c4countdown

The homestretch is upon us.

CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT: We're in the playoffs. Everyone has a rank in their prelim pool from 1st through 5th. Find the two other people (one other person if you're 5th) who have the same rank as you do and play them. The three prelim winners are playing for 1st/2nd/3rd, the three prelim runners-up are playing for 4th/5th/6th, ad finitum.

FLIGHT A: I really only gave new games to the people who had played their games last week, so if you didn't play your opponent last week, you very likely don't have a "new" game listed for round 6 and should play the scheduled game from week 5 instead. Quite a few people stuck on 4 points out of 5, so this is wide open.

FLIGHT B: James Leroux is the leader in the prelim pool, with Andrew Herbertson a point behind making the playoffs along with. They are playing a best-of-three series for the championship; since James has a record advantage in the prelim pool, that means he is spotted the first game in the series, so only needs to win one game out of two chances.

JUNIOR MINT: One last round. Edward McCullagh and James Robinson are the last two undefeated players, so they are in a de facto final this week.

SPEED DEMON: Whoever is left in your playoff pool you haven't played, you should play.

How appropriate that the first result in is.....

THE JUNIOR MINT FINAL!!!

The challengers are:

Edward "THE NEWRY (k)NOWLEDGEBOX" McCullagh and James "THE MIRFIELD MEGAMIND (gotta beef myself up, somehow )" Robinson

GAME 1: Edward takes an early lead with the darrenic FAUN, a very tricky spot from a horrid bunch. But, I then turn the tables with CUBAGE (which Edward didn't risk). So, I had a 2 point lead going into the final round, and it was all over within 1 second......

As I spot MELTING giving me a 91-79 win.
Edward McCullagh 79-91 James Robinson

GAME 2: All is running smoothly and even a double max game seemed on the cards, however the organiser of the tourney distracts Edward, giving me a 5 point lead ino the conundrum.

Not as easy as MELTING, but I spot ARIDITY, giving me a max game and the Junior Mint title. GET IN!!!!
James Robinson 106-91 Edward McCullagh

At last! I've actually won a title (of some kind ).

I'm gonna celebrate now.

Well played, Edward, and everyone else who I played during this tournament.

I think you will find that I am the NEWRY NOB-JOCKEY

Well played James, think my keyboard is still recovering from trying to whack M, E, L, T, I, N, G in during the first game but you were far too good in the second.

My self and Martyn finally got to play or games from week 5.

Martyn Simpson 74-65 Mark James. (http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=381959)
Martyn Simpson 74-96 Mark James. (http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=381949)
Martyn Simpson 78-73 Mark James. (http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=381939)

Result from the Junior Mint

Marcus Hares 2 - 0 Jim Bentley

Marcus 103 - 75 Jim http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=382324
Marcus 98 - 72 Jim http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=382335

Cheers Jim

Main Event Flight A:

Chris Hare 103 - 102 Jim Bentley
Jim Bentley 96 - 103 Chris Hare

Two really good, close games there, either one could have gone either way (except both went the same way, of course) and despite losing, definitely the best I've played in the whole tournament, so I'm pretty happy with that. Cheers to Chris for two excellently enjoyable games.

Main Event - Playoff

Eoin Monaghan - 2 - 1 Ben Wilson

Me - 83 - 87 - Ben

This was a very topsy-turvy game, with the lead changing hands a few times. Ben got a nice spot with NICKNAME and then nabbed me at the conundrum.

Me - 93 - 88 - Ben

Again, this was a very close game but I gained the lead with a numbers game (with the target 821) and PLEURON, two rounds connected to my appearances. Ben again got the conundrum.

Me - 91 - 82 - Ben

Again, this decider was very topsy-turvy, ok there wasn't too many maxes, but it was very close and I finally got the conundrum when it most mattered - SINGLETON.

Three very close games, well played Ben and thanks.

Edward McCullagh beat Dinos Sfyris 84-82 in a Speed 15

Another nailbiting game between us!

Speed Demon Ben Wilson 89 - 109 Dinos Sfyris

Here's the game http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=382394

Champ Flight 7th/8th/9th play-off

Adam Gillard 1 - 2 Dinos Sfyris.

Some nice words and numbers early on in game 1 saw me 75-35 up and it looked like a sound thrashing was on the cards. Then I missed a retardedly easy 9. Like one of the nines you learn when you learn RELATIONS and ORDINATES. Lookily I could easily afford it! In game 2 I missed a slightly less easy 9 and then Adam hammered home KORHAAN to compound the victory. No complaints there. Game 3 was pretty standard and went down to a 10 point difference at the conundrum. Luckily I avoided the double crucial against the *SPOILERS* current TV champ who hasn't missed one yet. Cheers Adam

Game 1: Adam Gillard 86 - 111 Dinos Sfyris
Game 2: Dinos Sfyris 101 - 116 Adam Gillard
Game 3: Adam Gillard 78 - 98 Dinos Sfyris

Speedy demonising- Garner 80-100 Wilson

Me getting an early niner and sitting on that lead so hard it practically gave me piles.

Result from the Speed Demon

Marcus Hares 97 - 85 Matt Morrison

http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=382547

Cheers Matt, great game but annoyingly difficult conundrum at the end

Almost forgot to post this. Champ flight 7th/8th/9th play-off

Marcus Hares 2 - 0 Dinos Sfyris

Marcus is definitely proving to be my latest Apterous nemesis. The last 4 or 5 times I've played him he's dished out some absolute pastings, and this time was no exception.

Game 1: Dinos 74 - 120 Marcus

Solid form from Marcus all the way through here. I got struck by crippling easy 9 syndrome leaving me very much up the creek without a paddle.

Game 2: Marcus 103 - 80 Dinos

More great stuff from Marcus left me struggling to keep up. At least I managed to beat him on a couple of rounds this time, but it seems I couldn't shake that darned easy 9 syndrome and so I had no chance. Luckily the missed 9 didn't prove to be the deciding factor as the conundrum was a stinker. Well played Marcus. Get on the show already

Main Even - Playoff:

Eoin Monaghan - 2 - 0 - Kirk Bevins

Me - 75 - 71 - Kirk
Me - 93 - 88 - Kirk

Kirk was a bit off form here, but the games were still very close. Thanks for playing.

I have never seen a 6-person round-robin devolve into a 4-way tie before. Come on Innis/Scott, you can do it!

Championship Flight play-off: Oliver Garner 2-1 Innis Carson

Innis 109-101 Oliver
Oliver 105-99 Innis
Oliver 119-117 Innis

Great match, with every game going down to the conundrum. Well played Oli.

Main Championship Event Whatchamacallit result: Adam Gillard 2-0 Marcus Hares

Adam Gillard 68 - 63 Marcus Hares

I strolled into a 13-point lead after 2 rounds with SHOFAR (Jewish-y word) and DUPATTA (what I meant when I said bopata*, according to Innis anyway). By the end of R6 it had flip-flopped to 25-13 in Marcus' favour, after he spotted DIAMINE and I spotted x*, x* and x*. SUASIVE from me (in a 5-vowel round) followed by another couple of x*s meant that Marcus had a lead of 19 after 11 rounds. I spotted PRONAOI, and having decided that vowels were the future, TOLUENE in another 5-vowel pick from me. I spotted the crucial HEXAMETER to steal victory in this low-scoring but quite entertaining game.

Marcus Hares 88 - 90 Adam Gillard

A mess of vowels this time after my exploits in the previous game. Neither of us were setting the world alight; one decent numbers solve from me got me back in it and ultimately it came down to the crucial SALARYMAN and I nicked another win.

Thanks for the games Marcus; always a pleasure.

Andrew Feist wrote:I have never seen a 6-person round-robin devolve into a 4-way tie before. Come on Innis/Scott, you can do it!

I think points difference should come into the equation

Speed Demon:

Innis Carson 97-86 Scott Gillies

Speed Demon - Playoff

Me - 111 - 57 - Dan

I was pleased here with another 14 max game, thanks for playing Dan.

Flight B play off

Andrew Herbertson 82-71 James leroux http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=383376

Andrew Herbertson 82-80 James Leroux http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=383387

Junior Mint:

V close match here as we were both pushing for a top ten finish:

Thomas Cappleman 88 - 93 Ian Volante
Ian Volante 90 - 100 Thomas Cappleman
Thomas Cappleman 100 - 104 Ian Volante

Still not got a max in this format though!

Junior Mint:

Dan Seasmith 1 - 2 Chris Hare (114-100, 84-89, 87-108)

Despite my arithmetic failings, and Dan setting a PB in the first game, I somehow scraped this one. Thanks for the games, Dan.

Main Event - Championship Flight - 1st, 2nd and 3rd place play-off

Having beaten Innis on Wednesday night, all I had to do to win the tournament was beat Edward. However, Ed had already put a dent in my chances of winning the Speed Demon competition, so I knew I was in for a tough series of games.

Oliver Garner 111 - 104 Edward McCullagh
Ed was a tad unlucky when EVENTED^ was disallowed and not risking CARDIACS. Relieved to choose the right one out of RESPOILED^, SPOILERED^ and DESPOILER after Ed edged ahead with a neat solution on the last numbers.

Edward McCullagh 113 - 110 Oliver Garner
I was on a max game before Ed comfortably beat me to the conundrum, nicking it from me at the death. It was a nice game for both of us, with 6 darrens each. My negative picking in round 12 kinda spoilt it a bit as I convinced myself that NSAITGOL + vowel didn't make anything, when in fact it goes with 3 vowels to make 4 nines.

After failing to get the win I needed to win the Speed Demon tournament against Ben, I was feeling a sense of déjà vu. Was I going to fall short again?

Oliver Garner 114 - 92 Edward McCullagh
I managed to get into an 18-point through Ed's disallowed words and I could smell the title. However, Ed hit back with UROPOD, reducing the arrears to 12. This set up a tense last numbers game. We both were 2 away so my 12 point lead became unassailable. However, I thought 146*4 was 586 rather than 584. Therefore, when I got to 147*4, instead of being 4 away like I thought, I was actually 2 away, and had the 2 left over. Oh well, at least it didn't cost me the game!

This is my first ever unofficial tournament victory so I am very

I haven't been able to find James Doohan or Tom Chafer-Cook yet.

Flight A:

Lesley Hines 93 - 73 Ian Volante
Ian Volante 107 - 89 Lesley Hines
Lesley Hines 73 - 93 Ian Volante

In other news, I've heard nowt from James Doohan or Tom Chafer-Cook, even after messaging them.

Speed:

Lesley Hines 68 - 72 Matthew Tassier

Enjoyable game, could easily have gone either way.

Speed:

Tom Rowell 73 - 66 Matthew Tassier
Once Tom got ahead I could never quite catch up.

Forgot to post these... In flight A
Matthew Tassier 86 - 106 Lloyd Pettet
Lloyd Pettet 90 - 102 Matthew Tassier
Matthew Tassier 70 - 99 Lloyd Pettet

Awesome set of games thanks MAtthew

In the Speed
Chris Hare 70 - 83 Lloyd Pettet

Ian Volante wrote:Flight A:

Lesley Hines 93 - 73 Ian Volante
Ian Volante 107 - 89 Lesley Hines
Lesley Hines 73 - 93 Ian Volante

In other news, I've heard nowt from James Doohan or Tom Chafer-Cook, even after messaging them.

Heh good games these Ian. I've only just noticed the scores for the first and last games were the same but opposites, IYKWIM. Coincidence?*

*Yes, completely

Flight A Results
Edwin Mead 56 - 52 Matt Morrison
Edwin Mead 70 - 73 Matt Morrison
Edwin Mead 95 - 53 Matt Morrison

Main Tournament - Championship Flight

Innis Carson 2-0 Me

Innis Carson 122 - 104 Edward McCullagh

Edward McCullagh 98 - 109 Innis Carson

Innis was just too good for me. I wish I knew why I was playing so rubbish these days

Thanks for the games Innis and Oliver.

Speed Demon

Kirk Bevins 119 - 105 James Robinson

Very close game, but very high standard too.

Flight A:

Kai Laddiman 92 - 93 Tom Chafer-Cook
Kai Laddiman 123 - 49 Tom Chafer-Cook
Kai Laddiman 100 - 82 Tom Chafer-Cook

Thanks for the games.

I was told to play Ben..not sure what in though as I hardly check here any more.

Results:

Kirk Bevins 117 - 91 Ben Wilson
Ben Wilson 100 - 103 Kirk Bevins

Can we have a final table of who finished where in each tournament please?

Ben Wilson wrote:Can we have a final table of who finished where in each tournament please?

I'm currently in the middle of a long winter's nap. But I expect to be able to get that done when I wake up (roughly Thursday).

Speed result:

Tom Chafer-Cook 77 - 52 Ian Volante

Okay I actually did have this done on Thursday, except for the speed. Based on all the games I found, you should see the final rankings somewhere on the website. If you know of a game that I don't, you should let me know.