Hello again, I'm back to my Tuesday recapping slot for the first time since week 2 of the championships. The competition's really hotting up now,
with less than three weeks to go. 
Today's clash between two apte-forumites should be interesting as both have the skills. Who will join Jonathan Rawlinson in the quarter finals, which start in just over a week's time?C1: Champion Jon O'Neill (10 wins, 2 defeats 1177 points, all 15-rounders.) From Rainham, London, he works in the catastrophe risk business. The word "catastrophe" would certainly describe his shirt for today, which should win an award for worst of the series (sorry Jono)!
He reached the semi finals of Series 53 in 2005; Richard Whiteley's last series but was knocked out in the first round of the following Champion of Champions event. In the first round of this competition, he recorded a reasonably comfortable win against one of the show's youngest ever octochamps, Kai Laddiman, 101-76.C2: Champion Darryl Francis (15 wins, 2 defeats, 986 points, all 9-rounders bar one 14-rounder and two 15-rounders.) A retired IT manager from Brampton, Cumbria, he was Series 6 champion way back in 1985, as well as an octochamp, which surprisingly few series champs back then were. He actually debuted in episode 12 but lost and unfortunately, we don't have any other details for the game. He has also taken part in a CoC event, a masters game and the Supreme Championship. In this competition, he has beaten two fellow Scrabblers; David Webb and Barry Grossman on crucial conundrums. Both games kept Susie busy as she had to check the dictionary an awful lot, sadly to no avail most of the time. Will that change today?
DC: Susie Dent and Ken Bruce.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: O U A N C P H I O
R02: P A N E S I F D O
R03: A E U L G S T A X
R04: N O G E N I R K S
R05: 100, 75, 50, 25, 4, 6. Target: 484.
TTT: CANECURL - "It's not a vehicle for a relative, it's a bit of a turkey"
R06: G E W O R I Y P N
R07: E O I T L C J W T
R08: Z M A R U L O P E
R09: A E O L D S T E D
R10: 75, 7, 6, 2, 9, 5. Target: 323.
TTT: TRENDIES - "It sounds like Edward put his pound into the slot"
R11: I A O L R S G E R
R12: B U R I D O I T S
R13: U I E R T S N A T
R14: 75, 2, 4, 9, 3, 8. Target: 161.
R15: M I S P O S T E D (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: O U A N C P H I O
C1: PONCHO (6)
C2: COUPON (6)
DC: PAUNCH (6) PHONIC (6)
OT: OPANCI (6)
Score: 6–6 (max 6)
Four out of five sixes accounted for in a dull opening round.
Round 2: P A N E S I F D O
C1: ANODISE (7)
C2: ADIPOSE (7)
DC: PAINED (6)
OT: DAPSONE (7)
Score: 13–13 (max 13)
Two classic Countdown words from our contestants.
Round 3: A E U L G S T A X
C1: GATEAUS (7)
C2: LUXATES (7)
OT: ASEXUAL (7) GATEAUX (7)
Score: 20–20 (max 20)
More good words here as the scores stay level.
Round 4: N O G E N I R K S
C1: NEGRONIS (8)
C2: SKINNER (7)
DC: nosering
Score: 28–20 (max 28)
A magnificent spot by Jon gives him the first lead of the day and it happens to be a darren, since DC's attempt a nosering is thwarted by a hyphen. A NEGRONI is a cocktail made from gin, vermouth and Campari.
Round 5: 100, 75, 50, 25, 4, 6. Target: 484.
C1: 484. (75 + 50 - 4) x 100/25 (10)
C2: 484. (75 + 50 - 100/25) x 4 (10)
Score: 38–30 (max 38)
No surprise to see the Jono's trademark four large selection. It's not immediately obvious but both players are rewarded for knowing their 121 times tables, as the narrow eight point gap remains going into the break.
Ken contemplates the prospect of going into politics.
Teatime teaser: CANECURL -> CARUNCLE
Round 6: G E W O R I Y P N
C1: POWERING (8)
C2: WINERY (6)
DC: PROWING (7)
Score: 46–30 (max 46)
A surprising lapse by Darryl, considering the quality of some of his words during the tournament so far. Jon doubles his lead as a result.
Round 7: E O I T L C J W T
C1: TOWEL (5)
C2: jottle
DC: TOILET (6)
OT: CITOLE (6) WITTOL (6)
Score: 51–30 (max 52)
Darryl misses an opportunity to narrow the gap and only succeeds in going further behind. His offering of JOTTLE is rejected and surprisingly, it's not even in the Scrabble dictionary! DC find TOILET, meaning that Jon's hopes of a maximum game go down the pan, but with a healthy lead now, I'm sure he won't mind too much.
Round 8: Z M A R U L O P E
C1: AMPOULE (7)
C2: pleuroma
DC: PLEROMA (7)
OT: MORULAE (7)
Score: 58–30 (max 59)
Darryl's having no luck as he gets mixed up between a PLEROMA and a NEUROMA and offers another illegal word.
Round 9: A E O L D S T E D
C1: DESOLATED (18)
C2: DESOLATED (18)
DC: TODDLES (7)
Score: 76–48 (max 77)
The scores are increased rapidly thanks to this easy nine (well, easy for players of this quality). That'll be a huge relief for Darryl, who has had a nine dismissed in each of his previous two games, as well as having just one available in his last seventeen games. No disputing this one though.
Susie looks at the term "nick", which has several different senses.
Round 10: 75, 7, 6, 2, 9, 5. Target: 323.
C1: 323. (6 - 2) x (75 + 7) - 5 (10)
C2: 323. 75 x 5 - (9 x 6) + 2 (10)
Score: 86–58 (max 87)
Quite a few ways to do this one, both find a way.
Teatime teaser: TRENDIES -> INSERTED
Round 11: I A O L R S G E R
C1: SERAGLIO (8)
C2: SERAGLIO (8)
OT: GIRASOLE (8)
Score: 94–66 (max 95)
A classic apterous word earns both players eight points, as would its anagram which went unmentioned.
Round 12: B U R I D O I T S
C1: IDIOTS (6)
C2: OUTBIDS (7)
DC: DISTURB (7)
Score: 94–73 (max 102)
Jon fails to score for the first time but this looks like being too little too late for Darryl.
Round 13: U I E R T S N A T
C1: NATURIST (8)
C2: NATURIST (8)
DC: URINATES (8)
OT: NITRATES (8) RUNTIEST (8) STRAITEN (8) TAUNTERS (8)
Score: 102–81 (max 110)
One of those selections where you think there ought to be a nine but there are just a load of eight. Jon wraps up the game while DC, after offering TOILET earlier, take the (fill in the blank) with their offering of URINATES.
Round 14: 75, 2, 4, 9, 3, 8. Target: 161.
C1: 161. 2 x 75 + 8 + 3 (10)
C2: 161. 75 x 2 + 9 + 8/4 (10)
Score: 112–91 (max 120)
E-A-S-Y!
Round 15: M I S P O S T E D
C1 buzzes on 2.25 seconds to say DESPOTISM which is correct.
Final Score: 122–91 (max 130)
Jon completes a commanding performance and gets an on-screen PB for his efforts thanks to a very good conundrum solve.
Darryl played very well too and was unlucky with a couple of his offerings. Rounds 6 to 8 seemed to be the decisive ones and Jon was able to win fairly comfortably in the end. He will be returning for his quarter final a week on Friday where he will play the winner of next Tuesday's game between Christine Hunt and someone else, who's not memorable enough for me to recall. 
I won't be recapping that game next week and instead, Nick Deller will stand in as a guest recapper. My next recap (and sadly last of the series) will be covering the last quarter final between the winner of Thursday's game between Chris Wills and Jack Hurst, and Friday's victor which'll be either Chris Davies or David O'Donnell. The other game this week is tomorrow when Chris Hawkins faces the daunting challenge of many people's tournament favourite, Conor Travers. Join James for that and I'll see you in two weeks! 
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=-16
