Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 7 April 2011.
C1: Champion Colin Young (1 win, 75 points.) A semi-retired social care worker from Wales. As well as his love of yachts, his main passions are acting and music. He has also had the pleasure of meeting Her Majesty, The Queen as part of the Leonard Cheshire Disability charity, where he was invited to St. James' Palace for a celebratory dinner.
C2: Challenger Graham Hill. Clearly not the ex-Formula 1 racing driver, but a retired policeman from Market Drayton, Shropshire. As well as having 4 grandchildren, he has adopted 4........ elephants from Kenya
He also enjoys photography and reading and spent a month in China near the Tibetan border.DC: Susie Dent and Dave Spikey.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: P F I S A R U A S
R02: C G R O E J I R N
R03: Z C N E X I L O D
R04: S W D A O M I H S
R05: 25, 50, 2, 1, 6, 7. Target: 730.
TTT: CROSSCUE - "The bird begins to swear about the plants"
R06: L T M E O E L P A
R07: R N E N U V T I A
R08: R V T E I Y M E N
R09: R T P A G I P U E
R10: 100, 5, 3, 8, 9, 3. Target: 626.
TTT: CLADSEED - "Cleaned out the kettle of fish, perhaps?"
R11: L D O D E B O I T
R12: Q S N S E I A R G
R13: B C N I W E D I S
R14: 25, 50, 100, 75, 5, 2. Target: 358.
R15: C R U S H R A G E (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: P F I S A R U A S
C1: AURAS (5)
C2: PAIRS (5)
DC: SAFARIS (7)
OT: FUSARIA (7)
Score: 5–5 (max 7)
A nice 5 start for the contestants, but DC bring a very good 7 out of the bag.
A FUSARIUM (plural FUSARIA) is any fungus of the genus Fusarium, occurring primarily in temperate regions and causing a variety of diseases in plants and animals, producing in humans a loss of fingernails and sometimes blindness.
Round 2: C G R O E J I R N
C1: REIGN (5)
C2: REGION (6)
DC: JOINER (6) CORING (6)
OT: CORNIER (7) CRINGER (7) IGNORER (7)
Score: 5–11 (max 14)
An early lead for Graham, as DC miss the not uncommon 7's there.
Round 3: Z C N E X I L O D
C1: COINED (6)
C2: CLONE (5)
DC: DOCILE (6) LEXICON (7)
Score: 11–11 (max 21)
Colin gets back level, although Graham could've stuck the D on the end to have CLONED for 6.
Round 4: S W D A O M I H S
C1: SHADOWS (7)
C2: SHADOWS (7)
Score: 18–18 (max 28)
No-one wants to come out of the SHADOWS in this one.
Round 5: 25, 50, 2, 1, 6, 7. Target: 730.
C1: 726.
C2: 730. (50 x 2 x 7) + 25 + 6 - 1 (10)
Score: 18–28 (max 38)
And Graham retakes the lead with that nice solve.
Dave talks about his "eccentric" 93-year-old granny who keeps on telling him odd sayings.
Teatime teaser: CROSSCUE -> CROCUSES
Round 6: L T M E O E L P A
C1: TEMPLE (6)
C2: PALLET (6)
DC: MALLET (6) PELMET (6)
OT: MALLEE (6) METOPE (6) OLEATE (6) PELLET (6) PELOTA (6) PELTAE (6)
Score: 24–34 (max 44)
There looked like more than 6, but amazingly there weren't....
A MALLEE is any of various dwarf Australian eucalyptuses, as Eucalyptus dumosa and Eucalyptus oleosa, that sometimes form large tracts of brushwood.
A METOPE is any of the square spaces, either decorated or plain, between triglyphs in the Doric frieze.
An OLEATE is an ester or a salt of oleic acid.
Round 7: R N E N U V T I A
C1: NATIVE (6)
C2: NATIVE (6)
DC: URINATE (7) VAUNTER (7)
OT: ENTRAIN (7) TAURINE (7) TRANNIE (7) UNRIVET (7) VENTURI (7) VINTNER (7)
Score: 30–40 (max 51)
Plenty of 7's this time, as Dave carries on from where he left off yesterday with his spot of URINATE.
Round 8: R V T E I Y M E N
C1: INVERT (6)
C2: EVERY (5)
DC: MINTER (6) VERMIN (6)
OT: VIREMENT (8)
Score: 36–40 (max 59)
Colin closes back in with his 6, which oddly enough, was available in the last round too.
A VIREMENT is an administrative transfer of funds from one part of a budget to another.
Round 9: R T P A G I P U E
C1: TIPPER (6)
C2: TIPPER (6)
DC: GAPPIER (7)
OT: PERIAPT (7)
Score: 42–46 (max 66)
More equalling by the contestants as DC get another 7.
Susie's Origins Of Words carries on with the nursery rhyme theme with the origin of "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary".
Round 10: 100, 5, 3, 8, 9, 3. Target: 626.
C1: 627. ((9 - 3) x (100 + 5)) - 3 (7)
C2: -
RR: 626. ((9 - 3) x (100 + 3)) + 8 (10)
Score: 49–46 (max 76)
And Colin takes the lead for the first time today with his 1 away, leaving Rachel to tidy up.
Teatime teaser: CLADSEED -> DESCALED
Round 11: L D O D E B O I T
C1: BOILED (6)
C2: TODDLE (6)
DC: BLOOD (5) BLOODIED (8)
Score: 55–52 (max 84)
Dave's medical connections help out again with getting the darrenic 8, as the contestants settle for 6.
Round 12: Q S N S E I A R G
C1: SEARING (7)
C2: INGRESS (7)
DC: REASSIGN (8)
OT: ASSIGNER (8)
Score: 62–59 (max 92)
Dave does it again in DC, as the contestants get some good 7's.
Round 13: B C N I W E D I S
C1: WINCED (6)
C2: WINCED (6)
DC: INDICES (7)
OT: INCISED (7)
Score: 68–65 (max 99)
This game is still very nip/tuck as we head into the last numbers. I wouldn't like to call it either.....
Round 14: 25, 50, 100, 75, 5, 2. Target: 358.
C1: 350.
C2: 353. ((5 - 2) x 100) + 50 + (75 / 25) (7)
RR: 358. ((100 + 75 + 5) x 2) - (50 / 25) (10)
Score: 68–72 (max 109)
I certainly didn't expect a 4 large from Graham, but he does what he needed to do and has taken the lead again, as we head into a crucial conundrum.....
Round 15: C R U S H R A G E
No one buzzes. The answer was SURCHARGE.
Final Score: 68–72 (max 119)
...which no-one gets, leaving Graham as the winner of this very tight game which had twists and turns aplenty.
Mike will be back tomorrow to see how much further he can go....
So, till next week, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Colin:
Total score - 68
Raw score - 85
Total % of max - 57
Raw % of max - 71
Total average score per round - 4.5
Raw average score per round - 5.7
Number of maxes - 2
Graham:
Total score - 72
Raw score - 82
Total % of max - 61
Raw % of max - 69
Total average score per round - 4.8
Raw average score per round - 5.5
Number of maxes - 3
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=64