Spoilers for Wednesday 30th July 2025 (Series 92, Heat 23)

[Toby McDonald]

Max game! Congrats Brett! First one since the dictionary cull.

[Gavin Chipper]

Max game with a numbers that was impossible to get bang on as well which arguably makes it more impressive.

[Philip A]

Yes I did wonder if it was a max and I was right. Brett got the 937.5 method right this time. Amazing performance.

[Brett Davids]

Wow.

I had absolutely no idea in the studio a max was on, no-one mentioned it, and even watching it today it was only when we got to about R12 I started to think “hang on- I don’t think I’ve missed one yet”

I was shaking by R14 watching along even though I knew how the last two rounds went.

The last three episodes have been absolutely bonkers. I’m well aware of my place in the food chain of players - yes I’ve maxed a couple online in the last year, but out of a few thousand goes, and never against a human-the possibility of doing it on the show really hadn’t occurred to me.

Looking at the names of those who have maxed a 15R on the show… Kirk Bevins, Conor Travers, Jon O’Neill, Dan McColm, Luke Johnson-Davies, Tom Stevenson, Ronan Higginson… all absolute goliaths of the game, and a club I have absolutely no right to be part of based on ability.

Still, I’ll happily take it, and whatever comes next - even what happens over the next couple of games, I can be very, very happy.

It’s interesting that it’s the first one since the cull - logic would suggest it is an easier task now than it was pre-cull?

[Fiona T]

Wow.

I had absolutely no idea in the studio a max was on, no-one mentioned it, and even watching it today it was only when we got to about R12 I started to think “hang on- I don’t think I’ve missed one yet”

I was shaking by R14 watching along even though I knew how the last two rounds went.

The last three episodes have been absolutely bonkers. I’m well aware of my place in the food chain of players - yes I’ve maxed a couple online in the last year, but out of a few thousand goes, and never against a human-the possibility of doing it on the show really hadn’t occurred to me.

Looking at the names of those who have maxed a 15R on the show… Kirk Bevins, Conor Travers, Jon O’Neill, Dan McColm, Luke Johnson-Davies, Tom Stevenson, Ronan Higginson… all absolute goliaths of the game, and a club I have absolutely no right to be part of based on ability.

Still, I’ll happily take it, and whatever comes next - even what happens over the next couple of games, I can be very, very happy.

It’s interesting that it’s the first one since the cull - logic would suggest it is an easier task now than it was pre-cull?

Congrats Brett - brilliant stuff!

Yes, probably easier in terms of fewer obscure maxes, but jeopardy in the "is that still a word?" which wasn't a thing a year ago!

[Philip A]

I would agree that the cull has made the max game a more accessible feat now, although it was done multiple times in the 30th Birthday Championship (which had no OED content) which was won by Conor who did it three times in a row (maxed 59 of the last 60 rounds, it could have been four in a row).

Now that you have to go for words in current usage, it’s has made more of a test of common sense and proper anagram ability overall. More and more online players will get used to this, and some have by now.

It will be interesting to see if we have multiple max games in the next Championship of Champions in 2026 or 2027.

Regardless, congratulations Brett. You come over well too.

[Gavin Chipper]

It turned out that the extra words before the cull wasn't quite the 50× that people predicted so I think the extra difficulty was exaggerated. Max game is a max game.

[Martin Hurst]

Congrats Brett on the max (insert fire emoji)!

I was wondering if this episode potentially broke a couple of records?

Most combined maxes (25) in a preliminary?
Most maxes (10) by a losing challenger?