Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Wednesday 28 May 2014.
C1: Champion Samir Pilica (5 wins, 511 points.) An Apterite originally from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
C2: Challenger Peter Lidstone. A management information officer from Southsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire. He works for Build Africa, a charity that helps build schools for rural communities in Kenya and Uganda.
DC: Susie Dent and Julia Bradbury.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: R D N S E I O P E
R02: D N O A E V R G E
R03: 75, 25, 6, 4, 10, 2. Target: 936.
TTT: IAMBOGUS - "I am a bogus husband, because I am this"
R04: T M S G I O E R L
R05: D S Q L U E A R W
R06: 25, 75, 7, 6, 10, 2. Target: 749.
R07: C T K R I E I P O
R08: M T I A E J R X T
R09: 100, 25, 2, 10, 4, 8. Target: 522.
TTT: IANCARES - "Ian cares for his little yellow birds"
R10: V B R L O U T S A
R11: D R B N E A O G I
R12: E O I S F T H N P
R13: Y Z P N A I E D A
R14: 10, 2, 6, 7, 8, 1. Target: 750.
R15: C O O L Y A C H T (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: R D N S E I O P E
Samir: PRISONED (8)
Peter: PERSON (6)
DC: PIONEERS (8) OPENERS (7)
OT: ISOPRENE (8)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)
Another impressive start from Samir with an early 8.
ISOPRENE is a colourless, volatile, water-insoluble liquid, C5H8, of the terpene class, usually obtained from rubber or from oil of turpentine by pyrolysis: used chiefly in the manufacture of synthetic rubber by polymerization.
Round 2: D N O A E V R G E
Samir: RENEGADO (8)
Peter: endeavor
OT: ENGRAVED (8) GOVERNED (8) OVERAGED (8)
Score: 16–0 (max 16)
Peter tries to go American, but it fails. Maybe he should've gone Spanish like Samir.........
Round 3: 75, 25, 6, 4, 10, 2. Target: 936.
Samir: 935. ((10 + 2) x 75) + 25 + 6 + 4 (7)
Peter: 935. ((10 + 2) x 75) + 25 + 6 + 4 (7)
RR: 936. ((75 x 2) + 10 - 4) x 6 (10)
Score: 23–7 (max 26)
Both players get to 1 away, so Rachel is called into action early on with one of a few methods available here.
Teatime teaser: IAMBOGUS -> BIGAMOUS
Round 4: T M S G I O E R L
Samir: ERGOTISM (8)
Peter: GLORIES (7)
DC: GIMLET (6)
Score: 31–7 (max 34)
Another impressive 8 from Samir. Does he offer anything but 8's
Round 5: D S Q L U E A R W
Samir: SQUARED (7)
Peter: relauds
DC: WALRUS (6)
Score: 38–7 (max 41)
Well, not a 7, but another darren for Samir, as Peter misses out with his own 7.
Round 6: 25, 75, 7, 6, 10, 2. Target: 749.
Samir: 749. (75 x 10) - (7 - 6) (10)
Peter: 749. (75 x 10) - (7 - 6) (10)
Score: 48–17 (max 51)
Well, at least there's some easy points for Peter here.
Julia talks about Jane Inglis Clark, the creator of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, in a time when mountaineering was a men's only activity.
Round 7: C T K R I E I P O
Samir: POCKET (6)
Peter: PICKIER (7)
OT: PICRITE (7) PRICKET (7)
Score: 48–24 (max 58)
Well, Peter comes back in with his PICKIER 7. Is Samir wobbling a bit here
PICRITE is a granular igneous rock composed chiefly of olivine and augite, but containing small amounts of feldspar.
Round 8: M T I A E J R X T
Samir: mixrate
Peter: MATTER (6)
DC: JITTER (6) MATRIX (6)
OT: ATTIRE (6) MATIER (6) RAMJET (6) RATITE (6)
Score: 48–30 (max 64)
Oh dear, Samir is definitely wobbling a bit more now thanks to his mixrate. The gap goes sub-20 now.................
A RAMJET is a jet engine operated by the injection of fuel into a stream of air compressed by the forward speed of the aircraft.
Round 9: 100, 25, 2, 10, 4, 8. Target: 522.
Samir: 523. ((10 / 2) x 100) + 25 - (8 / 4) (7)
Peter: 520.
RR: 522. (25 + 4) x (10 + 8) (10)
Score: 55–30 (max 74)
Well, Samir restores some order with his 1 away here, but Rachel is called forth once more to provide the answer.
Teatime teaser: IANCARES -> CANARIES
Round 10: V B R L O U T S A
Samir: LABOURS (7)
Peter: BORSTAL (7)
DC: BLOATS (6) ROBUSTA (7)
OT: LOUVARS (7) RUBATOS (7) VORTALS (7)
Score: 62–37 (max 81)
A pair of 7's from the contestants here, including the impressive BORSTAL.
A LOUVAR is a red-finned, deep-sea, tropical fish, Luvarus imperialis, having the vent at the base of the pectoral fin.
A RUBATO is a rubato phrase or passage, having certain notes arbitrarily lengthened while others are correspondingly shortened, or vice versa.
A VORTAL (or VOICE PORTAL) is a telephone service offering browsing of Web content or access to email via voice recognition software.
Round 11: D R B N E A O G I
Samir: ORGANDIE (8)
Peter: GRAINED (7)
DC: DIBORANE (8)
OT: BEARDING (8) BOARDING (8) BONDAGER (8) DEBONAIR (8)
Score: 70–37 (max 89)
Samir pulls further ahead with his ORGANDIE. Surely win #6 is just about there now..............
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "toilet".
Round 12: E O I S F T H N P
Samir: PHONIEST (8)
Peter: SIPHON (6)
DC: PHONES (6) HONEST (6)
Score: 78–37 (max 97)
And yet another darren for Samir wraps up win #6.
Round 13: Y Z P N A I E D A
Samir: PAINED (6)
Peter: PAINED (6)
DC: PANDA (5)
Score: 84–43 (max 103)
And he can even finish off with a darrenic 6 too.
Round 14: 10, 2, 6, 7, 8, 1. Target: 750.
Samir: 750. (((8 + 1) x 7) + (2 x 6)) x 10 (10)
Peter: -
Score: 94–43 (max 113)
Peter tries to make things interesting with a 6 small to finish things off, but unfortunately for him, it's not a positive and Samir takes full advantage, and is now in a position to match yesterday's 104.............
Round 15: C O O L Y A C H T
Samir buzzes on 12.75 seconds to say CHOCOLATY which is correct.
Final Score: 104–43 (max 123)
And he does, despite the odd looking spelling of CHOCOLATY (-TEY is fine too incidentally), which gives him an 11-maxer to boot.
So, Samir has 6 wins to his name, and in combination with his current total of 615 points, it means that he has qualified for the finals, which start in just over 2 weeks time.
Join me tomorrow to see if he can avoid joining the group of 5 players who currently have 6 wins and 1 loss...........
Till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Samir:
Total score - 104
Raw score - 110
Total % of max - 85
Raw % of max - 89
Total average score per round - 6.9
Raw average score per round - 7.3
Number of maxes - 11
Peter:
Total score - 43
Raw score - 76
Total % of max - 35
Raw % of max - 62
Total average score per round - 2.9
Raw average score per round - 5.1
Number of maxes - 5
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=70