Tuesday 12th January (Series 62, Prelim 2)

[Oliver Garner]

Countdown recap for Tuesday 12 January 2010.

C1: Champion Jan Parker (5 wins, 428 points.) Jan is singer from Loughton in Essex and says many people in the music business are closet Countdowners.
C2: Challenger Oliver Garner. C4C and Tiffin School's Oliver Garner is from New Malden in Surrey and is extremely sporty, wants to be a sports' statistician when he's older and is a season ticket holder at AFC Wimbledon. He says he would most like to meet Usain Bolt, and had the chance, but was ill on the day.
DC: Susie Dent and Brian Capron.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: M P T E E O Q F D
R02: R J K A A T L O A
R03: S R D I E I H Y R
R04: B E O E T C T O N
R05: 25, 7, 7, 4, 9, 5. Target: 983.
TTT: HIPSTARS - "They've been know to pull a few strings"
R06: R E N G I T S E O
R07: D N D E O C D I A
R08: I E N R L G A R U
R09: M L S U A S I I T
R10: 25, 1, 3, 4, 7, 7. Target: 995.
TTT: CUTSTEEL - "They can't cut steel but they can provide iron"
R11: V S T E U E M D F
R12: R L C O A U P N E
R13: M S X A E A N P L
R14: 25, 5, 1, 2, 6, 1. Target: 131.
R15: L O N G D O N C I (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: M P T E E O Q F D

C1: TEMPED (6)
C2: DEMOTE (6)
OT: EMOTED (6) METOPE (6)
Score: 6–6 (max 6)

Round 2: R J K A A T L O A

C1: ROTA (4)
C2: TALK (4)
DC: KOALA (5) AORTA (5)
OT: AKARA (5) ALTAR (5) KAJAL (5) KRAAL (5) TOLAR (5)
Score: 10–10 (max 11)

Plenty of fives found be neither player so the score remains deadlocked.

Round 3: S R D I E I H Y R

C1: RIDERS (6)
C2: DISHIER (7)
OT: SHIRRED (7)
Score: 10–17 (max 18)

Oliver takes the lead...

Round 4: B E O E T C T O N

C1: COTTON (6)
C2: COTTON (6)
DC: NOCEBO (6)
OT: ECOTONE (7)
Score: 16–23 (max 25)

Round 5: 25, 7, 7, 4, 9, 5. Target: 983.

C1: 984. Mistake in working.
C2: 984. (7*5+4)*25+9 (7)
RR: 983. (25*5+7+9)*7-4 (10)
Score: 16–30 (max 35)

Oliver extends his lead on a tricky numbers game.

Brian talks about being mistaken for Gary Pearson.

Teatime teaser: HIPSTARS -> HARPISTS

Round 6: R E N G I T S E O

C1: GOITRES (7)
C2: EGESTION (8)
DC: INTEGERS (8)
OT: GENITORS (8) TRIGONES (8) STEERING (8) SEROTINE (8)
Score: 16–38 (max 43)

Oliver seems to be on a roll now, this game looks like it's his.

Round 7: D N D E O C D I A

C1: CANDIED (7)
C2: DANCED (6)
OT: CADDIED (7)
Score: 23–38 (max 50)

MAYBE NOT ... Jan hits back with a nice 7.

Round 8: I E N R L G A R U

C1: REARING (7)
C2: GRANULE (7)
DC: REGULAR (7)
OT: GNARLIER (8)
Score: 30–45 (max 58)

Round 9: M L S U A S I I T

C1: STIMULI (7)
C2: LIMITS (6)
OT: SAMITIS (7)
Score: 37–45 (max 65)

The fightback is on, STIMULI brings Jan within 10.

Origin of Words: Susie says that Unready in Ethelred the Unready is due to fact he lacked wisdom rather than not being ready to fight off the Danes.

Round 10: 25, 1, 3, 4, 7, 7. Target: 995.

C1: 996. ((7+3)*25-1)*4 (7)
C2: 994. (7+3)*4*25-7+1 (7)
RR: 994. (7)
OT: 995. (25*3-4)*(7+7)+1 (10)
Score: 44–52 (max 75)

Teatime teaser: CUTSTEEL -> LETTUCES

Round 11: V S T E U E M D F

C1: DEFUSE (6)
C2: VESTED (6)
OT: DUVETS (6) ETUDES (6) FUMETS (6)
Score: 50–58 (max 81)

Round 12: R L C O A U P N E

C1: PRANCE (6)
C2: pouncer
DC: NUCLEAR (7)
OT: OPERCULA (8)
Score: 56–58 (max 89)

Oliver's dodgy 7 isn't allowed. Is nerves starting to get the better of him?

Round 13: M S X A E A N P L

C1: SAMPLE (6)
C2: PLANES (6)
DC: NAPALMS (7)
Score: 62–64 (max 96)

Some guy at school said he found NAPALMS. Will get him to go on Apterous.

Round 14: 25, 5, 1, 2, 6, 1. Target: 131.

C1: 131. 25*5+6 (10)
C2: 131. 25*5+6 (10)
Score: 72–74 (max 106)

An easy numbers leads to tense moments before the conundrum.

Round 15: L O N G D O N C I

C2 buzzes on 1 second to say CONDOLING which is correct.
Score: 72–84 (max 116)

Oliver sees this straight away, buzzes, looks worried as he's not 100% sure. However, Jeff reveals he has got it right.
That was an extremely tough game and I was mightily relieved to win.

My next game recap will be brought to you by James Robinson.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=62

[Marc Meakin]

Nice recap.
Must be a bit weird recapping your own game though.

[Oliver Garner]

Nice recap.
Must be a bit weird recapping your own game though.

The last person to do that was Corbus Maximus. He lost.

[Jon Corby]

Nice recap.
Must be a bit weird recapping your own game though.

The last person to do that was Corbus Maximus. He lost.

Indeed, and the recap didn't appear until a month or so's worth of counselling later.

[Chris Corby]

Oli, you are going great guns! I hope you have a Dad around and that and he is really proud of you!