CoC 3 Grand Final - Harvey Freeman v David Trace

[Richard Priest]

Countdown recap for Tuesday 30 June 1987.

C1: Champion Harvey Freeman (13 wins, 849 points.)
C2: Champion David Trace (13 wins, 723 points.)
DC: Della Thompson and Sally James.
CV: Carol Mather (if memory serves me right, this was one of her last shows under the name Mather before she reverted to her maiden name of Vorderman).
OT: Other words or solutions.

A real clash of the Titans here.Harvey Freeman had swept all before him to become champion of series 10 and then reach the final of CoC 3, having faced only one crucial conundrum in 13 games - against Michael Stephenson in the CoC quarter-final. But his predecessor, series 9 champ David Trace, while perhaps not quite as dominant as Harvey, had been pretty darn impressive throughout his run too, and was similarly unbeaten. Something had to give, and if anyone could derail the Freeman bandwagon it was David.Enjoy....

R01: H S T O E A D I N
R02: P N H O E N K I M
R03: 9, 4, 4, 10, 10, 25. Target: 950.
R04: R T D I A O N E R
R05: L S T A E I R F S
R06: 2, 5, 3, 2, 8, 75. Target: 989.
R07: A E R I A L G U N (conundrum)
R08: R D S O I G U N H
R09: C R Y I E A R T L
R10: 6, 4, 5, 8, 3, 100. Target: 425.
R11: D G M E I S A G E
R12: R C G A I U V O E
R13: 7, 5, 2, 8, 1, 100. Target: 219.
R14: P U R S U E P A T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: H S T O E A D I N

C1: HEDONIST (8)
C2: HANDIEST (8)
OT: ADHESION (8) SEDATION (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)

Round 2: P N H O E N K I M

C1: PHONE (5)
C2: PHONE (5)
Score: 13–13 (max 14)

Round 3: 9, 4, 4, 10, 10, 25. Target: 950.

C1: 950. (25 x 4) - (9 - 4) x 10 (10)
C2: 950. (10 - 4 - 4) x (10 + 9) x 25 (10)
Score: 23–23 (max 24)

Round 4: R T D I A O N E R

C1: RATIONED (8)
C2: RATIONED (8)
OT: ANTERIOR (8) DERATION (8) ORDINATE (8) ORDAINER (8) ADROITER (8)
Score: 31–31 (max 32)

Round 5: L S T A E I R F S

C1: REALISTS (8)
C2: REALISTS (8)
OT: FRAILEST (8) SALTIRES (8)
Score: 39–39 (max 40)

Round 6: 2, 5, 3, 2, 8, 75. Target: 989.

C1: 987. (8 + 5) x 75) + (2 x 2 x 3) (7)
C2: 987. (8 + 5) x 75) + (2 x 2 x 3) (7)
Score: 46–46 (max 47)

Round 7: A E R I A L G U N

C2 buzzes to say NEURALGIA which is correct.
Score: 46–56 (max 57)

(This was only the second time anyone had beaten Harvey to a conundrum, the first being Mike Percik in the series 10 final. I remember David saying he had initially looked for the obvious -ING ending, before deciding that there were too many vowels for that to be likely - perhaps a good tip!).

Round 8: R D S O I G U N H

C1: SHROUDING (18)
C2: SHROUDING (18)
Score: 64–74 (max 75)

(What would a CoC final be without a 9?).

Round 9: C R Y I E A R T L

C1: LITERARY (8)
C2: erraticly
OT: LITERACY (8)
Score: 72–74 (max 83)

(A valiant attempt here by David - I remember the gasps in the studio when he declared his second consecutive 9. Unfortunately, as Della Thompson explained, the adverb of ERRATIC is specified as ERRATICALLY).

Round 10: 6, 4, 5, 8, 3, 100. Target: 425.

C1: 425. (100 - 8 - 4 - 3) x 5 (10)
C2: 425. (4 x 100) + (5 x (8-3)) (10)
Score: 82–84 (max 93)

(Perhaps a little bit of showboating here by Harvey, but who can blame him? If you've got it, flaunt it).

Round 11: D G M E I S A G E

C1: MIDGES (6)
C2: DEMISE (6)

Score: 88–90 (max 100)

Round 12: R C G A I U V O E

C1: COURAGE (7)
C2: COURAGE (7)
Score: 95–97 (max 107)


Round 13: 7, 5, 2, 8, 1, 100. Target: 219.

C1: 219. (100 + 7) x 2) + 5 (10)
C2: 219. (100 + 7) x 2) + 5 (10)
Score: 105–107 (max 117)

Round 14: P U R S U E P A T

C1 buzzes to say SUPPURATE which is correct.
Score: 115–107 (max 127)

David seemed understandably disappointed afterwards, and admitted that he'd never heard of the word SUPPURATE. But nevertheless a fantastic game, one of the all-time classics. Harvery was definitely a very relieved man.

[Martin Gardner]

Hard to imagine a better game than that. Btw in the phone round the max shows there's a six - what is it, then?

[Jon O'Neill]

What a game... Harvey Freeman, what a guy.

Anyone know what he's up to nowadays?

[Gavin Chipper]

Hard to imagine a better game than that. Btw in the phone round the max shows there's a six - what is it, then?

And a seven in round 11.

[Kai Laddiman]

Hard to imagine a better game than that. Btw in the phone round the max shows there's a six - what is it, then?

And a seven in round 11.

I got GAMDISEEG.

[Richard Priest]

Hard to imagine a better game than that. Btw in the phone round the max shows there's a six - what is it, then?

The word is PHENOM.

You may have noticed that when I've been posting these recaps people have been pointing out words that CountMax generated but weren't in the COD at the time the shows were broadcast. To save them the bother this time I deleted PHENOM, as I imagined it to be such a word, but forgot to adjust the max score.Whoops

[Charlie Reams]

Hard to imagine a better game than that. Btw in the phone round the max shows there's a six - what is it, then?

The word is PHENOM.

You may have noticed that when I've been posting these recaps people have been pointing out words that CountMax generated but weren't in the COD at the time the shows were broadcast. To save them the bother this time I deleted PHENOM, as I imagined it to be such a word, but forgot to adjust the max score.Whoops

If you just delete it in the Recap Writer then the max gets adjusted automatically.

[Gavin Chipper]

The word is PHENOM.

What about the other one? In the GAMDISEEG round.

[Kirk Bevins]

The word is PHENOM.

What about the other one? In the GAMDISEEG round.

DEGAGES, MAGGIES, GIDGEES apparently.