Well, I can at least lead you through the first section.
Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 21 October 2010.
C1: Champion Jack Hurst (6 wins, 703 points.) This guy isn't even an octochamp, and he already has legendary status.
He's studying for a mathematics degree at Cambridge University. He's also on the lookout for a girlfriend with a love of curry, and less chest hair than him. 
C2: Challenger Alex Curran. Not the wife of Liverpool F.C. midfielder Steven Gerrard. This Alex (a male) is a student from County Waterford, Ireland. His nickname is Vanilla Owl, because he loves that flavour. He is in his final year studying for a degree in civil engineering. He also enjoys football, reading and writing. He lived in Brazil for 7 months doing environmental work as a volunteer.
DC: Susie Dent and Alistair McGowan.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: N L G U A E U D E
R02: C T S A O G I O N
R03: W S H I E O T L R
R04: N T Y N I A E O S
R05: 100, 2, 2, 8, 9, 3. Target: 513.
TTT: MAILCROP - "Tell everyone you'd walk 500 miles"
R06: R M R U O A Z E S
R07: R T D A E I F S H
R08: N P R L I E U V O
R09: T R N E E I P E O
R10: 75, 10, 8, 9, 5, 3. Target: 653.
TTT: MIMEDHIS - "Mimed his actions to get past opponent"
R11: N W X E I O R M B
R12: K L S G A U E A D
R13: N T R E O A V D E
R14: 50, 6, 9, 10, 4, 3. Target: 405.
R15: U G L Y H I N T S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: N L G U A E U D E
C1: EUGLENA (7)
C2: GLEANED (7)
DC: UNGLUED (7) LEAGUED (7)
OT: LANGUED (7) UNGULED (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 7)
Jack shows off more weird and wonderful words that he must have learnt from some specialist Countdown-related site somewhere. Wish I could find it.
Round 2: C T S A O G I O N
C1: COASTING (8)
C2: SCOOTING (8)
DC: COATINGS (8) AGNOSTIC (8)
OT: COTINGAS (8) OCTAGONS (8)
Score: 15–15 (max 15)
A COTINGA is any of several songbirds constituting the family Cotingidae of chiefly tropical New World regions.
Round 3: W S H I E O T L R
C1: WHISTLER (8)
C2: WHISTLER (8)
DC: SHOWIER (7)
OT: WORTHIES (8)
Score: 23–23 (max 23)
Jack can't seem to shake off Alex at the moment. This looks like it's going to be a brilliant contest.
A WORTHY is a person of eminent worth, merit, or position.
Round 4: N T Y N I A E O S
C1: ENATIONS (8)
C2: INTONES (7)
Score: 31–23 (max 31)
But the darrenic spot gives Jack some daylight at last.
Round 5: 100, 2, 2, 8, 9, 3. Target: 513.
C1: 513. ((8 - 3) x 100) + 9 + 2 + 2 (10)
C2: 511.
Score: 41–23 (max 41)
And that numbers solve gives Jack a 100% start to today's proceedings.
Alistair talks about the time when he did a 20 minute sketch at the 1996 League Managers Association Dinner. He also talks about when he met Prince Edward just after England lost at Euro 2004, when the prince told him that the whole Royal Family secretly saw the Harry Potter film while everyone else watched the England game.
Teatime teaser: MAILCROP -> PROCLAIM
Round 6: R M R U O A Z E S
C1: ROAMERS (7)
C2: ARMOURS (7)
OT: REMORAS (7)
Score: 48–30 (max 48)
Not too many 7's around, but both contestants find 1.
A REMORA is any of several fishes of the family Echeneididae, having on the top of the head a sucking disk by which they can attach themselves to sharks, turtles, ships, and other moving objects.
Round 7: R T D A E I F S H
C1: HARDIEST (8)
C2: SHAFTED (7)
Score: 56–30 (max 56)
Apparently this round was redone after the original selection had a C instead of the R. I wonder why
Round 8: N P R L I E U V O
C1: NEUROPIL (8)
C2: VULPINE (7)
DC: PURLOIN (7)
Score: 64–30 (max 64)
2 darrens in a row and Jack is looking immortal here.
Round 9: T R N E E I P E O
C1: POINTER (7)
C2: ENTER (5)
DC: REPOINT (7) PROTEIN (7) PIONEER (7)
OT: PERENTIE (8)
Score: 71–30 (max 72)
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!! The max game ends after that nonsense 8 evades everyone.
A PERENTIE (or PARENTY) is a large, brown and yellow monitor lizard, Varanus giganteus, native to arid and semiarid regions of Australia.
Susie's Viewers' Question talks about the origin of "hooch".
Round 10: 75, 10, 8, 9, 5, 3. Target: 653.
C1: 653. ((75 - 8) x 10) - (9 + 5 + 3) (10)
C2: 653. (9 x 75) - (3 x 10) + 8 (10)
Score: 81–40 (max 82)
2 very different, but very good solutions here.
Teatime teaser: MIMEDHIS -> SHIMMIED
Round 11: N W X E I O R M B
C1: BROMINE (7)
C2: BROMINE (7)
DC: MIXER (5)
OT: BROWNIE (7)
Score: 88–47 (max 89)
As well as being the female equivalent of Cubs and a nice chocolate cake like thing, a BROWNIE is a tiny, fanciful, good-natured brown elf who secretly helps at night with household chores, and in Australia, it is a bread with currants, baked in a camp oven.
Round 12: K L S G A U E A D
C1: GELADAS (7)
C2: algaes
DC: ADAGES (6)
OT: KLUDGES (7)
Score: 95–47 (max 96)
And Jack has win #7 wrapped up with that 7.
A KLUDGE is a software or hardware configuration that, while inelegant, inefficient, clumsy, or patched together, succeeds in solving a specific problem or performing a particular task.
Round 13: N T R E O A V D E
C1: RENOVATED (18)
C2: RENOVATED (18)
Score: 113–65 (max 114)
And a brilliant 9 by the contestants means that Jack has the chance to break the highest score of the series, which is Daniel Pati's 127.
Round 14: 50, 6, 9, 10, 4, 3. Target: 405.
C1: 405. ((10 - (6 / 3)) x 50) + 9 - 4 (10)
C2: 403.
Score: 123–65 (max 124)
And that numbers solve puts him in pole position to achieve just that.
Round 15: U G L Y H I N T S
C1 buzzes on 0.2 seconds to say UNSIGHTLY which is correct.
Final Score: 133–65 (max 134)
And he doesn't let us or anyone else down. What a remarkable performance by Jack. Just 1 point dropped today, and the new highest score of the series to boot too. His score is also the highest in the show's history with just one nine-letter word in it.
Spare a thought too for Alex, who seemed a like a more than reasonable opponent today and could definitely have given plenty of other challengers a real scare.
And now, tomorrow, history is now very likely to be made. Thanks to the 133 today, Jack needs to win with a score of just 95 points to break the highest octochamp points scoring record, which Andrew Hulme has held for just over 14 months.
I say ONLY 95, but with Jack's lowest score being 112, you would think it is now only an inevitability now. Maybe 950 is not impossible. Just a score of 114 would break the 950 mark.
Mike will be around tomorrow for possibly one of the most anticipated shows for a good while.
Prepare the champagne and party poppers.
I'll be back to probably some kind of normality next week, so until then, bye bye.
P.S. Best of luck, Jack.
Statistics Corner
Jack:
Total score - 133
Raw score - 133
Total % of max - 99
Raw % of max - 99
Total average score per round - 8.9
Raw average score per round - 8.9
Number of maxes - 14
Alex:
Total score - 65
Raw score - 105
Total % of max - 49
Raw % of max - 78
Total average score per round - 4.3
Raw average score per round - 7.0
Number of maxes - 7
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63
