c4countdown

Jamie Ilett-Jones got a very convincing win yesterday. Can he get another one? Another apterite stands in his way today, Farhan Ahmed. Could be a very great match.

Join Callum for the recap later.

Good match so far - REACTIVE as alt to CREATIVE or course and I like 43x5 for the first numbers.

Alt 2nd numbers (9+7)x8x4 = 512

The tactic of picking the tricky 1L option didn't pay off for Jamie there - I could only get to 869 in time too (11x79).

CYANATE in R10

PROPHETS and TROPHIES as alts to HOPPIEST.

Whoop - gave Farhan a lot of advice before he want on - glad it paid off (though unlike myself and Rachel he missed that 25 squared solution).

Nick would be disappointed as Afros is clearly not valid.

Good game, chaps. Well played.

Very high standard for a prelim. Jamie would surely have been an octochamp with David's opponents.

So why did 2 such obviously great players get pitted against each other at this stage?

I'm hoping it's because there are so many other great players lined up in this series rather than simply one of them being a bit below par in their audition.

Cracking game today. I bet Farhan was twitching when the buzzer went with a second to go.

That has got to be one of the funniest buzzes in for a conundrum that I've ever seen

A shame that Jamie got pitted against Farhan though, as Rachel says, he could defo have become an octochamp.

2nd Numbers Alt.: ((9 x 7) + 5 - 4) x 8 = 512

Reminded me a bit of Mark Murray v Peter Steggle. 2 great players. It was a shame one had to lose.

Fred Mumford wrote:So why did 2 such obviously great players get pitted against each other at this stage?

I'm hoping it's because there are so many other great players lined up in this series rather than simply one of them being a bit below par in their audition.

Good question Fred! I've often wondered if the order of contestants is completely random or fixed somehow that strong players, determined by their auditions, will come up against each other to give us great games like this one once in a while. Perhaps someone can let me know!

Jamie's buzzing at the end just shows what a great temperament he has to do such a thing having just lost so near the beginning of what should have been a long run of wins. Not to take anything away from Farhan of course

You don't necessarily get a reliable picture about how good someone is from an audition, which has contrived rounds and isn't long enough to get a proper ranking list of all the contestants. I think I've heard that if there are two obviously really good contestants (from the audition) then they might keep them separate but otherwise it's just luck of the draw. It wouldn't really be right to base it on some unofficial games on the internet.

And I think on reflection (and checking the maxes on the wiki) maybe this game wasn't quite the ultra high standard I had assumed (albeit far above my own) - but after Jamie's debut I thought anyone who could beat him must be a relative of Julian Freeman Travers or something.

Fred Mumford wrote:And I think on reflection (and checking the maxes on the wiki) maybe this game wasn't quite the ultra high standard I had assumed (albeit far above my own) - but after Jamie's debut I thought anyone who could beat him must be a relative of Julian Freeman Travers or something.

HIs first game was certainly better than his second, but based on his second he could still have made octochamp.