c4countdown

Countdown recap for Friday 11th July 2008


C1: Champion : PATRICIA JAMIESON (4 wins)
C2: challenger : PAT HICKS

DC: Susie Dent and Lynda Baron
CV: Carol Vorderman
OT: Other words or solutions.
DC: Appearing in numbers rounds is my solution.
GS: Generated solution (numbers round)

R01: R W T K O I E T N
R02: R L M A A I D C E
R03: L N N O O U T R O
R04: D S J E U E R S I
R05: 25 6 8 9 4 6. Target: 237.
TTT: NEEDAMIX - "Checked over and given a testing time."
R06: T S P I E O D T I
R07: L S R E E A P P E
R08: Y R L A I A E Q S
R09: D N R D A E O F N
R10: 100 6 10 5 8 1. Target: 362
TTT: LIONFROG - "Knocking over, with a roll of carpet."
R11: S Z M S E A U D R
R12: G N B I A O I M T
R13: H G T I E U N X T
R14: 50 2 9 6 2 1. Target: 941.
R15: T O M C R O O K S (conundrum)

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

R01: R W T K O I E T N
C1: TINKER (6)
C2: WONKIER (7)
DC: KNOTTIER (8), NETWORK (7)
OT: TRITONE (7), WRENTIT (7)
Score: 0-7 (max 8)


R02: R L M A A I D C E
C1: MEDICAL (7)
C2: CAMERA (6)
DC: ADMIRAL (7), DECIMAL (7), ALARMED (7), CARAMEL (7)
OT: CALDERA (7), CAMELID (7), CLAIMER (7), DECLAIM (7), RADICLE (7), RADICAL (7)
Score: 7-7 (max 15)


R03: L N N O O U T R O
C1: LOOT (4)
C2: LOUT (4)
DC: OUTRO (5)
OT: UNROOT (MC, 6), then just 4's.
Score: 11-11 (max 21)


R04: D S J E U E R S I
C1: JURIES (6)
C2: DESIRES (7)
DC: UREIDES (7)
OT: REISSUED (MC, 8), RESIDUES (8), SUDSIER (7), DISEUSE (7)
Score: 11-18 (max 29)


R05: 25 6 8 9 4 6. Target: 237
C1: 237. ( 25 * 9 ) + 6 + 6 (10)
C2: 236. - not explained.
Score: 21-18 (max 39)


NEEDAMIX -> EXAMINED


R06: T S P I E O D T I
C1: DOPIEST (7)
C2: DEPOSIT (7)
DC: TIPTOES (7), SPOTTED (7)
OT: TOPSIDE (7), PIETIST (7)
Score: 28-25 (max 46)


R07: L S R E E A P P E
C1: REPEALS (7)
C2: PEELERS (7)
DC: PLEASER (7), SLAPPER (7)
OT: LEAPERS (7), PEEPERS (7), RAPPELS (7), RELAPSE (7) etc.
Score: 35-32 (max 53)


R08: Y R L A I A E Q S
C1: RELAYS (6)
C2: SALARY (6)
DC: AERIALS (7), SERIAL (6), SLAYER (6), EASILY (6), RELAYS (6)
OT: ARIELS (6), REALIA (6), RIYALS (6), SAILER (6)
Score: 41-38 (max 60)


R09: D N R D A E O F N
C1: FODDER (6)
C2: FEDORA (6)
DC: ADORNED (7), FRONDED (7)
OT: DENDRON (7)*
Score: 47-44 (max 67)


A Dendron (or DENDRITE) is a short branched extension to a nerve cell along which impulses received from other cells at synapses are transmitted to the cell body. Don't you just love it when the definition leaves you not that much better off. I wonder can you have a Row o' da dendrons inside Rhododendrons?


R10: 100 6 10 5 8 1. Target: 362
C1: -x-. nothing declared
C2: 361. ( 10 - 6 ) * 100 - ( 8 * 5 ) + 1
CV: 362. ( 100 - 10 ) * ( 5 - 1 ) - 8 + 6 (10)
GS: 362. ( 100 - 8 ) * ( 5 - 1 ) - 6 (10)
MC: 362, ( 100 - 8 ) * ( 10 - 6 ) -5 - 1 (10)
Score: 47-51 (max 77)


LIONFROG -> FLOORING


R11: S Z M S E A U D R
C1: AMUSES (6)
C2: DRESS (5)
DC: MEDUSAS (7), MASSEUR (7), DREAMS (6)
OT: ASSUMED (7), ASSURED (7), REMUDAS (7)*
Score: 53-51 (max 84)


A REMUDA is a herd of horses that have been saddle broken, from which ranch hands choose their mounts for the day.


R12: G N B I A O I M T
C1: BOATING (7)
C2: BAITING (7)
DC: IMBONGI (7)*
OT: AMBITION (JB, 8)
Score: 60-58 (max 92)


As Jim points out, one plural of IMBONGI is IZIMBONGI, get that on a triple word score and you're sorted out. Pluralising by putting "IZ" in front is a new one on me. I wonder are there any other unusual plurals like this?


R13: H G T I E U N X T
C1: TEXTING (7)
C2: TIGHTEN (7)
DC: GUNITE (6), HUTTING (7)
OT: HEXING (6), TENUTI (6) are the only remaining sixes.
Score: 67-65 (max 99)



R14: 50 2 9 6 2 1. Target: 941
C1: -X- nothing declared (X)
C2: -X- nothing declared (X)
CV: 942. presumably ( 9 * 2 + 1 ) * 50 - 6 - 2 (7)
MC: 941. 9 * 2 * ( 50 + 2 ) + 6 - 1 (10)
Score: 67-65 (max 109)

R15: CRUCIAL CONUNDRUM

:::: T O M C R O O K S

..

..

C1 buzzes in after 6 seconds but doesn't declare anything.

C2 extracts the answer from storage on 14 seconds, STOCKROOM is the correct answer.


Final Score: 67-75 (max 119)

-------------------------------

Further summaries are at:
http://www.sooreams.com/cd/series.asp?series=59

I really liked this game, more so than the average. Good quality contestants and a battle all the way. A reasonably lively set of letters, the odd difficult maximum and a crucial conundrum on the end.

On the buzz of 6 seconds it looked all over, but no, the champion falls.

Great stuff.

DC

DaveC wrote: Pluralising by putting "IZ" in front is a new one on me. I wonder are there any other unusual plurals like this?

Ones I can think of: (I'm not 100% sure of these, haven't checked them) ABATAGATI I believe is the plural of TAGATI, LISENTE the plural of SENTE, MALOTI the plural of LOTI, MAKUTA the plural of LIKUTA (or maybe the other way round?). I think those come from African languages... agree it's intriguing, not just from a "lexonerd" point of view but from a linguistic one as well...

A few others I've come across - AREG (plural of ERG - desert, not work) and EMALANGENI (from LILANGENI). Chambers also has AFLAJ (from FALAJ) - useful in Scrabble, but they're not in NODE.

Julian Fell wrote:

DaveC wrote: Pluralising by putting "IZ" in front is a new one on me. I wonder are there any other unusual plurals like this?

Ones
I can think of: (I'm not 100% sure of these, haven't checked them)
ABATAGATI I believe is the plural of TAGATI, LISENTE the plural of
SENTE, MALOTI the plural of LOTI, MAKUTA the plural of LIKUTA (or maybe
the other way round?). I think those come from African languages...
agree it's intriguing, not just from a "lexonerd" point of view but
from a linguistic one as well...

Julian, I've come to expect this sort of thing from you, but I'm still astonished that you know all this exotic trivia. The only strange plural I can think of is EPHEMERIS -> EPHEMERIDES but it's a bit lame compared to the above.

This did get me thinking about how loanwords inherit the grammatical rules of English. Most languages have different rules for forming plurals, altering the tense of verbs and so on; if the word is obscure I think the rules of the native language tend to be preserved in the ODE, for more common words English grammar takes over. In Japanese for example, most words have the same plural and singular form (like SHEEP). So allowing something like TEMPURAS (I think it's a mass noun in ODE but would probably be allowed under the foodstuff rule) might not be strictly correct as I'm pretty sure a Japanese would just say TEMPURA, perhaps with a slight variation in tone or inflection to indicate use of the plural. OTOH disallowing something like NINJAS just seems wrong even though it wouldn't make such sense to a Japanese.

I'm not saying there should be a team of foreign language experts on hand to adjudicate things like this, before anyone jumps on me, it's just something mildly interesting.

I'm normally in favour of allowing both the etymologically authentic plural and the Anglicised plural, and I find words like FIGURA (FIGURAE but no figuras) to be a bit weird. If the root word is sufficiently naturalised to be in the dictionary then I think the natural plural should be too.

But yeah, weird plurals are cool. Sadly no octopodes yet.