c4countdown

The weekend is about to arrive, but hopefully before it starts, we'll be treated to another Monaghan masterclass. Two 11-max games and 213 points is pretty impressive after 2 shows.

Can he keep it up for another 6

Mike will be along with the recap next week, probably.

17th of September is 9 days after my birthday

Susie seemed to be caught by surprise there. I think she was expecting Eoin to declare pentanes.

Was shocked that Eoin missed NEUROPIL/PURLOINER but he's playing fantastically again. The shuffler needs to do a better job as the consonants are sticking together again, TONNEAU and PENTANE ring bells.

Also, and this time it's not the shuffler's fault, check out round 4 here - exactly the same as one of today's rounds. I love selections like that where I knew I had both maxes and there was no better.

It's been a while since such explicit references were made to pre-match "oh shit this kid is absolutely going to nail me"-ness.

Well played again, Eoin. Jeff asked how often you practice which was a perfect opportunity to spread the love of apterous but you only claimed to watch it as and when, perhaps on channel4+1 lol - you little liar.

Also, ASSIGNER (or REASSIGN as Susie said) can be learnt from this awesome list.

NEMESIAS as a beater in that last round (MEANIES = NEMESIA).

Well played once again - and good to see you get the conundrum today. I felt sorry for the challenger

Matt Morrison wrote:this kid is absolutely going to nail me

Pre-watershed action

That's the second time I've seen that Eoin has missed the chance to have EIRE spelt out as the first four letters of a round.

TARSIERS in round 4.

1st Numbers Alt.: (9 x 75) - (6 x 10) - 7 = 608

Thought you were just being economical with the truth when you said you play whenever you can, but then you went and bloodied lied.

Hugh Binnie wrote:Thought you were just being economical with the truth when you said you play whenever you can, but then you went and bloodied lied.

This sounds amusing - could you elaborate?

Eoin Monaghan

Just caught up with this one. Great show again, nice words in there too but like Kirk I was a little surprised at you missing PURLOINER especially when you can spot fricking ANORTHITE! It probably only jumped out to me though since I missed PURLOINED on one of my shows and have never forgot it since. Thought it was funny at the end when Jeff asks how much you played and you just blatantly lied. Surely Jeff is aware of apterous, right?

Well done though Eoin, awesome again. Oh and just to be typical of a spoilers thread...you could have had ELICIT for 6 in like the 2nd round (although that didn't beat DC's FICTILE). ALso POM BEARS were in one of the rounds (the one you declared PROSOMA in).

Thanks again for the great comments guys, appreciate them all. Wasn't too annoyed at missing PURLOINER, more annoyed at missing NEUROPIL as it was on my list. Still, glad to get another win and this was the last show filmed that day so wanted to go back to the hotel knowing I'd be coming back the next day.

Apterous comments Eoin? Think everyone is interested.

Matt Morrison wrote:Apterous comments Eoin? Think everyone is interested.

The only reason I didn't mention Apterous was because if any of my friends or family had have been watching (indeed the whole school is!) I wouldn't want them to know that I spend my time playing Countdown on the computer, which I would have been embarrassed by. I know you probably think that's weird but I guess that's just me.

Eoin Monaghan wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:Apterous comments Eoin? Think everyone is interested.

The only reason I didn't mention Apterous was because if any of my friends or family had have been watching (indeed the whole school is!) I wouldn't want them to know that I spend my time playing Countdown on the computer, which I would have been embarrassed by. I know you probably think that's weird but I guess that's just me.

I'm going to link them. And I've quoted you already so there ain't noffink you can do about it.

Eoin Monaghan wrote: The only reason I didn't mention Apterous was because if any of my friends or family had have been watching (indeed the whole school is!) I wouldn't want them to know that I spend my time playing Countdown on the computer, which I would have been embarrassed by. I know you probably think that's weird but I guess that's just me.

Hehe fair enough I suppose. Now I've got older a bit I don't mind admitting stuff that makes me different, e.g. trains etc. If they don't like it it's their problem, not mine

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Eoin Monaghan wrote: The only reason I didn't mention Apterous was because if any of my friends or family had have been watching (indeed the whole school is!) I wouldn't want them to know that I spend my time playing Countdown on the computer, which I would have been embarrassed by. I know you probably think that's weird but I guess that's just me.

Hehe fair enough I suppose. Now I've got older a bit I don't mind admitting stuff that makes me different, e.g. trains etc. If they don't like it it's their problem, not mine

It's harder when you're a kid because of all the peer pressure. When I was in secondary school I got laughed at because I liked Scrabble and other wordy stuff, but who's laughing now?

From my experience: I knew the school would know quite quickly so I didn't try to keep my appearance a secret. However, I probably shouldn't have told them as early as I did because I got a lot of pestering as to whether I won or not. When I went on and they realised I was quite good, they asked the inevitable questions 'Do you read the dictionary?' and thought saying I practised online playing other people, some of whom were/are octochamps, sounded cooler. Also, I got a lot of Rachel-related banter between my initial appearances and the finals. I even showed them the abuse I received on DigitalSpy and some Youtuber who had a go at me for not saying Consonant correctly, which they found hilarious! However, when I am with friends and I meet their friends (male and female), they always tell them that I won Countdown, which I'm not exactly sure is the right impression to give when meeting a teenager for the first time. However, they usually seem to be at least interested by it, which is quite cool, but I haven't yet benefited from the Burgin effect.

BOAST Also, partly because of me, the school managed to get John Inverdale, DC guest for my quarter-final, to do the prize-giving last Thursday. BOAST

Eoin Monaghan wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:Apterous comments Eoin? Think everyone is interested.

The only reason I didn't mention Apterous was because if any of my friends or family had have been watching (indeed the whole school is!) I wouldn't want them to know that I spend my time playing Countdown on the computer, which I would have been embarrassed by. I know you probably think that's weird but I guess that's just me.

I wouldn't worry, I was 22 before I realised that I didn't need to be embarrassed by my interests. It's 2010 dude, every teenager spends half their life in front of a computer and most of them aren't doing anything as interesting as solving anagrams.

Everyone in school has been really interested in it but the embarrassing question is what you win, which I just play down. I'm not the type of person who likes being the centre of attention and so only let people find out for themselves. Which everyone seems to have done, with help from mum.
The Rachel bit helps too.

Oliver Garner wrote: BOAST Also, partly because of me, the school managed to get John Inverdale, DC guest for my quarter-final, to do the prize-giving last Thursday. BOAST

That's really cool. John Inverdale is great. I think the only famous person we ever had at our school was Ray Mears to open the library and that was before he even had his own TV programme.

I can totally understand not wanting to play up the Countdown nerd thing at school, Eoin. I never felt embarrassed or worried about being seen as a nerd but I'd probably have been the same at your age because, like Chris said, there's so much pressure to be "normal" and "cool", where being called a geek or whatever is a massive deal. I don't think you need to worry too much about that: as people have said you've come across great so far, and I remember seeing from Ollie's Facebook most people just think it's super awesome and cool that they know someone who's on TV.

I went on when I was in my first year of college, which is quite a bit different from school. I'm massively introverted so found the attention and questions kind of uncomfortable and tried to just not make too much of it. But having said that, I found the support and how much people cared, both on the forum and in real life, really heartening and one of the best things about the whole experience. Enjoy your new found fame Eoin!

Also I think I told some people about apterous and a couple of friends found this forum and said it was "really weird" and "made the WoW forums look normal". So there you go!

PS - WTF is up with your avatar Ollie? Is it meant to be Jens Lehman with a lemon head? I don't know why but it really annoys me. Especially the chin. And the lump on his head

James Robinson wrote:Mike will be along with the recap next week, probably.

Oi, watch it, Robinson!

Mike Brown wrote:

James Robinson wrote:Mike will be along with the recap next week, probably.

Oi, watch it, Robinson!

I actually define Sunday as the start of the week, so you actually did do your recap the following week.

James Robinson wrote:I actually define Sunday as the start of the week, so you actually did do your recap the following week.

So do I, but I'll still have less of your cheek, young man!