Monday 25th August 2014 (series 71, prelim 32)

Andy McGurn · Post by **Andy McGurn** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:38 pm

Countdown recap for Monday 25 August 2014.

C1: Challenger Russ Thornton. A team leader for a printing firm from Liverpool. He’s a fan of Liverpool football club and enjoys table tennis and Morrissey, who he saw play five gigs in eight days during a recent trip to America.

C2: Challenger Douglas Legg. A retired sheep counter from West Yorkshire. He describes his former vocation as “a very sleepy job”

DC: Susie Dent and Angelica Bell.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: R F I U R S A H E
R02: T I S E T O D A G
R03: 1, 9, 8, 10, 8, 75. Target: 610.
TTT: RUGHERBS - "do these people relish living where they do"
R04: I T E D A W E N M
R05: T I E M S I R Y G
R06: 1, 6, 1, 8, 100, 50. Target: 174.
R07: V R E L U N I T U
R08: G B A O E L J A N
R09: 6, 9, 4, 1, 2, 25. Target: 226.
TTT: GINTONIC - "putting their powers of observation to good use"
R10: I D A S O L A S W
R11: S H O T S E A N O
R12: P E P N I E B U X
R13: L A C R P O F I O
R14: 2, 8, 10, 50, 75, 25. Target: 924.
R15: K L I N G O O O N (conundrum)

And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: R F I U R S A H E

Russ: HIRERS (6)
Douglas: FISHER (6)
DC: HURRIES (7) HARRIES (7)
OT: FUHRERS (7)
Score: 6–6 (max 7)

Its always interesting when you have two new contestants as you often start off not knowing how good either are going to be. Here they both get sixes, but there were a couple of relatively straightforward sevens here, so early signs suggest octochampdom does not beckon for today’s winner.

Then its Douglas turn to pick and he says “Can we have a consonant, a vowel, a consonant, a vowel… like that?” and Rachael tells him that she has to do it one by one or she’ll forget (because she is blonde).

Round 2: T I S E T O D A G

Russ: targets
Douglas: TOADIES (7)
DC: GODETIAS (8)
Score: 6–13 (max 15)

Douglas shouts TOADIES as his word before Russ declares and he quickly realises that he’s seen a phantom R. This gives the first lead of the day to the retired professional sheep counter.

Round 3: 1, 9, 8, 10, 8, 75. Target: 610.

Russ: 610. (75*8)+10 (10)
Douglas: 610. (75*8)+1+9 (10)
Score: 16–23 (max 25)

The contestants settle for pretty much the same method and Douglas doesn’t have to Pay for his slightly different final addition.

Teatime teaser: RUGHERBS -> BURGHERS

Round 4: I T E D A W E N M

Russ: MEDIATE (7)
Douglas: TWINED (6)
DC: MEDIANT (7)
OT: DEMENTIA (8)
Score: 23–23 (max 33)

It’s a first victory in a round for Russ who pulls level as his seven beats Douglas’ six. You’d think Douglas may have got the max here.

Round 5: T I E M S I R Y G

Russ: grimest
Douglas: MISTIER (7)
DC: GRIMIEST (8)
Score: 23–30 (max 41)

Russ was close to spotting the darrenic max here but his seven is misspelled, giving Douglas the lead for the second time in the round.

Round 6: 1, 6, 1, 8, 100, 50. Target: 174.

Russ: 172. ((8*(1+1)+6+50+100 (7)
Douglas: 170.
RR: 174. ((8*6)/2)+50+100 (10)
Score: 30–30 (max 51)

Its clear that both contestants are more casual players as getting this spot on would be bread and butter for those who play regularly. Russ is the nearer of the two contestants and and he pulls level for the second time in the game with his two away.

DC Guest – Angelica talks about her relationship with her stepdad and how he helped her become interested in politics

Round 7: V R E L U N I T U

Russ: LIVER (5)
Douglas: uniter
DC: VULTURE (7)
OT: VULTURINE (18)
Score: 35–30 (max 69)

Douglas is convinced his word is allowed and expresses real dismay when Susie tells him its not in. Still, he’s such a character I think we can forgive this.
DC spot VULTURE, but having spotted that you’d think Susie would have got the nine with VULTURINE

Round 8: G B A O E L J A N

Russ: BANGLE (6)
Douglas: gamble
DC: GALJOEN (7)
OT: ABALONE (7)
Score: 41–30 (max 76)

Douglas thinks he’s got a six but has seen a letter that isn’t there taking Russ into an eleven point lead. Susie spots GALJOEN and questions how to correctly pronounce it…

Round 9: 6, 9, 4, 1, 2, 25. Target: 226.

Russ: 226. (25*9)+1 (10)
Douglas: 226. (25*9)+1 (10)
Score: 51–40 (max 86)

Simple numbers game here keeps the gap at 11.

Teatime teaser: GINTONIC -> NOTICING

Round 10: I D A S O L A S W

Russ: SOLIDS (6)
Douglas: IDOLS (5)
DC: WASSAIL (7)
OT: ASSLOAD (7) DALASIS (7)
Score: 57–40 (max 93)

Douglas has been shouting his declarations from the start, this seems to have had an effect on Russ who is now shouting loud as well. It looks like Russ is edging towards the win now as he again pips Douglas in the round. There were some nice sevens here and DC spot one of them.
DALASIS is the plural of DALASI which is the currency unit of Gambia.

Round 11: S H O T S E A N O

Russ: SANEST (6)
Douglas: HONEST (6)
DC: SOOTHES (7)
OT: HASTENS (7) HOTNESS (7) SOONEST (7)
Score: 63–46 (max 100)

There were plenty of sevens here but its just sixes for the contestants, enabling Russ to maintain his lead…

Round 12: P E P N I E B U X

Russ: PINE (4)
Douglas: IBEX (4)
DC: EXINE (5)
OT: BUPPIE (6)
Score: 67–50 (max 106)

Just fours from the contestants but Douglas four is a nice one..
A BUPPIE is A young Black city or suburban resident with a well-paid professional job and an affluent lifestyle.

Round 13: L A C R P O F I O

Russ: FRAIL (5)
Douglas: POLAR (5)
DC: CARPOOL (7)
Score: 72–55 (max 113)

Douglas can still only equal Russ so he’ll need to take a risk on the final numbers game to get to a crucial.

Round 14: 2, 8, 10, 50, 75, 25. Target: 924.

Russ: 925. ((10+2)*75)+25 (7)
Douglas: 925. ((10+2)*75)+25 (7)
RR: 924. ((50/25)+75)*(10+2) (10)
Score: 79–62 (max 123)

Douglas goes first and describes his method. Russ then describes exactly the same method and Rachael asks that he show his paper. Russ looks like he is about to do so but Douglas’ attention seems to be elsewhere so Russ takes his paper back. The upshot of the round is that the Morrissey fan has beaten the sheep counter.

Round 15: K L I N G O O O N

Douglas buzzes on 13 seconds to say ONLOOKING which is correct.
Final Score: 79–72 (max 133)

Douglas had already lost but he spots the conundrum to only lose by seven points. It’s a shame we won’t see more of him as he seems like quite a character. He may also be the first ever retired former sheep counter to appear on countdown.

Russ is now the new champion. It seems unlikely he’ll become an octochamp, but he does have a teapot and lets see how far he can go…

Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=71