c4countdown

So, we're now heading into the final phase of this series with just 17 preliminaries left before we start the series finals, which I believe were partly recorded on Friday, and being finished off today, before the 30th Birthday Championship gets underway with its recording schedule.

But before we get too far ahead into the future, let's return to the present, which looks very good at the moment for our very own Heather Styles, who with a win today, will not only confirm her octochamp status, but will guarantee her attendance at the finals too.

A score of 148 or more will see her go above Paul James at #1, but I think the more realistic #2 spot will be hers with a win with a score of 62+. It would also make it the first finals since Series 56 where there would be at least 3 female finalists.

In Dictionary Corner, ever increasing his already record-breaking run of 297 appearances, is the man of many talents (some might say "master of none"), Gyles Brandreth.

Since my schedule this week is very wretched, I've switched the recap order this week, so it's me for the first 2 days this week, so you can join me later for this possibly monumental recap.

Looks like we will we have to guess Heather's challengers' surname as the director/cameraman failed to get a shot of his name card?

Round 6: missed MAURO + CE (MORCEAU) but saw CUSTOMER for 8 instead

Mauro

OUTRACES as an actual 8 in the "catmouse" round.

taxies, that old chestnut

Can you have SOLARIZE with a Z as an 8 in the BEZOARS round?

ANATOMIES there for 9 in Round 12

DC missing loads today

Congratulations on octochampdom, Heather!

Congratulations to Heather on her "landmark" performance of achieving Octchamp status.

Great spot for the conundrum by the old, bald guy at the end.

I was also pleased to spot ANATOMISE / ANATOMIES in the AMNIOTES round whilst sat in the audience.

Adam Gillard wrote:Congratulations on octochampdom, Heather!

Ditto

Mauro

Well played Heather, great stuff

Jordan F wrote:Can you have SOLARIZE with a Z as an 8 in the BEZOARS round?

oddity in this round:
SOLEBAR is allowed in Oxford but not in Scrabble (Collins) but it's anagram...
LABROSE is allowed in Scrabble but not in Oxford.

Mauro

Philip Jarvis wrote:Congratulations to Heather on her "landmark" performance of achieving Octchamp status.

Great spot for the conundrum by the old, bald guy at the end.

I was also pleased to spot ANATOMISE / ANATOMIES in the AMNIOTES round whilst sat in the audience.

Was that you who got the conundrum? I thought that person looked familiar but couldn't put my finger on it.

EDIT: Ignore that...it'd help if I read the second sentence.

Another one they missed was INTAKES in R7.

Well done Heather - time to donate some money to your charity! http://www.justgiving.com/countdown-challenge

Well done Heather on becoming an octochamp.

R6 CUSTOMER as well, but presumably not OUTSCREAM.

It seems that the amount DC miss is proportional to the amount of time the guest spends on making up words and silly stories to go with them!

ATONIES for another beater in r7.
Very well done Heather on becoming an Octochamp!

Malcolm James wrote:R6 CUSTOMER as well, but presumably not OUTSCREAM.

clipped

'Fraid so. OUTSCREAM to be avoided in Countdown....
but acceptable in Scrabble by extending 'OU', or playing onto 'AM', or playing thru two floaters

Mauro

Congratulations on becoming an octochamp Heather - very well deserved

szodiac wrote:Looks like we will we have to guess Heather's challengers' surname as the director/cameraman failed to get a shot of his name card?

Yeah, the closest view I can try and get is when they do the close up in round 8, but it's definitely not how the Sky+ subtitles suggest, which was "Winnerer". I looked it up on the 4OD version, and it does look like it might be "Winnerham", so I'm going to stick with that. (I've even tried looking at the residential numbers for Barrow in Furness, with virtually no joy!!!)

Very, very well done, Heather, a well deserved octochamp, will look forward to seeing you on our screens again soon.

2nd Numbers Alts.: (((9 x 3) - 8) x (75 - 25)) + 5 & ((75 + 25) x 9) + ((8 + 3) x 5) = 955

James Robinson wrote:

szodiac wrote:Looks like we will we have to guess Heather's challengers' surname as the director/cameraman failed to get a shot of his name card?

Yeah, the closest view I can try and get is when they do the close up in round 8, but it's definitely not how the Sky+ subtitles suggest, which was "Winnerer". I looked it up on the 4OD version, and it does look like it might be "Winnerham", so I'm going to stick with that. (I've even tried looking at the residential numbers for Barrow in Furness, with virtually no joy!!!)

clipped

Thanks for trying, James. Errr... maybe, possibly Heather knows or made a note?

Mauro

szodiac wrote:

James Robinson wrote:

szodiac wrote:Looks like we will we have to guess Heather's challengers' surname as the director/cameraman failed to get a shot of his name card?

Yeah, the closest view I can try and get is when they do the close up in round 8, but it's definitely not how the Sky+ subtitles suggest, which was "Winnerer". I looked it up on the 4OD version, and it does look like it might be "Winnerham", so I'm going to stick with that. (I've even tried looking at the residential numbers for Barrow in Furness, with virtually no joy!!!)

clipped

Thanks for trying, James. Errr... maybe, possibly Heather knows or made a note?

Mauro

My note from the day suggests Mike Winnerah.

Many congratulations Heather. Looking forward to the finals and there will surely be a mother/daughter special one day won't there? Unless you've frightened her off of course....

What about when they pan from one contestant to the other? Wouldn't it be on that?

Many congratulations Heather, superbly played throughout your run and very well deserved octochampdom. I have no doubt you'll be a threat to anyone in the finals, which thankfully are not too far away now. I'm pretty sure this is the first ever series to have three female octochamps. With David Barnard making his debut tomorrow, we could even have back-to-back octochamps for the third time this series!

Rhys Benjamin wrote:What about when they pan from one contestant to the other? Wouldn't it be on that?

Yeah, I was watching out carefully during the pan shots, but each time they panned, the name cards were below the camera line.
If only they could adopt the names/scores in the top right or left like they do with TV football matches!

Mauro

Well done Heather, good luck for the finals.

Philip Jarvis wrote:My note from the day suggests Mike Winnerah.

Since you were there, and since it does sound more like that, compared to "Winnerham", I'm prepared to switch.

szodiac wrote:

Rhys Benjamin wrote:What about when they pan from one contestant to the other? Wouldn't it be on that?

Yeah, I was watching out carefully during the pan shots, but each time they panned, the name cards were below the camera line.
If only they could adopt the names/scores in the top right or left like they do with TV football matches!

Mauro

That would be a good idea particularly as Nick doesn't seem too bothered about the score as the game goes along, he doesn't even mention it when the conundrum is crucial. do you think he's getting a bit bored with his job?

He's certainly gone off the boil in my eyes.

Well done Heather! Looking forward to seeing you again in the finals.

Thanks for your kind comments, everyone.