Monday 24th November 2014 (series 71, prelim 92)

[Andy McGurn]

Countdown recap for Monday 24 November 2014.

C1: Champion Andrew Avery (1 win, 88 points) A bank manager from Devon who took the champions chair by beating apterite Edward Byrne on Friday.

C2: Challenger Rachel Evans. A hydrologist from Wetherby in West Yorkshire who is an avid hill walker and is wanting to walk a 190 mile coast to coast journey from Cumbria to Robin Hood’s bay.


DC: Susie Dent and Michael Whitehall.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: R M I F E A H N U
R02: T G D F A O U T A
R03: 9, 2, 2, 9, 5, 75. Target: 583.
TTT: SIMPLEST - "even the simplest words can be this sometimes"
R04: R M T D I A E M O
R05: R E C T A B E C N
R06: 10, 2, 10, 9, 25, 50. Target: 302.
R07: R Y S I E O D N A
R08: W P G R E I E O T
R09: 9, 7, 9, 10, 5, 25. Target: 370.
TTT: ALUNATIC - "he's not a lunatic, but things are all at sea"
R10: N I N A S L E U V
R11: S E J L I S O R T
R12: H S P G I A A U P
R13: T S D E O L N I E
R14: 4, 9, 25, 100, 50, 75. Target: 870.
R15: L I N G L E V E R (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: R M I F E A H N U

Andrew: FIREMAN (7)
Rachel: FAMINE (6)
DC: MURINE (6)
OT: FRAENUM (7) HAFNIUM (7) RHENIUM (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)

Four sevens available, Andrew gets by far the easiest of the four to take the lead.


Round 2: T G D F A O U T A

Andrew: GOAT (4)
Rachel: TOUT (4)
DC: TAUTOG (6)
OT: FUGATO (6)
Score: 11–4 (max 13)

A tough selection sees both contestants only get four, DC spot one of the two maxes with TAUTOG.


Round 3: 9, 2, 2, 9, 5, 75. Target: 583.

Andrew: 583. Mistake in working.
Rachel: 586. (((9-(2/2)*75)-(9+5) (7)
RR: 583. (((75-(9+2)*9)+5+2 (10)
Score: 11–11 (max 23)

Andrew declared 583 with authority but it was clear from how he said it that he thought he was close and not spot on. As soon as Nick asks him to describe his method he realises his mistake and that he had 584.
Rachel takes advantage of his error and pulls level with her three away.


Teatime teaser: SIMPLEST -> MISSPELT

Round 4: R M T D I A E M O

Andrew: MEDIATOR (8)
Rachel: ORATED (6)
DC: MARMITE (7)
Score: 19–11 (max 31)

Andrew manages to recover quickly from his mistake in the last round with the one and only eight available in this selection.


Round 5: R E C T A B E C N

Andrew: CANTER (6)
Rachel: RECENT (6)
DC: ACCRETE (7)
OT: CARBENE (7) CREANCE (7) CRENATE (7)
Score: 25–17 (max 38)

Rachel (Riley) says “oh dear” as the first letters spell out RECTA, everyone else pretends not to know what she’s on about.


Round 6: 10, 2, 10, 9, 25, 50. Target: 302.

Andrew: 302. (25*10)+50+2 (10)
Rachel: 302. (25*10)+50+2 (10)
Score: 35–27 (max 48)

Rachel (contestant) starts her method by saying she’s gone wrong but then describes a correct solution. Nick congratulates her on a “quick recovery”


DC Guest: Michael recalls a story of his time as a showbiz agent when he was thanked by Peter Bowles with a visit from a stripper.


Round 7: R Y S I E O D N A

Andrew: DAISY (5)
Rachel: ANEROIDS (8)
DC: SARDINE (7) ANODISER (8)
Score: 35–35 (max 56)

A bad round from Andrew comes at the same time as a great one from the challenger and with that we are level again.


Round 8: W P G R E I E O T

Andrew: PEWTER (6)
Rachel: PEWTER (6)
DC: PEEWIT (6) GOITRE (6)
Rachel Riley: PROTEGE (7)
Score: 41–41 (max 63)

Sixes here for the contestants but its Rachel’s (Riley) turn to shine as she is the only one to get PROTÉGÉ.


Round 9: 9, 7, 9, 10, 5, 25. Target: 370.

Andrew: 370. (25+5+7)*10 (10)
Rachel: 369.
Score: 51–41 (max 73)

Andrew gets this pretty easy solution which the challenger misses, she was probably looking to multiply the 25 and missed the simple *10 method.



Teatime teaser: ALUNATIC -> NAUTICAL

Round 10: N I N A S L E U V

Andrew: SALINE (6)
Rachel: UNVEILS (7)
DC: UNALIVE (7)
OT: ALEVINS (7) INSULAE (7) UNNAILS (7)
Score: 51–48 (max 80)

Andrew spots SALINE for the second time in two games but this time he does not score with it as his opponent has a valid seven to beat him and cut his lead to three points.


Round 11: S E J L I S O R T

Andrew: STORIES (7)
Rachel: SORTIES (7)
DC: RISSOLE (7)
OT: JOLTIER (7) JOSTLES (7) LISTERS (7) LOITERS (7) LORISES (7) OSTLERS (7) RELISTS (7) RESTIOS (7) ROSIEST (7) STEROLS (7) TOILERS (7) TORSELS (7) TRIOSES (7)
Score: 58–55 (max 87)

Sixteen sevens here and the contestants both get one.


OoW – Susie explains the origins of PEASANT and PHEASANT before moving on to words of Greek origin.



Round 12: H S P G I A A U P

Andrew: SHIP (4)
Rachel: SHIP (4)
DC: HIPPUS (6)
OT: AGUISH (6) HAPPIS (6) UPPISH (6)
Score: 62–59 (max 93)

It would be hard for non-wordsmiths/ non-apterites to max this round, so both contestants are happy with four letter words



Round 13: T S D E O L N I E

Andrew: SOILED (6)
Rachel: STOLEN (6)
DC: DELETIONS (18)
Score: 68–65 (max 111)

DELETIONS is one of those nines that on any given day would be gettable even by a non-seasoned player. This isn’t one of those days though and the game remains in the balance as they both have six.



Round 14: 4, 9, 25, 100, 50, 75. Target: 870.

Andrew: 871. (9*100)-(25+4) (7)
Rachel: 871. (9*100)-(25+4) (7)
RR: 871. (7)
Score: 75–72 (max 118)

One away is simple, but spot on is impossible.

Despite the low scores this has been a close and pretty exciting game where its been hard to pick a winner from the start. Its all down to the conundrum now…


Round 15: L I N G L E V E R

Rachel buzzes on 3 seconds to say REVELLING which is correct.
Final Score: 75–82 (max 128)

With a simple conundrum like that its more down to speed on the buzzer and Rachel becomes the new champ with a speedy spot. Andrew seems ok about losing however and will like the fact that he has a teapot.

Rachel doesn’t seem likely to become an octochamp but she does have a win and like Andrew she has teapotted.

Antoinette Ryan debuts later this week, join James for her debut, which may or may not be against Rachel…



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

[Rachel Evans]

Yes, slightly annoyed with myself about the 370 in Round 9 (and my family have given me plenty of grief about it as well!!). Too busy trying to work it out starting from 25 x 15, which turned out not to be possible, and so missed the easy way!

By the way I think the conundrum came up as L I N G E L V E R, not L I N G L E V E R. Still chuffed to have spotted it anyway, even if it was a relatively easy one.......

Rachel.

[Rachel Evans]

Meant to add......first time I have ever seen the word teapot used as a verb!!!!!

[Ian Volante]

Meant to add......first time I have ever seen the word teapot used as a verb!!!!!

Better teapotting than medalling, although now I say that, it sounds vaguely sexual.