And now that Jason has sadly left us, I decided to watch this show in the green room, rather than the audience, but I was in the company of one of the runners, and Tom Read, tomorrow's contestant.
Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 24 July 2014.
C1: Champion Tricia Pay (1 win, 100 points.) An Apterite, Scrabbler and retired assistant land registrar from Dunsford, Devon. She once took lessons to fly a microlight with her husband. She was also previously on in Series 29, losing 70-54 to future Champion of Champions winner, Chris Rogers.
C2: Challenger David Parsons. A civil servant with the HMRC from Birmingham. He's also a member of the St. John's Ambulance during Aston Villa matches.
DC: Susie Dent and Anton du Beke.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: R L D U E O M S E
R02: D U P E X H O S T
R03: 50, 8, 9, 7, 10, 8. Target: 560.
TTT: COLINSAM - "Colin and Sam had very little to say"
R04: D A S Y E R O C Z
R05: N R L U E I T G A
R06: 100, 6, 4, 2, 7, 5. Target: 147.
R07: N S T E O I C K O
R08: R U H O A M T B O
R09: 25, 6, 8, 10, 9, 10. Target: 685.
TTT: REACHLOB - "He might drink, but he doesn't want another half"
R10: P E L B A R O L A
R11: T R G I O A N S I
R12: P E F W O R U N N
R13: S F R O E I M T E
R14: 75, 9, 10, 4, 3, 1. Target: 784.
R15: S E L L E R C U T (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: R L D U E O M S E
Tricia: REMOULDS (8)
David: MOULDERS (8)
DC: SMOULDER (8)
OT: REMODELS (8) URODELES (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8)
Eights all round to start today's show. Just what we like to see.
A URODELE is an amphibian of the order Urodela; a newt or salamander.
Round 2: D U P E X H O S T
Tricia: SHOUTED (7)
David: SHOUTED (7)
DC: SPOUTED (7) TUXEDOS (7) SEXPOT (6)
OT: SOUTHED (7)
Score: 15–15 (max 15)
More 7's in this one, although the biggest laughs seem to be from Anton mentioning Susie and SEXPOT in the same sentence.
Round 3: 50, 8, 9, 7, 10, 8. Target: 560.
Tricia: 560. 7 x 8 x 10 (10)
David: 560. (50 + 7 - (8 / 8)) x 10 (10)
Score: 25–25 (max 25)
Another simple numbers game here, no real tests this week it seems............
Teatime teaser: COLINSAM -> LACONISM
Round 4: D A S Y E R O C Z
Tricia: SCORED (6)
David: CORDS (5)
DC: ZYDECO (6)
OT: ZEDOARY (7)
Score: 31–25 (max 32)
Tricia has SCORED the first breakthrough of the day with her 6, and while DC dance with their cool 6, there's another Z-word that's there for a darrenic 7.
A ZEDOARY is an Indian plant related to turmeric, with an aromatic rhizome. (Curcuma zedoaria, family Zingiberaceae)
Round 5: N R L U E I T G A
Tricia: GRANULITE (18)
David: TANGLE (6)
Score: 49–25 (max 50)
While watching the letters come out in the green room, I eagerly awaited for the A to come out for GRANULITE, and I was happy to show off (in a nice way) to the others in the green room, and the runner even talked to someone upstairs mentioning my 9, but then when Tricia said she got it, my mouth just hit the floor
That just proved what a quality contestant we had out there. 
Round 6: 100, 6, 4, 2, 7, 5. Target: 147.
Tricia: 147. (6 x 7) + 5 + 100 (10)
David: 147. (6 x 7) + 5 + 100 (10)
Score: 59–35 (max 60)
Yet another easy numbers game. I think CECIL needs another good kick in the youknowwhats.
Anton talks about some of the interesting venues that he has danced in, including Buckingham Palace.
Round 7: N S T E O I C K O
Tricia: misdeclared 8
David: TONICS (6)
DC: SECTION (7) COOKIES (7) sicknote
OT: COOTIES (7) KENOTIC (7) KETONIC (7) NOTICES (7) SNICKET (7)
Score: 59–41 (max 67)
Oh dear, Tricia miscounts again with her word, and it costs her some points. (Interestingly, at the recording, the original bit was redone after Tricia said "Eight, oh no it's not, sorry" (or words to that effect), then when she was asked to redo it, she said "Seven", then was told to say "Eight", then "I'm sorry, I've messed up").
Round 8: R U H O A M T B O
Tricia: BATHROOM (8)
David: harbour
DC: TAMBOUR (7) RUMBA (5)
Score: 67–41 (max 75)
I thought I did well spotting TAMBOUR right at the end, but Tricia blows it out of the water with her BATHROOM, a definite 8 this time.
Round 9: 25, 6, 8, 10, 9, 10. Target: 685.
Tricia: 685. ((8 + 9 + 10) x 25) + 10 (10)
David: 689.
Score: 77–41 (max 85)
Easy if you spot the 27, which David clearly didn't, and Tricia has doubled her lead within 2 rounds.
Teatime teaser: REACHLOB -> BACHELOR
Round 10: P E L B A R O L A
Tricia: parolable
David: perabola
DC: PAROLE (6) PARABLE (7)
OT: ROPABLE (7)
Score: 77–41 (max 92)
Ooooh, David's 8 forces Tricia into her risky 9, but unfortunately both of them are out of luck, as David needs a 3rd A for PARABOLA, and parolable is just not in.
Round 11: T R G I O A N S I
Tricia: ROASTING (8)
David: GRANTS (6)
DC: ORGANIST (8)
OT: RIGATONI (8)
Score: 85–41 (max 100)
Well, Tricia's got David on for a good ROASTING after that last round
Susie's Origins of Words talks about the origins of the words "dapper", "spivvy" and "the full Monty".
Round 12: P E F W O R U N N
Tricia: UNROPE (6)
David: FROWN (5)
DC: UNWORN (6) PUNNER (6)
OT: FUNNER (6) NEURON (6) RENOWN (6)
Score: 91–41 (max 106)
Not too much on here with six 6's on offer only, but Tricia has one of them, which wraps up win #2.
Round 13: S F R O E I M T E
Tricia: TIRESOME (8)
David: FORTIES (7)
DC: METEORS (7)
Score: 99–41 (max 114)
She might have got TIRESOME, but Tricia's performance today has been anything, but TIRESOME
Her 10th max of the day has put her in position to dislodge Jason's 116 from Tuesday's show as the highest score of the series.............. Round 14: 75, 9, 10, 4, 3, 1. Target: 784.
Tricia: 784. ((75 + 3) x 10) + 4 (10)
David: 784. ((75 + 3) x 10) + 4 (10)
Score: 109–51 (max 124)
Well, that easy numbers game takes her past yesterday's show, and so Tricia is now ready to hit the high scores list.
Round 15: S E L L E R C U T
Tricia buzzes on 12 seconds to say CRUELLEST which is correct.
Final Score: 119–51 (max 134)
It's probably the only weakness in Tricia's game so far, is the speed in her conundrum solves, but if that's her only major weakness, we could have a future octochamp in the making here. Having watched her live, I know she's a formidable opponent, and after scraping past Jason in the last game, she went out all guns blazing today, and put David onto the sword.
She certainly frightened the life out of Tom, who was watching the game in the green room with me, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if Tricia does indeed make it a hat-trick. Join Anthony for that one.
Unfortunately, Countdown is only on once next week thanks to Glorious Goodwood, so my next recaps will be on August 6th and 7th, which could be Tricia's last 2 preliminaries............
So, see you soon, and bye for now.
Statistics Corner
Tricia:
Total score - 119
Raw score - 119
Total % of max - 89
Raw % of max - 89
Total average score per round - 7.9
Raw average score per round - 7.9
Number of maxes - 12
David:
Total score - 51
Raw score - 87
Total % of max - 38
Raw % of max - 65
Total average score per round - 3.4
Raw average score per round - 5.8
Number of maxes - 5
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=71