Monday 18th October 2010 (Series 63, Prelim 71)

[Ryan Taylor]

Countdown recap for Monday 18 October 2010.

C1: Champion Jack Hurst (3 wins, 346 points.)
C2: Challenger Charlie Clarke.
DC: Susie Dent and Alistair McGowan.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: N P W U I E S T O
R02: R C A U T Q E P I
R03: A E A G T R D I W
R04: S O A L T U G T E
R05: 25, 9, 8, 5, 7, 6. Target: 122.
TTT: NICESAGE - "It's their business to take care of yours"
R06: A N X M O I A S I
R07: D N G E O A S O P
R08: I E T D L F O R E
R09: T L S O E I M E F
R10: 100, 25, 1, 7, 9, 8. Target: 261.
TTT: LADSPOKE - "The lad spoke in normal English according to George"
R11: C T D S E I E I N
R12: A I C D R E U H S
R13: Z N K R A E A V L
R14: 50, 9, 10, 7, 5, 8. Target: 282.
R15: S P O R T J A C K (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Jack Hurst is not your typical guy. But he is quite good at the game of Countdown and is averaging a whopping 115 points per show at the moment. This skill for letters and numbers is earning him lots of attention from the ladies of the UK and even better, the ladies from Leicester where he is from. Ker-ching. He is thankfully sporting a new hairdo today after looking extremely scruffy in his last 3 games.

Charlie Clarke is against Jack today hoping to knock him down a peg or two. He is a Customer Services Representative from Cork in Ireland where he lives with Ursula. His son is none other than Billy Clarke who currently plays for Blackpool (no, I haven't heard of him either). No prizes for guessing who Damian will be supporting today.

Alistair McGowan is a Countdown virgin and a very funny man. Should be a good week of anecdotes methinks.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: N P W U I E S T O

C1: PUNIEST (7)
C2: WIPEOUTS (8)
DC: SUPINE (6)
Score: 0–8 (max 8)

The Irishman takes maximum points from an impressive opening round to leave Jack a little shocked.

Round 2: R C A U T Q E P I

C1: PRATIQUE (8)
C2: ACQUIRE (7)
DC: PARQUET (7) QUARTIC (7) PICTURE (7)
Score: 8–8 (max 16)

Jack bites right back with this lovely darrenic 8 which means permission given to a ship to use a port.

Round 3: A E A G T R D I W

C1: TRIAGED (7)
C2: AWAITED (7)
DC: GRADATE (7) RADIATE (7) AIRDATE (7)
Score: 15–15 (max 23)

Jack and Charlie have no trouble finding a 7 amongst this lot and DC clean things up by finding the other 3.

Round 4: S O A L T U G T E

C1: OUTLAST (7)
C2: OUTLETS (7)
DC: GLOATS (6)
OT: GESTALT (7) LEGATOS (7) OUTAGES (7) TAUTOGS (7)
Score: 22–22 (max 30)

Same old story here again whilst newbie Alistair McGowan ironically gets GLOATS.

Round 5: 25, 9, 8, 5, 7, 6. Target: 122.

C1: 122. 5*25-(9-6) (10)
C2: 122. 5*25-(9-6) (10)
Score: 32–32 (max 40)

A very low target means Charlie is doing the unthinkable and keeping with Jack as we go into Alistair's Anecdote.

DC Guest Time: Alistair does his Jeff Stelling impression with lots of football quips in the routine. Pretty funny and well thought out.

Teatime teaser: NICESAGE -> AGENCIES

Round 6: A N X M O I A S I

C1: ANOSMIA (7)
C2: AXIOMS (6)
Score: 39–32 (max 47)

Jack immediately pulls away after the break with a 7 which he is unsure about. ANOSMIA isn't too uncommon a word really, it pretty much means you can't smell. My nanna is anosmic and grandad is deaf. True fact.

Round 7: D N G E O A S O P

C1: DAPSONE (7)
C2: SPONGED (7)
OT: DOGNAPS (7) GOONDAS (7) SNOOPED (7) SPOONED (7)
Score: 46–39 (max 54)

Ah DAPSONE. This is often a word used by Jack to take the piss out of my accent so no surprises he spotted it with ease here. Charlie has a 7 too and is still within 10 points of Jack. No signs of crumbling...just yet.

Round 8: I E T D L F O R E

C1: DOLERITE (8)
C2: TRIFLED (7)
DC: TREFOILED (18)
Score: 54–39 (max 72)

A splendid 8 takes the points and the lead is now up to 15. Jack didn't risk TREFOILED which DC had spotted. If Jack was against a slightly lesser opponent then he may have gone for the 9 in this case, so credit to Charlie for applying enough pressure to make Jack think calculatedly.

Round 9: T L S O E I M E F

C1: ESTOILE (7)
C2: FLEETS (6)
DC: FILMSET (7)
OT: LEFTISM (7) FOMITES (7) LEFTIES (7)
Score: 61–39 (max 79)

Another awesome word from Jack and pronunciation too means the gap is increased again and Charlie's WIPEOUTS at the start is beginning to be a distant memory.

Susie's Origins of Words: A viewer wrote in asking the origin of D-Day and what the D meant. The guy clearly hadn't heard of Google. Susie also tells us that D-Day that we commemmorate was actually planned for the 5th June 1944.

Round 10: 100, 25, 1, 7, 9, 8. Target: 261.

C1: 261. (25-1-9+8)*7+100 (10)
C2: -
Score: 71–39 (max 89)

This confirms Jack's domination of the second half. An excellent solution to a slightly tricky numbers game means there is hardly any doubt of who is winning this one today.

Teatime teaser: LADSPOKE -> OLDSPEAK

Round 11: C T D S E I E I N

C1: INDICTEES (18)
C2: INCITED (7)
Score: 89–39 (max 107)

Stunning. Jeff and DC are in awe of Jack's spot here and he knew roughly what it meant to (someone accused of wrongdoing in law). Charlie had a pretty decent 7 but Jack has well and truly put this game to bed.

Round 12: A I C D R E U H S

C1: RACHIDES (8)
C2: CRUSHED (7)
Score: 97–39 (max 115)

Oh stop it. This is relentless. Jack had no idea how to pronounce this word, I would have pronounced it like Deirdre's surname before she was Barlow in Coronation Street. I'd have looked foolish. Ahh those glasses and that neck?!

Round 13: Z N K R A E A V L

C1: LEARN (5)
C2: RAVEN (5)
DC: RANKLE (6) LANKER (6)
OT: ALKANE (6) LARVAE (6) VERNAL (6)
Score: 102–44 (max 121)

Jack ends on a downer by not going with RANKLE which is clearly a word. Nevermind he's done enough damage to Charlie.

Round 14: 50, 9, 10, 7, 5, 8. Target: 282.

C1: 282. (50+8)*5-(10+7-9) (10)
C2: 284.
Score: 112–44 (max 131)

A bit of a long winded solution to this one and certainly far from a doddle. Charlie can't manage it which leaves Jack to take 10 points and take his total to a very handsome 112 points. TREFOILED doesn't look too bad now.

Round 15: S P O R T J A C K

C1 buzzes on 0.1 second to say JOCKSTRAP which is correct.
Final Score: 122–44 (max 141)

The clock hand literally only moved millimetres. A stupidly fast spot to a conundrum with his name caps a commanding performance, particularly from round 6 onwards. Jack makes a point of saying that Charlie was his best opponent so far and definitely didn't deserve the scoreline to look like that. This basically means that Jack is saying his first 3 opponents were shit. But in all seriousness, Charlie was a good player capable of decent spots in the letters games. His numbers weren't exactly shit hot but Jack did well to take 30 points from the 3 numbers games today.

All in all, pretty much faultless. 12 maxes from Jack (which could have been 14 since he had these maxes written down). His only real miss came in round 1 missing WIPEOUTS and I s'pose it was Monday morning so you can be forgiven for being slow off the start. High quality stuff Jack, sincerely well done jew!

Join me again tomorrow where I have the pleasure of holding your hand and taking you through another Jack Hurst performance. Can he top today's performance? There's only one way to find out...

Night folks!

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63

[Rhys Benjamin]

Great recap (as per se), wish you could recap every day!

(OK, excluding me....)

[Howard Somerset]

Great recap (as per se), wish you could recap every day!

Agreed. Best thing I ever did (well one of the best) was to hand over Monday recaps to you, Ryan.

[Ryan Taylor]

Great recap (as per se), wish you could recap every day!

Agreed. Best thing I ever did (well one of the best) was to hand over Monday recaps to you, Ryan.

You guyyyyyys, you're making me blush.

[Kai Laddiman]

Great recap (as per se), wish you could recap every day!

Agreed. Best thing I ever did (well one of the best) was to hand over Monday recaps to you, Ryan.

You guyyyyyys, you're making me blush.

His recaps suck, he doesn't even use Statistics Corner.

[Ryan Taylor]

His recaps suck, he doesn't even use Statistics Corner.

I'm unconventional.

I did actually use statistics corner a while back until it just basically didn't work on my computer.

[Rhys Benjamin]

Kai, it won't download for some people.

[Kai Laddiman]

Oh yeh, forgot it's only available to full aptomembers. Sorry!

[James Robinson]

Round 2: R C A U T Q E P I

C1: PRATIQUE (8)
C2: ACQUIRE (7)
DC: PARQUET (7) QUARTIC (7)
Score: 8–8 (max 16)

Very good recap as always mate, although Alistair McGowan got PICTURE in this round. I know it was only 7, but as you probably now by now, I am well picky.

[JackHurst]

I know it was only 7, but as you probably now by now, I am well picky.

Possibly a bit too picky in this case James. I understand it when there are serious errors in recaps that need fixing, but I think the only difference in the world that this correction would ever make would be to stop you from getting agitated about the factual inaccuracy.

[Ryan Taylor]

I know it was only 7, but as you probably now by now, I am well picky.

Possibly a bit too picky in this case James. I understand it when there are serious errors in recaps that need fixing, but I think the only difference in the world that this correction would ever make would be to stop you from getting agitated about the factual inaccuracy.

But rightfully he corrected me. Recaps should contain every contestant word and DC so he had a fair point.