Friday 10 June 2011 (Series 65, Prelim 5)

[Mike Brown]

Countdown recap for Friday 10 June 2011 (Series 65, Prelim 5).

C1: Champion Graeme Cole (3 wins, 316 points.)
C2: Challenger James Hall.
DC: Susie Dent and Shobna Gulati.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

The first Friday game of the new series is upon us, and it’s a clash between the latest Countdown star, Graeme Cole, who reminds me an awful lot of Chris Cummins, and the returning James Hall, of which more in a moment. It’s great to see Graeme smiling a lot throughout the shows he’s been on so far and he’s obviously enjoying himself. As for James, well, he was originally on the programme back in March playing against octochamp-to-be Andy McGurn and if it wasn’t for him offering TOUGHED and having it disallowed by Susie, he’d have forced a tie-break conundrum. To make matters worse, he had also written down the very definitely allowable TOUGHIE. Susie didn’t really make an error on the day (although she had apologised ‘behind the scenes’ to James), as TOUGH isn’t listed in the dictionary as a verb, although the expression ‘tough it out’ is mentioned in the definition. Apparently, the boffins at Oxford confessed it was an error in the book – I wonder if it will be corrected in ODE4? Anyway, enough of this gay banter, let’s see who wins...

R01: P N B A O I R O B
R02: N T A I E M T D O
R03: C Y R E O E W R C
R04: U E N P L X I T S
R05: 5, 9, 1, 6, 7, 8. Target: 381.
TTT: BOARSLUG - "A boar can't be described as this, but a slug can."
R06: H O S A M I S T U
R07: N R L O A O D E O
R08: W K P A O S E A I
R09: R G S A E I D R A
R10: 2, 7, 6, 1, 10, 8. Target: 536.
TTT: APESGOBY - "You might see these little monkeys at a wedding."
R11: V L S E A A P F I
R12: G T Q N E U I O C
R13: N T A E D R A N E
R14: 10, 2, 5, 7, 9, 8. Target: 643.
R15: C L A R I T I E S (conundrum)


Countdown is sponsored by Neurozan, which is good for the brain apparently. Like fish.

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Jeff opens the show by informing us that Britons spend £395 million a year on shampoo. He then asks Rachel if she invests in lots of potions for her hair. As she shrewdly points out, if you dress smartly, you’re not going to want to ruin your look by washing your hair in Fairy Liquid. Can’t argue with that.

Round 1: P N B A O I R O B

C1: BRAIN (5)
C2: BRAIN (5)
DC: BABOON (6)
OT: BORONIA (7) PRONAOI (7)
Score: 5–5 (max 7)

Graeme and James must be thinking about Neurozan, while DC are monkeying around with a six. Two great maxes: A BORONIA is (surprisingly enough) a shrub and PRONAOI (sing. PRONAOS) are vestibules at the front of temples.

Round 2: N T A I E M T D O

C1: DOMINATE (8)
C2: MEDIANT (7)
DC: tetanoid
OT: ANTIDOTE (8) TOMATINE (8)
Score: 13–5 (max 15)

Graeme dominates with eight, while DC offer a dodgy alternative. Susie even defines it, but obviously no one looked it up, because it isn’t in any more.

Round 3: C Y R E O E W R C

C1: coercer
C2: cowerer
DC: COERCE (6)
Score: 13–5 (max 21)

Both players decide to risk a seven, but there isn’t one there. The low point of the game, really.

Round 4: U E N P L X I T S

C1: PUNIEST (7)
C2: UNSPILT (7)
OT: LUPINES (7) PENULTS (7) PINTLES (7) PUNTIES (7) STIPULE (7) UTENSIL (7)
Score: 20–12 (max 28)

A good UN- word from the challenger and the smallest of words from Graeme, but it’s still worth seven. LUPINES is an American spelling of LUPINS, but presumably it would be allowed, because it’s also pronounced differently.

Round 5: 5, 9, 1, 6, 7, 8. Target: 381.

C1: 382. (((9x8)+6)x5)-7-1 (7)
C2: 381. Mistake in working.
RR: 381. (9x6x7)+8-5 (10)
Score: 27–12 (max 38)

Graeme goes for six small, which James likes too, but it all goes wrong for the lad from Portsmouth as his working-out goes awry, leaving Mr Cole to mop up seven points.

Jeff asks Shobna about Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes before asking her to impress us by saying Coca-Cola in seven different languages. As you’ve probably guessed, they all sound the same. Ms Gulati has come across very well this week and I expect she will return.

Teatime teaser: BOARSLUG -> GLABROUS

In case you were wondering, GLABROUS means ‘free from hair or down’. Like Ken Bruce’s head, for example.

Round 6: H O S A M I S T U

C1: MAHOUTS (7)
C2: shamois
OT: HASSIUM (7) ISTHMUS (7) SHIATSU (7)
Score: 34–12 (max 45)

A chamois leather may colloquially be called a shammy, but unfortunately for James, CHAMOIS is always spelt with a C. HASSIUM is an unstable element (number 108 in the periodic table) and was discovered in 1984.

Round 7: N R L O A O D E O

C1: LOADER (6)
C2: RELOAD (6)
DC: LARDOON (7)
Score: 40–18 (max 52)

Round 8: W K P A O S E A I

C1: POKIES (6)
C2: OKAPIS (6)
DC: WASPIE (6)
OT: AWAKES (6)
Score: 46–24 (max 58)

Everyone goes for the odd words and misses the most common one. As did I.

Round 9: R G S A E I D R A

C1: GRADERS (7)
C2: RAISED (6)
DC: RAIDERS (7)
OT: GIRDERS (7) REGARDS (7)
Score: 53–24 (max 65)

GIRDERS always reminds me of that advert about Irn Bru being made from them.

OoW: In honour of James’s return, Susie suggests some unusual insults he could use against her – as if he would!

Round 10: 2, 7, 6, 1, 10, 8. Target: 536.

C1: 536. ((7x10)-2-1)x8 (10)
C2: 536. (((8x7)-2-1)x10)+6 (10)
Score: 63–34 (max 75)

James picks six from the bottom row, just like he did in his first game.

Teatime teaser: APESGOBY -> PAGEBOYS

Round 11: V L S E A A P F I

C1: VALISE (6)
C2: palsie
DC: SALIVA (6)
OT: FAVELAS (7)
Score: 69–34 (max 82)

Another dodgy word from James. He’ll need something pretty spectacular to recover now.

Round 12: G T Q N E U I O C

C1: QUOTING (7)
C2: QUOTING (7)
DC: QUIET (5) QUOTING (7) QUINCE (6) TONGUE (6)
Score: 76–41 (max 89)

QUOTING kind of leapt out of this set of letters for most people, I suspect.

Round 13: N T A E D R A N E

C1: RANTED (6)
C2: TENNER (6)
DC: ANDANTE (7)
OT: AERATED (7)
Score: 82–47 (max 96)

A tough last letters round sees the contestants limp to a six, while Shobna and Susie are feeling a little musical with ANDANTE.

Round 14: 10, 2, 5, 7, 9, 8. Target: 643.

C1: 643. (7x9x10)+8+5 (10)
C2: 643. (7x9x10)+8+5 (10)
Score: 92–57 (max 106)

Although I wouldn’t call this the most straightforward of numbers games, Jeff seems to think it’s pretty easy. As far as Graeme and James (and most of C4C?) go, he’s probably got a point.

Round 15: C L A R I T I E S

C2 buzzes on 29.25 seconds to say RACIALIST which is incorrect.
C1 does not buzz.
The answer was REALISTIC.
Final Score: 92–57 (max 116)

Graeme’s conundrum-spotting seems to be his Achilles heel as he lets another one slip through his fingers. (Nice, by the way, to see Yvonne from ITV sitting behind the chap who solved the conundrum. Something tells me the audience might have been a bit depleted for this recording.) Will it catch him out before he can get to eight wins? You can find out whether he gets the conundrum on Monday when Jon Culshaw makes his debut on Countdown and Mr. Ryan Taylor will be in the Recap Chair. I’ll see you next Friday when it may well be a case of two new contestants battling it out. We’ll see!

[Apologies to Sophie Krol if this was a bit long-winded. You can wake up now!]

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=65