Monday 26th October 2009 (Series 61, Prelim 71)

[Kai Laddiman]

Countdown recap for Monday 26 October 2009.

C1: Champion Brian Selway (5 wins, 464 points.)
C2: Challenger Krishan Neelendra. Apparently he goes to the legendary Ollie Garner's school (Tiffin), so he was obviously rooting for him. [NOTE: Ollie currently stands at 1 brownie point.]
DC: Susie Dent and Jane Moore.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

Today is a special episode of Countdown, cos it's my brother's birthday. However, that doesn't mean it's a special quality recap; no, it's still as rubbish as ever.

I was quite when I saw someone who was apparently a journalist in a trackie, but it looked quite funny actually.

R01: Z O T E L D O U N
R02: R W M O E O C T G
R03: S J N U E A T S P
R04: D R P O U E G L N
R05: 75, 8, 7, 8, 4, 2. Target: 899.
TTT: TIEDAVID - "On the plus side, this may go into some foods."
R06: R N F A I A L T I
R07: C A A E V R S O M
R08: R F P H I E I E N
R09: L R I D A E R T U
R10: 4, 6, 8, 1, 6, 9. Target: 773.
TTT: VERBPILT - "Commercially speaking it's gone before you know it."
R11: S B K Y E A E I S
R12: H D P E A O S M S
R13: B E T A D E T O N
R14: 75, 7, 8, 9, 2, 5. Target: 503.
R15: W I G O N R I N G (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: Z O T E L D O U N

C1: ZONULE (6)
C2: LOOTED (6)
DC: OUTDONE (7)
OT: DUOTONE (7)
Score: 6–6 (max 7)

So DC has OUTDONE both of them in the first round, but both of them are off the mark.

Round 2: R W M O E O C T G

C1: MOTOR (5)
C2: MOOTER (6)
OT: COOTER (6)
Score: 6–12 (max 13)

Ah, the monosyllabic adjectival comparative rule. Or something like that.

Round 3: S J N U E A T S P

C1: PEANUTS (7)
C2: PEANUTS (7)
DC: APTNESS (7)
OT: PATNESS (7) PETASUS (7) UNSEATS (7) UNSTEPS (7)
Score: 13–19 (max 20)

Round 4: D R P O U E G L N

C1: PLUNGER (7)
C2: POUNDER (7)
DC: LOUNGER (7)
OT: PLONGEUR (8)
Score: 20–26 (max 28)

Round 5: 75, 8, 7, 8, 4, 2. Target: 899.

C1: 899. (4 + 8) x 75 - (8 - 7) (10)
C2: 899. (4 + 8) x 75 - (8 - 7) (10)
Score: 30–36 (max 38)

Nice and easy. (Gets rid of flakes, flawlessly covers greys, and gives you up to 5x shine)

The journie in the trackie (Jane Moore) talks about an encounter with someone leading to a threat of broken legs and a 3-page apology. I suppose that's what you get from a tabloid.

Teatime teaser: TIEDAVID -> ADDITIVE

Round 6: R N F A I A L T I

C1: FARINA (6)
C2: FINAL (5)
DC: AIRLIFT (7) FANTAIL (7)
OT: FILARIA (7)
Score: 36–36 (max 45)

FARINA is a flower apparently.

Round 7: C A A E V R S O M

C1: CAMERAS (7)
C2: CRAVES (6)
OT: ROSACEA (7) SAMOVAR (7) SARCOMA (7)
Score: 43–36 (max 52)

A load of lovely 7s there.

Round 8: R F P H I E I E N

C1: REFINE (6)
C2: REFINE (6)
DC: REPINE (6) HEIFER (6)
OT: HEINIE (6) HEREIN (6) INHERE (6) PERFIN (6)
Score: 49–42 (max 58)

And some equally nice 6s.

Round 9: L R I D A E R T U

C1: TARRIED (7)
C2: TRAILED (7)
DC: RETRIAL (7)
OT: DILUTER (7) LARDIER (7) RETIRAL (7) TRAILER (7) RUDERAL (7) TARDIER (7)
Score: 56–49 (max 65)

And some rubbish 7s

OoW: Susie talks about terms associated with important people.

Round 10: 4, 6, 8, 1, 6, 9. Target: 773.

C1: -
C2: -
RR: 773. ((4 + 6) x 8 + 6) x 9 - 1 (10)
Score: 56–49 (max 75)

Krishan's tactics backfire as neither contestant gets close, but luckily Magic Magic Rachel steps in to help them.

Teatime teaser: VERBPILT -> BLIPVERT

Round 11: S B K Y E A E I S

C1: BEAKY (5)
C2: BASIS (5)
DC: BIASES (6)
OT: BEISAS (6) ESKIES (6)
Score: 61–54 (max 81)

The game's still very close, it could still go either way...

Round 12: H D P E A O S M S

C1: SHAPES (6) [NOTE: Jim Bentley currently stands at 1 Brownie point.]
C2: spasmed
DC: MOPHEADS (8)
Score: 67–54 (max 89)

<annoyed grunt>! An unfortunate bumble from Krishan sets him 13 points behind with just 3 rounds to go.

Round 13: B E T A D E T O N

C1: DETONATE (8)
C2: batoned
DC: BATTENED (8)
Score: 75–54 (max 97)

Double <annoyed grunt>! Another faux -ED ending for Krishan, this time even more unfortunate for missing the very similar BATTENED, and the game is over.

Round 14: 75, 7, 8, 9, 2, 5. Target: 503.

C1: 503. 75 x 7 - (8 + 5 + 9) (10)
C2: 509.
Score: 85–54 (max 107)

Round 15: W I G O N R I N G

C1 buzzes on 11 seconds to say INGROWING which is correct.
Score: 95–54 (max 117)

Not an amazing performance from Brian today, but still very solid. It's a shame to see Krishan go, he was pretty cool.

At this stage it would seem that Brian is heading towards octochampiondom, but he still needs two more wins. Can he continue his run? Find out with Ollie tomorrow!

Statistics Corner

Brian:
Total score - 95
Raw score - 105
Total % of max - 81
Raw % of max - 90 (Not bad!)
Total average score per round - 6.3
Raw average score per round - 6.7
Number of maxes - 8

Krishan:
Total score - 54
Raw score - 70
Total % of max - 46
Raw % of max - 60
Total average score per round - 3.6
Raw average score per round - 4.7
Number of maxes - 5

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

[Phil Reynolds]

FARINA is a flower apparently.

Damn those homophones.

[Karen Pearson]

FARINA is a flower apparently.

Cute! I'm guessing foreign languages aren't one of Kai's better subjects. Either that or he has no interest in cooking.

[Kirk Bevins]

Cute! I'm guessing foreign languages aren't one of Kai's better subjects. Either that or he has no interest in cooking.

I think he was putting what Susie said. She said "I think it's a flower" then checked and said "yeah, it's flour....." to get herself out of hole (or so it sounded like).

[Howard Somerset]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who'd thought it was a flower - until I read the last three posts here.

[Alec Rivers]

[Charlie Reams]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who'd thought it was a flower - until I read the last three posts here.

QFT

[Jason Larsen]

Before I continue with my reply to this thread, I would like to apologize to such people as Chris Davies, Innis Carson and Andrew Hulme for missing out on all of their games. If it's any consolation though, I'm glad that the set looks the same.

Without further ado, here's my long awaited reply to this thread.

Introduction: Jeff, we're not playing Pointless here! You just put Rachel through some major torture, brother!

Well, we have the Meredith Vieira in Dictionary Corner this week, Jane Moore! (James Robinson would know who I'm talking about!)

Round 3: You didn't score PEANUTS there, contestants! Good job!

Jane's Dictionary Corner Jelly: It doesn't surprise me that Sinead O'Connor wasn't very good at her concert, but why would she threaten to break Jane's legs? What is she going to tell us next, Falcon Heene's going to jail in 8 years? And what will she do in the near future, fire Chris Tarrant from Millionaire?

Teatime Teaser #1: This really tricked me! You would think they would have given an opposite clue for this one. An example of an additive is a nitrate. Correct?

Origins of Words: I thought of Chris Davies when I heard this.

Round 10: Krishan, Krishan, Krishan! What a risk you took! We love you, Rachel, and you know why!

Teatime Teaser #2: The next thing you know, we'll be seeing something that says, "Theseries61countdownfinalswillbe on fridaydecember18nowbacktocountdown!"

Conundrum: The game certainly is not ingrowing on you, Brian! Good job!

That was a hard game today, as only one 8-letter word was found. We'll see if we can see something a little better tomorrow.

[Karen Pearson]

Cute! I'm guessing foreign languages aren't one of Kai's better subjects. Either that or he has no interest in cooking.

I think he was putting what Susie said. She said "I think it's a flower" then checked and said "yeah, it's flour....." to get herself out of hole (or so it sounded like).

Ah! I interpreted her words as 'It's a type of flour'. But I can understand how the confusion arose as it is only clear if you already knew that farina means flour not flower.