C1: Champion Nicky Miller (1 win, 89 points.)
C2: Challenger Margaret Regan.
DC: Susie Dent and Colin Jackson.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
Thank God it’s Friday once more (OK, James, so actually it’s Saturday, but allow me a little bit of licence
), so therefore it’s time for another Friday recap. After Marcus ‘Bunny’ Hares retired undefeated on Wednesday, Nicky Miller slipped into the champion’s chair yesterday having seen off the challenge of Bernice Mitchell. Today it’s the turn of Margaret Regan from Heald Green in Cheshire (who, incidentally, is a second cousin of former Channel 4 darling Judy Finnigan) to take on the young sixth former from Oxford. As they say in sunnier climes, andiamo!R01: S M D A P R I O A
R02: V L N S E U A N I
R03: F P S R E A T E J
R04: N R D S O I E T A
R05: 75, 5, 6, 2, 7, 9. Target: 485.
TTT: TRIEDMOP - "Tried the mop that was brought in from China."
R06: G D T R U E U T G
R07: N R L S E A I R E
R08: N V C T U O I Y O
R09: L T C G A E A I S
R10: 50, 6, 1, 8, 4, 6. Target: 518.
TTT: SVENTIED - "Sven tied his money up in a venture."
R11: T W T E I E N F U
R12: H S M B E I E T D
R13: X S D P E O E L Q
R14: 75, 5, 1, 2, 1, 3. Target: 912.
R15: K I T B A G H F C (conundrum)
Countdown is still sponsored by Neurozan, and it still sounds bizarre.
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With Christmas steadily looming, Jeff’s thoughts have turned to the Countdown Christmas Party and he regales us with a tale about how he came back from last year’s celebrations somewhat inebriated and stripped off on the lower deck of a bus, having mistaken it for the ground floor of his house. It’s OK, I’m pretty sure he was joking!
Round 1: S M D A P R I O A
C1: PRODS (5)
C2: PRAMS (5)
DC: DIASPORA (8)
OT: DIORAMAS (8)
Score: 5–5 (max 8)
A slow but equal start from our contestants, while Susie educates us in a bit of Jewish history with a solid eight.
Round 2: V L N S E U A N I
C1: SALINE (6)
C2: UNVEILS (7)
DC: UNVEILS (7)
OT: ALEVINS (7) INSULAE (7) UNALIVE (7) UNNAILS (7)
Score: 5–12 (max 15)
The former head teacher takes a perhaps unexpected lead by unveiling a seven. ALEVINS are newly-spawned salmon or trout.
Round 3: F P S R E A T E J
C1: REPEATS (7)
C2: REPEATS (7)
DC: REPEATS (7) JASPER (6)
OT: AFREETS (7) FEASTER (7)
Score: 12–19 (max 22)
There must have been baked beans on the lunchtime menu in the Granada canteen, as everyone is merrily repeating themselves in this round. An AFREET is a powerful spirit in Arabian or Muslim mythology.
Round 4: N R D S O I E T A
C1: ORDINATES (18)
C2: ASTRIDE (7)
DC: NOTARISED (18) DERATIONS (18)
Score: 30–19 (max 40)
A classic niner collection: Nicky spots one, while DC give us the other two to complete the set. He’s also in the lead for the first time today.
Round 5: 75, 5, 6, 2, 7, 9. Target: 485.
C1: 485. (75x6)+(7x5) (10)
C2: 487.
Score: 40–19 (max 50)
Sadly, Margaret doesn’t spot the ‘standard method’ solution to the first numbers game and is starting to slip out of contention.
Colin Jackson does a bit of an ‘Origin of Words’ for his last guest slot and discusses the word ‘Friday’ in some detail. Watch out, Susie, he’ll be after your job!
Teatime teaser: TRIEDMOP -> IMPORTED
Round 6: G D T R U E U T G
C1: GUTTER (6)
C2: GUTTER (6)
DC: TRUDGE (6)
OT: DRUGGET (7)
Score: 46–25 (max 57)
Despite the way it sounds, DRUGGET has nothing to do with drugs: it’s a kind of floor covering.
Round 7: N R L S E A I R E
C1: LEARNERS (8)
C2: RESEAL (6)
DC: REALISER (8)
OT: RELEARNS (8) SNARLIER (8)
Score: 54–25 (max 65)
When did you ever see the word REALISER used, except on Countdown? Or SNARLIER for that matter? Hey ho.
Round 8: N V C T U O I Y O
C1: COUNTY (6)
C2: COUNT (5)
DC: COUNTY (6)
OT: CONVOY (6) TYCOON (6)
Score: 60–25 (max 71)
As Jeff points out, Margaret was probably kicking herself when Nicky revealed his word.
Round 9: L T C G A E A I S
C1: calates
C2: SCALE (5)
DC: ELASTIC (7) LIGATES (7)
OT: ACETALS (7) LACTASE (7) CAGIEST (7) LACIEST (7) LATICES (7)
Score: 60–30 (max 78)
A bit of a blob from Nicky, which Susie put down to a misspelling of COLLATES, but was Mr Miller thinking they might be some kind of chemical? Despite the error, he’s still well in the lead.
OoW: Susie discusses the origins of the expression ‘criss-cross’. Interestingly, it has connections to an old name for the alphabet.
Round 10: 50, 6, 1, 8, 4, 6. Target: 518.
C1: 518. ((50+1)x(6+4))+8 (10)
C2: 515.
Score: 70–30 (max 88)
Nicky uses another classic numbers game technique to increase his lead by a further ten points.
Teatime teaser: SVENTIED -> INVESTED
Round 11: T W T E I E N F U
C1: UNTIE (5)
C2: untweet
DC: TWEET (5)
OT: TENUTI (6)
Score: 75–30 (max 94)
Susie reckons that “lots of people on the Internet untweet”, despite it not being in the dictionary. As a non-follower of Twitter, I’ve no idea if the word exists (although Urban Dictionary has an entry, so it’s obviously out there somewhere).
Round 12: H S M B E I E T D
C1: desite
C2: BaSHED
DC: BETIDES (7) BEDTIMES (8) BETIMES (7)
Score: 75–30 (max 102)
A goalless draw for our players, as Nicky offers an invalid word, while Margaret is seeing phantom letters. A good spot from DC with the slightly dubious-sounding BEDTIMES for eight.
Round 13: X S D P E O E L Q
C1: ELOPED (6)
C2: EXPLODES (8)
Score: 75–38 (max 110)
She may have just lost the game, but Margaret EXPLODES into life on the last letters round of her brief Countdown career with a great darrenic spot.
Round 14: 75, 5, 1, 2, 1, 3. Target: 912.
C1: 912. ((5x2)+3-1)x(75+1) (10)
C2: 905.
Score: 85–38 (max 120)
Nicky gets the numbers spot-on again, meaning he’s scored 30 out of 30 on the discipline today.
Round 15: K I T B A G H F C
C1 buzzes on 9 seconds to say FIGHTBACK which is correct.
Final Score: 95–38 (max 130)
A brace of wins, then, for Nicky, bit how will he fare on Monday? Can he make it three (and perhaps get his first century to boot) when Dave Spikey returns to Dictionary Corner? Tune in at 3.25 to find out!
This recap was brought to you without the aid of Neurozan.
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63
Very good as usual, mate. 
