Tuesday 3rd March (Series 60 Game 22)

[Dinos Sfyris]

Countdown recap for Tuesday 3 March 2009.

C1: Champion Kirk something (1 win, 127 points.) I think this is a good score
C2: Challenger Fiona Shaw, a retired nurse from Lincolnshire, married to Mark with 2 cats, Ross and Fat Dave. She enjoys gardening, writing and fine dining, and fancies herself at pistol and rifle shooting in the 2012 Olympics.
DC: Susie Dent and Phil Hammond.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: P R P I O E L A G
R02: Y L P E O E S S H
R03: C M M L A O A U I
R04: N R T S A O E A R
R05: 25, 5, 7, 9, 4, 10. Target: 760.
TTT: ACENIGHT - "Not playing by the rules. Is it your heart?"
R06: W S D S E A U F P
R07: T N G E O I D E G
R08: N N J D A I E M N
R09: T X Q T A E E N K
R10: 100, 50, 6, 8, 3, 4. Target: 176.
TTT: RENTDIVE - "Turned upside down, like Scottish Edward"
R11: H D R I A E R I M
R12: N T R U E A E L R
R13: V T Z R I O O I B
R14: 75, 100, 4, 6, 3, 1. Target: 918.
R15: D I G I T M A T E (conundrum)

Yesterday marked the much-awaited return to our screens of our very own Kirk Bevins, AKA The Kirkulator, AKA The Bevatron, AKA father of my child (ummm scratch that last one) In his opening game Sir Kirk thwarted his opponent scoring 127/130 which constitutes some sort of record that may or may not have the word "debut" in its title. Its highly anticipated that he'll become an octochamp and join the 900 club (or if he continues at this rate he may necome the first member of the 1000 club!) Kirk also has a penchant for using an obscure word where an ordinary one will suffice, so let's see what he cooks up today!

And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show. OR ELSE!!!

Round 1: P R P I O E L A G

C1: PERGOLA (7)
C2: loppier
DC: GRAPPLE (7)
OT: GLOPPIER (8)
Score: 7–0 (max 8)

Round 2: Y L P E O E S S H

C1: HOPELESS (8)
C2: HOPELESS (8)
OT: SPYHOLES (8)
Score: 15–8 (max 16)

Round 3: C M M L A O A U I

C1: CLAIM (5)
C2: CALM (4)
DC: malic (its one of those words that only precedes acid)
OT: CALAMI (6) LAMIUM (6) MACULA (6)
Score: 20–8 (max 22)

CALAMI is the plural of calamus which has various meanings
LAMIUM is a plant otherwise known as the dead nettle
MACULA is a part of the retina

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

C1: SANTERO (7)
C2: ROASTER (7)
DC: NARRATES (8)
OT: AERATORS (8)
Score: 27–15 (max 30)

Uncharacteristic miss by our lexohero. You can see the anguish on his face. At least he got to play an interesting 7.

Round 5: 25, 5, 7, 9, 4, 10. Target: 760.

C1: 756. (7x5+4)x25-10-9 (7)
C2: 760. Mistake in working.
RR: 760. (25x7+10+5)x4 (10)
Score: 34–15 (max 40)

Phil Hammond talks about getting shitfaced with his bitch in a field

Teatime teaser: ACENIGHT -> CHEATING

Round 6: W S D S E A U F P

C1: PASSED (6)
C2: PAUSED (6)
DC: wussed
OT: FUSSED (6) SPADES (6) PAUSES (6) UPASES (6) PSEUDS (6)
Score: 40–21 (max 46)

Round 7: T N G E O I D E G

C1: TEEING (6)
C2: DOTING (6)
DC: TONGED (6) TINGED (6)
OT: DENOTE (6) DOGGIE (6) EDGING (6) ENDITE (6) GEEING (6) GIDGEE (6) GONGED (6) TIGGED (6) TOEING (6) TOGGED (6)
Score: 46–27 (max 52)

Looked like a good selection at first but the 2nd G killed it, except for... GONDITEEG - Nordic variation of our favourite Richard Brittainism

Round 8: N N J D A I E M N

C1: MEDIAN (6)
C2: MAIDEN (6)
DC: NANNIED (7) (unrisked by Kirk)
Score: 52–33 (max 59)

Round 9: T X Q T A E E N K

C1: EXEAT (5) makes its 2nd appearance in as many shows
C2: KNEE (4)
DC: EXTENT (6) (Jeff)
OT: EXTANT (6)
Score: 57–33 (max 65)

Round 10: 100, 50, 6, 8, 3, 4. Target: 176.

C1: 176. 100+50+8x3+6-4 (10)
C2: 176. 100+50+3x4+8+6 (10)
Score: 67–43 (max 75)

Teatime teaser: RENTDIVE -> INVERTED

Round 11: H D R I A E R I M

C1: HEDARIM (7) Susie is delighted when Kirk declares it only to find it's not there Only later to come back and find its listed under HEDERIM (sp?) Phew!
C2: MARRIED (7)
DC: HARRIED (7) MARDIER (7) HARDIER (7)
OT: ADMIRER (7) HAIRIER (7)
Score: 74–50 (max 82)

Round 12: N T R U E A E L R

C1: NEUTRAL (7)
C2: ETERNAL (7)
OT: RELEARNT (8) URETERAL (8)
Score: 81–57 (max 90)

Round 13: V T Z R I O O I B

C1: VIBRIO (6) Awesome
C2: ROBOT (5)
DC: booz
OT: BORZOI (6)
Score: 87–57 (max 96)

Round 14: 75, 100, 4, 6, 3, 1. Target: 918.

C1: 919. He misses it. Oh NO! (SorryJason)
C2: 918. (75x4+6)x3 (10)
Score: 87–67 (max 106)

Round 15: D I G I T M A T E

C1 buzzes on 5 seconds to say MITIGATED which is correct.
Score: 97–67 (max 116)

Some miserable letters rounds today meant Kirk couldn't strut his vocabulary like yesterday. The middle half especially was very frustrating, yielding mostly 5s and 6s. You could tell Kirk just wanted to flop his brain out on the desk! Still a great game though. Interestingly today Kirk scored one point over the average of his 2 debuts. There's definitely more to come. Watch out!

Recap brought to you by Mole Kid's dad, the expert at Mole station.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=60

[Julie T]

Phil Hammond talks about getting shitfaced with his bitch in a field


Round 11: H D R I A E R I M

C1: HEDARIM (7) Susie is delighted when Kirk declares it only to find it's not there Only later to come back and find its listed under HEDERIM (sp?) Phew!
:

Quality joke, Dinos!

HEDARIM listed as plural of HEDER (alt pl HEDERS), which is a variant spelling of CHEDER, pl CHEDARIM or CHEDERS:
a school for Jewish children where Hebrew ans religious knowledge are taught.

Great recap, congrats to Kirk on his second win.

[Jason Larsen]

Tuesday, and again, I'm feeling chipper! Here is my review of today's Countdown!

I did not see the episode where Kirk kicked Ann Abel's patootie, but I believe it!

And look out, Drew Carey, here he comes! Kirk, I noticed your hair was noticeably longer when you were on The Weakest Link.

And look at this, Fiona Shaw is our third wheelchair-bound contestant! Tricia Pay was #1, Frank Larkin was #2, and Fiona Shaw is #3. You have good interests, Fiona! And now, on to the game.

Round 1: I had PROPEL, but that was a good word, Kirk! Too bad for you, Fiona.
Round 2: That was an obvious 8. Nicely done, contestants!
Round 3: My gosh, those were hard letters! No wonder our contestants couldn't come up with anything longer than a 5!
Round 4: That's another good word, Kirk!
Round 5: Kirk, you nailed that numbers game even though you didn't get the full 10 points! What can I say?
Dr. Phil's Words of Wisdom: Dr. Phil, you're right. Younger dogs tend to be more mischievious than older dogs. But, I did like your story, though. I'm sure Betty White would have found it funny as she loves animals. By the way, would it be possible if she would appear in Dictionary Corner? She is 87 years old, but she is as smart as a whip. I wonder if anyone is listening!
Teatime Teaser #1: I got it right after the commercial break! It didn't become obvious to me until then. I don't know why.
Round 6: Again, obvious words chosen by the contestants.
Round 9: Hard letters, and just when I think that the longest word you can find is a 5, I feel compelled and am not afraid to say, "Good going, Jeff!"
Round 10: You nailed the numbers game again, Kirk! Nice job!
Round 11: Fiona, is it any wonder why you came up with that word?
Round 12: Fiona, could the fact that you found that word be prophecy?
Round 13: Kirk, you obviously brushed up on your science! My goodness!
Round 14: Surprise, surprise! If you think I look like I want some food, you're right! And thank you, Dinos!
Conundrum: Well, done, Kirk!

Closing Thought: Unfortunately, no, it was not prophecy when Fiona found the word ETERNAL in Round 12. I'll bet a number of you saw a win for Kirk coming, without a doubt in your minds. And that is living proof that Kirk Bevins is OK.

[Martin Smith]

I wonder what Kate Richardson made of Fiona's wheelchair being marginalised.... At least it was better than Des saying that Frank had 'moved his wheelchair over to the champion's position' or similar after his first game.

That HEDARIM incident must be a first.

[Jason Larsen]

I'll bet they thought it was too high up by the podium, so they lowered it down.

Also, in Kate's most recent post here, she said "Goodbye" so I don't think she's coming back here, unfortunately.