Monday 31st August 2009 (Series 61, Prelim 31)

[Kai Laddiman]

Countdown recap for Monday 31 August 2009.

C1: Champion Chris Davies (1 win, 106 points.)
C2: Challenger Matt Shepherd. He likes the pub and Ricky Gervais.
DC: Susie Dent and Paul Zenon.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

So, Chris beat Scrabbler Ed Rossiter on Friday; will he overcome Matt? He's certainly shown loadsa talent, on the show and on apterous.org/game.php. Let's find out...

R01: C E A G E T T A R
R02: C H E S D O I K E
R03: B L S A E P U O E
R04: T A R Z I O O N D
R05: 50, 75, 9, 6, 10, 1. Target: 957.
TTT: BLESSAMY - "They have these in school - get building."
R06: R I S T A E P V H
R07: T N R I E M F I T
R08: S L E I G D P A S
R09: M O U L F S O G A
R10: 3, 8, 2, 5, 6, 4. Target: 615.
TTT: LATEBABE - "The eggs won't always come out on top."
R11: N Y E O P R D U I
R12: T J A O A D N L E
R13: E T S R O O E N E
R14: 75, 4, 6, 10, 1, 1. Target: 187.
R15: R U I N E D S U N (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: C E A G E T T A R

C1: TARGET (6)
C2: CRATE (5)
DC: REGATTA (7)
OT: ACETATE (7) ACREAGE (7) CARTAGE (7)
Score: 6–0 (max 7)

Chris gets off to a comparably shaky start, missing the max He's definitely looking nervous.

Round 2: C H E S D O I K E

C1: DEHISCE (7)
C2: CHOSE (5)
DC: DIOCESE (7) CHOKIES (7)
OT: DECOKES (7) HOICKED (7) SHOCKED (7)
Score: 13–0 (max 14)

But he stuns Susie with his vocabulary, and a great spot. Surprised nobody mentioned SHOCKED.

Round 3: B L S A E P U O E

C1: PUEBLOS (7)
C2: PAUSE (5)
OT: USEABLE (7)
Score: 20–0 (max 21)

And again, a wonderful word!

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

C1: TANDOORI (8)
C2: RATION (6)
Score: 28–0 (max 29)

...OK, this is getting creepy...

Round 5: 50, 75, 9, 6, 10, 1. Target: 957.

C1: 963.
C2: 957. (10 + 9) x 50 + 6 + 1 (10)
Score: 28–10 (max 39)

Oops! Chris blobs on a relatively easy numbers game to give the accountant wannabe (Matt) some points.

Paul shows us a scaled-down version of the Zigzag Lady Illusion, and it's pretty good.

Teatime teaser: BLESSAMY -> ASSEMBLY

Round 6: R I S T A E P V H

C1: PRIVATES (8)
C2: PRIVATES (8)
Score: 36–18 (max 47)

So they've both got PRIVATES. Reassuring to know.

Round 7: T N R I E M F I T

C1: INTERIM (7)
C2: MINTIER (7)
OT: INTERMIT (8)
Score: 43–25 (max 55)

Round 8: S L E I G D P A S

C1: PALSIES (7)
C2: GLASSED (7)
DC: SILAGED (7)
OT: GLISSADE (8)
Score: 50–32 (max 63)

Chris has missed the max in two consecutive rounds

Round 9: M O U L F S O G A

C1: MOGULS (6)
C2: GLOOM (5)
DC: GLOOMS (6)
OT: FAMOUS (6) FOGOUS (6) GOOFUS (6) MULGAS (6)
Score: 56–32 (max 69)

It's looking gloomy for Matt...

OoW: Susie tells us the origin of the phrase 'by the skin of one's teeth'.

Round 10: 3, 8, 2, 5, 6, 4. Target: 615.

C1: 615. Mistake in working.
C2: -
RR: 1 away. (7)
OT: 615. ((8 x 6 + 2) x 4 + 5) x 3 (10)
Score: 56–32 (max 79)

A pretty tricky numbers game evades everyone in the studio.

Teatime teaser: LATEBABE -> BEATABLE

Round 11: N Y E O P R D U I

C1: POUNDER (7)
C2: POUNDER (7)
OT: UNROPED (7)
Score: 63–39 (max 86)

Round 12: T J A O A D N L E

C1: TALONED (7)
C2: LOANED (6)
Score: 70–39 (max 93)

Chris spots the darren to (realistically) put the game to sleep.

Round 13: E T S R O O E N E

C1: OESTRONE (8)
C2: RESENT (6)
Score: 78–39 (max 101)

I thoguht I had ESTROGEN, but it was an O, not a G.

Round 14: 75, 4, 6, 10, 1, 1. Target: 187.

C1: 186. (10 + 1) x (4 + 6) + 75 + 1 (7)
C2: 186. (10 + 1) x (4 + 6) + 75 + 1 (7)
OT: 187. (10 + 4) x (6 + 1 + 1) + 75 (10)
Score: 85–46 (max 111)

The numbers have been horrible today!

Round 15: R U I N E D S U N

C1 buzzes on 2 seconds to say UNINSURED which is correct.
Score: 95–46 (max 121)

And so Chris gets another win under his belt, but this was a really hard game IMO, especially the numbers. But no century

Statistics Corner

C1:

Total score - 95
Raw score - 101
Total % of max - 79
Raw % of max - 83
Total average score per round - 6.3
Raw average score per round - 6.7
Number of maxes - 9

C2:

Total score - 46
Raw score - 84
Total % of max - 38
Raw % of max - 69
Total average score per round - 3.1
Raw average score per round - 5.6
Number of maxes - 3

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=61

[Derek Hazell]

Round 6: R I S T A E P V H

C1: PRIVATES (8)
C2: PRIVATES (8)
Score: 36–18 (max 47)

So they've both got PRIVATES. Reassuring to know.

LOL ROFL ROFLMAO LMAO Hehe Haha A-LOL LLOL and LOLL

OoW: Susie tells us the origin of the phrase 'by the skin of one's teeth'.

Where would we, and more specifically today's episode of Countdown be without religion?

[Kai Laddiman]

OoW: Susie tells us the origin of the phrase 'by the skin of one's teeth'.

Where would we, and more specifically today's episode of Countdown be without religion?

Certainly not here. Or here.

[David Roe]

The numbers weren't horrible. They were very nice numbers. If someone got the word "exquisite" would it be a horrible set of letters, because of the q and the x?

(Anyway, numbers are my only chance of beating people who know and play words like "oestrone" and "dehisce". I gained 27 points on the numbers, and beat him by 2!)

PS - ( 75 x 10 - 1 -1 ) /4 = 187. Within the time, whoo hoo!

[Jon Corby]

PS - ( 75 x 10 - 1 -1 ) /4 = 187. Within the time, whoo hoo!

Lovely.

[Michael Wallace]

The numbers weren't horrible. They were very nice numbers. If someone got the word "exquisite" would it be a horrible set of letters, because of the q and the x?

imo, yes, especially if one is watching in the hope of seeing some records get broken.

[Hugh Binnie]

The numbers weren't horrible. They were very nice numbers. If someone got the word "exquisite" would it be a horrible set of letters, because of the q and the x?

I don't agree with your analogy. I would say, "If somebody got the word HAMERKOPS would it be a horrible set of letters?" Yes — although there's a nine, it's a very obscure word that you're unlikely to spot.

[David Roe]

Fair comment about the records being broken, if that's what you like. For me, the best games IMO are where two good players are both capable of beating the other in any given round, resulting in a ding-dong game, the lead changing hands several times, and of course low scores because they each fail to score in several rounds. You need hard letters and numbers to get that - not Darrens (is that the right word?) and (100 x 7) + 3 = 703.