Wow thanks Graeme!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!Graeme Cole wrote: Old 15 round format
The person at the top of this table isn't any of the usual names that might spring to mind. Mike Pullin did well on the numbers with 216/237, but his eight opponents only managed 47 numbers points between them, giving him a numbers margin of 169.
Top 10:New 15 round format (up to the end of series 70)Code: Select all
+ - MARGIN Mike Pullin 216 47 169 Mark Deeks 228 84 144 Jon O'Neill 224 84 140 Jack Worsley 237 100 137 Eoin Monaghan 229 92 137 Junaid Mubeen 218 87 131 Michael Bowden 208 77 131 Edward McCullagh 234 114 120 John Hunt 213 97 116 Ned Pendleton 188 74 114
All 12:If we're counting moral octochampdom, Callum Todd scored 257 and his opponents got 127, so he had a margin of 130.Code: Select all
+ - MARGIN Jonathan Liew 256 81 175 Jen Steadman 295 150 145 Dylan Taylor 311 180 131 Giles Hutchings 286 171 115 Andy Naylor 249 141 108 Joe McGonigle 239 131 108 Glen Webb 292 187 105 Mark Murray 292 194 98 Bradley Cates 279 195 84 Eileen Taylor 220 148 72 Samir Pilica 215 162 53 Alex Fish 264 228 36
Andy Platt fits into neither format (or both, if you prefer) - he scored 239 and his opponents got 94, making his margin 145.
9 round format
Top 10 plus ties:Code: Select all
+ - MARGIN Graham Nash 141 54 87 John Hadfield 125 40 85 James Martin 145 77 68 David Williams 142 77 65 Melvin Hetherington 144 80 64 Peter Hutchings 108 44 64 Satbir Gupta 124 61 63 Dag Griffiths 102 40 62 Allan Saldanha 138 77 61 Scott Mearns 129 69 60 David Trace 87 27 60
Ask Graeme?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
- Graeme Cole
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Re: Ask Graeme?
The most common selection is some permutation of RELATIONS, which has appeared 18 times. Here are some other common selections:Gavin Chipper wrote:If this hasn't already been asked, which 9-letter combination (so any order) has come out the most? Might as well have a top 10 or 20 with the maxes alongside!
18 occurrences: RELATIONS/ORIENTALS/TENSORIAL
17 occurrences: DERATIONS/ORDINATES/NOTARISED
16 occurrences: DELATIONS
14 occurrences: IDOLATERS/STEROIDAL
13 occurrences: EPILATORS
12 occurrences: PATRONISE/ISOPTERAN, MORALISE+T (the most common selection with no nine available)
11 occurrences: GRADIENTS, ORGANISE+T
10 occurrences: TRANSOMED, BARITONES/OBTAINERS, TAILORED+G, TENDRILS+O
9 occurrences: HORTENSIA/SENHORITA, DICENTRAS, TERMINALS/TRAMLINES, REACTIONS/CREATIONS/ACTIONERS/NARCOTISE, AMORTISED/MEDIATORS, ASTEROID+C, LEOTARDS+N, MINARETS+O
8 occurrences: SCLEROTIA/SECTORIAL, CENSORIAL/LONICERAS, ANTIPODES, TRIANGLES/INTEGRALS/GNARLIEST, TERMINAL+O, MINARETS+D, RATIONED+G, ASTEROID+P, LORICATE+D
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Excellent work!Graeme Cole wrote:The most common selection is some permutation of RELATIONS, which has appeared 18 times. Here are some other common selections:Gavin Chipper wrote:If this hasn't already been asked, which 9-letter combination (so any order) has come out the most? Might as well have a top 10 or 20 with the maxes alongside!
18 occurrences: RELATIONS/ORIENTALS/TENSORIAL
17 occurrences: DERATIONS/ORDINATES/NOTARISED
16 occurrences: DELATIONS
14 occurrences: IDOLATERS/STEROIDAL
13 occurrences: EPILATORS
12 occurrences: PATRONISE/ISOPTERAN, MORALISE+T (the most common selection with no nine available)
11 occurrences: GRADIENTS, ORGANISE+T
10 occurrences: TRANSOMED, BARITONES/OBTAINERS, TAILORED+G, TENDRILS+O
9 occurrences: HORTENSIA/SENHORITA, DICENTRAS, TERMINALS/TRAMLINES, REACTIONS/CREATIONS/ACTIONERS/NARCOTISE, AMORTISED/MEDIATORS, ASTEROID+C, LEOTARDS+N, MINARETS+O
8 occurrences: SCLEROTIA/SECTORIAL, CENSORIAL/LONICERAS, ANTIPODES, TRIANGLES/INTEGRALS/GNARLIEST, TERMINAL+O, MINARETS+D, RATIONED+G, ASTEROID+P, LORICATE+D
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Dear Graeme,
How many performances over the history of the show would have been good enough to beat Apterous Rex? Or to put it the long way, how many performances would have been within ten points of the available max going into the conundrum (counting non-maxed rounds as zero scores) which they then subsequently get in under a second? Taking Rex to a sudden death conundrum also counts as a win in my eyes.
How many performances over the history of the show would have been good enough to beat Apterous Rex? Or to put it the long way, how many performances would have been within ten points of the available max going into the conundrum (counting non-maxed rounds as zero scores) which they then subsequently get in under a second? Taking Rex to a sudden death conundrum also counts as a win in my eyes.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Great question.Ben Wilson wrote:Dear Graeme,
How many performances over the history of the show would have been good enough to beat Apterous Rex? Or to put it the long way, how many performances would have been within ten points of the available max going into the conundrum (counting non-maxed rounds as zero scores) which they then subsequently get in under a second? Taking Rex to a sudden death conundrum also counts as a win in my eyes.
There are seven such performances. I've only counted numbers rounds as maxed when the player got the closest possible to the target.
Craig Beevers 113 - 111 Apterous Rex
Jack Hurst 126 - 124 Apterous Rex
Jack Hurst 108 - 104 Apterous Rex
Conor Travers 112 - 109 Apterous Rex
Conor Travers 119 - 109 Apterous Rex
Conor Travers 139 - 139 Apterous Rex
Giles Hutchings 113 - 111 Apterous Rex
If you count a conundrum buzz time of exactly one second as a Rex-beater, then you can also count Conor's game against Jono: Conor Travers 120 - 110 Apterous Rex.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Following on from Dan McColm's return yesterday, is he the first returning contestant to have had both of his runs on the show with in the Rachel Riley era (excluding contestants invited back due to mistakes)
Definitely not Jamie McNeill or Schrodinger's Cat....
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Yes.James Laverty wrote:Following on from Dan McColm's return yesterday, is he the first returning contestant to have had both of his runs on the show with in the Rachel Riley era (excluding contestants invited back due to mistakes)
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Are there any contestants who have played games in all of the show's three main formats (ie. 9-rounder and both old and new 15-rounders)? I'm going to guess that the answer is no.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
You guessed right, nobody has.Jack Worsley wrote:Are there any contestants who have played games in all of the show's three main formats (ie. 9-rounder and both old and new 15-rounders)? I'm going to guess that the answer is no.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
What is the highest number of consecutive rounds a contestant has scored in?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Might have been asked b4. Only counting heat games, and not games with two new challengers, what is the avg score of champ vs avg score of challenger?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Up to the end of series 70, the record was 84 by David O'Donnell. Since this post, Jen Steadman equalled David's record in round 14 of this game.Dan McColm wrote:What is the highest number of consecutive rounds a contestant has scored in?
Of course, if anyone happens to have done better in series 71 then I wouldn't know anything about it.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Average scores are correct to two decimal places. The "champion" is taken as the player who isn't on the first game of their run, rather than the player in the camera-left chair, because in the past these weren't always the same thing.JackHurst wrote:Might have been asked b4. Only counting heat games, and not games with two new challengers, what is the avg score of champ vs avg score of challenger?
9 rounder: 48.84 for the champion, 41.08 for the challenger.
Old 15 rounder: 85.94 for the champion, 67.13 for the challenger.
New 15 rounder: 91.28 for the champion, 63.66 for the challenger.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Have any octoruns contained 0 nines? If so, whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo WHERE
oh and also if it's more common than I THINK, have any of these 0-niners been first seed in a series?
if it's LESS common than I thought and actually 0 OCTOCHAMPS have had 0 NINES, then how many have had only one available?
much love and respect
george pryn, senior vice president of pepso
life is more enjoyable when you take a drink of pepso
no artificial flavourings
lots of artificial black colour.
We like to hide the green.
Trust us, it's for your own benefit.
Pepso!
pepso inc. hold no responsibility for any cases of obesity/murder/death/destruction that link directly back to pepso or any of it's staff
oh and also if it's more common than I THINK, have any of these 0-niners been first seed in a series?
if it's LESS common than I thought and actually 0 OCTOCHAMPS have had 0 NINES, then how many have had only one available?
much love and respect
george pryn, senior vice president of pepso
life is more enjoyable when you take a drink of pepso
no artificial flavourings
lots of artificial black colour.
We like to hide the green.
Trust us, it's for your own benefit.
Pepso!
pepso inc. hold no responsibility for any cases of obesity/murder/death/destruction that link directly back to pepso or any of it's staff
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Re: Ask Graeme?
How many other contestants apart from myself have recorded regular games (not specials) in both the 1900s and 2000s? (I recorded the last series 42 game in 1999 and the first three in 2000.)
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Surely the max games should be in this list?Graeme Cole wrote:Great question.Ben Wilson wrote:Dear Graeme,
How many performances over the history of the show would have been good enough to beat Apterous Rex? Or to put it the long way, how many performances would have been within ten points of the available max going into the conundrum (counting non-maxed rounds as zero scores) which they then subsequently get in under a second? Taking Rex to a sudden death conundrum also counts as a win in my eyes.
There are seven such performances. I've only counted numbers rounds as maxed when the player got the closest possible to the target.
Craig Beevers 113 - 111 Apterous Rex
Jack Hurst 126 - 124 Apterous Rex
Jack Hurst 108 - 104 Apterous Rex
Conor Travers 112 - 109 Apterous Rex
Conor Travers 119 - 109 Apterous Rex
Conor Travers 139 - 139 Apterous Rex
Giles Hutchings 113 - 111 Apterous Rex
If you count a conundrum buzz time of exactly one second as a Rex-beater, then you can also count Conor's game against Jono: Conor Travers 120 - 110 Apterous Rex.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Only those where the player got the conundrum in under a second. Otherwise Rex would have won on the conundrum.Kirk Bevins wrote:Surely the max games should be in this list?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
I presume the solve time in all of those were more than 0.75s and so would've lost on a double max.
Possibly the first contestant to accelerate with a mic clipped...
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Re: Ask Graeme?
In the 9-round era, at least four contestants' octoruns had no nines available. They were Darryl Francis, Mark Nyman, Lindsay Denyer and James Sinclair. Sharon Bridge had no nines in her first seven games, but we don't have details for her eighth game. Mark Nyman and Lindsay Denyer were both #1 seed in their series. Darryl Francis was #2 seed, because Helen Grayson scored one more point than him, but would have been #1 seed under today's rules.George Pryn wrote:Have any octoruns contained 0 nines? If so, whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo WHERE
oh and also if it's more common than I THINK, have any of these 0-niners been first seed in a series?
if it's LESS common than I thought and actually 0 OCTOCHAMPS have had 0 NINES, then how many have had only one available?
Nobody in the 15-round era has completed an octorun with no nines being available.
Up to the end of series 70, Richard Heald was the only octochamp whose run had only one nine letter word available. It was OUTRANGES, which he spotted.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
I'm taking "regular games" to mean heat games only, so as well as specials, this would exclude CoCs, 30th Birthday Championship and anything similar. Also, the wiki, and therefore the database, doesn't know when games were recorded, only when they were shown. So we'll have to use the broadcast dates.Lisa Hermann wrote:How many other contestants apart from myself have recorded regular games (not specials) in both the 1900s and 2000s? (I recorded the last series 42 game in 1999 and the first three in 2000.)
31 contestants have appeared in heat games in 19xx and 20xx. In order of first appearance, they are June Madell, Brenda Widger, Tony Durrant, Steve Grimble, Monica Sutcliffe, John Gardner, Garry Preston, Glyn Linder, Chris Bergman, Eileen Taylor, Glen Webb, Eric Emslie, Simon Gillam, Peter Etherington, Christopher Jones, Marcus Hares, Raymond Tate, Brian Boonham, Harold Blythe, Paul James, Stuart McQuitty, Margaret Read, Mike Moran, Junaid Mubeen, Ross Mackenzie, Hamish Williamson, Bobby Johnson, Ola Odutola, Mark Murray, John Blaker and Helen Wrigglesworth.
Edit: It's at least 32. Hercule Poirot has just pointed out to me that this list omits Sarah Taylor (nee Hadaway), and that's because the database thought Sarah Taylor and Sarah Hadaway were two different people. The scripts that scrape the wiki pages for the database are supposed to sort out this kind of thing by looking at the contestant name hyperlinks on the series recap pages and seeing which page they point to - a page title on the wiki always has a unique name and all a player's different names should point to the same place - but it didn't work as expected on this occasion, probably because her page title changed after I scraped series 5 two years ago but before I scraped series 69 last year.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Have any of those 32 played in 3 decades?
With the recent introduction of thx and srsly it got me wondering, how many times a word with no vowel (like lynx or rhythm) have been declared?
With the recent introduction of thx and srsly it got me wondering, how many times a word with no vowel (like lynx or rhythm) have been declared?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Not seen today's game yet then Graeme?
(I know this isn't a spoilers thread but I don't think I'm ruining things too much with that).
(I know this isn't a spoilers thread but I don't think I'm ruining things too much with that).
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Not in heat games, no.Chris Marshall wrote:Have any of those 32 played in 3 decades?
If you count all episode types - finals, championships, specials, Masters, everything - and say that they don't have to be in the above 32, six people have appeared in three different decades. They are Darryl Francis, Christine Hunt, Hilary Hopper, Mike Whiteoak, Nita Marr and Junaid Mubeen.
Twice: TRYST and LYNCH.Chris Marshall wrote:With the recent introduction of thx and srsly it got me wondering, how many times a word with no vowel (like lynx or rhythm) have been declared?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Well spotted.Fred Mumford wrote:Not seen today's game yet then Graeme?
(I know this isn't a spoilers thread but I don't think I'm ruining things too much with that).
The database only has games up to the end of series 70. This is because scraping games from the wiki, despite being a semi-automated process, is a moderate pain in the backside because of various things that tend to go wrong.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
We'll let you off missing Elisabeth Jardine too then.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
What's the most numbers games anyone's played scoring 0 in all of them?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
COOL I GOT THE SAME AS DYLANGraeme Cole wrote:Old 15 round formatGeorge Pryn wrote: Who has the best winning margin of numbers rounds over their octochamp heat games?
The person at the top of this table isn't any of the usual names that might spring to mind. Mike Pullin did well on the numbers with 216/237, but his eight opponents only managed 47 numbers points between them, giving him a numbers margin of 169.
Top 10:New 15 round format (up to the end of series 70)Code: Select all
+ - MARGIN Mike Pullin 216 47 169 Mark Deeks 228 84 144 Jon O'Neill 224 84 140 Jack Worsley 237 100 137 Eoin Monaghan 229 92 137 Junaid Mubeen 218 87 131 Michael Bowden 208 77 131 Edward McCullagh 234 114 120 John Hunt 213 97 116 Ned Pendleton 188 74 114
All 12:If we're counting moral octochampdom, Callum Todd scored 257 and his opponents got 127, so he had a margin of 130.Code: Select all
+ - MARGIN Jonathan Liew 256 81 175 Jen Steadman 295 150 145 Dylan Taylor 311 180 131 Giles Hutchings 286 171 115 Andy Naylor 249 141 108 Joe McGonigle 239 131 108 Glen Webb 292 187 105 Mark Murray 292 194 98 Bradley Cates 279 195 84 Eileen Taylor 220 148 72 Samir Pilica 215 162 53 Alex Fish 264 228 36
Andy Platt fits into neither format (or both, if you prefer) - he scored 239 and his opponents got 94, making his margin 145.
9 round format
Top 10 plus ties:Code: Select all
+ - MARGIN Graham Nash 141 54 87 John Hadfield 125 40 85 James Martin 145 77 68 David Williams 142 77 65 Melvin Hetherington 144 80 64 Peter Hutchings 108 44 64 Satbir Gupta 124 61 63 Dag Griffiths 102 40 62 Allan Saldanha 138 77 61 Scott Mearns 129 69 60 David Trace 87 27 60
THIS MEANS I AM JUST AS GOOD AS HIM
RIGHT?
...RIGHT?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
The score of Dylan's opponents really surprises me. I thought he usually went for 6 small, so would have expected them to struggle much more than they seem to have done.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
I'm taking this as "of all contestants who never scored on a numbers round, who played the most numbers rounds".Gavin Chipper wrote:What's the most numbers games anyone's played scoring 0 in all of them?
Bev Jones and Jillian Tidman with six each.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
I am wondering if you could give me a list of all the contestants that have won at least one heat game and then later returned for another chance. I know there is Bradley Cates and Marcus Hares. It seems mostly that people return after losing there first game, I can't find many returning winners.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Returners who won at least one game in their original run, in order of their first appearance:Edward Byrne wrote:I am wondering if you could give me a list of all the contestants that have won at least one heat game and then later returned for another chance. I know there is Bradley Cates and Marcus Hares. It seems mostly that people return after losing there first game, I can't find many returning winners.
June Madell
Mark Cooper - won the last prelim of series 18 but didn't return until half way through series 19, so not sure if it was really two separate runs
Duncan Dale-Emberton - same sort of strangeness here
Glen Webb - only player to have made the finals of more than one series
Peter Etherington
Christopher Jones
Chris Williams
Marcus Hares
Stuart McQuitty
Bobby Johnson
Helen Wrigglesworth - not really two separate runs, as she lost by having the word ROADSIDE disallowed because it had been taken out of the COD10. Not only did they invite Helen back to continue her run, but they decided the COD10 wasn't fit for purpose and stopped using it.
Bruce Lambert
Priscilla Munday
Sue Babb
Bradley Cates
Martin May - bailed out part way through his run for unknown reasons then returned to continue it
Carl Dundas - lost in controversial circumstances so was allowed to continue his run the following series
This is based on games up to the end of series 70. In series 71 there's at least Elisabeth Jardine and possibly others.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Also Helen Grayson.
Time to change your brand of toilet paper.Graeme Cole wrote:This is because scraping [...] is a moderate pain in the backside because of various things that tend to go wrong.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Yes. The query didn't pick up her series 1 games because the scores are unknown so they weren't counted as wins.Gavin Chipper wrote:Also Helen Grayson.
Pedantic correction to historical Countdown trivia, and bum joke, in the same post. Possibly beats this.Gavin Chipper wrote:Time to change your brand of toilet paper.Graeme Cole wrote:This is because scraping [...] is a moderate pain in the backside because of various things that tend to go wrong.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Hi Graeme....
Most crucial conundrums faced by
A series champ
A series finalist
An Octochamp
any contestant
In both 9 and 15 round formats
Love your work.
Most crucial conundrums faced by
A series champ
A series finalist
An Octochamp
any contestant
In both 9 and 15 round formats
Love your work.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Graeme,
You have previously given us a list of maxes /120 scored by all the 15 round octochamps.
Please could you do likewise for the players who made it to 7 wins, but lost their 8th game?
Thanks.
You have previously given us a list of maxes /120 scored by all the 15 round octochamps.
Please could you do likewise for the players who made it to 7 wins, but lost their 8th game?
Thanks.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Slightly niche but I'm on the hunt for games which may be "forgotten classics". Could you tell us the game with the highest joint score in which neither contestant made the finals? (And, maybe better, highest joint maxes?)
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Re: Ask Graeme?
If it isn't Abdi v Mark Hartnett, I'll eat my breakfast.
If it is, what's the next highest?
If it is, what's the next highest?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
There's an obvious one from this series too but that won't come up. Maybe if we wait until lunch.Fred Mumford wrote:If it isn't Abdi v Mark Hartnett, I'll eat my breakfast.
If it is, what's the next highest?
Re: Ask Graeme?
How many times have 3 or 4 different numbers combinations (ie 1L 2L 3L 4L 6S) been selected in the one game?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
One of Zarte's opponents was Ian Talbot, an anagram of the word BATTALION
Have any other players had named that are anagrams of 9 letter words?
Have any players surnames been anagrams of valid 9 letter words? (Not counting people who's surnames are already valid 9 letter words like WHITEHEAD - although that could be a separate question)
Have any other players had named that are anagrams of 9 letter words?
Have any players surnames been anagrams of valid 9 letter words? (Not counting people who's surnames are already valid 9 letter words like WHITEHEAD - although that could be a separate question)
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Re: Ask Graeme?
I was in the audience during a episode in Series 61, and the contestant was Tony Leverton, and the conudnrum was ULEVERTON, so pretty close.Jon Stitcher wrote:Have any players surnames been anagrams of valid 9 letter words?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
For series winners and series finalists, I'm only counting the player's prelims and finals games, not any subsequent CoCs or similar. "Series finalist" means someone who reached the finals stages of the series, so not necessarily winner or runner up. If you played in a quarter-final, you're a series finalist. For octochamps, I'm only counting their heat games in the run in which they octoed. For "any contestant" I'm counting all games.Jon Stitcher wrote:Hi Graeme....
Most crucial conundrums faced by
A series champ
A series finalist
An Octochamp
any contestant
In both 9 and 15 round formats
Love your work.
I'm taking "crucial conundrums" to mean the number of conundrums a player faced when the game wasn't already decided. Before you all say "but that's obvious", I'll point out that it isn't quite the same as another common definition, "games that weren't decided before the conundrum", because of tiebreaks. Yes, this means someone can have more than one crucial conundrum in a game. However, I'm not counting the conundrum in round 7 of 14-round finals because that's silly.
15 rounds (either format):
Series winners: Callum Todd (5)
Series finalists: Carl Williams (6)
Octorun: Chris McHenry (5)
Any contestant: Mark Tournoff, Anita Freeland, Neil Zussman and Carl Williams (6)
9 rounds:
Series winners: Ray McPhie (8)
Series finalists: Kenneth Michie, Ray McPhie, John Hastings and David Hoskisson (8)
Octorun: Lew Schwarz (7 out of 10, including two drawn games)
Any contestant: John Clarke (11, including one game with two tiebreaks in it)
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Re: Ask Graeme?
As always with "maxes", the results are only as accurate as the dictionary we have, which for dictionaries earlier than ODE2r isn't as accurate as we might like.Fred Mumford wrote:Graeme,
You have previously given us a list of maxes /120 scored by all the 15 round octochamps.
Please could you do likewise for the players who made it to 7 wins, but lost their 8th game?
Thanks.
Tiebreaks are not counted.
15 rounders top 10:
Code: Select all
David Nickeas 66
Callum Todd 62
Anita Freeland 59
Steve Baines 58
David Franks 54
Niall Young 54
Grant Waters 53
Peter Zyss 51
Peter Godwin 51
John Jeffrey 50
Joy Longworth 50
Code: Select all
Helen Grayson 44*
Chris Toyne 42
Jenny Haldane 38
Rodney Marrison 36
Vic Foster 35
Kate Surtees 34
Tim Robinson 34
Stuart Wood 33
Anne Lyng 31
Nita Marr 30
Andrew Perry 30
- Graeme Cole
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Re: Ask Graeme?
I haven't checked yet, but if the next highest isn't Mark Murray v Ciaran McCarthy, I'll eat my dinner.Fred Mumford wrote:If it isn't Abdi v Mark Hartnett, I'll eat my breakfast.
If it is, what's the next highest?
- Graeme Cole
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Re: Ask Graeme?
I'm already eating my dinner. They're not both non-finalists. I must have been thinking of Mark Hartnett, who had two double-century games but didn't make the finals.Graeme Cole wrote:I haven't checked yet, but if the next highest isn't Mark Murray v Ciaran McCarthy, I'll eat my dinner.Fred Mumford wrote:If it isn't Abdi v Mark Hartnett, I'll eat my breakfast.
If it is, what's the next highest?
- Graeme Cole
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Top 20 by joint score in 15 rounders:Charlie Reams wrote:Slightly niche but I'm on the hunt for games which may be "forgotten classics". Could you tell us the game with the highest joint score in which neither contestant made the finals? (And, maybe better, highest joint maxes?)
Code: Select all
EP TX DATE SCORE JOINT
5791 2013-10-15 Abdirizak Hirsi 107 119 Mark Hartnett 226 (Fred's breakfast survives)
3869 2005-02-11 Frank Mulvey 133 86 Kevin Warner 219
S11 2003-09-11 Melanie Beaumont 83 126 Linda Dawe 209
4560 2008-03-19 Andrew Swale 96 106 Tony Durrant 202
3536 2003-08-12 Colin Askew 79 121 Nick Smith 200
3705 2004-05-17 Chris White 93 104 Laura Taylor 197
4069 2006-03-30 Tuck Broadbent 95 101 Dan Webster 196
4272 2007-01-15 Ian Volante 102 93 George Rhodes 195
5739 2013-07-24 Rory Coleman 76 118 Zarte Siempre 194
3916 2005-04-27 David Ryan 91 102 Kieran Coppinger 193
3325 2002-09-23 Robert Lee 91 101 Dez Hussey 192
5296 2011-06-29 Andrew Halliburton 100 92 Barry Evans 192
3445 2003-03-24 Beth Sutton 103 88 Keith Williams 191
4132 2006-06-23 Graham Dugdale 90 101 Alan O'Donnell 191
4186 2006-09-07 Sheri Evans 93 98 Sarah Duncan 191
5868 2014-02-13 Andrew Farr 89 102 Adrian Day 191
4967 2010-01-28 James Rawson 100 90 Toni Balestra 190
5486 2012-05-17 Stuart Wright 111 79 Jamie Ainge 190
3630 2004-01-26 Eric Wright 123 66 Jonathan De Souza 189
4075 2006-04-06 Heather Culpin 106 83 Steven Kidner 189
Code: Select all
EP TX DATE SCORE JOINT
905 1989-08-30 Clive Everill 70 60 Chris Magill 130
2720 2000-02-29 Andy Brown 70 60 Barry Scaum 130
2563 1999-07-12 Kay Powick 71 53 Derek Harrison 124
1920 1997-01-15 Jeff Youell 53 70 Steve Erskine 123
900 1989-08-23 Ann Rutter 63 59 Mark Pont 122
2365 1998-10-07 Sally Hutchings 53 68 Joe Bridal 121
2948 2001-02-14 Nicola Smith 63 58 Daryl Brooks 121
2154 1997-12-09 Christine Kavanagh 58 62 Michael Joy 120
2427 1999-01-01 Emma Brown 55 65 Ted Smith 120
2513 1999-05-03 Keith Loveys 56 64 Colin Sinnett 120
2782 2000-05-30 Jacqueline Carter 62 57 Eddy Ignace 119
2918 2001-01-03 Dom Glennon 57 62 Richard Leaper 119
1278 1992-07-20 Felicity Gelder 54 64 Terry Doughty 118
1076 1991-01-10 Robert Houston 64 53 Ewen Alexander 117
2959 2001-03-01 Ralph Lubkowski 69 48 Mansoor Undre 117
2609 1999-09-28 Billy Davidson 68 48 Jacqui Darby 116
647 1987-10-07 Jim Findlay 66 49 Ray Clements 115
1171 1991-08-22 Thelma Bell 55 60 Howard Spencer 115
1793 1996-07-15 Martin Wright 54 61 Kim Poole 115
1829 1996-09-03 Jean Frost 60 55 George Gruner 115
2304 1998-07-14 Simon Cobb 65 50 Vasudeo Joshi 115
2405 1998-12-02 Phil Hunt 60 55 Claire O'Neil 115
3011 2001-05-14 Peter Wild 53 62 Debbie Allen 115
Code: Select all
EP TX DATE SCORE MAXES JOINT
5293 2011-06-24 Matt Croy 90 91 Andrew Halliburton 12 12 24
3445 2003-03-24 Beth Sutton 103 88 Keith Williams 12 9 21
4235 2006-11-15 Phil Matthams 96 86 Christine Smith 11 10 21
4560 2008-03-19 Andrew Swale 96 106 Tony Durrant 10 11 21
3997 2005-12-21 Sue Alexander 84 98 Nick Rafferty 9 11 20
4069 2006-03-30 Tuck Broadbent 95 101 Dan Webster 9 11 20
3426 2003-02-25 John Clarke 96 77 David Poyser 10 9 19 (not the same John Clarke I mentioned in the post above, who won series 11)
S11 2003-09-11 Melanie Beaumont 83 126 Linda Dawe 7 12 19
3915 2005-04-26 Jenny Scudamore 83 86 David Ryan 9 10 19
3919 2005-05-03 Kieran Coppinger 72 82 Sally Bassinder 9 10 19
3921 2005-05-05 Sally Bassinder 84 90 Bob Beckett 9 10 19
3923 2005-05-09 Michael Edwards 79 71 Jim Anderson 10 9 19
5388 2011-12-02 Phyllis Styles 109 71 Rachel Shirley 11 8 19
5791 2013-10-15 Abdirizak Hirsi 107 119 Mark Hartnett 9 10 19
5816 2013-11-19 Simon Whiteley 81 87 Philip Creed 8 11 19
3212 2002-03-19 Tony Harding 87 83 Paul Burlinson 10 8 18
3827 2004-11-30 Judith Armstrong 85 82 Andrew Byrne 9 9 18
3917 2005-04-28 Kieran Coppinger 101 85 Ian Laming 10 8 18
3986 2005-12-06 Rosemary Ilsley 87 98 Clive Johnson 9 9 18
4575 2008-04-09 Matthew Coates 87 97 David Sandbach 9 9 18
4870 2009-08-25 Paul Varlaam 67 105 Ed Rossiter 7 11 18
4987 2010-02-25 Clarke Carlisle 101 78 Alexander Johnston 10 8 18
5427 2012-02-16 Chris Butler 93 73 Matthew Conway 10 8 18
Code: Select all
EP TX DATE SCORE MAXES JOINT
1076 1991-01-10 Robert Houston 64 53 Ewen Alexander 7 6 13
1421 1993-08-12 Eileen Slack 43 50 Alec Webb 6 7 13
2529 1999-05-25 Susan Shilton 63 41 Joan Trinder 8 5 13
2720 2000-02-29 Andy Brown 70 60 Barry Scaum 7 6 13
2839 2000-09-14 David Healey 40 67 Kris Jones 5 8 13
1335 1993-01-13 'A.J.' Marriot 45 55 Barbi Birdseye 5 7 12
1463 1994-01-10 Jim Crawford 37 62 John Carter 5 7 12
1748 1996-02-12 Seamus McAteer 41 62 Steve Gruzd 5 7 12
1819 1996-08-20 Mike Llewellin 58 54 June Ruskin 6 6 12
1912 1997-01-03 Paul Wells 48 62 Mike Kindred 5 7 12
2513 1999-05-03 Keith Loveys 56 64 Colin Sinnett 6 6 12
2623 1999-10-18 Alix Anderson 52 59 Dee Voce 6 6 12
2636 1999-11-04 Anthony Moorhouse 53 52 Olive Martin 6 6 12
2867 2000-10-24 Andrew Ferguson 46 49 Helen Smith 6 6 12
2928 2001-01-17 Stuart Anderson 41 57 Bill Rennie 5 7 12
451 1986-10-21 Steve Wood 53 49 Paul Robson 5 6 11
649 1987-10-09 Jim Findlay 50 54 Ian Cook 5 6 11
788 1988-08-01 Wayne Blackburn 30 63 Cliff Boynton 4 7 11
898 1989-08-21 Debbie Williams 45 65 Mark Pont 5 6 11
1495 1994-02-23 Gus Stewart 45 56 Gordon McLurey 5 6 11
1505 1994-03-09 Julia Perthen 46 62 John Mullings 5 6 11
2005 1997-05-14 Natasha Casie Chetty 40 47 Robert Shaw 5 6 11
2044 1997-07-08 Paul Harrison 45 52 Joy Hill 5 6 11
2268 1998-05-25 Daniel Summers 59 55 Helen Ross 6 5 11
2356 1998-09-24 Alan Dyson 39 46 Peter Preston Igweke 5 6 11
2461 1999-02-18 David Andrew 57 34 Ian Knox 7 4 11
2591 1999-09-02 Mickie O'Neill 41 53 Geraldine Curran 5 6 11
2607 1999-09-24 Jean O'Neill 47 54 Christine Silverwood 5 6 11
2696 2000-01-26 John Snedden 45 60 Joel Davey 5 6 11
2708 2000-02-11 Barbara Rogers 30 65 Daniel Vanniasingham 3 8 11
2726 2000-03-08 Lisa Hermann 57 29 Geoffrey Masters 7 4 11
2773 2000-05-12 Davina Forrester 55 56 Naomi Thorburn 6 5 11
2776 2000-05-17 Peter McGuigan 65 41 Chris Harris 7 4 11
2781 2000-05-29 Mei Ling Simons 54 57 Jacqueline Carter 5 6 11
2782 2000-05-30 Jacqueline Carter 62 57 Eddy Ignace 6 5 11
2902 2000-12-12 Stephen Briggs 45 55 James Aukett 5 6 11
3021 2001-05-31 Alison Moore 44 59 Stuart Moore 5 6 11
- Graeme Cole
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Re: Ask Graeme?
In the old 15 rounder, 247 games had different picks in all three numbers rounds.sean d wrote:How many times have 3 or 4 different numbers combinations (ie 1L 2L 3L 4L 6S) been selected in the one game?
In the new 15 rounder, up to the end of series 70 there have been five games where all four numbers rounds contained different picks. They are episodes 5740, 5876, 5888, 5934 and 5942. 53 further games had three distinct picks in them.
- Graeme Cole
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Re: Ask Graeme?
11 contestants whose names are anagrams of nine letter words, for you to have a go at at home. Some easy, some difficult.Jon Stitcher wrote:One of Zarte's opponents was Ian Talbot, an anagram of the word BATTALION
Have any other players had named that are anagrams of 9 letter words?
Don Wright
Les Martin
Sibyl Ruth
Lester Mak
Ric Morgan
Ernie Aust
Nick Price
Brian Kent
Rob Thomas
Ian Talbot
I also happen to remember a Mike Grant a few weeks ago, who isn't in the database yet.
Another bunch of anagrams here, some of them quite tricky:Have any players surnames been anagrams of valid 9 letter words? (Not counting people who's surnames are already valid 9 letter words like WHITEHEAD - although that could be a separate question)
MANSFIELD
PATTERSON
PRIESTLEY
MOORHOUSE
MASTERSON
GROSVENOR
MATHIESEN
COPPINGER
BASSINDER
SCHIAVONE
ROCHESTER
BROADHEAD
WRIGHTSON
Re: Ask Graeme?
There's 3 I have an idea for, but no idea if the guess is valid:
ROCHESTER is HECTORERS?
BRIAN KENT is INTERBANK?
BASSINDER is RABIDNESS?
do any of them have more than 1 solution?
ROCHESTER is HECTORERS?
BRIAN KENT is INTERBANK?
BASSINDER is RABIDNESS?
do any of them have more than 1 solution?
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- Acolyte
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Re: Ask Graeme?
What's the longest string of games in which the challengers' surnames have been in alphabetical order?
1. A string starting from any letter i.e DEFGHI
2. Just generally alphabetical i.e AeAzBCaCeD
1. A string starting from any letter i.e DEFGHI
2. Just generally alphabetical i.e AeAzBCaCeD
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- Acolyte
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Re: Ask Graeme?
What's the smallest score range of an Octochamp over their 8 games? By this I mean the difference between their lowest and highest score, not their highest winning margin
YOU ROCK
YOU ROCK
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Re: Ask Graeme?
With the exception of Samir Pilica and Mark Davies, all of the octochamps in 2014 have finished their run on the last filmed show of their second day of recording (ie final day of a DC guest). Does this imply that making your debut straight after the lunch break gives you an advantage or a mere coincidence?
Definitely not Jamie McNeill or Schrodinger's Cat....
Re: Ask Graeme?
I think if they have a player who they think will probably win all 8 based on their audition performance, then they must put them on on a wednesday. It makes sense because then if they do win all 8, the producers have until the next day of recording to sort out the extra player.James Laverty wrote:With the exception of Samir Pilica and Mark Davies, all of the octochamps in 2014 have finished their run on the last filmed show of their second day of recording (ie final day of a DC guest). Does this imply that making your debut straight after the lunch break gives you an advantage or a mere coincidence?
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Sorry if this has been asked before, but what are the lowest scores achieved by a contestant sitting next to DC? Newest format will do
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Re: Ask Graeme?
This might be more of an "Ask Anyone" but I'm on the lookout for any exceptionally difficult numbers games (ie. games that score 99% on the solver tool, and ideally with just a single solution) that anyone may have come across that meet any of the following criteria:-
- Six small selections
- A relatively small target (say below 400)
- Any that might look easy at first glance (eg. 50 25 7 6 3 3 => 712 from the solver FAQ example list)
- Any that are particularly interesting for any other reason (eg 75 50 25 8 7 3 => 939 from the series 19 final. Not a complicated solution arithmetically, (50x25-8)/3+75x7, but a work of beauty, who would even think of approaching it that way?)
I've seen the excellent list that Clive Brooker did earlier in this thread, so I'm not talking about any games that have actually appeared on the show, but any that anyone may have stumbled across on apterous or via some fancy complicated database mining blah blah stuff.
Many thanks.
- Six small selections
- A relatively small target (say below 400)
- Any that might look easy at first glance (eg. 50 25 7 6 3 3 => 712 from the solver FAQ example list)
- Any that are particularly interesting for any other reason (eg 75 50 25 8 7 3 => 939 from the series 19 final. Not a complicated solution arithmetically, (50x25-8)/3+75x7, but a work of beauty, who would even think of approaching it that way?)
I've seen the excellent list that Clive Brooker did earlier in this thread, so I'm not talking about any games that have actually appeared on the show, but any that anyone may have stumbled across on apterous or via some fancy complicated database mining blah blah stuff.
Many thanks.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Yo.
This has probably been asked before, but: words spelt out in the selection. What can you tell me about these please? What's the longest? When have contestants offered such words? When have they wasted effort and offered a different word (same length) to one spelt out? etc.
If possible I'd be interested in "how likely" you are to get words spelt out (although I haven't really thought this through fully, and it might not make sense because it requires the contestant to pick the letters in a certain way).
Any information on rounds abandoned because of (presumably offensive) words being spelt out would also be great. Would/has a round be scrapped if there was an obvious max spelt out?
Also amusing words that have been spelt out (and left in) would be fun to know about.
You can also do backwards words if you like, as I remember there was one nine letter word spelt backwards. But that's less relevant and a different matter altogether really.
Summary: please regale me about rounds with words spelt out in the selection.
Many thanks.
This has probably been asked before, but: words spelt out in the selection. What can you tell me about these please? What's the longest? When have contestants offered such words? When have they wasted effort and offered a different word (same length) to one spelt out? etc.
If possible I'd be interested in "how likely" you are to get words spelt out (although I haven't really thought this through fully, and it might not make sense because it requires the contestant to pick the letters in a certain way).
Any information on rounds abandoned because of (presumably offensive) words being spelt out would also be great. Would/has a round be scrapped if there was an obvious max spelt out?
Also amusing words that have been spelt out (and left in) would be fun to know about.
You can also do backwards words if you like, as I remember there was one nine letter word spelt backwards. But that's less relevant and a different matter altogether really.
Summary: please regale me about rounds with words spelt out in the selection.
Many thanks.
- Clive Brooker
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Amongst 4 large games, the game with the lowest target scoring 99% on Crossword Tools is this one:Fred Mumford wrote:This might be more of an "Ask Anyone" but I'm on the lookout for any exceptionally difficult numbers games (ie. games that score 99% on the solver tool, and ideally with just a single solution) that anyone may have come across that meet any of the following criteria:-
- Six small selections
- A relatively small target (say below 400)
- Any that might look easy at first glance (eg. 50 25 7 6 3 3 => 712 from the solver FAQ example list)
- Any that are particularly interesting for any other reason (eg 75 50 25 8 7 3 => 939 from the series 19 final. Not a complicated solution arithmetically, (50x25-8)/3+75x7, but a work of beauty, who would even think of approaching it that way?)
100 75 50 25 10 5 : target 191
Interestingly, this example has two genuinely distinct solutions. The next lowest is 224 with the same selection. In total there are 610 4 large games with a score of 99% - rather more than 1%.
Using my methods, extending this sort of analysis beyond 4 large games might be a step too far.
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Cheers Clive, that certainly covers one of the areas I was looking for.
I wonder which pot all the games with 90%-98% difficulty get shoved into?
I wonder which pot all the games with 90%-98% difficulty get shoved into?
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- Kiloposter
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Re: Ask Graeme?
Hi Jon
I was going to ask the same - also notable near-misses like today's BRAODEN
I was going to ask the same - also notable near-misses like today's BRAODEN
- Clive Brooker
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Re: Ask Graeme?
I'm pretty sure that the proportion of games getting the 99% rating is much lower than 1%.Fred Mumford wrote:Cheers Clive, that certainly covers one of the areas I was looking for.
I wonder which pot all the games with 90%-98% difficulty get shoved into?
I've always assumed that William T-P's criteria value division more highly than anything, and division is not often a feature of 6 small solutions. However it doesn't seem to be essential to have a division operation to score 99%, and 6 small examples do exist. Good luck with these:
8 7 5 5 3 3 : target 391
8 8 6 6 5 4 : target 471
9 9 7 5 3 1 : target 669