Birthday Championship Spoilers For Monday February 4th 2013

[James Robinson]

So, we have now entered the 2nd half of this series already, which is such a crying shame, since we've only got 20 episodes to go.

And after Thursday's and Friday's episodes last week, I think we'd all want it to continue for infinity.

So, after Kirky's AMAZING MAX GAME on Friday, all our remaining contestants have some target to equal. Are they up to the task, I wonder.............

This week's episodes are the final 5 of the Round 1 matches, and they feature the 9 winners of the preliminaries, plus the 41st contestant waiting to make his 30th Birthday Championship début.

That person happens to be the Series 58 champion, David O'Donnell, and his opponent is the first winner of a game this year, Tom Hargreaves.

Here are the stats (and by the looks of them, this game could be quite something!!):

Firstly, Series 58 Champion & CoC XIII Quarter-Finalist David O'Donnell - 13 Games, 12 Wins, 1,369 Points (Average: 105.31)
Highest Score: 122 vs. Ian Browning (7th Game)
Lowest Score: 91 vs. Richard Priest (Grand Final)
9's Achieved: 1/5
Total Points/Max/%: 1369/1599 (86%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 931/1085 (86%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 348/384 (91%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 90/130 (69%)

Secondly, Series 47 Runner-Up & CoC XI Semi-Finalist Tom Hargreaves - 15 Games, 13 Wins, 1,580 Points (Average: 105.33)
Highest Score: 131 vs. Ben Wilson (CoC Quarter-Final)
Lowest Score: 67 vs. Chris Wills (Grand Final)
9's Achieved: 5/10
Total Points/Max/%: 1580/1923 (82%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 1087/1323 (82%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 403/450 (90%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 90/150 (60%)

Back in DC for her 2nd stint is the former BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie.

Graeme (who I hope has recovered from Thursday's epic show) will be giving us his recap later on.

[Jordan F]

Alternate 2nd Numbers: (25-(9-7)) x 10 x 4 + 4

[Jordan F]

Very well done to David, FORTALICE in particular was a great spot, and you kept up your strength throughout the game. Commiserations to Tom, you had some very good spots in your own right, particularly the conundrum.

[Ryan Taylor]

High quality game. 13-11 on maxes and every round being maxed by at least one of you. Well done! Another great game. I reckon we'll have a game in this series where a conundrum solve will deny someone a max game. It would have happened today if David wasn't so crap in missing AILERON...

[Tony Atkins]

I was very please to get an alt 8 of FLOATIER to LORICATE and then David stole the thunder. Well done to him
and sorry that Reading's second player has now been elimiated.

[Joyce Phillips]

Well done both for another cracking game. Kirk, Innis, Graeme, two Jacks and now David. I'd forgotten how many absolutely fantastic players there've been over the years but this tournament is a reminder of why Countdown is such superb entertainment.

[Jojo Apollo]

Well done David, excellent performance. Also well done to Tom, hopefully we will still see you on apterous.

[Jack Worsley]

Excellent display from both of you! The nine from David was superb, and congratulations for making the next round. Great conundrum speed by Tom.

[James Robinson]

Another top draw game. Shame that the Huddersfield Town massif has now had to bow out, but you seem to be a lucky omen, since I maxed your first game, Tom, and would've maxed again, had you not pipped me to the conundrum...........

Very well done though, David. Look forward to your next game against Chris Davies.

GLUTEI in round 11 and MISDATE again in round 13.

1st Numbers Alt.: ((75 + 4 + (50 / 25)) x 6) + 100 = 586
2nd Numbers Alt.: (((9 x 25) + 7) x 4) - 4 = 924

[Johnny Canuck]

ALIENOR?

[James Robinson]

ALIENOR?

I was typing it out and was saying to myself that ALIENOR was taken out with the ODE3, then I saw it was in under 30BC, so then checked the S67 recap and it isn't in, so I think that Charlie might've taken the ODE2r dictionary under the 30BC heading...............

[Eoin Monaghan]

Super stuff David! You're definitely one of my Countdown heroes (hahaha) so it was great to see you back on again and playing so well!

Unlucky too to Tom who put up a great fight!

[Gavin Chipper]

ALIENOR?

I was typing it out and was saying to myself that ALIENOR was taken out with the ODE3, then I saw it was in under 30BC, so then checked the S67 recap and it isn't in, so I think that Charlie might've taken the ODE2r dictionary under the 30BC heading...............

30BC? What does any of this mean?

[James Robinson]

ALIENOR?

I was typing it out and was saying to myself that ALIENOR was taken out with the ODE3, then I saw it was in under 30BC, so then checked the S67 recap and it isn't in, so I think that Charlie might've taken the ODE2r dictionary under the 30BC heading...............

30BC? What does any of this mean?

If you've been watching these shows (and if you haven't, you should be shot), then it's pretty obvious...........

Looking up above will solve the BC answer...

[Gavin Chipper]

I was typing it out and was saying to myself that ALIENOR was taken out with the ODE3, then I saw it was in under 30BC, so then checked the S67 recap and it isn't in, so I think that Charlie might've taken the ODE2r dictionary under the 30BC heading...............

30BC? What does any of this mean?

If you've been watching these shows (and if you haven't, you should be shot), then it's pretty obvious...........

Looking up above will solve the BC answer...

30th birthday championship? If so, I still can't make any sense of the post.

[Matt Morrison]

I think he was telling you to look up to God, and his son, Bernard Christ.

[Ryan Taylor]

30th birthday championship? If so, I still can't make any sense of the post.

I didn't either. But I do now. On the recap writer ALIENOR came up as being valid when James was plugging the selections into the recap writer today. This is, James presumes, because the older dictionary has been set as the one to use for the 30th Birthday Championship (on the recap writer there's a drop down menu for which series the recap is a part of). He then changed the series from 30BC (hey, I could get used to this, it makes me think of them playing Countdown in Ancient times) to the Series 67 and found ALIENOR not to be valid. And ALIENOR is no longer valid.

[James Robinson]

Looking up above will solve the BC answer...

30th birthday championship? If so, I still can't make any sense of the post.

Yes, right, let's try simple terms.

In the recap writer, there is the solver which has all the words available for a particular round at the touch of the button.

During the last series, it was (obviously) in Series 67 mode, which used all the words from the current ODE3 dictionary, but for some reason, in 30th Birthday Championship mode, it is NOT using the same dictionary, which I happened to know because it said ALIENOR was fine and I knew that it wasn't, so I double-checked it in S67 mode and it wasn't there.

Which means that the 30BC is using either the ODE2r dictionary, which was the last default or possibly even the NODE dictionary from a long time ago.

Just a slight oversight on Charlie's behalf there............

AKA What Ryan has just said above.

[Ryan Taylor]

So, 30BC=ODE2r & S67=ODE3 ∴ 2010CBS=6r(ODE)² QED

[Rhys Benjamin]

So, 30BC=ODE2r & S67=ODE3 ∴ 2010CBS=6r(ODE)² QED

= (x + 7) (x + 15)

[Gavin Chipper]

Thanks for clearing it up guys!

[Tom]

Thanks guys for your comments earlier. Naturally I'm disappointed to have lost but David was a worthy winner and with a performance like that you can't really complain. Dave was a top bloke and really easy to get on with and out of the 16 shows I played, I can honestly say that even though I lost this appearance, this game was the most enjoyable of them all.

I wanted to say thanks also to everyone I've met along this journey and genuinely have no regrets about taking part. I loved the atmosphere and friendliness between all the players and met some great people along the way. As an aftermath, I've promised myself I would do a couple of the CO-events and have put my name down for Reading next month and will more than likely do Huddersfield in July too and obviously look forward to meeting more of there too.

Cheers
Tom

[Kirk Bevins]

Yeah, great game both of you, played in a wonderful spirit. Another enjoyable game to watch. Great speed on the conundrum, Tom!

[Matt Morrison]

Megadod.

Love how Nick is the Ultimate Joke Killer.
"Why did you choose Cardiff?"
"Cardiff chose me."
[stop here, Nick]

[Adam Gillard]

Another excellent game! Very well played David, FORTALICE was insanely good! Great play too Tom, especially that immediate conundrum solve. It's nice to hear that you're planning to attend forthcoming CO-events; that's one of the many good things about this "30BC", it's bringing the great and the good back to Countdown, and not just on the telly!

[David O'Donnell]

Thanks all for the nice comments. Tom's such a gentleman: he actually sent me conundrum practice via Facebook. I would have commented earlier but Charlie obviously blocked my login details, subsequently demanding a reset: definitely nothing to do with my being pissed!

[Jon O'Neill]

Just watched this one. Brilliant guys.

[David O'Donnell]

Also, fecking AILERON ... are you kidding me?

Glad they edited all my expletives, which were ongoing for the remaining rounds.

[Martin Long]

Like Wayne and Jack's game, I have just caught up with this one. Great performance by David, FORTALICE has to one of the best spots of the series so far. Also (as others have said), great conundrum speed by Tom at the end - I can only dream of solving a conundrum that quickly.

[Rhys Benjamin]

Susie's top is brilliant. I want one.

[James Robinson]

First Round Game 12 2020 Word Update

The max would have increased by two (from 128 to 130), if played today, as there were 8's available in Rounds 2 and 3, that weren't available in 2013.

New Words Now Allowed:

R2: IDEATUMS, MESQUITA (increases MAX from 7 to 8)
R3: PONASKED (increases MAX from 7 to 8)
R4: MARRITE
R6: NESPOLA, PALONES, POLEYNS
R8: ALERION, ALIENOR, URANILE
R11: ELIGUG, OUTLIE
R13: ADEMPTS, PIEJAMS