Thursday 1st October 2009 (Series 61, Prelim 54)

[Jon Corby]

Countdown recap for Thursday 1 October 2009.

C1: Champion George Raison (2 wins, 169 points)
C2: Challenger Anthony Pinnell.
DC: Susie Dent and John Inverdale.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: T S U I G R A L N
R02: O E I Y B R A T R
R03: E O T N B O M S T
R04: M C T E E I N D U
R05: 75, 1, 8, 5, 2, 5. Target: 570.
TTT: SEESPACE - "They flee from three letters of the alphabet."
R06: O L N P E I O D P
R07: M L I S A E H L C
R08: D S H A A I K F E
R09: A S T P E A S R E
R10: 100, 2, 2, 3, 5, 1. Target: 313.
TTT: LOFTSALE - "Florence lets you know she's staying at sea"
R11: L U W N O I R R O
R12: A E S G D E X S I
R13: F D A U R N G I O
R14: 50, 8, 1, 10, 5, 5. Target: 394.
R15: S L I M Y G I N A (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Jeff opens the show with a golf-themed email, prompting him to ask Rachel if she's a swinger. She's not, although she has joined a golf club to use their squash court. So maybe it's just the Robinson's variety of squash she's not keen on then.

Anyway, George Raison is our champion, looking for his third win today. He's from Redditch in Worcestershire and describes himself as a "quiz know-it-all". George is founder and chairman of Redditch Big Hearts charity, and he reminds me of Sylvester McCoy when he puts his glasses on.

His opponent today is Anthony Pinnell, from Charlwood in Surrey. He's a Content Executive for a Bankers Almanac. Um. He lived in Japan for four years teaching English - if he doesn't teach George a thing or two today maybe he'll impale himself on one of those big ceremonial swords, or some other Japanese stereotype.

Round 1: T S U I G R A L N

C1: GUITARS (7)
C2: SINGULAR (8)
DC: STARLING (8)
OT: LUSTRING (8) RUSTLING (8) SALUTING (8)
Score: 0–8 (max 8)

Lovely spot to start from Anthony, especially considering there were a few more mundane -ING options to choose from.

Round 2: O E I Y B R A T R

C1: BARTER (6)
C2: BOATER (6)
DC: RAREBIT (7)
OT: ARBITER (7) ORBITER (7)
Score: 6–14 (max 15)

Round 3: E O T N B O M S T

C1: BOTTOMS (7)
C2: ENTOMBS (7)
DC: TOMBSTONE (18)
Score: 13–21 (max 33)

Anthony may be kicking himself slightly that he got close(ish) to the niner...

Round 4: M C T E E I N D U

C1: MINUTED (7)
C2: uncited
DC: INDUCTEE (8)
OT: MINUETED (8)
Score: 20–21 (max 41)

...especially as a disallowed word puts George right back in the mix.

Round 5: 75, 1, 8, 5, 2, 5. Target: 570.

C1: -
C2: 570. 75*8-(5+2-1)*5 (10)
Score: 20–31 (max 51)

Yes that's right! It's THE LEGENDARY FIVE THAT'S SLIGHTLY SMALLER THAN ALL THE OTHER NUMBERS.

A decent lead for the challenger as we head into the break, before which John talks about mobile phone throwing. He forewarns Susie that tomorrow he's going to be discussing "Wife Carrying" and may ask her to assist in a demonstration, to which she says she's "game for anything" which I'm not ashamed to admit got me slightly hard.

Teatime teaser: SEESPACE -> ESCAPEES

Round 6: O L N P E I O D P

C1: LOPPED (6)
C2: LIPPED (6)
OT: EIDOLON (7) NIPPLED (7) PLEOPOD (7)
Score: 26–37 (max 58)

Round 7: M L I S A E H L C

C1: MALICE (6)
C2: CLAIMS (6)
DC: achilles SHELLAC (7)
OT: CHAMELIS (8)
Score: 32–43 (max 66)

Round 8: D S H A A I K F E

C1: FISHED (6)
C2: khedifas
OT: FAKIES (6) FASHED (6) KADAIS (6) KHEDAS (6) SHAADI (6) SIFAKA (6)
Score: 38–43 (max 72)

Round 9: A S T P E A S R E

C1: asparte
C2: SEPARATE (8)
DC: SEPARATES (18)
Score: 38–51 (max 90)

D'oh! Anthony gets even closer to this niner than the last one, but still no cigar.

Round 10: 100, 2, 2, 3, 5, 1. Target: 313.

C1: 313. (100+1)*3+2*5 (10)
C2: 313. (2+1)*100+5*2+3 (10)
Score: 48–61 (max 100)

Teatime teaser: LOFTSALE -> FLOATELS

Round 11: L U W N O I R R O

C1: LOIN (4)
C2: WINO (4)
DC: WORN
OT: INRO IRON NOIR NORI LINO LION NOIL LOON LORN LOUR OLIO ROIL RUIN WOOL
Score: 52–65 (max 104)

Wow. More fours than...er... a Rachel Riley numbers round. According to Wil Ransome. The nobhead.

Round 12: A E S G D E X S I

C1: GASSED (6)
C2: AEGIS (5)
DC: DISEASE (7) SEASIDE (7)
OT: DEGASES (7)
Score: 58–65 (max 111)

Round 13: F D A U R N G I O

C1: fouring
C2: FORDING (7)
DC: ADORING (7) roading
OT: AGROUND (7) FUNGOID (7)
Score: 58–72 (max 118)

Round 14: 50, 8, 1, 10, 5, 5. Target: 394.

C1: 394. 50*8-5-1 (10)
C2: 394. 50*8-5-1 (10)
Score: 68–82 (max 128)

Round 15: S L I M Y G I N A

C2 buzzes on 1 second to say MISLAYING which is correct.
Score: 68–92 (max 138)

Decent score in the end for Anthony, and the final scoreline makes it look a little more comfortable than it actually was, George was definitely still very much in the game going into the final numbers.

Special thanks are due to my daughter Amy for helping type the rounds in while I stuff pizza & beer down my neck, and especially Google Chrome. My laptop's battery is knackered, and the dog knocked the power lead out the back of the computer midway through. On startup Chrome says "I notice you didn't shut down properly, would you like to restore all the tabs?" and not only do they all come back, but it's saved all my typing as well. Right up to the last letter keyed. Legendary.


Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=61

[Charlie Reams]

On startup Chrome says "I notice you didn't shut down properly, would you like to restore all the tabs?" and not only do they all come back, but it's saved all my typing as well. Right up to the last letter keyed. Legendary.

FTR Firefox does that too.

[Jon Corby]

On startup Chrome says "I notice you didn't shut down properly, would you like to restore all the tabs?" and not only do they all come back, but it's saved all my typing as well. Right up to the last letter keyed. Legendary.

FTR Firefox does that too.

Firefox was nowhere to be seen in my hour of need Charlie. Chrome was the only one that stepped up.

[Kirk Bevins]

Round 11: L U W N O I R R O

C1: LOIN (4)
C2: WINO (4)
DC: WORN
OT: INRO IRON NOIR NORI LINO LION NOIL LOON LORN LOUR OLIO ROIL RUIN WOOL WORN
Score: 52–65 (max 104)

I thought C2 declared LINO but I could be wrong.

[Matt Morrison]

Round 11: L U W N O I R R O

C1: LOIN (4)
C2: WINO (4)
DC: WORN
OT: INRO IRON NOIR NORI LINO LION NOIL LOON LORN LOUR OLIO ROIL RUIN WOOL WORN
Score: 52–65 (max 104)

I thought C2 declared LINO but I could be wrong.

That you are, sir.

[Martin Gardner]

Now that the Countdown wiki is out of action, is there a current list of seeds anywhere on the web? Noting that the Countdown Page is updated about 4 times a year nowadays.

[Charlie Reams]

Now that the Countdown wiki is out of action, is there a current list of seeds anywhere on the web? Noting that the Countdown Page is updated about 4 times a year nowadays.

http://wiki.apterous.org/Series_61

[Jon Corby]

Now that the Countdown wiki is out of action, is there a current list of seeds anywhere on the web? Noting that the Countdown Page is updated about 4 times a year nowadays.

http://wiki.apterous.org/Series_61

I was looking for the wiki the other day as well, and I kinda remembered it was probably on apterous now but couldn't find a link.

I assume there's no link from the apterous front page for the whole "this isn't to do with Countdown, honest" thing, but is there a link anywhere? If there is, I couldn't find it, so it's clearly not prominent enough :p

[Charlie Reams]

I assume there's no link from the apterous front page for the whole "this isn't to do with Countdown, honest" thing, but is there a link anywhere? If there is, I couldn't find it, so it's clearly not prominent enough :p

It's more that I forgot.

[Derek Hazell]

There are links all over the Internet to the original location of the Wiki, including the official Channel 4 site! Plus of course many posts in here. As Charlie's profile on here still links to it, I assumed it would be going back there at some point, but maybe he just forgot.