Tuesday 23rd November 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 106)

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Rhys Benjamin
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Tuesday 23rd November 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 106)

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Annedown CV on Doctor Who day. Hoping that Russell T Davies, when he returns in 2022, will find a way to retcon the ridiculous "Timeless Child" arc.

Countdown recap for Tuesday 23 November 2021.

OTD in 1889, the first jukebox was installed in San Francisco. Anne has dug out one of her old Weakest Link coats, except it's had red piping added to it. Sort of a cross between Weakest Link and the Russian blokes at the start of The Spy Who Loved Me.

C1: Champion Jack Millard (4 wins, 343 points.)
C2: Challenger Phil Sykes. Used to work for Thomas Cook before they crashed, which Anne blames him for... and he doesn't deny! He used to work in customer complaints, so has featured on Watchdog on various occasions... yikes.
DC: Susie Dent and Shirley Ballas, who is currently in the middle of a health scare after discovering a lump on her armpit, and had something of a breakdown on Loose Women today. I do hope she's all right.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: S N T A E A R E P
R02: S C R D E E O S U
R03: 25, 1, 10, 5, 2, 5. Target: 980.
TTT: LASERHIS - "He asked them to laser his chest so he could be this."
R04: T N L P E I U V I
R05: R N H U I E T I R
R06: 25, 9, 7, 10, 2, 9. Target: 119.
R07: S N L U I O V A T
R08: C D M B A E A D O
R09: 100, 3, 8, 1, 2, 7. Target: 271.
TTT: TANGOLOB - "You like your banana, but only on a Sunday."
R10: F P B G A A E R O
R11: L C D I E O S A G
R12: R S W T I A A F E
R13: R L S I E E K U M
R14: 50, 100, 25, 10, 3, 1. Target: 748.
R15: U N D E R T E S T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: S N T A E A R E P

Jack: PARENTS (7)
Phil: PRESENT (7)
DC: SEPARATE (8) SERENATA (8)
OT: PARANETES (18)
Score: 7–7 (max 18, jos 8)
Darren-o-meter: 1/1 (100%)

Double divorcee Shirley gets SEPARATE. Luckily, she makes that joke, so I don't have to.

Round 2: S C R D E E O S U

Jack: COURSED (7)
Phil: SCOURED (7)
DC: SEDUCERS (8)
Score: 14–14 (max 26, jos 16)
Darren-o-meter: 2/2 (100%)

And double divorcee Shirley, having got SEPARATE in the last round, gets SEDUCERS in this. Easy, tiger.

Round 3: 25, 1, 10, 5, 2, 5. Target: 980.

Jack: 975. (10 × 5 − (5 × 2 + 1)) × 25 (7)
Phil: 990.
RR: 980. ((5 − 1) × 25 − 2) × 10​ (10)
Score: 21–14 (max 36, jos 26)

98 x 10 was the obvious route here and somehow both contestants miss it.

Teatime teaser: LASERHIS -> HAIRLESS

Round 4: T N L P E I U V I

Jack: INVITE (6)
Phil: PUNITIVE (8)
DC: VULPINE (7)
Score: 21–22 (max 44, jos 34)
Darren-o-meter: 3/3 (100%)

Phil takes the lead with the darrenic eight.

Round 5: R N H U I E T I R

Jack: HUNTER (6) (stick with)
Phil: INHERIT (7)
DC: RUNTIER (7)
OT: HURTIER (7)
Score: 21–29 (max 51, jos 41)
Darren-o-meter: 3/4 (75%)

Amazingly, our first non-darren round so far, and Phil extends his lead with INHERIT... didn't we have that yesterday?

Round 6: 25, 9, 7, 10, 2, 9. Target: 119.

Jack: 119. 10 × 9 + 9 − 7​ + 2 + 25 (10)
Phil: 120.
Score: 31–29 (max 61, jos 51)

This round is super easy, so naturally one of the contestants misses it.

Shirley's wearing a top with pearls for shoulder pads, and I love how camp it is. She talks through her Strictly wardrobe, and describes Anton's outfits as having "fallen out of GQ magazine". (That said, it perhaps doesn't explain her slightly basic blue blouse and black trousers on last weekend's results show.) They then go into Loose Women mode and ask about life around the house... yawn... before she talks about how she got into dancing, which was when she saw dancing through a hole in a wall whilst doing CPR on a dummy aged 7.

Round 7: S N L U I O V A T

Jack: VIOLAS (6)
Phil: ANVILS (6)
DC: OUTSAIL (7) AVULSION (8)
Score: 37–35 (max 69, jos 59)
Darren-o-meter: 4/5 (80%)

We had this round yesterday - same nine letters, just a different order. Whoever did the shuffling didn't do well enough. And somehow AVULSION didn't sink in for Jack yesterday.

Round 8: C D M B A E A D O

Jack: COMBED (6)
Phil: COMBED (6)
DC: AMOEBA (6)
OT: CABDOM (6) CODDAM (6) CODDEM (6)
Score: 43–41 (max 75, jos 65)
Darren-o-meter: 4/6 (67%)

Flaaaaaaaaaaat.

Round 9: 100, 3, 8, 1, 2, 7. Target: 271.

Jack: 271. (100 − 8) × 3 − (7 − 2)​ (10)
Phil: 271. 100 × 3 − (2 + 1) × 7 − 8 (10)
Score: 53–51 (max 85, jos 75)

Phil gets this, but missed 119 earlier. I despair for the future of the human race sometimes.

Teatime teaser: TANGOLOB -> LONGBOAT

Round 10: F P B G A A E R O

Jack: PAGER (5)
Phil: GROPE (5)
DC: FORAGE (6) BORAGE (6) PREFAB (6)
OT: AGORAE (6) AGRAFE (6) OARAGE (6) OPGAAF (6) PARAGE (6) PEROBA (6)
Score: 58–56 (max 91, jos 81)
Darren-o-meter: 4/7 (57%)

Just fives for the two contestants, whilst Shirley does a Nigella Lawson and deliberately mispronounces FORAGE and BORAGE, instead saying "Farage" and "Barrage", prompting the subtitles to say BARAGE^ and Anne to wonder if she meant Nigel Farage...

Round 11: L C D I E O S A G

Jack: GOALIES (7)
Phil: COILED (6)
DC: SOLACED (7)
OT: COALISED (8) GOALSIDE (8)
Score: 65–56 (max 99, jos 88)
Darren-o-meter: 4/8 (50%)

Jack extends what was just a two-point lead out to nine points.

OOW Susie talks about the mythologies of the gods and how they've permeated into our language, including Coco Pops. Other cereals are available.

Round 12: R S W T I A A F E

Jack: awaiters
Phil: WARIEST (7)
OT: ATRESIA (7) FAIREST (7) FRETSAW (7) SWIFTER (7) WAITERS (7)
Score: 65–63 (max 106, jos 95)
Darren-o-meter: 4/9 (44%)

No asking of Dictionary Corner after Jack's AWAITERS^ is disallowed, thus we'll never know if they pointed out the obvious, that you can remove the A from that word for the max.

Round 13: R L S I E E K U M

Jack: MILKERS (7)
Phil: MUSIKER (7)
DC: SULKIER (7) LEISURE (7)
OT: LEMURES (7) MISRULE (7) MULIERS (7) MUSKIER (7) RELUMES (7) RESMILE (7)
Score: 72–70 (max 113, jos 102)
Darren-o-meter: 4/10 (40%)

Sevens for both contestants... it's just two points going into the final two rounds!

Round 14: 50, 100, 25, 10, 3, 1. Target: 748.

Jack: 748. (50 + 25) × 10 − (3​ − 1) (10)
Phil: 750.
Score: 82–70 (max 123, jos 112)

Oh. Another super easy round Phil completely flunks, handing Jack his fifth win!

Round 15: U N D E R T E S T

No one buzzes. The answer was ENTRUSTED.
Final Score: 82–70 (max 133, jos 122)

This is a studio beater; not even Rachel or Susie get it.

Jack inch-worms his way towards the finals, with five wins and that means that if he wins tomorrow, he will have guaranteed himself a finals spot.

Join us tomorrow to see if he can make it six wins. Until then, stay Countdown!


Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=84
The forum's resident JAILBAKER, who has SPONDERED several times...
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