Spoilers for Thursday 30th April

[Andy Wilson]

5 x 100 + (9x8) + 7 = 579

not too tough, surprised Rachel missed it...

[Chris Davies]

5 x 100 + (9x8) + 7 = 579

not too tough, surprised Rachel missed it...

I missed it too! I managed 577. But I did get PETIOLES as a DC beater in (I think) round 2.

[Paul Hefford]

You beat me to it Andy - my thoughts exactly. I'm only watching Countdown at the moment as I have just taken redundancy but that is the first time that I have beaten Rachel and the contestants.

[EllieJones]

Okk so i am year 9 and i got that within like 10 seconds...

100 x 5 =500
9 x 8 = 72
7

572.

I had to recheck a couple of times because i thought rachel would have got it.

Not hard.
Bring Carol Back.

please?

[Dinos Sfyris]

Unnecessary over-complication of the first numbers:

(50-(8+1)x8/2)x10 = 140

[Darren Carter]

5 x 100 + (9x8) + 7 = 579

not too tough, surprised Rachel missed it...

I am normally ok with numbers but I completely missed it as well. At first thought it looks hard so I tried to do the 5 x (100 + ____ ) way but couldn't manage it. My sister who is pretty pants with numbers got it easily.

[Eoin Monaghan]

Okk so i am year 9 and i got that within like 10 seconds...

100 x 5 =500
9 x 8 = 72
7

572.

I had to recheck a couple of times because i thought rachel would have got it.

Not hard.
Bring Carol Back.

please?

What age does that make you?

[EllieJones]

14 (:

[Eoin Monaghan]

14 (:

So you're 4th youngest here. Congrats. Unless Oliver's younger than you.

[EllieJones]

Wow.
Who else is??

[Eoin Monaghan]

Wow.
Who else is??

Kai's 12, Callum's 11, Oliver's 14 and I'm 12.

[EllieJones]

Cooooll....

[Charlie Reams]

Methods which are easy to compute are not necessarily easy to spot in the numbers round. Just like words which are easy to spell are not necessarily easy to find in the letters round.

[Eoin Monaghan]

Okk so i am year 9 and i got that within like 10 seconds...

100 x 5 =500
9 x 8 = 72
7

572.

I had to recheck a couple of times because i thought rachel would have got it.

Not hard.
Bring Carol Back.

please?

Check out http://www.apterous.org/ to test yourself against other great players.

[Phil Reynolds]

Surprising in round 11 that DC got FERMENT but missed FOMENTER.

[Kirk Bevins]

Surprising in round 11 that DC got FERMENT but missed FOMENTER.

I got FERMENT and missed FOMENTER too. Be surprised. I also missed PETIOLES which has annoyed me so I've just murdered a small fly. I was pleased with ABELIAN and pleased that the challenger got it but there was another maths word in round 1 of ERGODIC for an equaller.

I missed 579 the easy way (amazing how so many people missed it as I found it really tough):

(100-9)x7=637.
50+8=58.
637-58=579.

Thought AVIDIN would be a beater but Susie got it, despite Gyles misreading it and thinking it related to birds. Ha.

[Matthew Green]

I'm only 13.

Where do you live?

[Jon Corby]

I'm only 13.

Where do you live?

[Dinos Sfyris]

Brandreth corner: ie invalid words

I can't believe nobody has suggested NOBHEADS^ yet!

Also VIKITIN^ as in the drug taken by Dr Gregory House (Huge ego sorry)

[Clive Brooker]

...Not hard. Bring Carol Back.

I am quite confident that Carol used to miss a higher proportion of easy ones than Rachel does.

[Martin Bishop]

When I came home from work on the day of the show, my mum showed me that numbers game on a bit of paper and told me how no one got it, even though it was spectacularly easy. Naturally, I got it straight away.

When I watched the full episode today, I forgot all about that and didn't get the numbers.

It just shows how easy it is to miss an "easy" solution, by virtue of attempting more complicated methods. This is particularly true for 2 large, as there are so many ways you can go.