B'day Championship Spoilers For Thursday February 7th 2013

[James Robinson]

So, we have just 2 first round games left this week and in this tournament, and with a 12, 13 and 14 maxer already this week, another 15 maxer can't be too far away

My guess is that it will be more likely in tomorrow's game between Andrew Hulme and Jonathan Rawlinson, but don't rule out today's competitors.

Back to the old days for today's match with the champions of Series 6 & 21, Darryl Francis and Barry Grossman up against each other for the honour, no make it the privilege, to play Jon O'Neill in round 2 on Tuesday.

Here are the stats:

Firstly, Series 6 Champion & CoC III Semi-Finalist Darryl Francis - 16 Games, 14 Wins, 904 Points (Average: 56.5) (All 9 rounder games, except one 14 and 15 rounder, and I've not included his Masters game)
Highest Score: 86 vs. David Webb (30BC Prelim) and 72 vs. Adam Gilinsky (Semi-Final)
Lowest Score: 24 vs. Allan Saldanha (Supreme Championship Group Semi-Final (that was Saldanha's record-breaking 9 rounder score of 83 in that game))
9's Achieved: 0/1
Total Points/Max/%: 901/1243 (72%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 575/726 (79%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 209/347 (60%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 120/170 (71%)

Secondly, Series 21 Champion, CoC VI Quarter-Finalist & Supreme Championship Group Finalist Barry Grossman - 14 Games, 11 Wins, 810 Points. (Average: 57.86) (All 9 Rounders, Bar One 14 and 15 Rounder)
Highest Score: 99 vs. Jackie McLeod (Grand Final, 14 Rounder) & 69 vs. Val Carter (4th Prelim, 9 Rounder)
Lowest Score: 37 vs. Harvey Freeman (Supreme Championship Group Final)
9's Achieved: 0/1
Total Points/Max/%: 810/1112 (73%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 474/652 (73%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 256/310 (83%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 80/150 (53%)

Join me for the recap later.

[Zarte Siempre]

Grouplets is valid in CSW apparently

[Tony Atkins]

Alt 1st Numbers ((25-5)x2+3)x10+7=437

[szodiac]

Grouplets is valid in CSW apparently

Darryl should have gone for the non-CSW word then... GROUPSET

MP

[Peter Mabey]

Alt 1st numbers: (25-5+3)x(10+7+2)=437

[Zarte Siempre]

sialons and lionet also CSW words apparently... God this is going to be a low scorer, haha

[Zarte Siempre]

and Spirula.

Also RUPIAHS as an alternative

[Zarte Siempre]

congue's not even a word in CSW...

[szodiac]

congue's not even a word in CSW...

Darryl was probably thinking of CANGUE - again not in OED3.

Lots of alternative anagrams for the non-words submitted in the last four rounds (5-8) and alas they too are not in OED3

It's all gone belly up word-wise for these two.

MP

[Zarte Siempre]

Could also have been thinking of congee which IS valid

[Jordan F]

Well done Darryl, that seemed like a challenge today with all the CSW valid words available, but you came out on top. Commiserations Barry, as I said it probably wasn't easy today with all the potential choices.

[szodiac]

Could also have been thinking of congee which IS valid

It was a good battle of wits though, so well done Darryl and Barry on producing a decent game.

This goes to prove Countdown is not a game for Scrabble players anymore. (I believe only Tia Corkish went beyond one game of the last 5 Scrabble players). Having said that Wayne Kelly was a strong contender and would have liked to see Stewart Holden and Craig Beevers try thier luck against the Apterites. But as this episode showed: the dictionary is a big issue.

MP

[Andy Platt]

Could also have been thinking of congee which IS valid

It was a good battle of wits though, so well done Darryl and Barry on producing a decent game.

This goes to prove Countdown is not a game for Scrabble players anymore. (I believe only Tia Corkish went beyond one game of the last 5 Scrabble players). Having said that Wayne Kelly was a strong contender and would have liked to see Stewart Holden and Craig Beevers try thier luck against the Apterites. But as this episode showed: the dictionary is a big issue.

MP

Is THIER scrabble valid?

[Nick Deller]

This goes to prove Countdown is not a game for Scrabble players anymore. (I believe only Tia Corkish went beyond one game of the last 5 Scrabble players). Having said that Wayne Kelly was a strong contender and would have liked to see Stewart Holden and Craig Beevers try thier luck against the Apterites. But as this episode showed: the dictionary is a big issue.

It's surmountable. You need to put the time in, it's a very different kind of preparation as most of the effort lies in trying to learn that such-and-such isn't a word, but it's doable. I reckon Wayne, Chris H and myself all arrived in the tourney in something close to octochamp form - the only problem being that "octochamp form" isn't enough to cut it against some of these guys!

[Mark James]

congue's not even a word in CSW...

Darryl was probably thinking of CANGUE - again not in OED3.

Or even Congou. It's a black tea from China. Still wouldn't be allowed on Apterous though.

[James Robinson]

Definitely a match for the Scrabble aficionado today.

1st Numbers Alt.: ((25 - 5) x 2) + 3) x 10) + 7 = 437
2nd Numbers Alt. (Well pleased with this one ): (((75 x 2) - 7 - 1) x 6) - 7 = 845

[szodiac]

It's surmountable. You need to put the time in, it's a very different kind of preparation as most of the effort lies in trying to learn that such-and-such isn't a word, but it's doable. I reckon Wayne, Chris H and myself all arrived in the tourney in something close to octochamp form - the only problem being that "octochamp form" isn't enough to cut it against some of these guys!

Agreed Nick. Some of these guys are truly awesome and are equivalent to Scrabble Grandmaster status.

It's like Scrabble has only one Nigel Richards. But Apterites have over a dozen Nigel Richards!!

MP

[Gavin Chipper]

This goes to prove Countdown is not a game for Scrabble players anymore. (I believe only Tia Corkish went beyond one game of the last 5 Scrabble players). Having said that Wayne Kelly was a strong contender and would have liked to see Stewart Holden and Craig Beevers try thier luck against the Apterites. But as this episode showed: the dictionary is a big issue.

It's surmountable. You need to put the time in, it's a very different kind of preparation as most of the effort lies in trying to learn that such-and-such isn't a word, but it's doable. I reckon Wayne, Chris H and myself all arrived in the tourney in something close to octochamp form - the only problem being that "octochamp form" isn't enough to cut it against some of these guys!

I don't think that game was representative anyway. It wasn't that brilliant a game but with different rounds they wouldn't have found so many scrabble words. But it's also as much as judgement as preparation. You can become an octochamp without specialist word knowledge if you're a good word spotter.

[Johnny Canuck]

One peculiarity I've noticed with Teatime Teasers: The second Teaser tends to either begin with the same letter as the first (for instance, if first teaser begins with D, second begins with D as well), or with the following letter of the alphabet (for instance, first Teaser begins with D, second begins with E). And today was no exception. This rule has actually helped me solve a few of them.

That said, does anyone on here actually try to solve the Teasers?

[James Robinson]

One peculiarity I've noticed with Teatime Teasers: The second Teaser tends to either begin with the same letter as the first (for instance, if first teaser begins with D, second begins with D as well), or with the following letter of the alphabet (for instance, first Teaser begins with D, second begins with E). And today was no exception. This rule has actually helped me solve a few of them.

That said, does anyone on here actually try to solve the Teasers?

Always, quite a lot of the time I get them without the clue, just simple rearranging.

[Johnny Canuck]

EDIT: Just checked, and of the 24 games so far this series, 17 obey the Alphabetical Teaser Rule™.

[Adam Gillard]

As Mauro said, this was a good battle of wits and with both of you being unfortunate with Scrabble-only declarations, I think it was fair that it went to a crucial conundrum in the end. Darryl was very strong on the conundrums when he was first on the show, and that's proving to be a strength again.

[Gavin Chipper]

By the way, I think Darryl has a couple of 19-max letters attacks to his name, so in that sort of form, he could be a threat to anyone. So don't anyone assume he won't be able to take the challenge to Jono. Actually it's three. (Yeah, a couple of 3-max games.)

[Ronan M Higginson]

GROUPLETS valid now I believe.

[Sam Cappleman-Lynes]

What on Earth was happening when they came up with that first TTT? With the two definitions of "nubile" being "sexually attractive" or "suitable for marriage", for the clue to suggest that it's something you're born with is disgusting - especially with Nick's "explanation" of the clue after the break where he says "You are born nubile"!

[Rhys Benjamin]

Sounds like someone was watching the end of Casino Royale when setting that, with the rather ridiculous line “if you’d just been born, wouldn’t you be naked?”.

[Gavin Chipper]

Don't think anyone got 437 the proper way - (25+3-2)×(10+7)-5=437.

[James Robinson]

Sounds like someone was watching the end of Casino Royale when setting that, with the rather ridiculous line “if you’d just been born, wouldn’t you be naked?”.

Sorry to be pedantic, but that line was said about half an hour before the end of the film...

[Adam Dexter]

Don't think anyone got 437 the proper way - (25+3-2)×(10+7)-5=437.

FWIW, I did

[Toby McDonald]

Don't think anyone got 437 the proper way - (25+3-2)×(10+7)-5=437.

FWIW, I did

Me too

[Harry Savage]

Another 437 alt: (2×7+25+5)*10-3

[Peter Mabey]

I did (25-2)x(50+7)/3 = 437, as I saw it as 19x23 immediately

[Gavin Chipper]

Alt 1st numbers: (25-5+3)x(10+7+2)=437

I did (25-2)x(50+7)/3 = 437, as I saw it as 19x23 immediately

Slightly different from 7 years ago, but basically the same thought process.

[James Robinson]

First Round Game 15 2020 Word Update

The max would have increased by ELEVEN (from 118 to 129), if played today, as there was a 7 available in Round 11 and there was a NINE available in Round 2, that wasn't available in 2013.

Notably, Darryl would've had GROUPLETS allowed today, so the final score would've instead been 100-56.

New Words Now Allowed:

R1: METAXINS, MINESTRA, MISANTER, TIERSMAN
R2: GROUPLETS (increases the MAX from 8 to 18!!)
R3: ANTODE
R4: ADITUSES
R6: ALNICOS, FASCIOS
R9: CAFONE, FOEMAN, GAMONE, MAGCON, MANGEO, MEACON, UNCAGE
R11: PITURINE (increases the MAX from 7 to 8)
R12: CITOLER, OVERLIT