Countdown recap for Thursday 8 April 2010.
C1: Champion Peter Zyss (4 wins, 345 points.) An Apterite from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. His hobbies include cycling, frisbee and power kiting, but no longer cricket, if you recall his introduction from yesterday.
C2: Challenger Brian Kuhl. From Skipton, North Yorkshire. He works as a private banker. The most dangerous thing he's ever done was fire walking.
DC: Susie Dent and John Suchet.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: L R S E A U R H T
R02: E A E K N R V T R
R03: P S W A I O S T E
R04: I A I E N R L D T
R05: 75, 3, 2, 8, 6, 5. Target: 391.
TTT: BERYLRUM - "Go round the bush on a cold and frosty morning"
R06: U A E S N L X L T
R07: C M P O E O S D N
R08: I A E T P W S T N
R09: V B D E I O S G M
R10: 9, 3, 4, 2, 3, 5. Target: 522.
TTT: TONICGAS - "The answer's clear to the non-believer"
R11: H N P U U I C A N
R12: E I A D R Y C T Q
R13: J R L U E O M R B
R14: 10, 9, 8, 4, 7, 4. Target: 605.
R15: I T C H Y P A L M (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: L R S E A U R H T
C1: URETHRAL (8)
C2: HAULERS (7)
OT: URETHRAS (8)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)
A brilliant start by Peter.
Round 2: E A E K N R V T R
C1: TANKER (6)
C2: taverner
DC: RETAKEN (7)
OT: TERRANE (7) VETERAN (7)
Score: 14–0 (max 15)
It almost looked like that Brian had managed to level with a brilliant 8 of his own, unfortunately it's only a proper noun. Since this isn't Scrabble, the word isn't Kuhl.
Round 3: P S W A I O S T E
C1: waspiest
C2: SOAPIEST (8)
DC: PASTIES (7)
Score: 14–8 (max 23)
But that's much Kuhler
One 8 loses its buzz, or whatever noise a wasp makes. 
Whereas the other 8 is just sud-per. 
Round 4: I A I E N R L D T
C1: TRAINED (7)
C2: TRAINED (7)
DC: INTERLAID (18)
Score: 21–15 (max 41)
DC get into their stride with the darrenic 9.
Round 5: 75, 3, 2, 8, 6, 5. Target: 391.
C1: 391. ((75 + 2) x 5) + 6 (10)
C2: 391. (5 x 75) + (2 x 8) (10)
Score: 31–25 (max 51)
John talks about his time as host of Going For Gold, and how he and his actor brother, David's, jobs are completely different.
Teatime teaser: BERYLRUM -> MULBERRY
Round 6: U A E S N L X L T
C1: SULLEN (6)
C2: LEANS (5)
DC: ELUANTS (7)
OT: LUNATES (7) LUXATES (7)
Score: 37–25 (max 58)
A LUNATE is an archaeological term for a small stone artifact, probably an arrowhead, with a blunt straight edge and a sharpened, crescent-shaped back, especially characteristic of the Mesolithic Period.
LUXATES means to dislocate.
Round 7: C M P O E O S D N
C1: COMPOSED (8)
C2: COMPOSED (8)
Score: 45–33 (max 66)
That 8 wasn't the most difficult word to find in there was it
Thank god the next vowel wasn't an E, or Peter might have wanted to hang himself. 
Round 8: I A E T P W S T N
C1: PANTIES (7)
C2: PANTIES (7)
DC: PATIENTS (8)
OT: TAWNIEST (8)
Score: 52–40 (max 74)
Clearly the audience find PANTIES amusing, maybe they should be PATIENTS of Dr. Phil Hammond's.
Round 9: V B D E I O S G M
C1: VIDEOS (6)
C2: BODIES (6)
DC: EGOISM (6)
OT: BODGIES (7)
Score: 58–46 (max 81)
Susie's Origin Of Words talks of the origin of the words "beard", "bizarre" and "bigot".
Round 10: 9, 3, 4, 2, 3, 5. Target: 522.
C1: -
C2: 536.
RR: 522. ((5 x 3 x 4) - 2) x 9 (10)
Score: 58–46 (max 91)
An easy 6 small there. If you know your 9 times table that is. Luckily the Countdown contains a mathematical genius, who knows such things. Unfortunately, neither contestant seems to know their 9 times table, so the scores remain the same.
Teatime teaser: TONICGAS -> AGNOSTIC
Round 11: H N P U U I C A N
C1: UNCHAIN (7)
C2: UNCHAIN (7)
DC: PAUNCH (6)
Score: 65–53 (max 98)
A brilliant darren by the contestants, which even beats DC.
Round 12: E I A D R Y C T Q
C1: CREDIT (6)
C2: DIETARY (7)
OT: EDACITY (7)
Score: 65–60 (max 105)
Brian manages to get a brilliant 7 which again bypasses DC.
EDACITY comes from EDACIOUS, which means characterised by voracity.
Round 13: J R L U E O M R B
C1: jumbler
C2: jumbler
DC: RUMBLER (7)
Score: 65–60 (max 112)
Oops, both contestants blob with their 7, whereas DC get the similar sounding darren.
Round 14: 10, 9, 8, 4, 7, 4. Target: 605.
C1: 596. Mistake in working.
C2: 609. Mistake in working.
RR: 605. (((8 x 7) + 4) x 10) + (9 - 4) (10)
Score: 65–60 (max 122)
Brian decides to go 6 small again, and it looks like he might take the lead, but he has misdeclared, by what looks like quite a bit, but even Peter's declaration is wrong too, but yet again, Rachel is on hand to bail them out. So, the conundrum is crucial.....
Round 15: I T C H Y P A L M
No one buzzes. The answer was LYMPHATIC.
Score: 65–60 (max 132)
Dear oh dear. That was a stinker of a conundrum, but amazingly, despite not scoring in the last 4 rounds, Peter has won his 5th show, by a small margin. He's now firmly in the top 8, but I would think he'll definitely have to become an octochamp to guarantee his place in the finals.
Join Mike tomorrow (and it might actually be tomorrow!) for the next exciting installment of Series 62.
Till next week from me, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Peter:
Total score - 65
Raw score - 71
Total % of max - 49
Raw % of max - 54
Total average score per round - 4.3
Raw average score per round - 4.7
Number of maxes - 4
Brian:
Total score - 60
Raw score - 72
Total % of max - 45
Raw % of max - 55
Total average score per round - 4.0
Raw average score per round - 4.8
Number of maxes - 5
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=62
