Monday 6th September 2010 (Series 63, Prelim 41)

[Ryan Taylor]

Wow, Wogan's Perfect Recall is really shit.

Countdown recap for Monday 6 September 2010.

C1: Champion Daniel Pati (1 win, 112 points.)
C2: Challenger Barry Hughes.
DC: Susie Dent and Penny Smith.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: S I F E N A W N S
R02: D B N U A E H P O
R03: V I N U P A O E J
R04: C S R A U I T M E
R05: 75, 3, 9, 9, 8, 5. Target: 698.
TTT: SHAVEDIE - "To be honest it's a bit of a sticky matter"
R06: S D Q I O E R S L
R07: T I C R I O E O H
R08: D S T I U A G N E
R09: R E L U T A L E D
R10: 25, 10, 7, 6, 6, 8. Target: 362.
TTT: BOOTTREE - "It's not Simply Red it's more of a Deep Purple"
R11: W I N E T U B A T
R12: G N R O E O P Z D
R13: K U M A D E S I R
R14: 75, 5, 4, 8, 6, 2. Target: 249.
R15: D U E T S E G G S (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Daniel Pati made a pretty big impact on Friday’s edition and transferred his anagram skills from Apterous onto the main stage by crushing Peter Godwin slayer, Lee Palmer. He is a search engine optimisation consultant from Manchester and likes to play tennis, snooker and listen to hip hop music.

Barry Hughes is a dentist which leads to some cringeworthy Stelling jokes about “filling in” and “stealing the crown” from Daniel. He is from Newry, County Down where he lives with his wife and daughter. He also likes his sport and music although chooses to listen to indy rock with his favourite artists being Arcade Fire, Nick Cave and Flight of the Conchords.

In DC this week is Penny Smith probably most famous for being on GMTV which coincidentally was replaced by Daybreak today.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: S I F E N A W N S

C1: FANNIES (7)
C2: FANNIES (7)
OT: WANNESS (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 7)

A brilliant opening as both of them spot FANNIES. Daniel’s apologetic response was great too, kinda reminded me of this. Rachel cheekily smiled.

Round 2: D B N U A E H P O

C1: ABOUND (6)
C2: PHONED (6)
OT: UNHOPED (7)
Score: 13–13 (max 14)

The very strangely sounding UNHOPED is the only thing better here as Daniel and Barry find good sixes.

Round 3: V I N U P A O E J

C1: PIANO (5)
C2: pinae
DC: OPINE (5)
OT: ENVOI (5) OVINE (5) JUVIE (5) NAEVI (5) NAIVE (5) NOVAE (5) PAEON (5)
Score: 18–13 (max 19)

A truly rotten selection yielding only 5’s, luckily for Daniel he pulls clear as Barry offers an invalid word.

Round 4: C S R A U I T M E

C1: CERASTIUM (18)
C2: CURATES (7)
Score: 36–13 (max 37)

True brilliance. I thought he had the 9 when I saw him taking a sip of water but then doubted it. Then he says he’ll “try a 9” so I still had my doubts but then BOOM he pulls it off. His guests at the recordings were clearly heard from the audience celebrating that fricking sweet spot.

Round 5: 75, 3, 9, 9, 8, 5. Target: 698.

C1: 698. (75+3)*9-(5-(9-8)) (10)
C2: 699.
Score: 46–13 (max 47)

Daniel is flying now after that 9 and quickly takes all 10 points in this tricky little numbers game to almost put this game to bed with only the first third gone!

DC Guest Time:Penny Smith once goosed Gerard Butler whilst working on GMTV mistaking him for a guy called Nick. I’d never heard of the term GOOSED so if you are thick or perhaps just naive like me then GOOSED means to pinch someone’s buttocks.

Teatime teaser: SHAVEDIE -> ADHESIVE

Round 6: S D Q I O E R S L

C1: DOSSIER (7)
C2: DOSSIER (7)
DC: SOLDIERS (8)
Score: 53–20 (max 55)

One of those rounds that needs an end round early button, although surprisingly Daniel and Barry produce 7’s missing the darrenic 8.

Round 7: T I C R I O E O H

C1: CHEROOT (7)
C2: hootier
DC: HOOTER (6) ITCHIER (7)
Score: 60–20 (max 62)

Unlucky Barry as he finds another dud whilst Daniel again impresses with CHEROOT. ITCHIER provokes Penny into saying something about itchy underpants showing exactly what a kinky bitch she is. Although she has some way to go before she’s on par with Kate Garraway.

Round 8: D S T I U A G N E

C1: STEADING (8)
C2: STEADING (8)
DC: SEDATING (8) GAUDIEST (8)
OT: SAUTEING (8)
Score: 68–28 (max 70)

Straightforward –ING spots boost the guy’s scores and Daniel is looking to be on for a pretty big score again.

Round 9: R E L U T A L E D

C1: RELATED (7)
C2: RELATED (7)
DC: ALERTED (7) ALLURED (7)
OT: ALTERED (7) TREADLE (7) DUELLER (7)
Score: 75–35 (max 77)

A flat round sees no change to the lead that Daniel has made. I don’t think Barry is going to be able to reel him back in.

Susie’s Origins of Words: Irene Jones wondered the origin of the term foolscap. Susie proceeds to tell us before Penny barges in with some other wordy thing (hypercharistic?). Pretty funny really.

Round 10: 25, 10, 7, 6, 6, 8. Target: 362.

C1: 362. (25+6+6)*10-8 (10)
C2: 362. (10-8)*7*25+6+6 (10)
Score: 85–45 (max 87)

Rachel makes some Flight of the Conchords reference which I didn’t get but Barry understood it so that’s good. Decent solves by both anyway and Daniel is just 2 points off the max at this point.

Teatime teaser: BOOTTREE -> BEETROOT

Round 11: W I N E T U B A T

C1: INTUBATE (8)
C2: battie
DC: BATTEN (6) BUTANE (6) beatwit
Score: 93–45 (max 95)

WINE and TUBA both visibly apparent but Daniel is at it again with the excellent INTUBATE. High quality stuff I must say and only his second show so far. I feel sorry for whoever faces him next.

Round 12: G N R O E O P Z D

C1: PRONGED (7)
C2: PRONGED (7)
DC: DRONGO (6) pongoed
OT: PROZONE (7)
Score: 100–52 (max 102)

Maxes all round here as Daniel is still just 2 points from the overall max. And with that spot he moves onto 100 whilst Barry goes past the half century mark. Barry hasn’t played badly at all in fact he’s clearly good with the letters but Daniel has been quite superb so far.

Round 13: K U M A D E S I R

C1: MISREAD (7)
C2: MUSKIER (7)
DC: SMIRKED (7)
OT: ADMIRES (7) SIDEARM (7) DARKIES (7) DEMARKS (7) DUIKERS (7) DUSKIER (7) RAMKIES (7) REMUDAS (7) RESIDUA (7)
Score: 107–59 (max 109)

Another flat round but Daniel is loving the letters which make his score even massiver.

Round 14: 75, 5, 4, 8, 6, 2. Target: 249.

C1: 249. (75+8)*(6/2) (10)
C2: 248.
Score: 117–59 (max 119)

That’s it you go on and make your private jokes Rachel and Barry, see if I care! (Rachel continues the Flight of the Conchords banter with Barry which is over my head).

Round 15: D U E T S E G G S

C1 buzzes on 2 seconds to say SUGGESTED which is correct.
Final Score: 127–59 (max 129)

For me, this was the greatest performance I've seen for some time and definitely the best of the series so far. Daniel managed 127/129 missing just 2 maxes on the letters, I can't arselick him enough. Simply great Countdown skills from him. Unfortunately Barry ran into the wrong guy, he was pretty unbeatable today even against the very top apterous players. Loved today's show, I don't care what people say about Apterous ruining Countdown, I love to see contestants coming out with words like CERASTIUM. It does help too that Daniel has an awesome personality to go with his word spotting, he's incredibly cool on the show and pretty humorous too, along with bringing a decent crowd along to cheer him on, so I am really looking forward to this week's shows (that is of course if Daniel manages to stay on).

Oliver Garner will let you know how he gets on tomorrow.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63

[Ryan Taylor]

Errors to the usual address thanks and I'll edit when I get back.

[James Doohan]

Rachel said something like it was business time for the numbers round or something similar

[Peter Mabey]

R11: Susie didn't comment, but BATTIE isn't valid.

[Ryan Taylor]

R11: Susie didn't comment, but BATTIE isn't valid.

Edited. Thanks! I did think it sounded dogy at first but then didn't think to check it just because Susie said it wasn't invalid.

[Scott Gillies]

truly awesome from daniel, i totally fear my number one seeding now and if he continues like this he could easily threaten the 900 barrier! sweet as fuck

[Junaid Mubeen]

127/129 is incredible at any time, but the scary thing is that Daniel is probably going to improve. His raw spotting is top drawer. Cool hairdo, too.