Monday 16th September 2013 (Series 69, Prelim 49)

[Graeme Cole]

Countdown recap for Monday 16 September 2013.

C1: Champion Alex Fish (1 win, 106 points) made a good debut on Friday against incumbent champion Natalie Coriette. He's wearing a curious-looking shirt with swirly fish on it.
C2: Challenger Michael Douglas from Limerick is not a Hollywood actor. He's currently helping out in a band called Crow Black Chicken.
DC: Susie Dent and Jodie Kidd.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: E N S H D A E R S
R02: T O M S R E O M I
R03: 25, 4, 1, 2, 3, 5. Target: 199.
TTT: IASKCHEF - "I ask the chef to make me one of these."
R04: C X T D R E I C U
R05: I M R S A N O E T
R06: 25, 50, 1, 10, 9, 2. Target: 880.
R07: I O S P T V G I A
R08: N J L D R O E U G
R09: 75, 4, 6, 9, 7, 2. Target: 977.
TTT: GOINGFAR - "Going far into the forest to search for food."
R10: T B N T V O E O E
R11: I E R S P D S A P
R12: N I H G K E A N L
R13: E Q N Y L U O T B
R14: 25, 75, 9, 2, 10, 3. Target: 399.
R15: E C O Z I N G E R (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: E N S H D A E R S

C1: HARDNESS (8)
C2: HARDENS (7)
DC: DEARNESS (8)
RR: HARNESSED (18)
Score: 8–0 (max 18)

Rachel spots the nine that Susie and Jodie didn't get. Champion Alex was close with HARDNESS, which still gives him the lead.


Round 2: T O M S R E O M I

C1: ROOMIEST (8)
C2: ROOMIEST (8)
DC: MOTORISE (8)
Score: 16–8 (max 26)

Challenger Michael is off the mark now thanks to ROOMIEST.


Round 3: 25, 4, 1, 2, 3, 5. Target: 199.

C1: 199. 25*4*2-1 (10)
C2: 199. 25*4*2-1 (10)
Score: 26–18 (max 36)

Next.

By the way...

Thrilled with series 69 so far?

Free on Wednesday 13th November?

Want to go and see the final in Salford?

Well you can't. They appear to have run out of tickets as soon as they announced the recording date.

Mysteriously, nobody seems to know anyone who actually got any of the tickets. Still, past experience suggests that the mysterious group of people who always snap up all the tickets for a recording before it's announced are often the ones who cancel a few weeks later or don't even bother showing up, so it's probably worth getting your name on the waiting list. And if you've been before and are known to reliably turn up when you get a ticket, then, well, that can only stand you in good stead.


Teatime teaser: IASKCHEF -> FISHCAKE


Round 4: C X T D R E I C U

C1: DIRECT (6)
C2: DIRECT (6)
DC: CREDIT (6)
OT: CRETIC (6)
Score: 32–24 (max 42)

The two common sixes are spotted on the studio. A CRETIC is a metrical foot consisting of one short or unstressed syllable between two long or stressed ones. PULVERISE, for example.


Round 5: I M R S A N O E T

C1: moaniest
C2: ROMANISE (8)
DC: MORAINES (8) STOREMAN (8)
OT: AMNIOTES (8) AMORTISE (8) ATOMISER (8) MINARETS (8) MONSTERA (8) NOTARIES (8) NOTARISE (8) RAIMENTS (8) ROMAINES (8)
Score: 32–32 (max 50)

No nine here, but a plethora of eights. Unfortunately for Alex, MOANIEST^ isn't one of them, so Michael draws level. Incidentally, MONSTERA only stems with S, O, U, N, D and Y. MONSTERAS is pretty obvious, can you name all the others?


Round 6: 25, 50, 1, 10, 9, 2. Target: 880.

C1: 877. (10+9-1)*50-25+2 (7)
C2: 877. (10+9-1)*50-25+2 (7)
RR: 880. (50*9-10)*2 (10)
Score: 39–39 (max 60)

After getting a nine letter word in the first round, Rachel follows it with a contestant-beating perfect solve on the numbers.


Round 7: I O S P T V G I A

C1: PIVOTS (6)
C2: PIVOTS (6)
DC: SPIGOT (6)
OT: PATIOS (6) PATOIS (6)
Score: 45–45 (max 66)

Nothing better than six here. DC get SPIGOT, a type of tap.


Round 8: N J L D R O E U G

C1: UNDERGO (7)
C2: LONGER (6)
DC: LOUNGED (7) ROUNDEL (7)
OT: JONGLEUR (8)
Score: 52–45 (max 74)

Champion Alex regains his head with UNDERGO. Unseen was JONGLEUR for eight - an "itinerant minstrel", according to the dictionary.


Round 9: 75, 4, 6, 9, 7, 2. Target: 977.

C1: 977. (9+4)*75+2 (10)
C2: 977. (9+4)*75+2 (10)
Score: 62–55 (max 84)

Another numbers game that's not too tricky if you know the 75 times table as all good Countdowners should.


Teatime teaser: GOINGFAR -> FORAGING


Round 10: T B N T V O E O E

C1: netbot
C2: TONE (4)
DC: BOTNET (6) BOOTEE (6)
Score: 62–59 (max 90)

Almost a great six there by The Fish. NETBOT^ isn't in, but BOTNET is. It's a group of malware-infected computers, where said malware allows some ne'er-do-well control the computers for whatever nefarious purpose takes their fancy.


Round 11: I E R S P D S A P

C1: SPIDERS (7)
C2: SPIDERS (7)
DC: APPRISED (8)
OT: APPRISES (8) DESPAIRS (8)
Score: 69–66 (max 98)

Still a close game, but a few eights go unfound.

"Feed us with your learning spoon," says Nick to Susie. Today the origins discussion is about words which come to us from Native American languages, particularly names for things the first English colonists to America didn't have names for, like SKUNK. On the other hand, POWWOW meant a wise healer or priest, and later came to be applied to a meeting of powerful people.


Round 12: N I H G K E A N L

C1: LEANING (7)
C2: LEAKING (7)
DC: HEALING (7)
OT: ANELING (7) ANKLING (7) LINKAGE (7)
Score: 76–73 (max 105)

A nice flat round with lots of -ING words means there's still only three points in it.


Round 13: E Q N Y L U O T B

C1: QUOTE (5)
C2: TONE (4)
DC: BOUNTY (6)
OT: BETONY (6) NEBULY (6) UNBELT (6) UNBOLT (6)
Score: 81–73 (max 111)

Michael spots TONE for the second time today. Alex wins the round to go eight in front, but it's not enough to avoid a crucial conundrum, yet.


Round 14: 25, 75, 9, 2, 10, 3. Target: 399.

C1: 400. (3+10-9)*(75+25) (7)
C2: 400. (75+25)*(9-10/2) (7)
RR: 399. (2+3)*75+25-(10-9) (10)
Score: 88–80 (max 121)

For the numbers, both contestants try coming down from 400, which leads nowhere. Rachel finds us 399, but we have a crucial conundrum. To be fair to Nick, he normally notices them nowadays, but he didn't comment on it this time.


Round 15: E C O Z I N G E R

Michael buzzes on 4 seconds but does not answer.
Alex buzzes on 4 seconds to say RECOGNIZE which is correct.
Final Score: 98–80 (max 131)

Michael buzzes for the conundrum on about 3.9 seconds, and stares at it for a couple of seconds before saying "nope". Not sure if he had something in mind but realised it wasn't right, or tried to buy a bit of time, but either way it's game over for Michael. The Fish then buzzes as soon as the clock is restarted and gives the right answer, and it's he who goes into tomorrow's game, still averaging over 100.

I'm on holiday in the Lake District for most of next week, so next Monday's recap is up for grabs. I wonder if it'll remain up for grabs longer than a series 69 final audience ticket?

...

It turns out: yes.


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

[Callum Todd]

Can you have DESPAIRS? I went for that playing along at home but when DC didn't mention it I checked the Dictionary and DESPAIR is a mass noun.

[Malcolm James]

DESPAIR is also a verb, so yes you can have DESPAIRS!

[Philip Wilson]

Countdown recap for Monday 16 September 2013.

Round 7: I O S P T V G I A

C1: PIVOTS (6)
C2: PIVOTS (6)
DC: SPIGOT (6)
OT: PATIOS (6) PATOIS (6)
Score: 45–45 (max 66)

Nothing better than six here. DC get SPIGOT, a type of tap.

Also made popular by being the first word of an REM song
Oh, and I got one of those words with Monstera and a Y lol

[kieranbray]

Could I please lay claim to next Monday's recap?

[James Robinson]

Could I please lay claim to next Monday's recap?

I'll say Yes, as I'm sure Graeme will too, Kieran.