Spoilers For Thursday June 11th 2015

[James Robinson]

Be still my beating heart, we're nearly at the climax of this very intriguing series.

Tom Cappleman will be in tomorrow's final. But, who will join him in Seat 2

Will it be the #2 seed, Gerry "The Dublin Destroyer" Tynan, or the #3 seed, Tracey "The Stockport Sparkler" Mills.....

The stats suggest it'll be tight, although Gerry does seem to have the slight advantage wherever you look......

Statistics Corner:

Firstly, No.2 Seed Gerry "The Dublin Destroyer" Tynan - 9 Wins, 960 Points. (Average: 106.67)
Highest Score: 127 vs. Dean Anderson (5th Game)
Lowest Score: 91 vs. James Humpish (4th Game)
9's Achieved: 3/6
Total Points/Max/%: 960/1149 (84%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 597/704 (85%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 303/355 (85%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 60/90 (67%)

Secondly, No.3 Seed Tracey "The Stockport Sparkler" Mills - 9 Wins, 935 Points. (Average: 103.89)
Highest Score: 116 vs. Daniel Rhymer (6th Game)
Lowest Score: 97 vs. Keith Taylor (3rd Game)
9's Achieved: 4/9
Total Points/Max/%: 935/1189 (79%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 626/747 (84%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 269/352 (76%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 40/90 (44%)

So, will we have our "Tom & Gerry" final, or will Tracey take this game of cat and mouse to a different level......

I'll be returning to my former recap hotspot of Thursday for today's highly-anticipated cracker later on.

[Peter Mabey]

In OUTAGES round UNSTAGED, possibly ?

[Tracey Anne Mills]

In OUTAGES round UNSTAGED, possibly ?

All 7s in that round Peter so Unstaged is not there

[Steven M. McCann]

Terrific game, some great spots from Tracey and a super third numbers game from Gerry, shame somebody had to lose.
Maybe in future series we could have a 3rd place play-off?
Even Touchy Words won't accept UNSTAGED!
I thought HOMEGIRL was two words, you live and learn.

[Jojo Apollo]

Great quality game there, well done both.

[Tony Atkins]

Well done Tracey - I predicted the players in the final after you won your first game by that great come back.

Alt 1st numbers (75+5x6-4)x5=505 Alt 2nd numbers (6+3)x50+4x8-8=474
Well done Gerry on the 3rd numbers solve.

One word beater I think in the HOARDER/HARRIED/TARRIED round, but I didn't get it.

RHIZOME was my shorter alt to HOMEGIRL.

[Tracey Anne Mills]

Thank you all todays game is my best performance so far

[Jack Worsley]

Great game, high standard. Well done for holding your nerve, Tracey and unlucky Gerry, particularly with VERBATIM/VERBATUM^. You can be very proud of your performances, though.

[Mark Murray]

another fantastic quality game with great spots .. I liked royalism in particular and that fantastic numbers spot from Gerry. i only spotted the conundrum after Gerry's declaration

has been a great run of final games and looking forward to tomorrow Tracey. both you and Gerry were on top form today and I could sense your relief after the last numbers games knowing you were in the final. Well done Tracey!!!

[James Robinson]

A superb semi-final, which I was so thrilled to be in the audience for. Nothing against Gerry, who performed admirably, but I was rooting for Tracey in this one, as I definitely thought she had the inner steel to get through, even after the shaky start in the quarter-final.

So, once ROYALISM came out, and Gerry's unfortunate VERBATIM/verbatum, I thought it was looking good, but when Gerry came back with the 571, I had a terrible feeling, she would crumble, but luckily my premonition didn't come to pass, and instead she spotted WEAPON, when seemingly not many people in the audience did!! (I include me and Jack Worsley, who sat next to me in this one.)

Afterwards, I came straight over to her to congratulate her, just like I did when I was in the audience during her 2nd day of the heats, and I could feel the relief that was going through her, but I knew she was more than capable of achieving this, so I was well proud of her reaching that final.

STANDBY FOR A CRACKER TOMORROW!!!

3rd Numbers Alt.: (((4 x 3) + 7) x 5 x 6) + 1 = 571

DENTINAL in round 1 and SIRDAR in round 13.

[Jennifer Steadman]

Great showing, Tracey!

Afterwards, I came straight over to her to congratulate her... and I could feel the relief that was going through her

Kinky

[Thomas Carey]

3rd nums: (7+1)*3*4*6-5

Very good performance, esp. under pressure, from both players. Looking forward to tomorrow's final, it should be a good one and both of them definitely deserve it. #TeamTracey

[Johnny Canuck]

How did they know Gerry meant VERBATUM^ and not VERBATIM? And if it was by asking him to spell it, why did they even have to ask him in the first place given that the correct spelling was in the selection anyway?

[Graeme Cole]

How did they know Gerry meant VERBATUM^ and not VERBATIM? And if it was by asking him to spell it, why did they even have to ask him in the first place given that the correct spelling was in the selection anyway?

Susie did ask him to spell it. I presume she asked because of the possibility that Gerry had used the plausible but incorrect spelling VERBATUM^, which it turned out he had, so that answers your question.

It's not the first time a contestant has been asked to spell their word despite the correct spelling being available from the selection. It's happened before with GIAOUR, which is easy to get wrong as GAIOUR^.

[Phyl Styles]

Sorry to see Gerry go out after some excellent play throughout - gracious in defeat, contributing to the atmosphere of warmth and good sportsmanship that has prevailed in these finals.

[Gavin Chipper]

How did they know Gerry meant VERBATUM^ and not VERBATIM? And if it was by asking him to spell it, why did they even have to ask him in the first place given that the correct spelling was in the selection anyway?

Susie did ask him to spell it. I presume she asked because of the possibility that Gerry had used the plausible but incorrect spelling VERBATUM^, which it turned out he had, so that answers your question.

It's not the first time a contestant has been asked to spell their word despite the correct spelling being available from the selection. It's happened before with GIAOUR, which is easy to get wrong as GAIOUR^.

Yep, and often she doesn't ask (seems to be an arbitrary decision each time) so there have probably been many people who have got away with wrong spellings.