c4countdown

Countdown recap for Thursday 7 September 2000.

C1: Champion David Williams (7 wins, 470 points.)
C2: Challenger Mark Dermody.
DC: Susie Dent and Carol Barnes.
CV: Carol Vorderman.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: R T B A E O D C A
R02: L I S Q S E U I N
R03: P D F R E A O T W
R04: 50, 7, 4, 9, 4, 2. Target: 952.
R05: V A E W G L I P N
R06: R T K F A E U P O
R07: Y N B D E I E O T
R08: 100, 2, 3, 2, 10, 3. Target: 912.
R09: L A W N G R I P S (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: R T B A E O D C A

C1: CABARET (7)
C2: CORDATE (7)
DC: ABORTED (7) ACROBAT (7)
OT: ABREACT (7) BEARCAT (7) BROCADE (7) REDCOAT (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 7)

Round 2: L I S Q S E U I N

C1: UNLESS (6) The disadvantage of writing the letters down is that you can miss a word that’s staring you in the face.
C2: SEQUINS (7)
OT: SILIQUES (8)
Score: 7–14 (max 15)

Round 3: P D F R E A O T W

C1: READOPT (7)
C2: TOWARD (6)
DC: PARTED (6)
OT: ADOPTER (7)
Score: 14–14 (max 22)

Round 4: 50, 7, 4, 9, 4, 2. Target: 952.

C1: 952. 50x9=450 7x4=28 (450+28)x2 - 4 (10)
C2: 952. ((7x4)-9) x 50 + 2 (10)
Score: 24–24 (max 32)

Round 5: V A E W G L I P N

C1: WEAVING (7)
C2: LEAPING (7)
DC: LEAVING (7) LAPWING (7)
OT: PEALING (7) WEALING (7)
Score: 31–31 (max 39)

Round 6: R T K F A E U P O

C1: TROUPE (6)
C2: POUR (4)
DC: UPRATE (6) POUTER (6)
OT: PROTEA (6) UPTAKE (6)
Score: 37–31 (max 45)

Round 7: Y N B D E I E O T

C1: OBEDIENT (8)
C2: BIDET (5)
Score: 45–31 (max 53)

Round 8: 100, 2, 3, 2, 10, 3. Target: 912.

C1: 912. 3x3x100 + 10 + 2 (10)
C2: 912. 3x3x100 + 10 + 2 (10)
Score: 55–41 (max 63)

Round 9: L A W N G R I P S

C1 buzzes on 1 second to say SPRAWLING which is correct.
Score: 65–41 (max 73)

Richard Whiteley announced that I was the highest-scoring octochamp ever, which amazed me. As much as anything because it hadn’t occurred to me that anyone would bother to keep records of that sort of thing.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=43

Great stuff, David, thanks very much. All 8 conundrums and 3 nines from 3 available is an impressive record in itself, not to mention the octochamp total which will now stand as the record forever. I've added a 9-round octochamp page to CDB, although it's currently a bit pointless since you're the only player for whom we have any decent data.

I feared there would be lots of missed opportunities, but actually it stands up pretty well against today's standards. Six of my opponents were well in the game till near the end, and Carol and Dictionary Corner missed very little.

One of the attractions for me was that it was just, in Damian's words, a parlour game. I had wondered if I came to Countdown for the first time today, and found this forum and apterous, whether I'd think it wasn't worth trying to compete against the amount of practice and level of expertise so many people have. It's quite reassuring to think that you can be competitive even if you only use words you know the meaning of, make a few mistakes, and have never heard the word GAMETE!

I was 51, by the way.

David

David Williams wrote: One of the attractions for me was that it was just, in Damian's words, a parlour game. I had wondered if I came to Countdown for the first time today, and found this forum and apterous, whether I'd think it wasn't worth trying to compete against the amount of practice and level of expertise so many people have. It's quite reassuring to think that you can be competitive even if you only use words you know the meaning of, make a few mistakes, and have never heard the word GAMETE!

I was 51, by the way.

I'm not sure I'd want to wait til I was 51 to have a large enough natural vocabulary to be good.

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I'm not sure I'd want to wait til I was 51 to have a large enough natural vocabulary to be good.[/quote]

You would if until you were 50 you thought Countdown was a programme presented by William G Stewart in which you started with 15 people and counted down till there was only one left. A common failing among people who had started work before 1982.