Spoilers - 11 Jun 2009 [Series 60 First QF]

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:02 pm

Less than three hours til Kirk-off.

Simon Myers · Post by **Simon Myers** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:03 pm

He's the kirkman to beat.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:05 pm

Simon Myers wrote:He's the kirkman to beat.

Haha. Nice use of the word kirkman there.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:08 pm

Ooh, da Kirk!

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:11 pm

Who is he playing? I forgotted.

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:17 pm

Julie Russell, who of course beat Patrick McCurdie in her first show, who in turn beat me on his first show!

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:23 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:Less than three hours til Kirk-off.

That could be the first line of a limerick.

Howard Somerset · Post by **Howard Somerset** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:32 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:Less than three hours til Kirk-off.

Is that a spoiler? Are you saying he's going to lose?

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:52 pm

James Robinson wrote:Julie Russell, who of course beat Patrick McCurdie in her first show, who in turn beat me on his first show!

Ah yes, I remember her.

She's gonna get raked (as Alan Pardew would say)

Philip Jarvis · Post by **Philip Jarvis** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:28 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:Less than three hours til Kirk-off.
That could be the first line of a limerick.

Since limericks seem to be topical on Countdown at the moment, I got the idea this morning of doing a few "limerick" style lines for each of the quarter finalists. I'll do one each day under "Spoilers" from now until the final. I'll then bring it all together on a separate thread. I've just finished todays version:

The Quarter Finals kick off with the legendary Kirk Bevins,
Will he plunge to the depths, or soar to the heavens?
Will the number one seed hit the latest headlines?
By unscrambling the letters into eights and nines,
Or by round eleven, will he be all sixes and sevens?

Kirk’s opponent today is the lovely Julie Russell,
As the underdog, will her tactics be to hustle and bustle?
In order to win, will she go to any lengths?
Focussing on playing to her own undoubted strengths,
Just who has the muscle, to win this great tussle?

Jimmy Gough · Post by **Jimmy Gough** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:39 pm

Will the cur queue later or duly rustle up something special?

Matthew Green · Post by **Matthew Green** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:46 pm

Writing his 8s and his 9s on his paper,
Poor Julie Russell, he's going to rape her,
Not literally of course,
As she looks like a horse,
And her poor elatives will be wanting to tape her

Jimmy Gough · Post by **Jimmy Gough** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:54 pm

There once was a man from China
Who wasn't a very good climber
He slipped on a rock
And chopped off his cock
And now he's got a vagina.

A metaphor for countdown really.

Philip Jarvis · Post by **Philip Jarvis** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:01 pm

Jimmy Gough wrote:There once was a man from China
Who wasn't a very good climber
He slipped on a rock
And chopped off his cock
And now he's got a vagina.

A metaphor for countdown really.

Watch out - I'm currently working on Monday's limerick. I'll try make yours special.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:36 pm

I can't believe Kirk's already lost his max game. He's changed.

Richard Priest · Post by **Richard Priest** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:53 pm

A good Kirk-beater from DC in round 6.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:08 pm

Extremely respectful effort from Julie. Kirk obviously not as his best, but still, awesome score from such a massive underdog. No rake in sight.

Richard Priest · Post by **Richard Priest** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:15 pm

Yeah, I was very impressed with the way Julie hung in and didn't seem overawed despite Kirk's early lead, all credit to her.

Kate Horton · Post by **Kate Horton** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:19 pm

Julie was fantastic and a lovely lady to boot.
She was happier than Kirk at the end of that game...and she lost!

AnnieHall · Post by **AnnieHall** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:26 pm

Sorry, Charlie, but Kirk is a better player even than you! What an amazing vocabulary that man has, I'll be gobsmacked if he doesn't win the whole series, and the next champion of champions as well!
Well done Julie, a brave runner-up, you certainly gave him a run for his money!

Howard Somerset · Post by **Howard Somerset** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:35 pm

Good game. A lot closer that I was expecting. Well done both players!

Andrew Hulme · Post by **Andrew Hulme** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:43 pm

Sentiments Echoed!

It was closer than I expected and not through Kirk being particularly out of form i didn't think. Julie played well and came across as a nice lady.

That being said, Kirk was never in danger of losing I didn't think, while Julie kept up with him very well I didn't see her ever coming up with some Kinky word that was gonna outscore the Kirkulator.
Once he went 15 up it was game over.

Well done Kirk. Business as usual!

Andrew Hulme · Post by **Andrew Hulme** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:43 pm

Also. Parergon in the first round = the sex.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:53 pm

AnnieHall wrote:Sorry, Charlie, but Kirk is a better player even than you!

Haha, umm, I don't think this is as controversial opinion as you're rather flatteringly implying.

Davy Affleck · Post by **Davy Affleck** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:59 pm

James Robinson wrote:Julie Russell, who of course beat Patrick McCurdie in her first show, who in turn beat me on his first show!

She narrowly beat me in her third game (94 - 31) before she met Hamish.

Kate Horton · Post by **Kate Horton** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:59 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:
AnnieHall wrote:Sorry, Charlie, but Kirk is a better player even than you!
Haha, umm, I don't think this is as controversial opinion as you're rather flatteringly implying.

I'd just take it and run Reams before she changes her mind!

Davy Affleck · Post by **Davy Affleck** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:00 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:I can't believe Kirk's already lost his max game. He's changed.

It's easy to forget dementia

Davy Affleck · Post by **Davy Affleck** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:10 pm

is "proddie" slang or in the dictionary?

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:29 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:Extremely respectful effort from Julie. Kirk obviously not as his best, but still, awesome score from such a massive underdog. No rake in sight.

Hmmm, was 13 maxes not good enough Matt? I shouldn't have missed DEMENTIA to be fair. I knew there was an 8 out of that set of letters and was looking for it during the round but couldn't see it.

Julie was superb and hardly gave me an inch. Had I been a little bit off form I could easily have lost - was too close a game for my liking which showed on my face at the end during round 14!

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:33 pm

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:Extremely respectful effort from Julie. Kirk obviously not as his best, but still, awesome score from such a massive underdog. No rake in sight.
Hmmm, was 13 maxes not good enough Matt? I shouldn't have missed DEMENTIA to be fair. I knew there was an 8 out of that set of letters and was looking for it during the round but couldn't see it.

Julie was superb and hardly gave me an inch. Had I been a little bit off form I could easily have lost - was too close a game for my liking which showed on my face at the end during round 14!

13 maxes is indeed not good enough. I go into every game expecting you to hit the max. No, not really - it was brilliant, you only dropped two points.
I think I was just shocked that you missed DEMENTIA and I found it myself. Beating you in a letters round is somewhat akin to an impending apocalypse.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:50 pm

Davy Affleck wrote:is "proddie" slang or in the dictionary?

Slang is in the dictionary, Des, but proddie is not.

Davy Affleck · Post by **Davy Affleck** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:03 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:
Davy Affleck wrote:is "proddie" slang or in the dictionary?
Slang is in the dictionary, Des, but proddie is not.

Cheers Charlie - Is "Des" in my name or is it "Davy"?

Thanks anyway

Jojo Apollo · Post by **Jojo Apollo** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:23 pm

Well played Kirk, and well played Julie to keep it relatively tight.

She should have done 6 small numbers at the end though to try to get back in conundrum range and rattle Kirk a bit.

Great standard shown so far, hopefully Neil will win tomorrow also.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:26 pm

Davy Affleck wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:
Davy Affleck wrote:is "proddie" slang or in the dictionary?
Slang is in the dictionary, Des, but proddie is not.
Cheers Charlie - Is "Des" in my name or is it "Davy"?

I was humorously alluding to that way that Des O'Connor would express surprise every single time Susie allowed a slang word. But I think you can be forgiven for paying slightly less attention to the rules of the game than I would expect him to.

Simon Myers · Post by **Simon Myers** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:41 pm

Jojo Apollo wrote:Well played Kirk, and well played Julie to keep it relatively tight.

She should have done 6 small numbers at the end though to try to get back in conundrum range and rattle Kirk a bit.

This page suggests that may not have been the optimal choice, but you never know.

Philip Jarvis · Post by **Philip Jarvis** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:53 pm

Jojo Apollo wrote:Great standard shown so far, hopefully Neil will win tomorrow also.

You'll be lucky - It's Cate and Hamish (at least I hope it is after earlier querying the order of play so that I could sort out a priority for writing limericks!!)

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:16 pm

Philip Jarvis wrote:
Jojo Apollo wrote:Great standard shown so far, hopefully Neil will win tomorrow also.
You'll be lucky - It's Cate and Hamish (at least I hope it is after earlier querying the order of play so that I could sort out a priority for writing limericks!!)

Correct.

Andy Thomson · Post by **Andy Thomson** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:24 pm

Davy Affleck wrote:is "proddie" slang or in the dictionary?

Haha - I thought of proddie too but I assume only people in Scotland and N Ireland will have heard of it.

Matthew Green · Post by **Matthew Green** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:53 pm

Sorry Charlie, but I don't think you've got a chance of beating Federer or Nadal at this years Wimbledon!

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:10 pm

Matthew Green wrote:Sorry Charlie, but I don't think you've got a chance of beating Federer or Nadal at this years Wimbledon!

I've been banned from playing after my comments regarding the LTA.

Jojo Apollo · Post by **Jojo Apollo** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:18 pm

Philip Jarvis wrote:
Jojo Apollo wrote:Great standard shown so far, hopefully Neil will win tomorrow also.
You'll be lucky - It's Cate and Hamish (at least I hope it is after earlier querying the order of play so that I could sort out a priority for writing limericks!!)

Oh yeah sorry, forgot Cate. Jimmy number three seed, so Neil is number 4, which means if he gets through would have to take on Kirk in the semi. Yikes!

Ben Hunter · Post by **Ben Hunter** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:33 pm

Kate Horton wrote:Julie was fantastic and a lovely lady to boot.
She was happier than Kirk at the end of that game...and she lost!

I can vouch for this, I met her after the show and she was sound as a pound

.

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:17 pm

Matthew Green wrote:Writing his 8s and his 9s on his paper,
Poor Julie Russell, he's going to rape her,
Not literally of course,
As she looks like a horse,
And her poor elatives will be wanting to tape her

That's just all kinds of awesome!

Junaid Mubeen · Post by **Junaid Mubeen** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:59 pm

Fantastic start to the knockouts, well played both. PARERGON...stuff of legend. Nice conundrum spot, too.

Derek Hazell · Post by **Derek Hazell** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:06 am

Matt Morrison wrote:Beating you in a letters round is somewhat akin to an impending apocalypse.

Yes, I know how you feel - I'm shit at Countdown, but managed to beat Julie in Round 6 with "mediate".

Martin Gardner · Post by **Martin Gardner** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:15 am

Unfortunately I'm in France so I'll have to wait for the recap... I'd appreciate someone posting the final scores in these topics for people like me who can't see them live.

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:15 am

Martin Gardner wrote:Unfortunately I'm in France so I'll have to wait for the recap... I'd appreciate someone posting the final scores in these topics for people like me who can't see them live.

The recap's already up.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:34 am

Jojo Apollo wrote: Oh yeah sorry, forgot Cate. Jimmy number three seed, so Neil is number 4, which means if he gets through would have to take on Kirk in the semi. Yikes!

Actually Neil is number 5 seed but that doesn't change the fact that I will play either Neil or Shane in the semi.

Howard Somerset · Post by **Howard Somerset** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:17 am

Jon Corby wrote:
Martin Gardner wrote:Unfortunately I'm in France so I'll have to wait for the recap... I'd appreciate someone posting the final scores in these topics for people like me who can't see them live.
The recap's already up.

And should there be any day when the recap doesn't appear quite so promptly, you can always look at the wiki to see the final score.

Jojo Apollo · Post by **Jojo Apollo** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 4:42 pm

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Jojo Apollo wrote: Oh yeah sorry, forgot Cate. Jimmy number three seed, so Neil is number 4, which means if he gets through would have to take on Kirk in the semi. Yikes!
Actually Neil is number 5 seed but that doesn't change the fact that I will play either Neil or Shane in the semi.

Ah righto, cheers Kirk.

That will be the closest quarter final match I reckon.

Julie Russell · Post by **Julie Russell** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 5:16 pm

Jon Corby wrote:
Matthew Green wrote:Writing his 8s and his 9s on his paper,
Poor Julie Russell, he's going to rape her,
Not literally of course,
As she looks like a horse,
And her poor elatives will be wanting to tape her

That's just all kinds of awesome!

Awesome? I thought it was just plain mean

Paul Erdunast · Post by **Paul Erdunast** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 5:17 pm

Davy, although proddie isn't in the OED2r, which is the one they use for countdown, it is in the full OED.

Julie Russell · Post by **Julie Russell** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 5:27 pm

[quote="Jojo Apollo"]Well played Kirk, and well played Julie to keep it relatively tight.

She should have done 6 small numbers at the end though to try to get back in conundrum range and rattle Kirk a bit.

Great standard shown so far, hopefully Neil will win tomorrow also.[/quote

My strategy was to lose with as good a score as I could muster, trying to outsmart or rattling Kirk was never an option.

Julie Russell · Post by **Julie Russell** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 5:47 pm

Kate Horton wrote:Julie was fantastic and a lovely lady to boot.
She was happier than Kirk at the end of that game...and she lost!

Thanks Kate, I was just so happy to be there. To be in the green room with players I had watched and admired and in the studio for games I wasn't playing was an amazing experience. To be a part of the finals was something I had never considered and I felt like a tourist and just a wee bit cheeky to be there. To have given Kirk a fairly good game for the quarter final was such a bonus.

The production team went all out to ensure that the Countdown experience was exceptional and one I'll never forget. The end of series party was the icing on the cake, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow apterites and got drunk for free

Thanks to all

Julie x

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:46 am

Julie Russell wrote:
Jon Corby wrote:
Matthew Green wrote:Writing his 8s and his 9s on his paper,
Poor Julie Russell, he's going to rape her,
Not literally of course,
As she looks like a horse,
And her poor elatives will be wanting to tape her

That's just all kinds of awesome!
Awesome? I thought it was just plain mean

Er... yeah, I meant awful. Typo

Well, it's a good limerick is what I meant. I don't think it's meant to be taken seriously.

Allan Harmer · Post by **Allan Harmer** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:00 am

Congratulations to Julie for giving Kirk such a good game and not capitulating, which would have been easy to do.

Well done to Kirk for a solid QF and i am looking forward to the SF with great interest.