Monday 25th October 2010 (Series 63, Prelim 76)

[Ryan Taylor]

Hopefully the dust has settled after the record breaking Jack Hurst vacated his chair on Friday and you are all ready for normality back on Countdown (none of these weird freaky teenage nerds).

Countdown recap for Monday 25 October 2010.

C1: Challenger Jane Bates.
C2: Challenger Claire Casey.
DC: Susie Dent and Rory McGrath.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: I E A S R G T E F
R02: Z O D I O S N H A
R03: P A R U N Y N I W
R04: T M C E E U G T S
R05: 50, 2, 2, 7, 6, 4. Target: 220.
TTT: THECARDS - "Stiff shirts are on the cards if you've done this"
R06: V L N E I U D R O
R07: I E O L D S N E K
R08: R M L H I U O X E
R09: T A E S C U N R D
R10: 75, 10, 3, 4, 2, 5. Target: 558.
TTT: TILTTOES - "You'll need to tilt your toes with this heel"
R11: E E A S L P N I J
R12: S T R O E I P B A
R13: N E E M A T Q I M
R14: 50, 5, 9, 3, 6, 2. Target: 101.
R15: S U B M E T R I C (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Jane Bates is an advertising sales manager from Manchester and she is married with 3 children and 2 cats. Miaow. Quite Interestingly, she has appeared on channel 4 before when she actually won that awesome show 'Come Dine With Me'. Her ideal dinner guests would be 3 dead people (Keith Moon, Oliver Reed and Alex Higgins) probably so she could have all the food to herself nom nom nom. If you are reading this Jane...it was a joke and if you aren't then it wasn't.

Claire Casey originally lived in New Jersey in the USA although now lives in Dublin (cue a fucked up accent). She is a community worker and hopes to still be able to touch her toes when she is 80. She should probably hope to actually live to 80 first.

Rory McGrath is back for the third time. The last time he was in DC was for the series 61 finals. He makes a good guest since he is pretty damn knowledgeable about words as well as being funny. At least it comes across that way.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: I E A S R G T E F

C1: greater
C2: FRIGATES (8)
Score: 0–8 (max 8)

Claire is off to a belter finding the darren (which was also available in the singular form in Jack's famous last show).

Round 2: Z O D I O S N H A

C1: HOODS (5)
C2: danish
DC: ZOOIDS (6)
OT: HOODIAS (7)
Score: 5–8 (max 15)

But she slips up by thinking DANISH^ (as in the pastry) wouldn't be capitalised...but it is. Tough luck.

HOODIAS by the way are African herbs.

Round 3: P A R U N Y N I W

C1: RAINY (5)
C2: RUNNY (5)
DC: UNWRAP (6) UNWARY (6)
OT: INWRAP (6) PUNANI (6) PUNANY (6) PYURIA (6) RUNWAY (6)
Score: 10–13 (max 21)

Plenty of 6's including PUNANI but both women fished for 5's only.

Round 4: T M C E E U G T S

C1: MEETS (5)
C2: GUEST (5)
DC: CUTEST (6)
OT: MUSETTE (7) TECTUMS (7)
Score: 15–18 (max 28)

Again back to back 5's aren't pretty whilst Rory comes up with CUTEST only for the solver to pick out MUSETTE (small French bagpipe) and TECTUMS (TECTUM - a region of the brain).

Round 5: 50, 2, 2, 7, 6, 4. Target: 220.

C1: 220. 50*4+7*2+6 (10)
C2: 220. (50+6)*(2+2)-4 (10)
Score: 25–28 (max 38)

The numbers game is simple which means 10 points for Jane and Claire and the gap is just 3 points as we head into Rory's anecdote.

DC Guest Time: Rory talks about the shirt he is wearing (it looks like one of those picnic blankets). Apparently former England cricket captain ripped off the original he had when they were in France. Very homoerotic.

Teatime teaser: THECARDS -> STARCHED

Round 6: V L N E I U D R O

C1: DRIVEN (6)
C2: ROUNDEL (7)
DC: DRIVEL (6)
OT: LOUVRED (7) UNLIVED (7) UNLOVED (7) UNOILED (7)
Score: 25–35 (max 45)

Claire finds the maximum available word (and a nice one at that) to take her lead to 10 points.

Round 7: I E O L D S N E K

C1: LIKENED (7)
C2: KINDLES (7)
DC: KNEIDELS (8)
Score: 32–42 (max 53)

Decent 7's from both ladies only to be trumped by Susie's KNEIDELS which are Matzah balls or dumplings. Knew it would be something Jewish with that funky spelling.

Round 8: R M L H I U O X E

C1: HOLIER (6)
C2: moler
OT: HELIUM (6) HOMIER (6) HUMERI (6) LOURIE (6)
Score: 38–42 (max 59)

A last second spot from Jane brings her to within 4 points of Claire. Susie didn't mention it but MOLER^ is invalid from Claire.

Round 9: T A E S C U N R D

C1: UNDERCAST (18)
C2: UNDERCAST (18)
DC: UNDERACTS (18)
OT: TRANSDUCE (18)
Score: 56–60 (max 77)

They both weren't sure but the risk pulled off as superb spots of a 9 letter word boost the scores dramatically. 2 other available 9's as well!!

Susie's Origins of Words: Susie's theme this week is football. Susie starts with Hartlepool's nickname which I'm sure everyone knew the origin of anyway. Also Darlington are nicknamed the Quakers due to the influence that movement had on the town.

Round 10: 75, 10, 3, 4, 2, 5. Target: 558.

C1: 565. Mistake in working.
C2: -
RR: 558. (10-3)*(75+5)-2 (10)
Score: 56–60 (max 87)

A tough numbers game for the women lets Rachel in with a chance to shine. And shine she does!

Teatime teaser: TILTTOES -> STILETTO

Round 11: E E A S L P N I J

C1: PLANES (6)
C2: SPANIEL (7)
DC: PENALISE (8)
Score: 56–67 (max 95)

Jane offered either PLAINS or PLANES, unclear which but it's pointless anyway since Claire had a 7. DC went one better with the darren.

Round 12: S T R O E I P B A

C1: PASTIER (7)
C2: PROBATE (7)
DC: PROBATES (8)
OT: PASTORIE (8) SEPTORIA (8)
Score: 63–74 (max 103)

Although Claire is 11 points clear she may end up kicking herself for missing the opportunity to pull 19 points ahead by adding the S to PROBATE.

Round 13: N E E M A T Q I M

C1: MATINEE (7)
C2: INMATE (6)
DC: MEANTIME (8)
Score: 70–74 (max 111)

And it proves just that. A lovely spot from Jane who manages to beat Claire and reduce the deficit to just 4 points now. Claire must be pissed off.

Round 14: 50, 5, 9, 3, 6, 2. Target: 101.

C1: 101. 50*2+(6-5) (10)
C2: 101. 2*50+(9-5+3) (10)
Score: 80–84 (max 121)

With CECIL spitting out his lowest possible target it means we are heading to the first crucial conundrum of the week, something I have missed whilst Jack was tearing it up.

Round 15: S U B M E T R I C

No one buzzes. The answer was CRUMBIEST.
Final Score: 80–84 (max 131)

Huge relief for Claire no doubt as the easy conundrum goes unsolved but someone in the audience (everyone) managed to spot it and the person chosen was in fact Jane's son Simon who is (mentioned at the start) a theatre actor. Arguably he had a better day than his momma.

Not a bad game really, very close in terms of ability with both women coming up with decent spots to beat the other but also disappointing in some rounds equally. Managing to spot a 9 on your first show is an indication of decent enough players and all in all a good contest worth watching.

Claire will be back tomorrow but I can't see her surviving too long in the champion's chair, especially if any more apterites are set to appear anytime soon.

Ben "I sleep through alarms" Hunter should be recapping Claire's 2nd game tomorrow, so join him.

As for me...see you next Monday chaps.

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

[Graeme Cole]

A last second spot from Jane brings her to within 4 points of Claire. Susie didn't mention it but MOLER^ is invalid from Claire.

I think her word was MOLAR. Susie did mention that there wasn't an A, but it happened quite quickly.

[James Robinson]

A last second spot from Jane brings her to within 4 points of Claire. Susie didn't mention it but MOLER^ is invalid from Claire.

I think her word was MOLAR. Susie did mention that there wasn't an A, but it happened quite quickly.

Maybe in the studio, but not on the broadcast.

[Graeme Cole]

A last second spot from Jane brings her to within 4 points of Claire. Susie didn't mention it but MOLER^ is invalid from Claire.

I think her word was MOLAR. Susie did mention that there wasn't an A, but it happened quite quickly.

Maybe in the studio, but not on the broadcast.

I've just looked at it again, and you're right, I must have completely imagined it somehow.