c4countdown

MAEGBOTS in R1
MELODICAS in R11

To a Times crossword regular, Mark Goodliffe is God. He can do a crossword in no more time than it takes to fill the answers in. I can see that he might have the same dictionary problems as Scrabblers, but that's not an issue with conundrums, and he's maybe more familiar with nine letter anagrams than Scrabblers. I fully expected him to set an all-time record for the shortest time to solve all eight. Very surprised that he's already missed a couple.

As a Countdowner he's just a good player who has a good chance of becoming an octochamp but isn't a definite.

There is a difference between cryptic crosswords and Countdown though. There are no written clues to the answers. That’s why the teasers are easier.

With a cryptic crossword the clue usually gives you the answer two ways, one of which may be a (disguised) anagram. And a lot of the time you will already have some of the letters. So a straight anagram is more difficult, even though there's no disguise. But even so, the speed that Mark can do crosswords at, quicker every time than anyone else, surely means he virtually never has to skip over a clue and go to another one. I doubt if he's ever looked at a clue for 30 seconds and failed to solve it. The ability to glance at a selection of letters and instantly see the anagram is a skill he surely has, and it's very much transferable to Countdown, and the conundrum in particular.

He probably has the best anagram-solving qualifications of anyone who has been on the show in the last decade, but I'd still back any one of the Apterites who have made the finals in that time to beat him. Really shows how Apterous has changed the game, armchair Countdowners don't really stand a chance at the top level