c4countdown

Laurence Killen keeps on winning, and is up to 5 now. A 6th will get him closer to Paul Worsley on the leaderboard. Will he get number 6?

Join James for the recap later.

Seems 947 is best on 1st numbers.

Tony Atkins wrote:Seems 947 is best on 1st numbers.

Or 945.

Interesting that FEINTER is a word today.

Also slightly odd the max in every letter round was 7! Max game was only 117 so 107 is a good result.
The max they missed was in the medium/dozier round 11.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Interesting that FEINTER is a word today.

An extra dose of blood-pressure medication needed I think.

Having a blanket one-syllable rule would OK if it could be applied consistently, but it plainly can't be. As far as I'm aware the current dictionary gives no support for it's continued half-use, which is a hangover from an ancient dictionary which Countdown used to use.

I would prefer to see Susie make judgments based on all the information the dictionary is giving us about the word offered rather than unthinkingly applying arbitrary rules. She'd then be making proper decisions using her skill as a lexicographer. Guidelines would still exist but they'd very clearly be just that, and Susie would be earning her money honestly.

Clive Brooker wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:Interesting that FEINTER is a word today.

An extra dose of blood-pressure medication needed I think.

Having a blanket one-syllable rule would OK if it could be applied consistently, but it plainly can't be. As far as I'm aware the current dictionary gives no support for it's continued half-use, which is a hangover from an ancient dictionary which Countdown used to use.

I would prefer to see Susie make judgments based on all the information the dictionary is giving us about the word offered rather than unthinkingly applying arbitrary rules. She'd then be making proper decisions using her skill as a lexicographer. Guidelines would still exist but they'd very clearly be just that, and Susie would be earning her money honestly.

Well, I wouldn't there to be any subjective decisions made, because contestants then have to guess whether a lexicographer might consider a word to be reasonable. Also, Susie has used her own subjective judgement in the past and it has led to criticism on here. That doesn't mean FEINTER has to be allowed though, because it's not found if you search for it and I've always said that that would be a good starting point for judging validity.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Interesting that FEINTER is a word today.

I can tell you that it was originally disallowed, and then was changed a minute or so later............., and Josephine's pained expression in round 2 (when she realised she could've stuck the S on the end of LAMENT) was expertly cut out too.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Well, I wouldn't there to be any subjective decisions made, because contestants then have to guess whether a lexicographer might consider a word to be reasonable. Also, Susie has used her own subjective judgement in the past and it has led to criticism on here. That doesn't mean FEINTER has to be allowed though, because it's not found if you search for it and I've always said that that would be a good starting point for judging validity.

To a certain extent I was deliberately adopting a position diametrically opposed to your own. That doesn't mean I might not mean it of course. Rather than seeing it as making contestants guess what a lexicographer might think, I'd prefer to see it as benefiting players who know definitions, making the game harder to master.

I think Susie gets criticised on here because when she goes against the guidelines she tends not to explain herself properly. Can you remember Susie making a decision based on a subjective judgment and explaining it as such? When she disallowed FAINER, for example, she gave no explanation at all, Mr Team telling us later that it "sounded odd". To be fair it wouldn't've helped if she'd said that.

Clive Brooker wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:Well, I wouldn't there to be any subjective decisions made, because contestants then have to guess whether a lexicographer might consider a word to be reasonable. Also, Susie has used her own subjective judgement in the past and it has led to criticism on here. That doesn't mean FEINTER has to be allowed though, because it's not found if you search for it and I've always said that that would be a good starting point for judging validity.

To a certain extent I was deliberately adopting a position diametrically opposed to your own. That doesn't mean I might not mean it of course. Rather than seeing it as making contestants guess what a lexicographer might think, I'd prefer to see it as benefiting players who know definitions, making the game harder to master.

I think Susie gets criticised on here because when she goes against the guidelines she tends not to explain herself properly. Can you remember Susie making a decision based on a subjective judgment and explaining it as such? When she disallowed FAINER, for example, she gave no explanation at all, Mr Team telling us later that it "sounded odd". To be fair it wouldn't've helped if she'd said that.

Well, if rules like this officially came in, then contestants would go by precedents, so it would still be as much rote learning as about understanding the words. And if Susie went back on a previous ruling, it would be unpredictable however much knowledge you have. Also, it wouldn't really add much of a dimension to the game as it would be fairly rare. I think solid clear rules are the way forward.

I think when Susie has disallowed words in the past it's been because the rules have slipped her mind and she's looked at the word and gone with a gut instinct. Recently she's been clearer about the one-syllable rule, so I think maybe it's been pointed out. But it seems to have come at a time when the dictionary would allow that rule not to exist.

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Tony Atkins wrote:Seems 947 is best on 1st numbers.

Or 945.

I bet George got 945
Just reading the recap and admit not seeing the conundrum mixup as scaring me! I wouldn't have solved it so quick if I had. Having the 'ing' in order made it really easy I thought.

Philip Wilson wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Tony Atkins wrote:Seems 947 is best on 1st numbers.

Or 945.

I bet George got 945
Just reading the recap and admit not seeing the conundrum mixup as scaring me! I wouldn't have solved it so quick if I had. Having the 'ing' in order made it really easy I thought.

Haha I did indeedy