Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 16 January 2014.
C1: Champion Ciarán Crawley (2 wins, 193 points.) An Apterite from Dundalk, County Lough, Republic of Ireland. He once did a bungee jump at a music festival in Denmark, and has also dressed up as St. Patrick in Barcelona.
C2: Challenger Sophie Handley. From Birmingham, but is currently a student at Hull University. She has a degree in psychology already, and is now doing a postgrad certificate for primary school teaching. She used to be a dance teacher, and has danced at the Queen's Theatre in London, and she used to be a ballet dancer too.
DC: Susie Dent and Helen Skelton.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: S A H I J E L U T
R02: R T K H O E A E R
R03: 75, 6, 2, 8, 6, 1. Target: 598.
TTT: GOODUNIT - "The good unit are getting the better of their opponents"
R04: L S R P O A E I T
R05: G U M O G I F A O
R06: 50, 75, 100, 25, 8, 8. Target: 550.
R07: R E N I S A B O R
R08: C N G E O E H R U
R09: 25, 2, 9, 6, 8, 8. Target: 504.
TTT: TEARDROP - "This beast definitely won't shed any tears for his victims"
R10: I A U D S R V E L
R11: F I D O R A N I E
R12: O A U O D Q V P E
R13: S A M O R I D A S
R14: 25, 50, 75, 100, 6, 4. Target: 887.
R15: R E F G O T F L U (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: S A H I J E L U T
C1: HAILS (5)
C2: JAILS (5)
DC: HUSTLE (6) SALUTE (6)
OT: LATEISH (7)
Score: 5–5 (max 7)
Nothing much to cheer at the start of today's games, with just some 5's and 6's here, and an unfound 7 too.....
Round 2: R T K H O E A E R
C1: RATHER (6)
C2: HEARER (6)
DC: RETAKE (6) retaker
OT: AETHER (6) HEATER (6) HEREAT (6) HERETO (6) HETERO (6) HOARER (6) KARREE (6) REHEAR (6) REHEAT (6) RERATE (6) RHETOR (6) TEARER (6)
Score: 11–11 (max 13)
6 apiece and 6 a-flat here.
An AETHER is a theoretical, universal substance believed during the 19th century to act as the medium for transmission of electromagnetic waves (e.g., light and X rays) much as sound waves are transmitted by elastic media such as air.
In chemistry, a HETERO is of or pertaining to an atom other than carbon, particularly in a cyclic compound.
A RHETOR is a master or teacher of rhetoric.
Round 3: 75, 6, 2, 8, 6, 1. Target: 598.
C1: 598. (8 x 75) - 2 (10)
C2: 598. (8 x 75) - 2 (10)
Score: 21–21 (max 23)
Nice and simple here. NEXT
Teatime teaser: GOODUNIT -> OUTDOING
Round 4: L S R P O A E I T
C1: EPILATORS (18)
C2: SPOILER (7)
DC: REPOST (6) POLARISE (8)
Score: 39–21 (max 41)
Well, the game has taken a dramatic turn thanks to Ciarán's 9 here. Can he build on this first niner, I wonder
Round 5: G U M O G I F A O
C1: FOAM (4)
C2: GOOF (4)
DC: IMAGO (5) AGOGO (5)
OT: AMIGO (5) FOGOU (5)
Score: 43–25 (max 46)
A very nasty round with just 4's and 5's around here.
Round 6: 50, 75, 100, 25, 8, 8. Target: 550.
C1: 550. (75 x 8) - 50 (10)
C2: 550. (75 x 8) - 50 (10)
Score: 53–35 (max 56)
WOW! I certainly wasn't expecting Sophie to go 4 large here, but instead of a super tricky numbers game, we have one strikingly similar to the first one. How bizarre.....
Helen talks about filming at Madame Tussaud's, and getting the chance to make the hair on the waxwork of Justin Bieber.
Round 7: R E N I S A B O R
C1: barnies
C2: BONIER (6)
DC: BARONIES (8) AIRBORNE (8)
Score: 53–41 (max 64)
Ack, Ciarán is super unfortunate here, as it's BARNEYS, not barnies......... DC wrap it all up with both available 8's here.
Round 8: C N G E O E H R U
C1: GROUCH (6)
C2: HUNGER (6)
DC: ENOUGH (6) ROUGHEN (7)
OT: COUGHER (7)
Score: 59–47 (max 71)
HUNGER and a GROUCH.
Now that is desperate And that's more than ENOUGH for DC, for whom ROUGHEN is also more than ENOUGH 
Round 9: 25, 2, 9, 6, 8, 8. Target: 504.
C1: 501. (((2 x 6) + 8) x 25) + 9 - 8 (7)
C2: -
RR: 504. ((6 + 8) x 9 x 8) / 2 (10)
Score: 66–47 (max 81)
An easy numbers if you know either your 9 times table, or know how to make 1,008 without using the 2 (or the 25 for that matter
) Ciarán pulls away thanks to his 3 away, while Sophie completely blanks.Teatime teaser: TEARDROP -> PREDATOR
Round 10: I A U D S R V E L
C1: ADVISER (7)
C2: SAILED (6)
DC: DRIVELS (7) RESIDUAL (8)
OT: DISVALUE (8)
Score: 73–47 (max 89)
Ciarán's ADVISER has helped him pull further away. Pity I couldn't have said he SAILED away, as that was Sophie's choice.
Round 11: F I D O R A N I E
C1: ORDAIN (6)
C2: FONDER (6)
DC: FEDORA (6) ANEROID (7)
OT: DENARII (7)
Score: 79–53 (max 96)
Another ORDAIN word for Ciarán, while DC go all barometric with their ANEROID.
A DENARIUS (plural DENARII) is a silver coin and monetary unit of ancient Rome, first issued in the latter part of the 3rd century BC, that fluctuated in value and sometimes appeared as a bronze coin.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "manifesto", "chiropodist", "handsome" and "commando".
Round 12: O A U O D Q V P E
C1: PAVED (5)
C2: PAVED (5)
DC: POOED (5) OPAQUE (6)
Score: 84–58 (max 102)
A super nasty round here, where it was all PAVED and POOED, and appropriately, the best one, as Scott Gillies would say, is O-PACK.
Round 13: S A M O R I D A S
C1: RADIOS (6)
C2: SAMOSA (6)
DC: DIORAMAS (8)
Score: 90–64 (max 110)
Some more DIORAMAS already. You'd have thought we'd have enough this series already.
Ciarán doesn't really care I'm sure, as he now has his 3rd game sealed. Round 14: 25, 50, 75, 100, 6, 4. Target: 887.
C1: 896. ((100 + 50) x 6) - 4 (5)
C2: -
RR: 887. (((4 x 100) + 6) x (50 / 25)) + 75 (10)
Score: 95–64 (max 120)
Well, Sophie may have lost the match, but she's still willing to go out with another 4 large selection, but Sophie can't get close, Ciarán (with a little bit of tinkering, could've got one away with his method), while Rachel (after a bit more time) solves it in the end.
Round 15: R E F G O T F L U
C2 buzzes on 2.5 seconds to say FORGETFUL which is correct.
Final Score: 95–74 (max 130)
But, Sophie does get her own consolation in the end with a conundrum solve in a fairly fast time too.
So, Ciarán has 3 wins, and 3 scores in the 90's too, so, he's building himself up for an octochamp assault, and in a week's time, he could well be the first octochamp of Series 70, but we'll have to wait and see.
Anthony will be back tomorrow to see if Ciarán can become a half-octochamp at least, and I'll also be back tomorrow for the next installment of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, so you can join me for that.
So, till next week (or tomorrow), see you then.
Statistics Corner
Ciarán:
Total score - 95
Raw score - 95
Total % of max - 73
Raw % of max - 73
Total average score per round - 6.3
Raw average score per round - 6.3
Number of maxes - 4
Sophie:
Total score - 74
Raw score - 87
Total % of max - 57
Raw % of max - 67
Total average score per round - 4.9
Raw average score per round - 5.8
Number of maxes - 4
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=70