Wednesday 24th November 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 107)

[Rhys Benjamin]

Annedown CVI on a day where I woke up at 4am, all ready to watch India vs New Zealand, First Test, before realising... it's actually Thursday it starts. Not today.

Countdown recap for Wednesday 24 November 2021.

On this day in 2005 pubs were allowed to stay open for 24 hours for the first time.

C1: Champion Jack Millard (5 wins, 425 points.) 17 years old and just one win away from a guaranteed finals spot. He's wearing that bright red shirt again from last week, but this time with a sweater over it.
C2: Challenger Stu Harkness. Teacher and Apterite from Tweedbank. Also played in 2007 but lost to Jason Cullen thanks mainly to some poor numbers.
DC: Susie Dent and Shirley Ballas.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: Y T M E E I L E R
R02: C O S B U T E G R
R03: 50, 8, 4, 4, 5, 10. Target: 238.
TTT: MUDLORDS - "Feeling down about Barbie's percussion equipment."
R04: S N A L E T O S O
R05: D L G A O E R E P
R06: 100, 7, 6, 4, 1, 5. Target: 415.
R07: R S N I A E H O T
R08: D E S K A N F O A
R09: 25, 75, 100, 50, 1, 9. Target: 998.
TTT: DROLLEYE - "Impossible to get a straight answer from him; he's very up and down."
R10: D E S C I R P I W
R11: N S R A O E V T E
R12: M A D U I L D E F
R13: T R P I E A N O T
R14: 100, 3, 2, 7, 10, 10. Target: 849.
R15: D A I R Y L O G O (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: Y T M E E I L E R

Jack: MYRTLE (6)
Stu: MELTER (6)
DC: TIMELY (6) EERILY (6) EYELET (6) EREMITE (7)
OT: MELTIER (7)
Score: 6–6 (max 7, jos 7)
Darren-o-meter: 0/1 (0%)

Sixes to get us underway, whilst Shirley finds one of the sevens.

Round 2: C O S B U T E G R

Jack: SCOUTER (7)
Stu: SCOURGE (7)
DC: BROGUES (7) OBSCURE (7)
OT: CROUTES (7) ROUGETS (7)
Score: 13–13 (max 14, jos 14)
Darren-o-meter: 0/2 (0%)

Flat round of sevens. However, Shirley describes BROGUES as a nice shoe... and as the 2015 film Kingsman tells us, that's a load of rubbish.

Round 3: 50, 8, 4, 4, 5, 10. Target: 238.

Jack: 238. (50 + 10) × 4 − 8 ÷ 4​ (10)
Stu: 238. 50 × 5 − 8 − 4​ (10)
Score: 23–23 (max 24, jos 24)

10 points each on this one, no problems here.

Teatime teaser: MUDLORDS -> DOLDRUMS

There's an advert on All4 for Trevor McDonald in a full shitty hologram promoting Gamesmaster on E4. Given how well he deputised as the Countdown host, I do tend to think "this is what you could have won"...

Round 4: S N A L E T O S O

Jack: SOONEST (7)
Stu: SALOONS (7)
DC: LOOSEST (7) ETALONS (7)
OT: LOOSENS (7) OSTEONS (7) STOLONS (7) TELSONS (7)
Score: 30–30 (max 31, jos 31)
Darren-o-meter: 0/3 (0%)

Two contestants of this quality aren't missing out on the sevens here.

Round 5: D L G A O E R E P

Jack: PAROLED (7)
Stu: REGALED (7)
DC: PERGOLA (7) LEOPARD (7)
OT: PEDREGAL (8)
Score: 37–37 (max 39, jos 38)
Darren-o-meter: 0/4 (0%)

Only the second point dropped so far by both contestants.

Round 6: 100, 7, 6, 4, 1, 5. Target: 415.

Jack: 414.
Stu: 415. (100 + 5) × 4 + 1 − 6 (10)
Score: 37–47 (max 49, jos 48)

Jack misses this fairly easy numbers game, allowing Stu to break the deadlock.

Shirley talks about making journeys from Wallasey to Crosby and returns at the age of just 11, and talks about how she would put dancing before anything approaching a social life. She left home for good at the age of 14 (!) and talks about her meteoric rise with her first husband, Sammy. Funnily enough, my mother, who has over 40 years of dance experience herself, was talking about Sammy & Shirley earlier, and she received next to no sympathy from the dancing world when she upped sticks and moved to the US.

Round 7: R S N I A E H O T

Jack: HORNIEST (8)
Stu: HORTENSIA (18) (try)
DC: HAIRNETS (8) SENHORITA (18)
Score: 37–65 (max 67, jos 66)
Darren-o-meter: 0/4 (0%)

I think Stu may have asked for his Apto subscription back if he didn't get that.

Round 8: D E S K A N F O A

Jack: SOAKED (6)
Stu: ANODES (6)
DC: SNAKED (6)
OT: DANFOS (6) KNEADS (6) NAKFAS (6) NOAKES (6) OKADAS (6)
Score: 43–71 (max 73, jos 72)
Darren-o-meter: 0/5 (0%)

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Round 9: 25, 75, 100, 50, 1, 9. Target: 998.

Jack: 998. (9 + 1) × 100 − 50 ÷ 25​ (10)
Stu: 998. (9 + 1) × 100 − 50 ÷ 25​ (10)
Score: 53–81 (max 83, jos 82)

thank u, next

Teatime teaser: DROLLEYE -> YODELLER

Round 10: D E S C I R P I W

Jack: SWIPER (6)
Stu: WISPIER (7)
DC: CRISPED (7) SPICIER (7)
OT: DISCERP (7) PERCIDS (7) PIERIDS (7) SIDERIC (7)
Score: 53–88 (max 90, jos 89)
Darren-o-meter: 0/6 (0%)

Stu extends his lead after, slightly surprisingly, ODO believes you can be more wispy than the next person.

Round 11: N S R A O E V T E

Jack: TREASON (7)
Stu: RENOVATES (18)
DC: VETERANS (8)
Score: 53–106 (max 108, jos 107)
Darren-o-meter: 1/7 (14%)

There's trouble at Mill-ard now as Stu extends his lead to 53 points, and now Jack needs to score a metamax to stay in the game.

OOW Susie talks about the origin of the phrase "chanced one's arm".

Anne talks to Stu about that 2007 appearance, and he tells us he's a competitive Scrabbler, as well as doing the numbers game in the classroom. Good policy. Although my Maths teacher in Year 7 insisted on 6 small every single time. Booooo.

Round 12: M A D U I L D E F

Jack: MUDDLE (6)
Stu: MIAULED (7)
DC: FAILED (6) FILMED (6)
OT: MAUDLED (7)
Score: 53–113 (max 115, jos 114)
Darren-o-meter: 1/8 (13%)

And here come the obscure words... the variation of miowed allows Stu to win the game and dethrone Jack from the champion's chair.

Round 13: T R P I E A N O T

Jack: PAINTER (7)
Stu: TRITANOPE (18) (try)
DC: PATENTOR (8)
OT: PATRONITE (18) REPTATION (18)
Score: 53–131 (max 133, jos 132)
Darren-o-meter: 1/9 (11%)

Even Susie has never heard of this and has to - literally - read verbatim from the dictionary.

Round 14: 100, 3, 2, 7, 10, 10. Target: 849.

Jack: 851.
Stu: 850. 100 ÷ 2​ × (10 + 7) (7)
RR: 849. (10 − 2) × (100 + 7) − (10 − 3) (10)
Score: 53–138 (max 143, jos 142)

I presume Jack was too busy looking for 849, as there are about a billion ways for 850.

Round 15: D A I R Y L O G O

Stu buzzes on 10.5 seconds to say RADIOLOGY which is correct.
Final Score: 53–148 (max 153, jos 152)

Wow. What an incredible score. The winning margin of 95 is horrendously harsh on Jack, who played well for his 53, but Stu's ridonkulous 148 is... well, ridonkulous. It's the third highest score of all time, the highest ever by a challenger, and I'm running out of superlatives.

Wow. What will he do now? Join us for Thursday's game to find out.


Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=84