Monday 3rd May 2010 (Series 62, Prelim 76)

[Howard Somerset]

Countdown recap for Monday 3 May 2010.

C1: Champion Lee Graham (1 win, 76 points.)
C2: Challenger Nick Singh.
DC: Susie Dent and Kate Humble.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

Lee knocked out six times winner Nicki last Friday in yet another nail-biting finish for Nicki, but this time Nicki was on the losing end. Originating from The Wirral, Lee now lives in Highgate in North London, where he works as a book and magazine editor, specialising in puzzle magazines - sounds like a great job. Much derision was poured on him for his taste in music, but it was all lost on me, as I've never heard of the person, group, orchestra or whatever it was he said he liked.

Hoping that Lee's stay in the champion's chair will be a brief one is Nick, from Bounds Green, also in North London, and only one station from where I spent my entire childhood. Nick is an events facilitator at the Emirates Stadium, but I will try not to let this unfortunate choice of a football team prejudice me against him. Nick does have one redeeming factor though, and that is his work as a match day steward at Lords, a place where I was once a member.

So on with today's game; will it be Lee, with his allegedly poor taste in music, or Nick, with his unfortunate choice of football team?

R01: M B C A U A E S J
R02: T D S I I O C T I
R03: E I U N T V F L I
R04: R O D A S D A I E
R05: 50, 10, 9, 9, 4, 8. Target: 157.
TTT: ACEVISIT - "You won't have an ace visit to the dentist if you've got these."
R06: R S N U E O M R U
R07: P W S R O E P E N
R08: L L T N I E A M X
R09: E O D T W B I O T
R10: 75, 25, 8, 2, 5, 10. Target: 210.
TTT: ICEDCLAY - "A choice food that sounds like it's Indian."
R11: S T R D A O E R F
R12: L R P Q A E O A D
R13: S N H T I E E O Y
R14: 25, 50, 7, 5, 4, 7. Target: 911.
R15: D E B I F R A C K (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: M B C A U A E S J

C1: CAUSE (5)
C2: BEAMS (5)
DC: SUMAC (5)
OT: JAMBEAUS (8)
Score: 5–5 (max 8)

Everyone, even dictionary corner, was three short the max here, a JAMBEAU being an item of leg armour.

Round 2: T D S I I O C T I

C1: IDIOTIC (7)
C2: IDIOTS (6)
Score: 12–5 (max 15)

Lee made good use of the three Is to go into an early lead.

Round 3: E I U N T V F L I

C1: FLUTE (5)
C2: INVITE (6)
DC: UNITIVE (7)
OT: INUTILE (7)
Score: 12–11 (max 22)

... but Nick quickly comes back and is now only one point in arrears.

INUTILE means useless.

Round 4: R O D A S D A I E

C1: RADIOES (7)
C2: SADDER (6)
DC: ROADSIDE (8)
Score: 19–11 (max 30)

Lee seemed quite confident about the inclusion of the E in RADIOES, and Susie was happy to confirm that RADIO can be used as a verb, and hence in that sense the E is appropriate.

Round 5: 50, 10, 9, 9, 4, 8. Target: 157.

C1: 157. 9 x 10 + 50 + 9 + 8 (10)
C2: 157. Mistake in working.
Score: 29–11 (max 40)

Nick had used three 9s in his workings, and so Lee ends part one with a comfortable lead.

In her dictionary corner spot, Kate talked about various family revelations in her recent appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? in particular he grandfather's involvement in the events which inspired the film The Great Escape.

Teatime teaser: ACEVISIT -> CAVITIES

Round 6: R S N U E O M R U

C1: MOURNERS (8)
C2: morons
DC: NUMEROUS (8)
Score: 37–11 (max 48)

Only one O in the selection, so Nick's offering fails.

Round 7: P W S R O E P E N

C1: OPENERS (7)
C2: REPOSE (6)
DC: PREPOSE (7)
OT: PREPONES (8)
Score: 44–11 (max 56)

Nick must be kicking himself for missing OPENERS, as one of his ambitions is to score a century at Lords. But it's looking as though Lee is the one more likely to get a century today.

To PREPONE is to bring something forward, the opposite of POSTPONE.

Round 8: L L T N I E A M X

C1: MENIAL (6)
C2: ENTAIL (6)
DC: AILMENT (7)
OT: ALIMENT (7)
Score: 50–17 (max 63)

ALIMENT is an old word for food.

Round 9: E O D T W B I O T

C1: BOOTED (6)
C2: BOOTED (6)
DC: BOOTIE (6)
OT: BITTED (6) BOODIE (6) DOOBIE (6) TOOTED (6) WITTED (6)
Score: 56–23 (max 69)

Plenty of 6s here, but both contestants chose the same one.

In her Origins of Words spot today, Susie talked about the derivation of the word ACCOLADE. It seems that when the Queen awards someone a knighthood by touching them on the shoulder with a sword, she is performing an action which has been modified somewhat since her forebears used to give them a sharp blow to their ear or neck with their fist. Perhaps the Queen should revert to the older practice; it might be more entertaining.

Round 10: 75, 25, 8, 2, 5, 10. Target: 210.

C1: 210. (75 + 25) x 2 + 10 (10)
C2: 210. (25 - 8 / 2) x 10 (10)
Score: 66–33 (max 79)

So at the end of part two, Nick has quite a bit of catching up to do.

Teatime teaser: ICEDCLAY -> DELICACY

Round 11: S T R D A O E R F

C1: ROADSTER (8)
C2: DRAFTERS (8)
DC: REDRAFTS (8) STARRED (7)
Score: 74–41 (max 87)

Round 12: L R P Q A E O A D

C1: PAROLED (7)
C2: used E twice
DC: LEOPARD (7)
OT: PRELOAD (7)
Score: 81–41 (max 94)

And with that mistake by Nick, the game is safe for Lee with three rounds remaining.

Round 13: S N H T I E E O Y

C1: THINS (5)
C2: x (6) used S twice
DC: HONESTY (7) HISTONE (7)
OT: ETHYNES (7) EYESHOT (7) ISOHYET (7) SYENITE (7)
Score: 86–41 (max 101)

Another error by Nick, the fourth time today he has used a duplicate letter or number.

And a few unusual words available.
An ISOHYET is a line on a map connecting places of equal rainfall.
And SYENITE is a type of rock I hadn't heard of before.

Round 14: 25, 50, 7, 5, 4, 7. Target: 911.

C1: 911. (25 - 7) x 50 + 5 + 4 wrong
C2: 907. Mistake in working.
RR: 911. (25 - 7) x 50 + 7 + 4 (10)
Score: 86–41 (max 111)

Lee was so near with his answer, and realised that he was wrong while giving it, but immediately saw that he should have used the second 7 instead of the 5, but as he'd written it down wrongly too, he wasn't allowed the points.
Nick had made another mistake in his calculation for four away.

Round 15: D E B I F R A C K

C1 buzzes on 2 seconds to say FABRICKED which is incorrect.
C2 buzzes on 21 seconds to say BACKFIRED which is correct.
Score: 86–51 (max 121)

All I could think of here was one of our previous series finalists and a fellow forum member. But both Lee and Nick had a go, and had he been watching, no doubt Des O'Connor would be pleased, as yet again the loser of the game managed to get the conundrum. It's amazing how often that happens.

So Lee confidently claims his second scalp. I wonder how different it would have been had Nick not made so many errors in his declarations. Probably Lee would still have won, but by a much closer margin.

Statistics Corner

Lee:
Total score - 86
Raw score - 91
Total % of max - 71
Raw % of max - 75
Total average score per round - 6
Raw average score per round - 6
Number of maxes - 7

Nick:
Total score - 51
Raw score - 69
Total % of max - 42
Raw % of max - 57
Total average score per round - 3
Raw average score per round - 5
Number of maxes - 4

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=62

[James Robinson]

Lee knocked out six times winner Nicky last Friday in yet another nail-biting finish for Nicky, but this time Nicky was on the losing end. Originating from The Wirral, Nick now lives in Highgate in North London, where he works as a book and magazine editor, specialising in puzzle magazines - sounds like a great job. Much derision was poured on him for his taste in music, but it was all lost on me, as I've never heard of the person, group, orchestra or whatever it was he said he liked.

That's bad form there, Howard, or is it that you don't like the way that Nicki spelt Nicki The 4th mistake is even the wrong person altogether

Round 9: E O D T W B I O T

C1: BOOTED (6)
C2: BOOTED (6)
OT: BITTED (6) BOODIE (6) DOOBIE (6) BOOTIE (6) TOOTED (6) WITTED (6)
Score: 56–23 (max 69)

Plenty of 6s here, but both contestants chose the same one.

I seem to recall DC mentioned that they got BOOTIE on the show. Altered the Wiki.

Round 13: S N H T I E E O Y

C1: THINS (5)
C2: used S twice
DC: HONESTY (7) HISTONE (7)
OT: ETHYNES (7) EYESHOT (7) ISOHYET (7) SYENITE (7)
Score: 86–41 (max 101)

Another error by Nick, the fourth time today he has used a duplicate letter or number.

I also seem to recall that Nick actually declared 6, before saying he'd fluffed it up, so have altered the Wiki from - to misdeclared 6.

[Howard Somerset]

Thanks, James. Good thing that at least one person here is on the ball.

That's bad form there, Howard, or is it that you don't like the way that Nicki spelt Nicki The 4th mistake is even the wrong person altogether

I've had trouble spelling Nicki's name ever since I first saw her recording. For some reason, I had it down as Nikki. And then since I realised it was wrong, I've been overcorrecting.

I seem to recall DC mentioned that they got BOOTIE on the show. Altered the Wiki.

I will happily take your word for this, James.

I also seem to recall that Nick actually declared 6, before saying he'd fluffed it up, so have altered the Wiki from - to misdeclared 6.

I completely agree with you here. Thanks for fixing the Wiki version.