Hopefully I can do him justice with this recap too.
So, here we go.
Countdown recap for Friday 15 November 2013.
C1: Champion Simon Whiteley (2 wins, 180 points.) A lay clerk and professional singer living in Windsor Castle, Berkshire, and has been mentioned before, shares ancestry with the great man himself, Richard Whiteley.
C2: Challenger Mike Botto. A matchday announcer for A.F.C. Bournemouth, who lives in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, where his wife lives.
He is currently doing "The Big List of 10 Things", a series of 10 challenges which he must complete within a year, which will raise money for the British Heart Foundation, luckily one of them happens to be "appear on a quiz show" (good one to pick ), and he's also doing a marathon and a skydive amongst other things. If you think that sounds like something you want to sponsor, go here.DC: Susie Dent and Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: O A I R D S M T O
R02: L A R O I O H T P
R03: 25, 100, 75, 2, 2, 10. Target: 920.
TTT: GETFIRED - "Might he get fired for not sitting still?"
R04: M E Z M O R P D U
R05: O E O N G H R P A
R06: 50, 7, 9, 2, 8, 9. Target: 160.
R07: E U E N G S X G A
R08: I A F O B P R E N
R09: 50, 25, 100, 2, 4, 1. Target: 930.
TTT: LARGEGIN - "Starts to tell amusing stories after a drink"
R10: S O A I K T C E O
R11: E A O I N T L V S
R12: A D E A U C D W D
R13: E I U B M S H R A
R14: 100, 75, 6, 9, 5, 3. Target: 290.
R15: R E D S P O O N S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: O A I R D S M T O
C1: RATIOS (6)
C2: STORM (5)
DC: DIATOMS (7) DOORMATS (8)
Score: 6–0 (max 8)
An early lead for Simon, as DC go 2 better with the late darrenic beater of DOORMATS.
Round 2: L A R O I O H T P
C1: rialto
C2: PILOT (5)
DC: POLAR (5) PORTAL (6) HOOPLA (6)
OT: HARLOT (6) HIROLA (6) OOLITH (6) PATROL (6) TAILOR (6) THOLOI (6) THORIA (6)
Score: 6–5 (max 14)
There's me thinking that Lothario might've been good, but while in Venice, Simon seems to have fallen off the Rialto to get Mike into the game.
An OOLITH is any of the component concretions of a piece of oolite, a limestone composed of minute rounded concretions resembling fish roe, in some places altered to ironstone by replacement with iron oxide.
A THOLOS (plural THOLOI) is a subterranean domed tomb chamber of the Mycenaean age.
THORIA (or THORIUM OXIDE) is a white, heavy, water-insoluble powder, ThO2, used chiefly in incandescent mantles, as the Welsbach gas mantle.
Round 3: 25, 100, 75, 2, 2, 10. Target: 920.
C1: 920. (100 - (((75 / 25) x 2) + 2)) x 10 (10)
C2: 921.
Score: 16–5 (max 24)
A very impressive method from Simon sees his lead increase by 10.
Teatime teaser: GETFIRED -> FIDGETER
Round 4: M E Z M O R P D U
C1: ROMPED (6)
C2: ROMPED (6)
DC: DUMPER (6)
OT: POURED (6) ROUPED (6)
Score: 22–11 (max 30)
2 lots of ROMPED in this round, well it's better than being a DUMPER I guess.
In Scotland and Northern England, to ROUP is to auction off something.
Round 5: O E O N G H R P A
C1: HANGER (6)
C2: ORANGE (6)
DC: HARPOON (7)
OT: OREGANO (7)
Score: 28–17 (max 37)
Sir Ranulph gets out his HARPOON, aiming through the HANGER and into the ORANGE. (Impressive feat if you can do it.
)Round 6: 50, 7, 9, 2, 8, 9. Target: 160.
C1: -
C2: -
RR: 160. (7 + 9) x (2 + 8) (10)
Score: 28–17 (max 47)
Oh dear, oh dear, a double blank on a fairly low target. Back to school time methinks.
Sir Ranulph talks about the time where he reached the North Pole a bit late, so he had to go on a piece of rapidly melting ice to try and float along down to Siberia, and instead got to Greenland, where there were polar bears aplenty, and managed to use his revolver to injure a bear in the toe.......
Round 7: E U E N G S X G A
C1: GAUGES (6)
C2: GUNGES (6)
DC: ENGAGES (7)
Score: 34–23 (max 54)
Simon is a bit unlucky, as if he stuck the "N" before "GAUGES", he'd have spotted the darrenic 7.
Round 8: I A F O B P R E N
C1: PROFANE (7)
C2: parofen
DC: BONFIRE (7)
OT: PINAFORE (8)
Score: 41–23 (max 62)
I can only assume that Mike was thinking of PARAFFIN, but his spelling is a bit out, and Simon capitalises with his 7. Slightly surprising miss from DC there.........
Round 9: 50, 25, 100, 2, 4, 1. Target: 930.
C1: 925. (((2 x 4) + 1) x 100) + 25 (7)
C2: 925. (((2 x 4) + 1) x 100) + 25 (7)
RR: 931. (7)
OT: 931. ((100 + 50 + 1) x (4 + 2)) + 25 (7)
Score: 48–30 (max 69)
Another 3 large with a 900+ target, but this one is impossible to do. Although, more intriguingly, the camera seemed not to want to show Rachel selecting 930 as the target..............
Teatime teaser: LARGEGIN -> REGALING
Round 10: S O A I K T C E O
C1: COOKIES (7)
C2: COOKIES (7)
DC: CASKET (6)
OT: COOTIES (7) OAKIEST (7) TACKIES (7)
Score: 55–37 (max 76)
Yum, yum, yum, 2 lots of COOKIES here.
In South Africa, TACKIES are tennis shoes or plimsolls.
Round 11: E A O I N T L V S
C1: ELATION (7)
C2: elations
DC: VIOLATES (8) NOVELIST (8) ovaltines
OT: TOENAILS (8)
Score: 62–37 (max 84)
Oh dear, oh dear, Mike falls into the elations/TOENAILS trap, while Susie tries to brew up some Ovaltines to go with the COOKIES from earlier, but it's not in the dictionary at all
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of the Aretha Franklin song, "R-E-S-P-E-C-T".
Round 12: A D E A U C D W D
C1: ADDUCED (7)
C2: CAWED (5)
DC: WADDED (6)
Score: 69–37 (max 91)
An impressive 7 with the 3 D's from Simon there, and he's almost over the finish line now..................
Round 13: E I U B M S H R A
C1: BUSHIER (7)
C2: ambusher
DC: BREAMS (6) MUSHIER (7)
OT: AUMBRIES (8)
Score: 76–37 (max 99)
I bet Mike was not alone in thinking that ambusher seemed a plausible gamble to take, but unfortunately you can't be one, which means that Simon now has his hat-trick.
An AUMBRY (or AMBRY) is a recess in the wall of a church or a cupboard in the sacristy where sacred vessels, books, vestments, etc., are kept.
Round 14: 100, 75, 6, 9, 5, 3. Target: 290.
C1: 291. ((9 - 5) x 75) - (6 + 3) (7)
C2: 291. ((6 - 3) x 100) - 9 (7)
RR: 290. (3 x 100) - (9 + 6 - 5) (10)
Score: 83–44 (max 109)
Erm, not sure what to make of Mike's slightly bizarre method for his 291, as he wastes the 6, which could've been useful in reaching the desired 290. Ah well, he does get 7 points at least.
Round 15: R E D S P O O N S
C2 buzzes on 24.5 seconds to say SPONSORED which is correct.
Final Score: 83–54 (max 119)
And what an appropriate conundrum for our fundraising challenger, and it is he who does solve it, restricting Simon to just the 83 points today.
So, Simon has 263 points from his 3 games so far, winning all 5 games next week would guarantee him a place in the finals, but can he do it, and bring the spirit of Richard Whiteley into the finals (which I must say, are just brilliant, and well worth the 5 week wait.
) 
I'll be back next Wednesday and Thursday as normal, while Anthony will be back next Friday as usual.
So, have a great weekend and see you next week. Bye, bye.
Statistics Corner
Simon:
Total score - 83
Raw score - 83
Total % of max - 70
Raw % of max - 70
Total average score per round - 5.5
Raw average score per round - 5.5
Number of maxes - 5
Mike:
Total score - 54
Raw score - 71
Total % of max - 45
Raw % of max - 60
Total average score per round - 3.6
Raw average score per round - 4.7
Number of maxes - 4
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=69