Spoilers for Thursday 2 February 2023 (Series 87, Heat 9)

[Philip A]

R6: 76*10+50=(75+1)*(3+7)+25*2=810 - just a second out of time though.
R7: Mineralogy time - ALLANITE.

[Philip A]

The second teaser scramble should have read SICKTALC rather than SILKTALC.

Insane 9 from DC, probably the best 9 ever found!

[Philip A]

The max is 175!!!

[Johnny Canuck]

Insane 9 from DC, probably the best 9 ever found!

Makes up a little bit for them allowing TALLEN^ and offering DEMOTE when it wasn't there.

[Philip A]

Insane 9 from DC, probably the best 9 ever found!

Makes up a little bit for them allowing TALLEN^ and offering DEMOTE when it wasn't there.

Hmm, wonder if this episode is a Groundhog Day stitch-up.

[Phyl Styles]

Did Susie say beige was not an adjective?
However, comparatives of colours are tricky because it is pretty well impossible to say what 'redder' and 'beiger' would actually look like.

[Philip A]

Did Susie say beige was not an adjective?
However, comparatives of colours are tricky because it is pretty well impossible to say what 'redder' and 'beiger' would actually look like.

She did, and it’s true: beige is just a noun in Oxford Dictionaries Premium, unlike red which is a noun and adjective (and redder and reddest are specified too).

[Fiona T]

Did Susie say beige was not an adjective?
However, comparatives of colours are tricky because it is pretty well impossible to say what 'redder' and 'beiger' would actually look like.

She did, and it’s true: beige is just a noun in Oxford Dictionaries Premium, unlike red which is a noun and adjective (and redder and reddest are specified too).

It has:

NOUN
[MASS NOUN]
A pale sandy fawn colour:
tones of beige and green
[AS MODIFIER] : a beige raincoat

Not sure what the difference between 'as modifier' and adjective is - seems pretty much the same thing

[Phyl Styles]

oed.com gives it as a noun and an adjective
B. adj. Of wool or woollen and other fabrics, etc.: of a natural yellowish-grey colour.
The two main modifiers appear to be adjectives and adverbs.
What other adjectives does your dictionary describe as modifiers?
If they are one-syllabled modifiers then they fail the automatic qualification for an R or ER ending. Seems daft to me.

[Philip A]

Did Susie say beige was not an adjective?
However, comparatives of colours are tricky because it is pretty well impossible to say what 'redder' and 'beiger' would actually look like.

She did, and it’s true: beige is just a noun in Oxford Dictionaries Premium, unlike red which is a noun and adjective (and redder and reddest are specified too).

It has:

NOUN
[MASS NOUN]
A pale sandy fawn colour:
tones of beige and green
[AS MODIFIER] : a beige raincoat

Not sure what the difference between 'as modifier' and adjective is - seems pretty much the same thing

An adjective is a type of modifier, but not all modifiers are adjectives.

A modifier is an adjective or adverb that describes a noun, or a noun that describes another noun. E.g. in ‘a railway station’, the modifier is ‘railway’, which describes what type of station it is.

Nonetheless, very unfortunate that beige is not given as an adjective in the dictionary they use. It was a good try for 6 points though.

oed.com gives it as a noun and an adjective
B. adj. Of wool or woollen and other fabrics, etc.: of a natural yellowish-grey colour.
The two main modifiers appear to be adjectives and adverbs.
What other adjectives does your dictionary describe as modifiers?
If they are one-syllabled modifiers then they fail the automatic qualification for an R or ER ending. Seems daft to me.

The problem with the Oxford English Dictionary is that it is a historical dictionary, whereas Oxford Dictionaries Premium (the one Countdown actually uses) is a ‘living’ dictionary based on common usage. Words are defined differently.

[David Williams]

Astonished that BEIGE is not an adjective. It's an adjective in my NODE, and a noun as a subsidiary meaning. It's also a count noun as well as a mass noun (matching fawns and beiges), so if there is more than one BEIGE, surely one thing can be BEIGER than another. It is also used to mean safe or boring, where there is a definite comparative sense.

[Howie Myers]

r4 alt: FUMIEST

[Philip A]

r4 alt: FUMIEST

Ooh, I can’t believe this: FUMIEST and FUMIER are no longer specified under FUMY in ODP! They’ll have to be deleted from the Apterous lexicon. Ticketed: https://www.apterous.org/ticket_view.php?ticket=6633

[Gavin Chipper]

R6: 76*10+50=(75+1)*(3+7)+25*2=810 - just a second out of time though.

I couldn't see a normal way for that and ended up with ((75+1)×(25+7)-2)/3=810 (out of time). Basically multiplied 810 by 3 and tried to make 2430.

[Gavin Chipper]

The second teaser scramble should have read SICKTALC rather than SILKTALC.

Insane 9 from DC, probably the best 9 ever found!

URTICARIA must be one of the lowest probability 9s to come up.

[Marc Meakin]

What is Cillians octochamp total score, has he made the 1000 club?

[Gavin Chipper]

944. I think it got mentioned. On here anyway.