So after 6 months of prelims, the Quarter Finals, and the dramatic Semi Finals, it is my great pleasure to bring you the Final of series 70 of Countdown.
Our 2 battle-scarred contestants have really been put through their paces to land their place here today. Both players indeed coming from behind in their semi finals to pull off dramatic wins. Mark Murray and Andy Naylor have both won 10 games so far, but which one will get to the magic 11 today? Enjoy
Countdown recap for Friday 27 June 2014.
C1: Champion Mark Murray (10 wins, 1086 points.) - An apterite from Bristol, originally from Dublin. Has defeated Andy Gardner and Neil Green on his way to the final.
C2: Champion Andy Naylor (10 wins, 963 points.) - An Accounts Manager from Hendon. Defeated Bobby Banerjee and Samir Pilica to get to the final.
DC: Susie Dent and John Culshaw.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: N T L E O E A G S
R02: O E A L R H Q U S
R03: 9, 4, 1, 8, 50, 25. Target: 771.
TTT: DADSBINS - "Breaks up all the pop groups from a Norfolk town."
R04: T R K S O E I A N
R05: D Z P O E O D S T
R06: 9, 8, 4, 9, 8, 75, . Target: 524.
R07: V P I E A I D R O
R08: E O A C S G N I L
R09: 6, 6, 7, 8, 75, 50, . Target: 960.
TTT: KELLYIDA - "Kelly and Ida both behaed as they should."
R10: T V M R D O E U A
R11: S C M I O E I R A
R12: I D O N E P T A F
R13: M S N X O E A R E
R14: 3, 10, 1, 6, 10, 7. Target: 687.
R15: S A L L Y A R M I (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: N T L E O E A G S
Mark: ELONGATES (18)
Andy: TANGELOS (8)
Score: 18–0 (max 18)
What a start for Mark Murray! He ELONGATES Andy Naylor's excellent looking TANGELOS and gets an 18 point head start. This is a disaster for Andy. He'll need to recover strongly now.
Round 2: O E A L R H Q U S
Mark: SQUALOR (7)
Andy: HAULERS (7)
Score: 25–7 (max 25)
Mark is living in SQUALOR in this round, and Andy gets HAULERS. Both get 7 points.
Round 3: 9, 4, 1, 8, 50, 25. Target: 771.
Mark: 770. (50 + 25) + (8/4) x (9 + 1) (7)
Andy: 770. Mistake in working.
RR: 771. (9-1) + 8 x 50 - (25 + 4) (10)
Score: 32–7 (max 35)
This isn't going well for Andy. He thought he had 770, but made a mistake and allowed Mark to extend his lead.
Teatime teaser: DADSBINS -> DISBANDS
Round 4: T R K S O E I A N
Mark: NOTARISE (8)
Andy: TREASON (7)
DC: TANKERS (7)
OT: NARKIEST (8) NOTARIES (8)
Score: 40–7 (max 43)
Mark gets another 8 with NOTARISE as Andy only manages TREASON for 7.
Round 5: D Z P O E O D S T
Mark: STOOPED (7)
Andy: STOOPED (7)
Score: 47–14 (max 50)
Both players STOOPED to 7 points in this round.
Round 6: 9, 8, 4, 9, 8, 75. Target: 524.
Mark: 524. (75-9) x 8 - 4 (10)
Andy: 524. (8 x 75) - (9x8) - 4 (10)
Score: 57–24 (max 60)
Both players get a perfect 10 here with 524.
Jon Culshaw talks about famous finals, in keeping with the Final.
Round 7: V P I E A I D R O
Mark: OVERPAID (8)
Andy: OVERPAID (8)
DC: PROVIDE (7)
Score: 65–32 (max 68)
Both players are OVERPAID in this round for 8 points.
Round 8: E O A C S G N I L
Mark: SOLACING (8)
Andy: CEASING (7)
DC: GASOLINE (8)
OT: COINAGES (8) CONGEALS (8) ECLOSING (8)
Score: 73–32 (max 76)
Andy is CEASING to score in this round, as Mark is SOLACING with 8 more points.
Round 9: 6, 6, 7, 8, 75, 50. Target: 960.
Mark: 960. 75 + 50 -( 6 - (7-6) ) x 8 (10)
Andy: -
Score: 83–32 (max 86)
Yet another disaster for Andy as he crashes on the numbers again, allowing Mark to go a further 10 ahead.
Teatime teaser: KELLYIDA -> LADYLIKE
Round 10: T V M R D O E U A
Mark: MATURED (7)
Andy: MATURED (7)
Score: 90–39 (max 93)
Both players MATURED in this round for 7 points.
Round 11: S C M I O E I R A
Mark: aircoms
Andy: CRIMES (6)
DC: ISOMERIC (8)
Score: 90–45 (max 101)
Shock! Horror!
Disaster for Mark! He gets 'aircoms' disallowed. Not quite a game changer, but highly unusual for our apterite to slip up. Andy takes advantage of the CRIMES committed and gets 6 points.As the Pen Cam says goodbye to Countdown, along with the old dictionary, Susie talks about new words that are not in the dictionary, but may appear in the new online dictionary which comes into use from the next series starting on Monday.
Round 12: I D O N E P T A F
Mark: ANTIPODE (8)
Andy: ANTIPODE (8)
Score: 98–53 (max 109)
It's an ANTIPODE for both players for 8 points here.
Round 13: M S N X O E A R E
Mark: RENAMES (7)
Andy: MOANERS (7)
DC: AXONEMES (8)
Score: 105–60 (max 117)
Mark RENAMES this round as Andy gets the MOANERS. It's another 7 points each.
Round 14: 3, 10, 1, 6, 10, 7. Target: 687.
Mark: 688.
Andy: 687. (7 x 10) - 1 x 10 - 3 (10)
Score: 105–70 (max 127)
A consolation for Andy as Mark gets 1 away with a tricky numbers round.
Round 15: S A L L Y A R M I
No one buzzes. The answer was AMARYLLIS.
Final Score: 105–70 (max 137)
Nobody gets the conundrum, and there was nobody in the audience to help out today either. Our apterites were either on strike, or absent
Not that I would have been much help on this one Some may say if Mark Murray can't get it, nobody can. So it was left to Nick to reveal the SALLYARMI as AMARYLLIS.So we reach the end of a fantastic series and Mark Murray is a very worthy champion, dominating the series from start to finish. In this game he never looked back after getting a 9 letter word to start with. Sadly for Andy, despite his excellent run up to the final, he was out of his depth as Mark had the game of his life to secure the title. Congratulations to Mark and well done to all Quarter Finalists who put up an excellent effort to bring the series to an exciting climax.
Today also sees the end of an era. We say goodbye to the pen cam as we welcome the online dictionary for the next series, starting on Monday. This will mean more modern words will be accepted, which would otherwise be disallowed.
So it just remains for me to say thank you for reading my recaps during this series, and I look forward to making your Fridays miserable - sorry I mean happy
- again next series. Andy McGurn will open the next series. Join him to find out what series 71 has to offer. I'll be back next Friday. I hope you will join me then. Have a good week, and goodbye for now. Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=70
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