C1: Champion Shane Roberts (8 wins, 766 points.)
C2: Champion Neil Zussman (8 wins, 758 points.)
DC: Susie Dent and Phil Hammond.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
Today's last quarter-final of this series is the Battle of the Lookalikes:
#4 seed, Shane Roberts
#5 seed, Neil Zussman
Shane is a paediatric nurse from Bristol who likes punk rock; Neil is a student from Ilford, Essex, and had a newspaper article written about him after his heats - by his cousin.
Rachel reveals that she likes to play Countdown online. Could she be talking about apterous.org? It seems not - she says that "it doesn't play against you".
R01: H I B O M E N O M
R02: R I V T E D O F R
R03: S A S E F O X E G
R04: S A N T U D O N N
R05: 9, 4, 8, 5, 3, 5. Target: 538.
TTT: WEEDYGAS - "If you're shouted down, you can't get this word in"
R06: T E P S I H I L P
R07: Y A D I K A S G E
R08: R O J T E R A M S
R09: N I T E S O L E S
R10: 25, 100, 75, 50, 3, 1. Target: 643.
TTT: GETFINCH - "Looking glamorous while bringing things back"
R11: Z I R E C O P U B
R12: L E T C A D A O E
R13: S I L E W I T A P
R14: 100, 50, 75, 25, 8, 1. Target: 664.
R15: A S K P A Y E E S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: H I B O M E N O M
C1: HOMIE (5)
C2: moonie
DC: BONHOMIE (8)
Score: 5–0 (max 8)
Bad luck for Neil: MOONY (meaning dreamy) is in, but "Moonie" is capitalised and refers to a member of the Unification Church. Dr Phil suggests an alternative meaning of "moonie" as "entertaining people on the back of a coach", but apparently that sense hasn't made it into the dictionary yet. Chiz. However, speaking of bottoms, DC trump everyone with a splendid 8.
Round 2: R I V T E D O F R
C1: DIVERT (6)
C2: DRIFTER (7)
DC: ROTIFER (7)
Score: 5–7 (max 15)
Good comeback by Neil. A ROTIFER is a minute aquatic creature belonging to the phylum Rotifera, having a wheel-like organ used in feeding and locomotion. Astonishing.
Round 3: S A S E F O X E G
C1: geases
C2: EASES (5)
DC: SAGOS (5) SAGES (5)
OT: FOSSAE (6)
Score: 5–12 (max 21)
A slip-up by Shane: a GEAS is a curse in Irish folklore, but the plural is GEASA. DC fail to spot a max for what will be the only time in the game: FOSSAE are anatomical depressions or hollows.
Round 4: S A N T U D O N N
C1: donuts
C2: ASTOUND (7)
Score: 5–19 (max 28)
And again Shane bombs with a disallowed American spelling of DOUGHNUTS. Neil spots the darren to further extend his lead.
Round 5: 9, 4, 8, 5, 3, 5. Target: 538.
Rachel raises a laugh from the audience by observing that Shane and Neil are "both six small people".
C1: 537. 5 x 4 x 3 x 9 - (8 - 5) (7)
C2: -
RR: 538. (8 + 4) x 5 x 9 - (5 - 3) (10)
Score: 12–19 (max 38)
The tactic pays off for Shane - Neil fails to get within 10, allowing Shane to claw back 7 points.
Dr Phil entertains with Part 2 of "How to be a doctor". Sadly, time constraints mean that these have had to be heavily edited from the full versions delivered in the studio.
Teatime teaser: WEEDYGAS -> EDGEWAYS
Round 6: T E P S I H I L P
C1: LIPPIEST (8)
C2: LIPPIEST (8)
Score: 20–27 (max 46)
Both contestants spot the darren.
Round 7: Y A D I K A S G E
C1: ASKED (5)
C2: ADAGES (6)
OT: KADAIS (6)
Score: 20–33 (max 52)
A KADAI is a two-handled cooking pan used in Indian cookery, also known as a KARAHI, KARAI or KORAI. Hence the cry frequently heard at chucking-out time on the streets of Birmingham on a Friday night: "Oi cood murder a chicken korai".
Round 8: R O J T E R A M S
C1: TREMORS (7)
C2: ROTAMERS (8)
OT: REARMOST (8)
Score: 20–41 (max 60)
An excellent spot from Neil. ROTAMERS in chemistry are isomers that differ from each other only by rotation about a single bond (if Dinos hadn't wimped out of doing today's recap, he could have given you a more authoritative explanation). Dr Phil says that they only managed to match ROTAMERS, not beat it, from which I infer that they had REARMOST but didn't want to steal Neil's thunder. Which is nice.
Round 9: N I T E S O L E S
C1: TONELESS (8)
C2: LISTENS (7)
OT: ENTISOLS (8) ESTOILES (8)
Score: 28–41 (max 68)
Shane pulls back some points, indicating that the game is still far from over. ENTISOLS are certain types of soil; ESTOILES are six-pointed stars with wavy arms used in heraldic designs.
In OoW, Susie describes how only 1% of words that stand the test of time are coined from scratch by an individual rather than evolving from earlier words, but two of them - GNOME and SYLPH - were the creation of one man, a 16th century Swiss physician called Philippus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (known to his friends as Paraselcus). Susie digs herself into a massive hole by repeatedly assuring Jeff that she is not looking at him when talking about gnomes.
Round 10: 25, 100, 75, 50, 3, 1. Target: 643.
C1: 650.
C2: 647. (100 + 75 + 50 - 1) x 3 - 25 (7)
RR: 642. (100 - 75) x 25 + (50 + 1) / 3 (7)
Score: 28–48 (max 75)
Again, the player choosing the numbers steals a tactical advantage, as Neil proves to be a trend bucker by going for four large and gaining 7 points in a numbers game which is impossible to solve exactly.
Teatime teaser: GETFINCH -> FETCHING
Round 11: Z I R E C O P U B
C1: CROUP (5)
C2: COPIER (6)
DC: RECOUP (6)
OT: CORBIE (6) COZIER (6)
Score: 28–54 (max 81)
Neil continues to pull away from Shane. A CORBIE is a Scottish name for a bald eagle, sorry, I mean a crow.
Round 12: L E T C A D A O E
C1: -
C2: COATED (6)
DC: LOCATED (7) CLEATED (7)
Score: 28–60 (max 88)
A couple of easy 7s missed by both players, but Neil still takes the points and is looking pretty unassailable now.
Round 13: S I L E W I T A P
C1: WILIEST (7)
C2: WILIEST (7)
DC: TALIPES (7)
OT: LAITIES (7) PLATIES (7) SPILITE (7) WAPITIS (7)
Score: 35–67 (max 95)
Dr Phil spots TALIPES which is the medical name for club foot. Several alternative 7s, looking up the meanings of which is left as an exercise for the reader.
Round 14: 100, 50, 75, 25, 8, 1. Target: 664.
C1: 674.
C2: 656. ((100 + 50) / 25 + 1 + 75) x 8 (5)
OT: 664. (100 - ((50 + 1) / (75 / 25))) x 8 (10)
Score: 35–72 (max 105)
Third of three tricky numbers games today. Rachel couldn't get it exactly, although this one is solvable (with 89% difficulty) by using the 51 / 3 = 17 route that she'd used earlier.
Round 15: A S K P A Y E E S
C2 buzzes on 2 seconds to say SPEAKEASY which is correct.
Score: 35–82 (max 115)
And so Neil secures a place in his tenth game - which he ruefully admits is likely to be his last, against the Kirkulator. We'll see. Tomorrow's game could be very exciting indeed.
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=60
