Spoilers for Wednesday 19th January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 13)

[Thomas Carey]

zzzzzzz

[Philip A]

I love the opening Scrabble/Countdown dictionary diatribe.

[Philip A]

R4: MISANSWER

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

Anne-Marie's incisive closing comment today... "The only thing closer would have been a dead heat".
Slow clap for captain obvious.

You kinda take for granted how Rachel always has value to add in her closing comment, be it a flash of wit, a stat, an insight etc... until you see someone in the role who is incapable of same.

[Toby McDonald]

RELODGES in R2

[David Williams]

Another thing that you've never thought of till someone else is doing it. Sometimes you know that the board is going to be quite full because there are going to be two near misses plus the actual solution, sometimes there isn't going to be much at all. But Rachel tends to use the available space pretty well, whereas Anne-Marie often paints herself into a corner, despite there being acres of empty space. And her writing is small.

I've also wondered if the solutions are all her own work. There's a hesitation, both when she's doing an actual solution, and when she's going through the workings of a contestant's solution. Just because you're a brilliant mathematician doesn't necessarily mean you're great at mental arithmetic.

[Gavin Chipper]

Anne-Marie's incisive closing comment today... "The only thing closer would have been a dead heat".
Slow clap for captain obvious.

You kinda take for granted how Rachel always has value to add in her closing comment, be it a flash of wit, a stat, an insight etc... until you see someone in the role who is incapable of same.

I think you must be confusing Rachel for someone else.

[Gavin Chipper]

Another thing that you've never thought of till someone else is doing it. Sometimes you know that the board is going to be quite full because there are going to be two near misses plus the actual solution, sometimes there isn't going to be much at all. But Rachel tends to use the available space pretty well, whereas Anne-Marie often paints herself into a corner, despite there being acres of empty space. And her writing is small.

I've also wondered if the solutions are all her own work. There's a hesitation, both when she's doing an actual solution, and when she's going through the workings of a contestant's solution. Just because you're a brilliant mathematician doesn't necessarily mean you're great at mental arithmetic.

You also don't need to be great at mental arithmetic to be able to do Countdown numbers games. Except occasionally in 6 small I very rarely find myself "doing mental arithmetic".

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

I think you must be confusing Rachel for someone else.

The wonderful Jeremy Corbyn, no doubt?

[David Williams]

You also don't need to be great at mental arithmetic to be able to do Countdown numbers games. Except occasionally in 6 small I very rarely find myself "doing mental arithmetic".

If you've watched Countdown as long as we have you know your 75 times table, but that would be mental arithmetic to most people. I've sometimes had that momentary sensation that when a contestant offers, say, 75*9, Anne-Marie is actually working it out.

[Gavin Chipper]

You also don't need to be great at mental arithmetic to be able to do Countdown numbers games. Except occasionally in 6 small I very rarely find myself "doing mental arithmetic".

If you've watched Countdown as long as we have you know your 75 times table, but that would be mental arithmetic to most people. I've sometimes had that momentary sensation that when a contestant offers, say, 75*9, Anne-Marie is actually working it out.

I've noticed this as well, and it is a bit strange. I think sometimes it's a bit more understandable, like when someone adds before they multiply. Like it's pretty obvious to me that because 75*8 = 600 and 8*8 = 64, (75+8)*8 will be 664. but if it's broken up into 75+8 = 83 and then 83*8, it's possible she might lose the thread a bit and get stuck on 83*8 as if she's viewing it as a fresh calculation. I mean, what's 83*8? I've got no idea.

[Philip Wilson]

If you've watched Countdown as long as we have you know your 75 times table, but that would be mental arithmetic to most people. I've sometimes had that momentary sensation that when a contestant offers, say, 75*9, Anne-Marie is actually working it out.

Strangely I still have trouble with 75*5! While all the others (up to 75*14) are just stand alone answers, I always have to do 75*4+75 or 75*6-75 for that one!