Quite a year
And hopefully, Her Majesty, The Queen is enjoying her 84th birthday today, by watching her favourite show on the royal telly.
Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Wednesday 21 April 2010.
C1: Champion Claudia Tyson (6 wins, 492 points.) From Ampthill, Bedfordshire. She works as a nurse in a medical centre at a tri-service base and describes it as her best job for 20 years.
C2: Challenger Chris Jones. From Box, Wiltshire. He is a semi-retired educational writer. He like Scrabble, backgammon, bridge, and conundrum solving, as we saw on Monday's show (he was the person in the audience who got ASPERSION). He says his biggest talent is snowboarding, yet he hasn't tried it yet.
He says that because his son is a snowboard instructor, who hopes to teach him one day.DC: Susie Dent and Ken Bruce.
RR: Rachel Riley, who certainly seems a bit worse for wear in the voice department, but as long as her other primary functions are working properly, we aren't fussed.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: C I U E N R T E T
R02: L J P A O I C S X
R03: D S D O E V O N A
R04: D S M O A O B K P
R05: 9, 7, 6, 3, 1, 5. Target: 904.
TTT: LOVEBEAM - "It's not a picnic, it's a feast you can take anywhere"
R06: R B T E A E N T M
R07: T O G A M S O I T
R08: R P S E O E R H L
R09: G I W U E C H U S
R10: 25, 8, 9, 6, 1, 9. Target: 885.
TTT: BADDOLLS - "Kelly's Eye - Number 1, plus other weirdos"
R11: S W E A T G O V R
R12: S P Y A O L D U N
R13: N I R Q A I Z T D
R14: 25, 8, 7, 7, 6, 8. Target: 874.
R15: C U T S B E A N S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Enjoy the show.
Round 1: C I U E N R T E T
C1: RETICENT (8)
C2: CENTRE (6)
DC: INTERCUT (8)
OT: ENURETIC (8) TINCTURE (8)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)
A brilliant start by our champ there.
ENURETIC relates to ENURESIS (which I believe was mentioned on one of last week's shows), which is the lack of control of urination.
A TINCTURE is a solution of alcohol or of alcohol and water, containing animal, vegetable, or chemical drugs.
Round 2: L J P A O I C S X
C1: COALS (5)
C2: SOCIAL (6)
OT: OXALIS (6) OXLIPS (6) PLICAS (6)
Score: 8–6 (max 14)
But challenger Chris proves he's no pushover and gets back in with a 6.
OXALIS is any plant of the genus Oxalis, comprising the wood sorrels.
An OXLIP is a Eurasian primrose (Primula elatior) having yellow flowers clustered in a one-sided umbel.
Round 3: D S D O E V O N A
C1: SEDAN (5)
C2: SANDED (6)
DC: ANODES (6)
OT: DAVENS (6) DEDANS (6) SADDEN (6) DODOES (6) DOONAS (6) NODOSE (6) NOOSED (6) NOSODE (6) ODEONS (6) SODDEN (6) VADOSE (6)
Score: 8–12 (max 20)
Woah, is our champ starting a meltdown phase? After a stong start, Claudia has missed 2 lots of 6's in a row.
DAVEN is the Yiddish for "to pray".
A DEDAN is a court tennis term for a netted winning opening of rectangular shape at the service side of the court.
VADOSE is a geological term meaning found or located above the water table.
Round 4: D S M O A O B K P
C1: MOODS (5)
C2: DAMPS (5)
DC: BOOMS (5) POOKAS (6)
OT: ADOBOS (6) KABOOM (6) PADKOS (6)
Score: 13–17 (max 26)
An ADOBO is a Philippine dish of marinated meat or fish seasoned with garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and spices.
KABOOM, as we probably know from watching cartoons, is an exclamation representing an explosive sound or event.
Round 5: 9, 7, 6, 3, 1, 5. Target: 904.
C1: -
C2: 900. 6 x 5 x 3 x (9 + 1) (7)
RR: 904. (((9 x 3) - 1) x 5 x 7) - 6 (10)
Score: 13–24 (max 36)
A very tricky 6 small which doesn't pay any dividends at all for Claudia, but lets Chris' lead extend into double figures. Even Rachel needed more time to solve this one.
Ken talks more about his sporting prowess, or lack of it.
Teatime teaser: LOVEBEAM -> MOVEABLE
Round 6: R B T E A E N T M
C1: ENTREAT (7)
C2: BATTER (6)
OT: ABETMENT (8)
Score: 20–24 (max 44)
Our champ gets back in it with a good 7, but the darrenic 8 eludes everyone.
Round 7: T O G A M S O I T
C1: MOTTOS (6)
C2: gamist
DC: TOMATO (6)
OT: ATOMIST (7)
Score: 26–24 (max 51)
Claudia goes back into the lead after Chris' dubious 6 is just that, but yet again, the darren passes everyone by.
Round 8: R P S E O E R H L
C1: HELPERS (7)
C2: HELPERS (7)
DC: ELOPERS (7)
Score: 33–31 (max 58)
Round 9: G I W U E C H U S
C1: CHUGS (5)
C2: CHEWS (5)
DC: WEIGHS (6)
Score: 38–36 (max 64)
Susie's Origins Of Words tells of the origins of "phoney", "prestige" and "glamour".
Round 10: 25, 8, 9, 6, 1, 9. Target: 885.
C1: -
C2: 892. ((9 - 6 + 1) x 9 x 25) - 8 (5)
RR: 882. (7)
OT: 884. ((((9 + 8) x 6) - 1) x 9) - 25 (7)
Score: 38–41 (max 71)
Another stinker numbers game for the contestants there. Claudia blanks out again, Chris gets 7 away, and not even Rachel can solve it, although this one is impossible though.
Teatime teaser: BADDOLLS -> ODDBALLS
Round 11: S W E A T G O V R
C1: STARVE (6)
C2: STORAGE (7)
DC: OVERSAW (7)
OT: GRAVEST (7) TOERAGS (7) STOWAGE (7) TOWAGES (7)
Score: 38–48 (max 78)
Chris' lead extends to 10. Is our champion staring down the barrel of defeat....
Round 12: S P Y A O L D U N
C1: unplay
C2: UNLOADS (7)
DC: UPLOADS (7)
OT: POUNDALS (8)
Score: 38–55 (max 86)
Oh dear. Claudia's dubious 6 was meaningless anyway, as Chris' 7 puts him one foot over the finishing line.
A POUNDAL is the foot-pound-second unit of force, equal to the force that produces an acceleration of one foot per second on a mass of one pound.
Round 13: N I R Q A I Z T D
C1: DRAIN (5)
C2: TRAIN (5)
DC: QINTAR (6)
Score: 43–60 (max 92)
DC get the U-less Q beginning darren, but Claudia now needs to pull off a "sleepsuit" to win this one.
Round 14: 25, 8, 7, 7, 6, 8. Target: 874.
C1: 874. (((7 x 6) - 7) x 25) - (8 / 8) (10)
C2: 875.
Score: 53–60 (max 102)
Woah
Claudia manages to pull that one out of the bag, and now we have a crucial conundrum in our midst. Round 15: C U T S B E A N S
No one buzzes. The answer was SUBSTANCE.
Score: 53–60 (max 112)
A woman from the audience, who almost looks like she might have taken a few SUBSTANCES herself, gets the conundrum, meaning that our champion has been deposed, so Chris is our new champion. (I would like to point out that I'm very sure that that woman had not taken any substances of any kind.)
Claudia is now the #5 seed, so her chances of a return for the finals are still pretty high.
Can Chris go any further
Find out tomorrow with yours truly.Till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Claudia:
Total score - 53
Raw score - 69
Total % of max - 47
Raw % of max - 62
Total average score per round - 3.5
Raw average score per round - 4.6
Number of maxes - 3
Chris:
Total score - 60
Raw score - 79
Total % of max - 54
Raw % of max - 71
Total average score per round - 4.0
Raw average score per round - 5.3
Number of maxes - 4
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=62
