Spoilers For Friday December 18th 2015

[James Robinson]

It's just one week until Christmas Day, and we're at the halfway point of the finals, as we finish off the quarter-finals today with the needle match, as the #4 and #5 seeds go head to head.

We have the #4 seed, John "The Willerby Warmonger" Hardie, and the #5 seed, Matthew "The Ealing Express" Tassier, in a match that could be a real matchup of letters prowess v numbers prowess, and after an earlier match featuring one of these contestants, maybe a watch for the buzzer might be on the cards too.......

Statistics Corner:

Firstly, No.4 Seed John "The Willerby Warmonger" Hardie - 8 Wins, 845 Points. (Average: 105.63)
Highest Score: 110 vs. David Cumming (8th Game)
Lowest Score: 99 vs. Chris Barstow (7th Game)
9's Achieved: 2/7
Total Points/Max/%: 845/1048 (81%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 543/651 (83%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 242/317 (76%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 60/80 (75%)

Secondly, No.5 Seed Matthew "The Ealing Express" Tassier - 8 Wins, 799 Points. (Average: 99.88)
Highest Score: 120 vs. Eoin Jardine (5th Game)
Lowest Score: 75 vs. Jim Anderson (8th Game)
9's Achieved: 1/7
Total Points/Max/%: 799/1047 (76%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 495/657 (75%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 274/310 (88%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 30/80 (38%)

Join Anthony for the recap later.

[Tony Atkins]

They always say don't stop scribbling and start staring around the room when you have a nine, else the opponent will
realise there is a nine there. Oddly it was John who was staring whilst Matthew had the nine. I wouldn't have got it
without him doing so.

[Jojo Apollo]

Superb contest, well done chaps. Well done on making the final four at least, Matthew.

[Tony Atkins]

Another buzz enquiry called for there?

Well played to Matthew.

Looking forward greatly to next week's games.

[Tony Atkins]

VOTARIES as an alt to AVIATORS/VARIATES

[Jojo Apollo]

VOTARIES as an alt to AVIATORS/VARIATES

Yeah Dictionary Corner gave that alt.

[Philip Wilson]

That looking around works sometimes if I haven't solved the numbers and see RR smiling after 5 seconds.
Back to today and how different it could have been if john had risked his other 8

[Jojo Apollo]

They always say don't stop scribbling and start staring around the room when you have a nine, else the opponent will
realise there is a nine there. Oddly it was John who was staring whilst Matthew had the nine. I wouldn't have got it
without him doing so.

Also early looking at the audience, smiling at friends and family and drinking water is another indicator sometimes.

[Jojo Apollo]

Has anyone here tried MURPHIES potatoes and do they make good chips?

[Johnny Canuck]

Well done to Matthew, and severe commiserations to John -- had he chosen DUALIZES over UNSAILED^, it would have gone to a tie-breaker.

[Gavin Chipper]

Well done to Matthew, and severe commiserations to John -- had he chosen DUALIZES over UNSAILED^, it would have gone to a tie-breaker.

Yeah but only via a Hansforded conundrum. Zero chance of it not being.

Also a standard method alt to DC's MEAGRES is REMAKES. All the more so considering Tim Rice's story of them getting MEAGRES started with him saying he got MAKERS.

Also with VOTARIES, Susie went through the spelling ridiculously quickly. Well she always does, which is fine when it goes on the board but it didn't this time. The rule is - Susie spells it out fast -> it goes on the board.

[Jon Corby]

John is a disgusting fucking cunt.

Well done Matthew.

[Jennifer Steadman]

Can we rename Hansfording as Hardieing? My (very unimpressed) parents are now joining the Gev/Corby crew of people calling for conundrums to disappear from the monitors when people buzz in.

Not that that detracts from a great performance from Matthew! Barely missed anything apart from a couple of new words (URANOLITE/URANOTILE, UNPOISE).

[Steven M. McCann]

Have just watched this episode tonight, I was feeling quite smug at having spotted ADDICTIVE and was therefore slightly annoyed that John seemed to have got it as well judging by his body language.
John would of most likely have won if he had of risked DUALIZES, as I get the impression he's honed his "conundrum unscrambling skill" to perfection since he's last been on the show and would have been a strong favourite to get the tiebreaker conundrum.
Good luck in the semi-final Matthew.

[Philip Jarvis]

If the conundrum had been a crucial, I'm sure the Countdown Team would have given serious consideration to disqualifying John on this occasion.

[Matthew Tassier]

Thanks all, chuffed to put in a decent performance under QF pressure. DUALIZES was the only disappointing miss, so got very lucky when John surprisingly plumped for UNSAILED*. Bit of a shame not to have a chance at the conundrum as if I'd got it I would have topped my apterous high score.

[Paul Erdunast]

Despite the hansfording I thought John played it in the right spirit. Always smiling, cracking jokes. Very well played matthew. Addictive was a brilliant spot. OUTLINEAR as an alt to uranolite/tile

[Matthew Tassier]

Despite the hansfording I thought John played it in the right spirit. Always smiling, cracking jokes. Very well played matthew. Addictive was a brilliant spot. OUTLINEAR as an alt to uranolite/tile

Yes, in case anyone gets the opposite impression, I found John friendly and he was quick to praise my ADDICTIVE spot. I think John believed that the Hansfording was within the letter of the rules and therefore a valid tactic.

[Jon Corby]

That's an interesting insight, because he comes across as an absolute wanker.

[Gavin Chipper]

Despite the hansfording I thought John played it in the right spirit. Always smiling, cracking jokes. Very well played matthew. Addictive was a brilliant spot. OUTLINEAR as an alt to uranolite/tile

Yes, in case anyone gets the opposite impression, I found John friendly and he was quick to praise my ADDICTIVE spot. I think John believed that the Hansfording was within the letter of the rules and therefore a valid tactic.

I'm not saying that I have anything against John Hardie (I'm also not saying the opposite), but I think it was a good thing that he had to declare his length first when you got your nine. Otherwise he would have got a nine as well.

[Adam Gillard]

No repeat this morning... ah well, I know the result now as I checked to see whether there was a broadcast on Friday.

[Heather Styles]

I was equally pleased to see Matthew win and John lose this game.

Can we rename Hansfording as Hardieing? Good question. There is no doubt in my mind that Hardie cheated* on two conundrum rounds (one in this game and the other in his heat game against James Rowan), but I haven't seen any of Hansford's games and I'm not sure that what Hardie did, i.e. buzzing before the scramble was (fully) revealed, is exactly the same as what Hansford did.

* I am aware that Hardie did not break any rules but I still think that he cheated (acted unfairly in order to gain an advantage), and I hope that the rules will be reconsidered in the light of his actions. I don't think that makes him an absolute wanker, though, just somebody that I would not want to play.

[Zarte Siempre]

The main issue for me from this episode was not the fairly clear Hardfording, but the fact that John stole Liam's "Oh I don't know!" quip from 2 days earlier to get his own laugh.

I mean seriously, let's put the crimes into perspective here...