Monday 22nd November 2010 (Series 63, Prelim 96)

[Ryan Taylor]

It's that time of week again where I get to cast my eye on 2 Countdown contestants who will probably never read these comments. Saying that, this is a recap which clearly no one ever reads anyway so I can say what I bloody well like. Tom Rowell, where is my banana cake you twat?

Countdown recap for Monday 22 November 2010.

C1: Champion Niall Young (4 wins, 356 points.)
C2: Challenger Stuart Smith.
DC: Susie Dent and Gino D'Acampo.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: L N Y U I E D S A
R02: R T E O N M A S T
R03: N B K E I O T Q T
R04: C M I G B A U R N
R05: 75, 7, 8, 9, 6, 2. Target: 260.
TTT: SALTRICE - "Pieces of writing about clothing items"
R06: S F O E M V U S E
R07: S I N C O E D J R
R08: D X A N I T E R P
R09: G V S A O E C T I
R10: 75, 8, 10, 8, 7, 4. Target: 518.
TTT: DADBEGAN - "Dad began dressing the boy's wounds"
R11: G H D E A I P R F
R12: L A T L I E M H A
R13: N P T O A E D W I
R14: 100, 4, 3, 10, 1, 6. Target: 693.
R15: T H E N C A N E D (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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We haven't been bird watching for a while so let's do some shall we?

RR: Is looking rather raven-like today in a longish (by her standards) black dress. Still, a lovely raven.

Our champion at the moment is Niall Young who is a county cricket development manager from Sleaford in Lincolnshire and married with 2 kids. He is closing in on the People's Champ Peter Godwin for that place in the Series 63 quarter-finals but still has a bit of a way to go before that dream becomes a reality.

Stuart Smith is a civil cervant from the lovely named Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire. His main hobby is crown green bowling and he wants to win The Waterloo Championship even though he's never actually entered the thing.

Gino D'Acampo is back after popular demand and sporting a lovely pink watch.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: L N Y U I E D S A

C1: UNEASILY (8)
C2: SANELY (6)
DC: SUNDIAL (7) DENIALS (7)
Score: 8–0 (max 8)

Niall kicks off with a bang stunning DC with that spot. Gino says he doesn't even know how to spell it!

Round 2: R T E O N M A S T

C1: MENTORS (7)
C2: MATRONS (7)
DC: TORMENTS (8) STOREMAN (8) MONSTERA (8)
Score: 15–7 (max 16)

Easy round to get 7's in and they both do. No 9 available as the only letters that can be added to MONSTERA are SOUNDY to make a 9. Gold star for knowing all 5, answers in next week's recap.

Round 3: N B K E I O T Q T

C1: BITTEN (6)
C2: BITTEN (6)
DC: KITTEN (6)
OT: TIENTO (6)
Score: 21–13 (max 22)

Piss poor letters with just 3 sixes to go at but at least Niall and Stuart find a 6 amongst that crap.

Round 4: C M I G B A U R N

C1: BRACING (7)
C2: CRUMBING (8)
DC: RUMBAING (8)
Score: 21–21 (max 30)

Stuart takes a risk and the risk pays off. That pulls him back level with Niall as the first numbers game arrives whilst an even dodgier sounding 8 is sought out by Susie (disturbing images of Anne Widdecombe flash through my mind).

Round 5: 75, 7, 8, 9, 6, 2. Target: 260.

C1: 249.
C2: 251. (75+8)*3+2 (5)
RR: 260. (7*8+9)*(6-2) (10)
Score: 21–26 (max 40)

And again it is Stuart who takes the points in this round. Not too close but close enough to nab what may be a crucial 5 points.

DC Guest Time: Gino talks about DC (David Cameron) and I kind of switched off because the only thing I want to hear about David Cameron is if he's died or been severely injured. (JOKES!!!!!!!) Not really.

Teatime teaser: SALTRICE -> ARTICLES

Round 6: S F O E M V U S E

C1: MOUSSE (6)
C2: FUSES (5)
DC: FUMES (5)
OT: FUSEES (6) MOUSES (6)
Score: 27–26 (max 46)

Niall hits the max to regain his earlier lead but only by a point. I think Gino said FUMES here although might have said FUSE, he's too hard to understand. Bloody foreigners.

Round 7: S I N C O E D J R

C1: CONSIDER (8)
C2: CONSIDER (8)
DC: dj JOINERS (7) RESCIND (7)
Score: 35–34 (max 54)

Stuart CONSIDERs (hahahaha roflmao) himself lucky to spot the 8 at the last second to declare it not written down. No harm in that though and the boys march on together. Gino found DJ^, although he could have had DEEJAY of course, but those letters weren't there so he couldn't so I should just shut up.

Round 8: D X A N I T E R P

C1: TRAINED (7)
C2: PERTAIN (7)
DC: DIPTERAN (8)
Score: 42–41 (max 62)

DC are the only ones to spot the darren which any aptonerd would have gulped up.

Round 9: G V S A O E C T I

C1: ACTIVE (6)
C2: COVETS (6)
DC: OCTAVES (7) AVOCETS (7) CAGIEST (7) COSTIVE (7)
OT: ACTIVES (7)
Score: 48–47 (max 69)

Stuart is still sticking with the Champ declaring a 6 in this round whilst Susie reels off 4 sevens with the only one that she missed being ACTIVES annoyingly for Niall!

Susie's Origins of Words: Susie talks about the word buff in the sense that Jeff is a football buff and Rachel is a numbers buff. Or simply just buff to most men.

Round 10: 75, 8, 10, 8, 7, 4. Target: 518.

C1: 518. 75*7-10+(4-8/8) (10)
C2: 519.
Score: 58–47 (max 79)

Niall's 1 point lead is now a wonderful 11 after a decent numbers solve. Stuart will need to beat Niall in a round in the third "half" if he wants to win it.

Teatime teaser: DADBEGAN -> BANDAGED

Round 11: G H D E A I P R F

C1: HARPED (6)
C2: GRADE (5)
DC: FRIED (5) DIGRAPH (7) RAPHIDE (7)
OT: GRAPHED (7)
Score: 64–47 (max 86)

Niall takes a bit of a risk with HARPED but it wasn't really risky at all and he pulls further clear looking good for the win now.

Round 12: L A T L I E M H A

C1: MALLET (6)
C2: MALLET (6)
DC: MALATE (6)
OT: THALAMI (7)
Score: 70–53 (max 93)

Stuart can only match Niall although I don't expect him to pull the darren out here to beat Niall. THALAMI is the plural of THALAMUS which are the large oval areas of grey matter in the brain.

Round 13: N P T O A E D W I

C1: PAINTED (7)
C2: WANTED (6)
DC: POINTED (7) NOTEPAD (7) OPIATED (7)
OT: ANTIPODE (8)
Score: 77–53 (max 101)

With Stuart somehow missing the easiest of 7's in POINTED/PAINTED (Jeff getting POINTED) he is now unable to win the game.

Round 14: 100, 4, 3, 10, 1, 6. Target: 693.

C1: 693. (4+3)*100-(6+1) (10)
C2: 693. (6+1)*100-(4+3) (10)
Score: 87–63 (max 111)

An easy numbers game is beneficial to Niall as his game totals may play a part in the seedings if he makes 7 wins. He could do with this conundrum too and has solved the last 4 out of 4 so I have confidence.

Round 15: T H E N C A N E D

C2 buzzes on 1.5 second to say ENCHANTED which is correct.
Final Score: 87–73 (max 121)

Oh. Stuart poops on Niall with a quick spot to steal 10 points from Niall and makes the score a little closer.

Niall is looking strong enough to win 8 at the moment, he's not been troubled too much at the moment and does show signs of good spots like UNEASILY early on today. Can he actually go all the way though and push Peter Godwin out of the top 8. I hope not, for Peter's sake.

It's me again tomorrow so join me at a later time on Tuesday to see if Niall can turn 5 wins into 6.

For now...goodbye bozos.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63

[James Robinson]

Countdown recap for Monday 22 November 2010.

C1: Champion Niall Young (4 wins, 366 points.)
C2: Challenger Stuart Smith.
DC: Susie Dent and Gino D'Acampo.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

As mentioned in today's recap, 10 too many here too.

[Ryan Taylor]

Countdown recap for Monday 22 November 2010.

C1: Champion Niall Young (4 wins, 366 points.)
C2: Challenger Stuart Smith.
DC: Susie Dent and Gino D'Acampo.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

As mentioned in today's recap, 10 too many here too.

Ha yeah I just asked about this on Tuesday's one. Changed both now.