Monday 29th November 2010 (Series 63, Prelim 101)

[Ryan Taylor]

Bloody hell it's cold, innit? Something to do with the snow. I had 6 inches last night.

Countdown recap for Monday 29 November 2010.

C1: Champion Greg Hayhurst (2 wins, 177 points.)
C2: Challenger Damian Colton.
DC: Susie Dent and John Suchet.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: Q S H E A U S I L
R02: T R T O A N L E O
R03: F M T A I O E N B
R04: L Z T A U O N L E
R05: 100, 4, 9, 6, 2, 3. Target: 530.
TTT: CADCARER - "A list of starters for the main course"
R06: S T S W U E A I D
R07: H P U E C M I I U
R08: N C N E O D E T I
R09: N G B X O U A O S
R10: 25, 10, 1, 6, 7, 4. Target: 389.
TTT: GERSHWIN - "Wine and gripe water are their favourite drinks"
R11: P K R O A E J R I
R12: M R G E A E P D O
R13: T R R E E O E Y S
R14: 25, 9, 5, 1, 3, 1. Target: 125.
R15: M E A T F L O U R (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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In the champion's chair is apterite Greg Hayhurst although plays under the name Greg Hasthury (see what he did there? Clever. Eh? Eh?). Greg stormed onto the Countdown scene by beating an 7 time champion and then going on to beat Crazy Kate. He is 21 years old and is a personal trainer from Esher, Surrey.

Damian Colton is a year younger than Greg and is from Omagh, County Tyrone. He is studying at Queens University in Belfast doing a BSc in Actuarial Science and Risk Management.

John Suchet is in DC this week and I was due to meet him on Channel 5's revival of Going for Gold but the day I filmed he went swanning off to a wedding.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: Q S H E A U S I L

C1: QUASHES (7)
C2: SQUASH (6)
DC: squealish
OT: LASQUES (7) SQUEALS (7) SHEILAS (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)

A similar selection to one that Greg has already faced in a previous game although he manages a 7 this time round and takes the lead. DC can't find anything more but did think they had a 9 with SQUEALISH^ (sort of like SQUEAMISH).

Round 2: T R T O A N L E O

C1: ROTATE (6)
C2: LATTER (6)
DC: ORTOLAN (7)
RR: TOLERANT (8)
Score: 13–6 (max 15)

It's Rachel Riley (wearing spectacular tights) that spots the darren in this one as both Greg and Damian muster up 6's. Susie pencams ORTOLAN which is a bunting (a bird).

Round 3: F M T A I O E N B

C1: AMBIENT (7)
C2: FAMINE (6)
DC: BOATMEN (7)
OT: AMNIOTE (7)
Score: 20–6 (max 22)

A final S in this round would have given MANIFESTO for 9 but sadly the B spoiled the party. It helped out Greg though because he used it for his 7 to beat Damian and stretch his lead further.

Round 4: L Z T A U O N L E

C1: ZEALOT (6)
C2: TALON (5)
DC: ZONULE (6)
OT: ELUANT (6) LUNATE (6) ETALON (6) LUTEAL (6)
Score: 26–6 (max 28)

Successive maxes from Greg has really put distance between him and his challenger now. Damian might be able to claw it back a bit with the first numbers game approaching.

Round 5: 100, 4, 9, 6, 2, 3. Target: 530.

C1: 530. (9-4)*100+(3+2)*6 (10)
C2: 530. (3+2)*100+4*9-6 (10)
Score: 36–16 (max 38)

Damian manages 10 points but so does Greg and the gap remains 20 points.

DC Guest Time: John Suchet talks about the time he was in South-West France on holiday and was mistaken for Martin Bell.

Teatime teaser: CADCARER -> RACECARD

Round 6: S T S W U E A I D

C1: SAWDUST (7)
C2: WASTED (6)
DC: WAISTED (7)
OT: STUDIES (7)
Score: 43–16 (max 45)

Loving that spot from Greg. Very, very nice! Damian will kick himself though since he could have slipped the I in to turn his 6 into a 7. Chance wasted though [/Meakin].

Round 7: H P U E C M I I U

C1: PUMICE (6)
C2: CHIME (5)
Score: 49–16 (max 51)

Greg spots the darren very late on, not writing it down, but takes the 6 available points leaving Damian even further behind.

Round 8: N C N E O D E T I

C1: INDECENT (8)
C2: TINNED (6)
OT: NEOTENIC (8)
Score: 57–16 (max 59)

Greg maxes out for the fourth time in a row and in my opinion this game is pretty much over as we just pass halfway.

Round 9: N G B X O U A O S

C1: BANGS (5)
C2: BANGS (5)
DC: BONGS (5) BONGOS (6)
OT: GABOONS (7)
Score: 62–21 (max 66)

A yucky looking selection yields a lovely darren and a GABOON is in fact a tree. Leading nicely onto Susie's slot (no smutty comments this time please)...

Susie's Origins of Words: Susie talks to the greenfingered viewers as she delves into the history of some names of plants. BOTANICAL!

Round 10: 25, 10, 1, 6, 7, 4. Target: 389.

C1: 389. Mistake in working.
C2: 390. (6+1+7+25)*10 (7)
JS: 389. (10+6)*25-(7+4) (10)
Score: 62–28 (max 76)

Damian gains a little bit of ground on Greg by capitalising on Greg's mistake. Greg's lead is so large though that it will have little effect on the outcome I feel. Jeff Stelling actually manages to solve this one, then again, it wasn't that difficult!

Teatime teaser: GERSHWIN -> WHINGERS

Round 11: P K R O A E J R I

C1: PARKIER (7)
C2: POKIER (6)
DC: PORKIER (7)
Score: 69–28 (max 83)

Greg spots PARKIER which is what Crazy Kate actually beat Greg with on Friday. I don't want to be seen as a grumbler but I don't like this fact that similar selections come out and similar words have been present all down to the fact that the letters have not been shuffled properly. Especially since Monday's show today would have been filmed as the first one of a new day meaning that the challenger wasn't in the studio to see Greg's previous game. Mini rant over.

Round 12: M R G E A E P D O

C1: ampered
C2: MERGED (6)
DC: MEGAPODE (8)
Score: 69–34 (max 91)

Oh look, again the word AMPERE is there just like it was on last Thursday's show (and Greg spotted it). No luck with trying to stick a D on it though. Lovely spot from DC, never heard that one although I did have an anagram of that. For those that watch Peep Show I had MEGAPEDO^ as quoted in the first episode of the new series.

Round 13: T R R E E O E Y S

C1: RESTORE (7)
C2: ROSTER (6)
DC: EYESORE (7)
OT: STEERER (7)
Score: 76–34 (max 98)

Greg beats Damian for the countless time in a round and makes the score very one-sided.

Round 14: 25, 9, 5, 1, 3, 1. Target: 125.

C1: 125. 5*25 (10)
C2: 125. 5*25 (10)
Score: 86–44 (max 108)

But at least Damian has enough composure to know his 25 times table and to take 10 points.

Round 15: M E A T F L O U R

C1 buzzes on 24 seconds to say FORMULATE which is correct.
Final Score: 96–44 (max 118)

Jesus, that went on a bit. Greg finally solved it though and takes his score to a decent 96.

Damian was no match unfortunately, Greg was quick out the blocks and was all round better at the letters games beating Damian on a lot of occasions and actualy found 11 maxes today which really is good going. Considering Greg beat a 7 time winner in Niall Young, I am confident that Greg can make a late push for the series finals and join Niall in the final 8. Things are going to get exciting...

...but for now that's me done.

Toodle pip!

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

[Matt Morrison]

Rachel Riley (wearing spectacular tights)

seriously? I thought they were gak.

[Ryan Taylor]

Rachel Riley (wearing spectacular tights)

seriously? I thought they were gak.

They were spectacular. I didn't say they looked good. FWIW I thought they were "gak" too.

[Matt Morrison]

Rachel Riley (wearing spectacular tights)

seriously? I thought they were gak.

They were spectacular. I didn't say they looked good. FWIW I thought they were "gak" too.

They reminded me of the sort of 'party tights' you find 12-year-old girls wearing at a 'disco party'. (By 'reminded me' I mean to say that Ryan text me to say this is what they reminded him of.)

[Martin Smith]

I got the conundrum almost straight away, abut struggled with the first teaser - when I came up I was thinking "is that some French word that's come into English", thinking it was pronounced something like ra-ce-sard...

You don't expect a personal trainer to beat an Actuarial student, certainly not by this kind of margin. Maybe I'm just a snob.

[Ryan Taylor]

I got the conundrum almost straight away, abut struggled with the first teaser - when I came up I was thinking "is that some French word that's come into English", thinking it was pronounced something like ra-ce-sard...

You don't expect a personal trainer to beat an Actuarial student, certainly not by this kind of margin. Maybe I'm just a snob.

Matthew Green might have something to say about this.

[Matt Morrison]

I got the conundrum almost straight away, abut struggled with the first teaser - when I came up I was thinking "is that some French word that's come into English", thinking it was pronounced something like ra-ce-sard...

You don't expect a personal trainer to beat an Actuarial student, certainly not by this kind of margin. Maybe I'm just a snob.

Matthew Green might have something to say about this.

Would that something be "Fritzl rape paedo cunt butter"?