c4countdown

So, after a curtailed week (which I actually forgot to mention.... ), filled with drama, we're back to a full week of shows this week (or a full 3 weeks, if you include the Challenge repeats).

John Hardie is now a half-octochamp after his "controversial" win over James Rowan last Thursday. Will be a full octochamp by this Thursday

Charlie Stayt remains in DC up until Wednesday, before Martin Lewis takes over on Thursday.

Join Andy for the recap later.

1st numbers alt : (25 + 8 + (100/50)) x 9

Another 12 max for John there - there's a beater in R13 (from GORIEST+IC).

Tony Atkins wrote:Another 12 max for John there - there's a beater in R13 (from GORIEST+IC).

EGOISTIC. 12-maxes if there aren't any dodgy new beaters available, which I think is unlikely based on recent episodes.

John also was presumably writing down "EPIMER" as he spelled it out to Susie. Which seemed odd as he surely already had it written down, having not declared "not written down" in his desperation not to lose a round to his opponent. The cheating cunt.

Rachel was smiling wryly (pun intended!) when the word APTEROUS came up.

Jon Corby wrote:John also was presumably writing down "EPIMER" as he spelled it out to Susie. Which seemed odd as he surely already had it written down, having not declared "not written down" in his desperation not to lose a round to his opponent. The cheating cunt.

I thought it looked like that to me, very bizarre....

ENNEADS in round 5.

2nd Numbers Alt.: (50 - (10 - 7) - (5 - 2)) x 9 = 396

Jon Corby wrote:John also was presumably writing down "EPIMER" as he spelled it out to Susie. Which seemed odd as he surely already had it written down, having not declared "not written down" in his desperation not to lose a round to his opponent. The cheating cunt.

Do you think it was coincidence they chose BLATANTLY as the conundrum?

Keith Bennett wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:John also was presumably writing down "EPIMER" as he spelled it out to Susie. Which seemed odd as he surely already had it written down, having not declared "not written down" in his desperation not to lose a round to his opponent. The cheating cunt.

Do you think it was coincidence they chose BLATANTLY as the conundrum?

Ha! Maybe. Not tantably sure though. Plumbing wildly into the depths of speculation, EPIMER strikes me as one of those words that you pick up as a curiosity rather than it being useful* - "oh, I never knew EMPIRE had an anagram", so I wonder if John actually had the word in mind when declaring or was tipped onto it by his opponent's word. That's the problem with not-written-down declarations, you just don't know...

* - solely from a Countdown POV. Obviously some words are occasionally discovered, and indeed useful, outside of Countdown.

Jon Corby wrote:It's the few utter fucknuts that take advantage of it that are the real problem. Contemptible twats.

John also was presumably writing down "EPIMER" as he spelled it out to Susie. Which seemed odd as he surely already had it written down, having not declared "not written down" in his desperation not to lose a round to his opponent. The cheating cunt.

I've enjoyed Judge Jon's summing up over the past couple of days

This was a very impressive performance imo. He clearly has done a lot of work on the Countdown dictionary, and he understands 4l methods. I don't mind him writing down a different word if it's not written down - it's declaring the same word that the not written down rule is aimed at.

Paul Erdunast wrote:he understands 4l methods.

He might understand 4L methods, but that was the first one out of 6 he got spot on, and he did miss some simple ones. I got 4 of them, and I'm no 4L expert Although, granted his letters, particularly in this game were quite exceptional.

Paul Erdunast wrote:This was a very impressive performance imo. He clearly has done a lot of work on the Countdown dictionary, and he understands 4l methods. I don't mind him writing down a different word if it's not written down - it's declaring the same word that the not written down rule is aimed at.

Yep, John is an exceptional player, absolutely no doubt about that. If anything though, that just makes it rankle even more if he [cheats/uses gamesmanship/stretches the rules* - delete as to your preference] to deny his opponent a deserved round victory, especially when it's apparent that it's not going to affect the outcome of the game.

He's not allowed to write down a different word after the time though! (Of course I have no idea what he did or didn't have written down, he may have been doodling a big hairy cock while spelling EPIMER for Susie, but it seems unlikely.) The point is that if he didn't have the word written down, he should have declared that. He had no way of knowing at that point that it was going to be a different word, did he? By not declaring "not written down", it allowed him even more time to find himself a six because Nick didn't go to him first. It does all point towards somebody prepared to push it as far as he can to his advantage.