c4countdown

So, we now head into the final phases of this series' prelims. Doesn't seem like so long ago that we started them, but there you go.

Chris Ball is our new champion after defeating the 2-time champion Stuart Scholes on Friday. With Glen Webb on the horizon on Wednesday, she'll definitely need to win today and tomorrow for any chance of qualifying for the finals, which because of horse racing/scheduling conflicts actually start a week on Friday.

This whole month sees 3 new people grace Dictionary Corner. The first of them is Blue Peter action girl, Helen Skelton, who amazingly is only the 3rd youngest female guest, if you go by age of 1st appearance. (Bonus points for naming the 2 younger ones. )

Graeme Cole will be providing the in-depth recap later.

James Robinson wrote: With Glen Webb on the horizon on Wednesday, she'll definitely need to win today and tomorrow for any chance of qualifying for the finals...

Two things with this.

1. Depending on her score, she could win today, lose tomorrow, and score high enough to overtake either Peter or Philip in the alternate spot.
2. I feel like you're implying she automatically loses to Glen if they play, whether or not that's what you actually think I'm not sure. I agree that Glen is a strong contender and a good player, but I wouldn't count anybody out until the game actually happens.

Jordan, Please be gentle on James. He has had a week in the sun and is just getting back into the swing of things. It is of course very hard to write things here without
accidentally leaving a spoiler, when you know how many games Glen will win, who will play the finals and even who the champion will be.....

Yeah, agree, "definitely" is a bit harsh, Glen's a great natural player but take nothing for granted - she had some good words in her first game.

Though I agree Glen would be the favourite if they meet, even if her letters are good, as I think he'll have a numbers advantage (he often goes 6S on apterous if he needs the points)

PS Nobody said I was definitely going to win when I was on

PPS she might not make Wednesday

Is BLEATING marked as a mass noun in ODE3 then? I don't remember Susie actually saying so (though I might just not have heard her) and it wasn't in ODE2r. If she's disallowing a plural of a count noun just because she 'doesn't think' it sounds right, that's pretty questionable to say the least.

Innis Carson wrote:Is BLEATING marked as a mass noun in ODE3 then? I don't remember Susie actually saying so (though I might just not have heard her) and it wasn't in ODE2r. If she's disallowing a plural of a count noun just because she 'doesn't think' it sounds right, that's pretty questionable to say the least.

I wasn't happy with Susie's explanation either... although I would have submitted TANGIBLES and waited for a decision.

Would have also tried MAINOURS (in the MANOIRS) round and even more so expected it to be disallowed.

Mauro

Innis Carson wrote:Is BLEATING marked as a mass noun in ODE3 then? I don't remember Susie actually saying so (though I might just not have heard her) and it wasn't in ODE2r. If she's disallowing a plural of a count noun just because she 'doesn't think' it sounds right, that's pretty questionable to say the least.

BLEATING is listed as a derivative under BLEAT:
Bleat (verb)... (as noun bleating) the plaintive bleating of sheep.

Going off the definition, pluralising it does sound dubious. For some reason, the dictionary doesn't seem to label words as mass nouns when they are derivatives, like a lot of -NESS words. I thought they were unlucky to have it rejected for this reason, although in my opinion, this is something that the OED needs to address.

Edit: Regarding Chris "definitely" needing to win today and tomorrow, I don't think James meant that she would have no chance against Glen. She'd need three wins to give herself a good chance and if she doesn't get there, she won't even play Glen, so this surely isn't what he meant.

Don't we talk about 'the pathetic bleatings of politicians'? INTANGIBLES (i.e. intangible assets) is a well-established accounting, so with a bit of luck TANGIBLES is fine. If so, a good spot. I would have offered BLEATINGS as well.

Malcolm James wrote:Don't we talk about 'the pathetic bleatings of politicians'?

I've certainly heard 'bleatings' used in this way. So if this was an attempt to override the dictionary in favour of 'common sense' (which is questionable in itself), it wasn't even a successful one. Just hope those 18 points don't end up affecting the finals line-up.

Lexplorer says Bleatings is in. Thought it was a poor call from Susie. If it doesn't expressly say mass noun it should surely be allowed.

Yes, I'm sure that BLEATINGS is occasionally used to refer to feeble complaints.

BTW it was a surprise that the INCORRECT display wasn't used for the conundrum.

Peter Mabey wrote: BTW it was a surprise that the INCORRECT display wasn't used for the conundrum.

Also the clock was on minus a half second when it started.
Alt 2nd numbers game: 50 - 3 x 2 x 9 - 7

Innis Carson wrote:Is BLEATING marked as a mass noun in ODE3 then? I don't remember Susie actually saying so (though I might just not have heard her) and it wasn't in ODE2r. If she's disallowing a plural of a count noun just because she 'doesn't think' it sounds right, that's pretty questionable to say the least.

Yeah, but she has form on these matters.

Philip Wilson wrote:Alt 2nd numbers game: 50 - 3 x 2 x 9 - 7

That equals -11.

I was also shocked that BLEATINGS wasn't allowed. Bad decision by Susie there!

James Robinson wrote:This whole month sees 3 new people grace Dictionary Corner. The first of them is Blue Peter action girl, Helen Skelton, who amazingly is only the 3rd youngest female guest, if you go by age of 1st appearance. (Bonus points for naming the 2 younger ones. )

No-one bothered to answer, but I'll just say anyway. Connie Fisher is at number 2, as she was 28 when she made her DC début in S67, but amazingly, the youngest ever female guest in DC was Gabby Logan (or Yorath, as she then was), who was only 26, when she was in DC in S42, back in 2000.

James Robinson wrote:

Philip Wilson wrote:Alt 2nd numbers game: 50 - 3 x 2 x 9 - 7

That equals -11.

Oops, I just left out the brackets: (50-3)x(2x9)-7.

Philip Wilson wrote: Also the clock was on minus a half second when it started.

They say the mechanism is wearing out and needs replacing - several times during the following afternoon's recordings they
had to reset the hand to the top by human hand.

Tony Atkins wrote:

Philip Wilson wrote: Also the clock was on minus a half second when it started.

They say the mechanism is wearing out and needs replacing - several times during the following afternoon's recordings they
had to reset the hand to the top by human hand.

Makes sense. It was showing 59.5 seconds during the intros today [Tuesday].

James Robinson wrote:

James Robinson wrote:This whole month sees 3 new people grace Dictionary Corner. The first of them is Blue Peter action girl, Helen Skelton, who amazingly is only the 3rd youngest female guest, if you go by age of 1st appearance. (Bonus points for naming the 2 younger ones. )

No-one bothered to answer, but I'll just say anyway. Connie Fisher is at number 2, as she was 28 when she made her DC début in S67, but amazingly, the youngest ever female guest in DC was Gabby Logan (or Yorath, as she then was), who was only 26, when she was in DC in S42, back in 2000.

Amazingly Helen Skelton being the 3rd youngest is amazing, as well as Gabby Logan being the youngest, but not Connie Fisher being the 2nd youngest.

(Or maybe none of it is particularly amazing.)

Gavin Chipper wrote:Amazingly Helen Skelton being the 3rd youngest is amazing, as well as Gabby Logan being the youngest, but not Connie Fisher being the 2nd youngest.

(Or maybe none of it is particularly amazing.)

OR MAYBE YOU SMELL