Spoilers for Tuesday 17 January 2023 - CoC XVI, QF 4

[Gavin Chipper]

James Haughton (3) beats Adam Latchford (7)* in a very good match. Was James on for a max going into the conundrum? I don't think any beaters got mentioned on the show at least. So on for a Jos anyway.

Also (9+2)*(10+3)=143 for a nice way to do the last numbers.

*I'm just pushing these seedings to overwrite in people's brains what Eoin came up with.

[Johnny Canuck]

Letters and numbers were indeed a Jos! Only the unspotted MINDRIES and SCAZONS were beaters.

Come to think of it, isn't it a total Jos since nobody knew the conundrum until Colin turned it over?

[Gavin Chipper]

Letters and numbers were indeed a Jos! Only the unspotted MINDRIES and SCAZONS were beaters.

Come to think of it, isn't it a total Jos since nobody knew the conundrum until Colin turned it over?

Debatable. I think if any beaters are given then it's not a Jos. And Colin gave a beater even if he didn't get it himself.

[Philip A]

Letters and numbers were indeed a Jos! Only the unspotted MINDRIES and SCAZONS were beaters.

Come to think of it, isn't it a total Jos since nobody knew the conundrum until Colin turned it over?

Not really. I think at least the conundrum setter is aware of the meaning of the word used. So no, not a total Jos.

[Philip A]

First time I’ve ever seen the contestants’ names fail to light up on the buzzers. Maybe the lights just got worn out.

I think it came down to knowing words the other didn’t; just one word made the difference in the end. Commiserations to Adam - one of the funniest contestants ever. Great win, James. I think you’re in a great chance of extending your unbeaten record once more in the semi-final.

[Rhys Benjamin]

First time I’ve ever seen the contestants’ names fail to light up on the buzzers. Maybe the lights just got worn out.

I think it was also the case last week.

I thought Adam would win this game so it was a real surprise to see James make it, I think Adam is one of the most underrated players in the modern era. When he won Series 83 a lot of the narrative was "Luke played badly" which really took the shine of Adam's performance. As such he has flown under the radar and I genuinely thought he could pull off the same trick twice.

I felt very sorry for Adam after that conundrum.

[Toby McDonald]

Very close game guys, both played very well. Congrats James and commiserations Adam.

[Ryan Lam]

The final Quarter-Final match, and how wrong I was when I said the match before would have a bigger virtual audience, because this match has had the most number of people in the Daily Chat thus far in this Championship and I could sense with everyone here even before the match started proper, we were most likely in for a treat. As the late Muhammad Ali who was featured in today's Introduction once said, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", can James or Adam do that here to secure the last Semi-Final spot tomorrow? Also, one can only wonder how Ahmed felt after his name was mentioned during the Anecdote and if anyone fact-checked Adam's fun fact about Countdown!

Letters: This is probably the highlight of the game. All Quarter-Finals have started on a good note as both contestants get DOGEATES in R1, but then,
like glue, both of them "stubbornly" stuck together for two-thirds of the show by having the exact same word until R8. Not only that, the fact they had the maximum possible score until then says a lot about their skills (Adam tried to risk some words in between but thankfully he did not)! After the second break, having a maximum score for the game was sadly off the table and the separation finally happened although the score is still tied in R10. Then, the all important R11 when James had URANATE but Adam had featury, unlucky and the gap opens up after so long! As we start to close out the game, good work to both in R12 by getting CAPOTES and PECTOSE, the only other round with differences here. Strong playing from both, damn! No wonder why everyone is here to witness the match I guess!

Numbers: Well, not sure if James and Adam have been influenced by Ahmed's easy going style yesterday in this section, for the former has 1 Large and the latter has 2 Large for their selections today. Top marks for the both of them as they grab all 40 points available and an easy R14 makes this game the third double century game now in a row! Well done! By the way Adam, like I said in the Daily Chat, no shame for having a more complicated method in R6 because for those just starting out, this would most likely have been their method if they got the target.

Conundrum: It all comes down to this one round once again. After yesterday's conundrum which I could solve, I think today's one is going to be much harder. James buzzes in and goes for polyambic (I and a few others in the Daily Chat had that too) and it's not the answer!! Another tense 20 seconds go by where Adam has a chance to steal and win the game. At the last second, he buzzes in (I literally gasped when it happened ) with another wrong answer which means James dodges a bullet and gets to fight another day, by which I mean tomorrow! Never knew AMPLYOPIC was another term for Lazy Eye syndrome though.

I think Adam is one of the most underrated players in the modern era. When he won Series 83 a lot of the narrative was "Luke played badly" which really took the shine of Adam's performance. As such he has flown under the radar and I genuinely thought he could pull off the same trick twice.

I felt very sorry for Adam after that conundrum.

Like what Rhys said, I really feel for Adam too, that one mistake in R11 meant that no tie-break conundrum happened which would have upped the stakes by a lot. Sometimes, games are just cruel in a sense that you cannot afford to slip-up and once you do, the seal of victory slips as we've now seen multiple times last week Adam, to be honest, I and many others discounted your win in Series 83 because the seeding order was wrong and treated you as an underdog after that stunning win against Luke Boynton. But, after 1.5 years, you have shown that you are no underdog and not to be messed with after the stellar performances you gave in this Championship. 102 is your second highest score which may not be much compared to other players here, but it shows that you have practised hard off-screen for moments like this today and the match between James is more than what anyone would have asked for. Plus, defeating two 1000-point club players is no easy feat and you can have that bragging right for sure as you leave and cheer on James!

Three more episodes, the battle is going to heat up from here that's from sure. Who will take the first Final spot? Will the Cappleman-Lynes name live on Friday or will it be the sole pre-COVID-19 pandemic player remaining James? Let's see if the conundrum difficulty gets notched up another level until the end...

Progress:
Preliminary 1 (02 January 2023): Florence Cappleman-Lynes (Series 84 Runner-Up) vs Leo Smith (Series 82 Semi-Finalist) (100 - 69)
Preliminary 2 (03 January 2023): Dinos Sfyris (Series 80 Grand Champion) vs Elliott Mellor (Series 80 Runner-Up) (88 - 110)
Preliminary 3 (04 January 2023): Ahmed Mohamed (Series 84 Grand Champion) vs Edward Byrne (Series 86 Runner-Up) (121 - 76)
Preliminary 4 (05 January 2023): Stu Harkness (Series 84 Semi-Finalist) vs James Haughton (Series 81 Grand Champion) (97 - 111)
Preliminary 5 (06 January 2023): Tom Stevenson (Series 86 Grand Champion) vs Adam Latchford (Series 83 Grand Champion) (95 - 97)
Preliminary 6 (09 January 2023): Martin May (Series 79 Runner-Up) vs Luke-Johnson Davies (Series 82 Grand Champion) (90 - 117)
Preliminary 7 (10 January 2023): Steve Hyde (Series 85 Semi-Finalist) vs Dan Byrom (Series 85 Grand Champion) (70 - 108)
Preliminary 8 (11 January 2023): Matt O'Connor (Series 85 Runner-Up) vs Sam Cappleman-Lynes (Series 82 Runner-Up) (78 - 101)
Quarter-Finals 1 (12 January 2023): Florence Cappleman-Lynes (Preliminary 1 Winner) vs Sam Cappleman-Lynes (Preliminary 8 Winner) (95 - 93)
Quarter-Finals 2 (13 January 2023): Elliott Mellor (Preliminary 2 Winner) vs Dan Byrom (Preliminary 7 Winner) (102 - 106)
Quarter-Finals 3 (16 January 2023): Ahmed Mohamed (Preliminary 3 Winner) vs Luke Johnson-Davies (Preliminary 6 Winner) (132 - 100)
Quarter-Finals 4 (17 January 2023): James Haughton (Preliminary 4 Winner) vs Adam Latchford (Preliminary 5 Winner) (109 - 102)
Semi-Finals 1 (18 January 2023): Florence Cappleman-Lynes (Quarter-Finals 1 Winner) vs James Haughton (Quarter-Finals 4 Winner)
Semi-Finals 2 (19 January 2023): Dan Byrom (Quarter-Finals 2 Winner) vs Ahmed Mohamed (Quarter-Finals 3 Winner)
Championship Final (20 January 2023): (Semi-Finals 1 Winner) vs (Semi-Finals 2 Winner)

[JackHurst]

This was a great match. I rate James and Adam both highly as players who perform at their best under pressure, so it was a treat to see them go head to head and put on a high quality and close show. Nice one lads

Adam must be the most successful player to never get a 9.

[Steve Hyde]

Adam must be the most successful player to never get a 9.

Don Reid? Won series 25 and CoCVII with no nines. Adam is undoubtedly the best of the 15 round era though

[Adam S Latchford]

Adam must be the most successful player to never get a 9.

Don Reid? Won series 25 and CoCVII with no nines. Adam is undoubtedly the best of the 15 round era though

fs steve let me have something x

[Adam S Latchford]

As for the game I thought I played well - enjoyed myself. Cecil meant that my numbers pick was basically irrelevant round 14 anyway. Spotting amblyopic is annoying but if i had a second guess i wasn't going that either, only on my third one.
James a lovely guy and deserved it on the day.
My biggest fear of countdown was going on tv and getting battered. That stayed throughout the entire experience. To lose game 13 by 7 points instead of getting battered game 1 is incredible for me so I could not be happier.
And if i ever got back on for a special or a future series 100 megathon or whatever, and relations pops, i'm not going for it. Not wasting my first 9 on that.