Discuss anything that happened in recent games. This is the place to post any words you got that beat Dictionary Corner, or numbers games that evaded Rachel.
As our distinguished leader celebrates the quarter-century anniversary of his birth, we look below to the events in the Countdown studios.
Our new champ is Mark Jones, who after almost blowing his lead away yesterday, managed to put in a good finish and will move over to the champions' chair today.
In his way today is part-time Apterite and even more part-time forumite, Ned Pendleton.
What's the record on disallowed words in the 15 round era? Not suggesting Ned will be close to it, just wondering as I expect/hope to beat it when I go on. Plus I reckon he'll win this anyway.
I know that 'rules are rules', but I was surprised that GOATIEST had to be specified. One-syllable adjectives and two-syllable adjectives ending in Y form the comparative and superlative using -ier and -iest ( http://www.grammar.cl/Intermediate/Comp ... atives.htm ). Other adjectives use 'more' and 'the most', although maybe this is gradually changing, because forms such as MATUREST have been allowed.
A few years ago I arranged the Noel Coward song Mad Dogs and Englishmen which contains the line "Even caribous lie around and snooze, for there's nothing else to do". Unfortunately he was only doing it to achieve a suitable rhyme (I'll leave you to speculate what caribou might lie around and do....)
Brilliant spot, unlucky that Coward's alternative version of the plural never caught on enough to make the OED. Great comeback.
Thought some egghead would have got in before me since I've had chance to watch Countdown, The Chase and Eggheads but apparently not. So I had EXOPLANET in the round were Susie had ANTELOPE. And there was a nice little equaller of GARPIKE in one of the rounds too.
Malcolm James wrote:I know that 'rules are rules', but I was surprised that GOATIEST had to be specified. One-syllable adjectives and two-syllable adjectives ending in Y form the comparative and superlative using -ier and -iest ( http://www.grammar.cl/Intermediate/Comp ... atives.htm ). Other adjectives use 'more' and 'the most', although maybe this is gradually changing, because forms such as MATUREST have been allowed.
In general, I'd agree with this, and indeed they did tend to be accepted on Countdown in the past (I'm going back to the old Concise days now). Having said that, some -Y words don't really lend themselves to the comparative and superlative: they either possess the quality being described or they don't.
Mike Brown wrote:Having said that, some -Y words don't really lend themselves to the comparative and superlative: they either possess the quality being described or they don't.
Matt Morrison wrote:What's the record on disallowed words in the 15 round era?
I had 11 words disallowed in 11 shows.
So, 1 disallowed word in each game?
One Direction are my life. <3
"The reason for life is to find out who you are"
"It always seems impossible until it's done"
Love loads of celebs to be honest... Might marry Nicky Maccy
