Tuesday 22nd October 2013 (Series 69, Prelim 75)

[Jack Worsley]

Countdown recap for Tuesday 22 October 2013.

C1: Champion Bradley Cates (2 wins, 211 points.) has already seen off two pretty decent apterites with two centuries to boot. This is of course his second spell on the show after three wins as an 11-year-old back in Series 56. Hopefully he's recovered from the electric shock that the sound of our very own Ian Volante's buzzer gave him by now. He's a student from Southport.
C2: Challenger Andrew Bryce. He's a pub landlord from London but is of South African origin. It's called "The Flying Horse" and a pint costs around four pounds.
DC: Susie Dent and Arlene Phillips.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: D E L O M I P Y J
R02: N T A D O N Z O R
R03: 25, 7, 5, 6, 1, 3. Target: 206.
TTT: DOPENERD - "Thought long and hard about putting a water feature in the garden"
R04: N S E R O H I X T
R05: T E B I S A R N Q
R06: 50, 4, 6, 7, 2, 9. Target: 629.
R07: R U B I S E L M V
R08: L V I R O D G E I
R09: 25, 1, 6, 3, 5, 10. Target: 972.
TTT: THEYLACK - "These kids, they lack supervision"
R10: P O E S G O N D A
R11: T E R U S O D K N
R12: L S A T W E C U F
R13: P I T A R E H P A
R14: 25, 100, 10, 6, 8, 7. Target: 309.
R15: T I C K L E S U P (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: D E L O M I P Y J

C1: MYELOID (7)
C2: EMPLOY (6)
DC: MELODY (6) IMPLODE (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)

Bradley takes the lead with a lovely seven. It's very rare to see non-apterites produce obscurities such as MYELOID but it's not the first time he's done it.

Round 2: N T A D O N Z O R

C1: DONATOR (7)
C2: DONATOR (7)
DC: TORNADO (7)
OT: ODORANT (7) TANDOOR (7)
Score: 14–7 (max 14)

Andrew gets off the mark as both players opt for DONATOR, one of four sevens which are all anagrams of each other.

Round 3: 25, 7, 5, 6, 1, 3. Target: 206.

C1: 206. (7 + 1) x 25 + 6 (10)
C2: 206. (5 + 3) x 25 + 6 (10)
Score: 24–17 (max 24)

Next.

Teatime teaser: DOPENERD -> PONDERED

Round 4: N S E R O H I X T

C1: HORNIEST (8)
C2: SHORTEN (7)
DC: THRONES (7) EXHORTS (7)
Score: 32–17 (max 32)

Bradley becomes the HORNIEST person in the studio and the darren's enough to extend his lead.

Round 5: T E B I S A R N Q

C1: BANISTER (8)
C2: BARNETS (7)
Nick: SARNIE (6)
Score: 40–17 (max 40)

A second successive darrenic eight from our champ but I'm sure plenty of people would have been annoyed when the final Q came out. In fact, any final vowel except E would have given a nine, can you spot them?

Round 6: 50, 4, 6, 7, 2, 9. Target: 629.

C1: 629. (50 - 2) x (7 + 6) + 9 - 4 (10)
C2: 635.
Score: 50–17 (max 50)

There may have been one or two questions raised yesterday about whether his numbers were as good as his letters but Bradley proves that he's not bad at the former either. It's not the easiest one but he manages it and still hasn't dropped a point.

Round 7: R U B I S E L M V

C1: MISRULE (7)
C2: RUBIES (6)
DC: LIMBERS (7) SLUMBER (7)
OT: SUBLIMER (8)
Score: 57–17 (max 58)

Bradley's max game is off now thanks to SUBLIMER. You could be forgiven for thinking that it was dodgy but SUBLIME is one of those adjectives with more than one syllable that has its comparitives specified by the dictionary, so it's fine.

Round 8: L V I R O D G E I

C1: GODLIER (7)
C2: VIDGIL X
DC: VIGIL (5) LIVER (5) GIVER (5) DRIVEL (6)
Nick: VIRILE (6)
OT: GLORIED (7) IVORIED (7) RILIEVO (7)
Score: 64–17 (max 65)

Still not much joy for Andrew as his misspelt six wouldn't have scored anyway. He's up against an opponent in top form today.

Round 9: 25, 1, 6, 3, 5, 10. Target: 972.

C1: 972. (6 x 5 + 10 - 1) x 25 - 3 (10)
C2: 970.
Score: 74–17 (max 75)

Bradley shows no sign of letting his level of performance drop as he picks out another top quality solve and goes into the second break just one point off the maximum. This means that Andrew has gone through the "half" pointless.

Teatime teaser: THEYLACK -> LATCHKEY

Round 10: P O E S G O N D A

C1: DAPSONE (7)
C2: NOOSED (6)
DC: SPONGED (7) SPOONED (7)
OT: DOGNAPS (7) GOONDAS (7) SNOOPED (7)
Score: 81–17 (max 82)

Quite a few sevens but Andrew can't see one as his bid to end his points drought drags agonisingly on.

Round 11: T E R U S O D K N

C1: ROUNDEST (8)
C2: STORED (6)
DC: SORTED (6) NERDS (5) STONKED (7) STONKER (7) TONSURED (8)
OT: DRUNKEST (8) UNSORTED (8)
Score: 89–17 (max 90)

I briefly wondered about UNSTROKED^ here but eight's the maximum and it's no surprise that Bradley spots one of them.

OoW: Susie reads out some memorable celebrity quotes.

Round 12: L S A T W E C U F

C1: FAUCETS (7)
C2: CASTLE (6)
DC: SALUT (5)
OT: WASTEFUL (8)
Score: 96–17 (max 98)

Another darren missed by all, just the second time Bradley has been WASTEFUL in a round today.

Round 13: P I T A R E H P A

C1: HAPPIER (7)
C2: HAPPIER (7)
DC: PARAPET (7) EPITAPH (7)
OT: HETAIRA (7) PERIAPT (7)
Score: 103–24 (max 105)

Andrew will be much HAPPIER now that he's finally registered his first points since the first numbers game.

Round 14: 25, 100, 10, 6, 8, 7. Target: 309.

C1: 309. (25 + 6) x 10 - (8 - 7) (10)
C2: 309 X
Score: 113–24 (max 115)

As is often the case with two large, whether or not you solve it depends on which way you try first. Bradley is successful but unfortunately for Andrew, he realises he's made a mistake, leaving him below 30 points with just the conundrum to play.

Round 15: T I C K L E S U P

C1 buzzes on 6.75 seconds to say PLUCKIEST which is correct.
Final Score: 123–24 (max 125)

I was surprised at how long this took a champion in such good form to solve this but when you've put in a performance like Bradley has today, I don't think that's something you need to worry about. An excellent performance today from probably the best non-apterite in the apterous era, with only two points dropped from trickyish darrens which DC failed to find. If he can keep this standard up, he should become an octochamp next Tuesday without too many problems, even if his potential eighth game is against apterous legend "Horace Horlicks", I believe. This was the last recording of the day so as long as he didn't do a Frank Mulvey after this game, he should be alright. See you next week!


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