn't Susie have mentioned it on the programme if that had been the case?

[Andy Platt]

I don't have any experience with the word outside of the Countdown world. But I can offer the following; the last time DC mentioned BORAGES was ages ago, but it was most recently played at the end of Series 65 - so it has been allowed under the current version of the dictionary.

[Jack Worsley]

BORAGE isn't listed listed as a mass noun. It's definition is "a European herbaceous plant with bright blue flowers and hairy leaves, which is attractive to bees.". Judging by the definition, it sounds very reasonable that you could have more than one.

[Guy Barry]

Can you normally have plurals of herbs then? Parsleys? Basils? Thymes? Corianders? (Not that the last one would be much use for Countdown.) The singular is normally used as a collective, whatever the Countdown rules say.