Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Wednesday 25 May 2011.
C1: Champion Liam Herringshaw (3 wins, 234 points.) From York, but originally from Leicester. He is a palaeontologist and his studies have taken him to Sweden, Canada, Morocco, Patagonia, the Death Valley and Scarborough. Interestingly, his partner is an archaeologist. (Cue a "digging" joke by Jeff....
/ 
)C2: Challenger Tom Beaumont. A teaching assistant for adults with learning disabilities from Chesterfield, Derbyshire. He supports the recently crowned League 2 champions, Chesterfield F.C., and he wanted to become a goalkeeper when he was younger.
DC: Susie Dent and Alistair McGowan.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: U S F I L P E V R
R02: G T O I E C R I N
R03: Q R A E P T I W E
R04: S R S A I E B C O
R05: 50, 10, 2, 2, 4, 5. Target: 691.
TTT: CONMARIA - "Con Maria into making you something to eat"
R06: R D D U A E A X S
R07: O I N R K E S L U
R08: N T H A O E M G I
R09: M N O A E L W T I
R10: 75, 50, 10, 3, 5, 6. Target: 151.
TTT: STOPOLGA - "This piece of wood stopped Olga from scoring"
R11: E J D T I O R R U
R12: V G T A E U P F O
R13: N I T O S C E T A
R14: 75, 25, 10, 1, 2, 1. Target: 102.
R15: G I R L A M O R E (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: U S F I L P E V R
C1: SILVER (6)
C2: PELVIS (6)
DC: PURFLES (7)
OT: PILFERS (7)
Score: 6–6 (max 7)
Only 2 7's in this one, even though there looked like more.
Round 2: G T O I E C R I N
C1: GOITRE (6)
C2: CRETIN (6)
DC: RECITING (8) GERONTIC (8)
Score: 12–12 (max 15)
A double darren by DC here.
Round 3: Q R A E P T I W E
C1: WAITER (6)
C2: REPEAT (6)
DC: PEATIER (7) WIRETAP (7)
Score: 18–18 (max 22)
Another DC double darren here.
Round 4: S R S A I E B C O
C1: BOSSIER (7)
C2: SABRES (6)
DC: AEROBICS (8)
OT: ASCRIBES (8)
Score: 25–18 (max 30)
Liam takes the first lead here with his 7, as DC get another good 8 here.
Round 5: 50, 10, 2, 2, 4, 5. Target: 691.
C1: 690. ((2 + 5) x 2 x 50) - 10 (7)
C2: 690. (50 x 2 x (5 + 2)) - 10 (7)
JS: 691. ((10 + 4) x 50) - (2 + 2 + 5) (10)
Score: 32–25 (max 40)
Ermmmm, now that wasn't too hard was it
Tell that to Liam and Tom....... 
Alistair does many of his football pundit impressions, Alan Shearer, Lee Dixon and Steve Bruce, as well as doing poems about suffixes and trips.
Teatime teaser: CONMARIA -> MACARONI
Round 6: R D D U A E A X S
C1: DREADS (6)
C2: SADDER (6)
DC: UDDERS (6) ADDERS (6)
OT: ADDAXES (7) SAUDADE (7)
Score: 38–31 (max 47)
Back to 6 apiece for the contestants here, but 2 weird 7's are missed by DC.
An ADDAX is a large, pale-colored antelope, Addax nasomaculatus, of North Africa, with loosely raspilled horns.
SAUDADE is the overtone of melancholy and brooding loneliness and an almost mystical reverence for nature that permeates Portuguese and Brazilian lyric poetry.
Round 7: O I N R K E S L U
C1: LINKERS (7)
C2: LINKERS (7)
DC: slinker SULKIER (7) SNORKEL (7)
OT: ELUSION (7) LOURIES (7) LOUSIER (7) LUNKERS (7) SUNLIKE (7)
Score: 45–38 (max 54)
Flattttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.
A LUNKER is something unusually large for its kind.
Round 8: N T H A O E M G I
C1: MONTAGE (7)
C2: TAMING (6)
DC: THEMING (7) EMOTING (7)
OT: AMNIOTE (7) HEATING (7) MAGNETO (7) MEGATON (7) MINTAGE (7) MITOGEN (7) MOATING (7) TEAMING (7) TEGMINA (7)
Score: 52–38 (max 61)
Loadsa 7's, but Tom can't find one of them.......
A TEGMEN (plural TEGMINA) is a cover, covering, or integument.
Round 9: M N O A E L W T I
C1: ELATION (7)
C2: moane
DC: TOENAIL (7) TOWLINE (7)
OT: AILMENT (7) ALIMENT (7) AMNIOTE (7) OMENTAL (7) TELAMON (7)
Score: 59–38 (max 68)
Tom can't seem to see 7's today. Maybe he will be moane-ing to himself later.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of the phrase "done a bunk".
Round 10: 75, 50, 10, 3, 5, 6. Target: 151.
C1: 151. ((6 / 3) x 75) + ((50 / 5) / 10) (10)
C2: 151. (3 x 50) + 6 - 5 (10)
Score: 69–48 (max 78)
Well, Liam certainly knows how to make use of all the numbers
Maybe he could have done 75 + 50 + ((5 - 3) x 10) + 6 instead. Teatime teaser: STOPOLGA -> GOALPOST
Round 11: E J D T I O R R U
C1: DETOUR (6)
C2: EDITOR (6)
DC: OUTRIDER (8)
Score: 75–54 (max 86)
Another good DC darren is spotted.
Round 12: V G T A E U P F O
C1: OUTAGE (6)
C2: gateau - and declared as 5
DC: POTAGE (6)
OT: FUGATO (6)
Score: 81–54 (max 92)
I think Liam is just a tiny step away from half-octochampdom now after Tom's slip up.
A FUGATO is a section of a composition that is in fugal style but does not constitute a real fugue.
Round 13: N I T O S C E T A
C1: STANCE (6)
C2: -
DC: STATION (7) SECTION (7) TACONITE (8)
OT: ACONITES (8) CANOEIST (8) SONICATE (8) STENOTIC (8)
Score: 87–54 (max 100)
And that blackout wraps up the game even without Liam's STANCE.
STENOTIC relates to STENOSIS, a narrowing or stricture of a passage or vessel.
Round 14: 75, 25, 10, 1, 2, 1. Target: 102.
C1: 102. 75 + 25 + 2 (10)
C2: 102. 75 + 25 + 1 + 1 (10)
Score: 97–64 (max 110)
Moving on.................., although this is Liam's chance to finish on a century.
Round 15: G I R L A M O R E
No one buzzes. The answer was RIGMAROLE.
Final Score: 97–64 (max 120)
Or not, as some random bald bloke sitting next to 3-time champ Roger Edwards gets the conundrum instead. He looks familiar though..........
So, Liam gets halfway to becoming an octochamp, but that's where we leave it for now, as the series finals start tomorrow, so Liam will rejoin us in 12 days time at the start of Series 65.
Tomorrow is the first quarter-final, which will be between the #8 Seed, Michelle "The Glaswegian Goddess" Nevitt and the #1 Seed, Adam "The Stanmore Supernova" Gillard.
Join me tomorrow for that. So, till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Liam:
Total score - 97
Raw score - 97
Total % of max - 81
Raw % of max - 81
Total average score per round - 6.5
Raw average score per round - 6.5
Number of maxes - 6
Tom:
Total score - 64
Raw score - 76
Total % of max - 53
Raw % of max - 63
Total average score per round - 4.3
Raw average score per round - 5.1
Number of maxes - 3
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=64
