Spoilers for Wednesday 20th December 2023 (Series 88, Semi Final 1)

[Ronan M Higginson]

Another great contestant!
Round 7 - ESTHESIA

[Steve Hyde]

The upset was there for the taking, I feel. No particularly tricky numbers rounds and only one or two obscure maxes in the letters. No shame in losing to Harry but Paul might have a few regrets, should have been 16 points up at the first break then who knows what would have happened.

[Ryan Lam]

The holiday mood hasn't stopped here at Countdown, and people are travelling to all sorts of places to end the year (like me which is why I'm writing this a bit late). As we kick off the first Semi-Finals, today being "Go Caroling Day", Colin and Christopher are throwing hints at some sort of special appearance at the end of the show. Interesting, but first, here's Harry and Paul again and yes, people do recognise Harry's special Rubik's Cube talents in the park, that's nice to hear! And wow, Harry's dad went to the same school as Paul although they are not from the same batch, hello there, looks like there's some rivalry already even before the game has started!

Letters: Gah, early hit for Paul with outheard in R1, but that didn't stop him from beating Harry with GRIMACED in R2! Early, temporal lead of one point, and nice spots of OUTFITS by both in R4 in time for Christmas Afterwards, unlucky for Paul as he used a "T" twice for atheists, while Harry spots an excellent word SOSATIE in R7, and subsequently, EVIRATES in R11! Finally, I'm being extra for this last bit here, but as Christopher mentioned, no need to show off in R12 when both of them got seven-letter words and SPATULA was a no brainer (Not sure if Harry had PLATEAUS but did not risk it as per what Susie mentioned due to his facial expressions on camera...)

Numbers: No risks for Harry as he goes with 1 Large in R3, but wait, Paul misses the target! He surely has a GRIMACED look now and Colin so badly wanted to give him double the points for that here Paul then wants to hit the reset button and gambles with 6 Small in R6, but instead of doing that, he probably hit the "Power Off" button as he lags behind even further with Harry's easy solution, damn Fortunately, he recovered in time for the last two rounds and despite allowing Rachel to choose 4 Large in R14, the target was easily achievable, so well done to him for getting that or as Colin mentioned, he and Paul would probably not forget this in a long time to come!

Conundrum: Don't expect these to get any easier with the last three episodes left. I hear Paul's buzzer but he went with millenian, argh!!! That gave away the correct answer for me and I wouldn't have gotten it that quickly if he had not said that wrong response! Harry tries a last second guess but that didn't work out either. Oh the pain when the presenters have to rub salt in Paul's wounds so many times today...

I predicted Harry to win by a margin of 40 points here, but the outcome was slightly narrower at 34 points. Poor Paul, you can only feel for him, so close yet so far for so many rounds today, I guess that is what happens when the fourth Quarter-Finalist winner doesn't get enough rest to recharge. But hey, if there's one good thing that came out of this, he gets to go home to celebrate his son's birthday the very next day on 21 December, so Happy Birthday to him and I wish his family with good jolly and cheer not only this season, but for years to come! Speaking of which, what a surprise at the end indeed with Christmas Carolers singing "Deck the Halls" to end the show! But honestly, I thought this could have been reserved for next year at the end of the Series 90 Grand Final where if all goes to plan, it will take place on 20 December 2024. Would rather have something like the Only Connect Grand Final where the intro and outro are unconventional. Nice ending nonetheless!

The other two Semi-Finalists await their match now. Who will take on Harry in the Grand Final, the student, Viraj or the teacher, Ben? Who will outclass the other and take the other coveted spot on Friday? Will nerves take hold and get the better of them or will they stay focused and calm right up to the finishing line? Enough Christmas Caroling for now, on with another match (and perhaps more surprising outcomes)!

Progress:
QF1 (14 December 2023): Harry Savage (#1) vs David Edwards (#8) (118 - 58)
QF2 (15 December 2023): Viraj Seelam (#2) vs Rachel Copley (#7) (103 - 59)
QF3 (18 December 2023): Ben Bazzard (#3) vs Caroline McManus (#6) (124 - 61)
QF4 (19 December 2023): Paul O'Brien (#4) vs George Baker (#5) (100 - 97)
SF1 (20 December 2023): Harry Savage (QF1 Winner) vs Paul O'Brien (QF4 Winner) (104 - 70)
SF2 (21 December 2023): Viraj Seelam (QF2 Winner) vs Ben Bazzard (QF3 Winner)
GF (22 December 2023): Harry Savage (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)