Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 22 September 2011.
C1: Champion Andy Royce (2 wins, 170 points.) A legal claims handler from Bristol. He likes golf, but admits to not being as good as his brother, although he did get a hole-in-one when he was 13, which his brother still doesn't have.
C2: Challenger Jacqui Rowley. A complementary therapist from Hertford. She is a practising Buddhist, does yoga and does 5 rhythms dancing, which involves no steps at all.
DC: Susie Dent and Dave Spikey.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: G D E P M I O V R
R02: Q D U I K L A U R
R03: N E S A J T S E D
R04: V T R O I S E N P
R05: 75, 25, 5, 5, 1, 3. Target: 662.
TTT: NOTICEUS - "Bucks, but not dollars. Barks, but not dogs"
R06: L G B U O S I E F
R07: U T D G O W E T I
R08: D M H U O I S U T
R09: C I N M R E S O L
R10: 100, 5, 6, 4, 4, 8. Target: 615.
TTT: SPEDPOOL - "They couldn't have sped through the pool without these"
R11: N T A Z R E H A O
R12: S T S A E N A P F
R13: T U R C N E A L R
R14: 50, 5, 1, 10, 4, 10. Target: 651.
R15: L O W M A R K E T (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Round 1: G D E P M I O V R
C1: PRIMED (6)
C2: groved
DC: PODGIER (7) IMPROVED (8)
Score: 6–0 (max 8)
GROVED
I'd have thought the clue in the word was the OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. 
At least DC IMPROVED considerably. Round 2: Q D U I K L A U R
C1: liquid
C2: QUIRK (5)
OT: ADUKI (5) DRAIL (5) DULIA (5) DURAL (5) KAURI (5) LAIRD (5) LIARD (5) LIDAR (5) LURID (5) QUAIL (5) QUARK (5) QUILA (5) RAULI (5) URIAL (5)
Score: 6–5 (max 13)
Andy turns a blind I on this one, so to speak. There's me thinking that RADULI was a word.
Plenty of 5's to digest though. 
An AZUKI (or ADZUKI) is a leguminous plant, Phaseolus angularis, that has yellow flowers and pods containing edible brown seeds.
A DRAIL is a hook with a lead-covered shank used in trolling.
In Roman Catholic Theology, DULIA is veneration and invocation given to saints as the servants of God.
DURAL means of or pertaining to the dura mater, the tough, fibrous membrane forming the outermost of the three coverings of the brain and spinal cord.
A KAURI is a tall, coniferous tree, Agathis australis, of New Zealand, yielding a valuable timber and a resin.
A LIARD is a former silver coin of France, the fourth part of a sol, issued from the 15th century to 1793 and made from copper after 1650.
A LIDAR is a device similar to radar in principle and operation, but using infrared laser light instead of radio waves and capable of detecting particles and varying physical conditions in the atmosphere.
A URIAL is a wild, bearded sheep, Ovis vignei, of southern Asia, having a reddish coat.
Round 3: N E S A J T S E D
C1: STAND (5)
C2: SENATES (7)
DC: SEDATES (7) STANDEES (8)
OT: ASSENTED (8)
Score: 6–12 (max 21)
Oh dear, Andy is just not using his head, as he not only forgets to add the 2nd S to STAND, but he also misses out on an 8 with not adding the E's too.
Round 4: V T R O I S E N P
C1: STRIVEN (7)
C2: POINTERS (8)
DC: PROTEINS (8) REPOINTS (8)
OT: INVESTOR (8) OVERSPIN (8) OVERTIPS (8) SPORTIVE (8)
Score: 6–20 (max 29)
Oh dear, Jacqui is pulling away as Andy misses many of the available 8's here.
Round 5: 75, 25, 5, 5, 1, 3. Target: 662.
C1: -
C2: 670. ((5 + 3 + 1) x 75) - 5 (5)
OT: 662. ((((75 + 5) x 25) + 1) / 3) - 5 (10)
Score: 6–25 (max 39)
A stinky numbers game just compiles the misery on Andy. It also throws an spanner into Rachel's works too.
Dave talks about unusual baby names given by people to their children such as "Bus Shelter", "Stallion" and "Number 6".
Teatime teaser: NOTICEUS -> COUNTIES
Round 6: L G B U O S I E F
C1: BUGLES (6)
C2: BULGES (6)
DC: BIOFUELS (8)
OT: SOLIFUGE (8)
Score: 12–31 (max 47)
I was pretty happy with BOUGIES for 7, but an impressive 8 is spotted by DC.
Round 7: U T D G O W E T I
C1: OUTED (5)
C2: OUTED (5)
DC: TOUTED (6) GODWIT (6) WIDGET (6)
JS: GUTTED (6)
OT: WIDEOUT (7)
Score: 17–36 (max 54)
The darren is missed by all, as is the 6 that adding a T to OUTED would've given a winning word to either contestant.
Round 8: D M H U O I S U T
C1: SHOUT (5)
C2: MOUTHS (6)
OT: DHOTIS (6) DOTISH (6) MODISH (6) OSTIUM (6) SODIUM (6) STUDIO (6)
Score: 17–42 (max 60)
Plenty of 6's, but this round will always be remembered for this:
Jeff: What's your 5, Andy?
Andy: (After seemingly daydreaming) Oh sorry, SHOUT
Jeff: (SHOUTING) WHAT WAS YOUR 5, ANDY
DOTISH means foolish, weak or an imbecile.
An OSTIUM is a small opening or orifice, as at the end of the oviduct.
Round 9: C I N M R E S O L
C1: CRIMSON (7)
C2: MINCERS (7)
DC: INCOMERS (8)
OT: LICENSOR (8) SERMONIC (8)
Score: 24–49 (max 68)
A few 8's, but the contestants are happy with 7.
Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origins of "lounge", "drawing room", "parlour", "snug" and "front room".
Round 10: 100, 5, 6, 4, 4, 8. Target: 615.
C1: 615. ((100 + 4) x 6) - (5 + 4) (10)
C2: 618.
Score: 34–49 (max 78)
Thankfully nowhere near as tricky as the first one, but is the start of Andy's fightback
Teatime teaser: SPEDPOOL -> PLEOPODS
Round 11: N T A Z R E H A O
C1: THRONE (6)
C2: narate
DC: ANOTHER (7)
OT: ATHANOR (7)
Score: 40–49 (max 85)
Well, Jacqui's lead has shrunk to single figures now, as she thinks that NARRATE needs just 1 R too............
An ATHANOR is a digester furnace with a self-feeding fuel supply contained in a towerlike contrivance, ensuring a constant, durable temperature.
Round 12: S T S A E N A P F
C1: PEASANTS (8)
C2: patanes
Score: 48–49 (max 93)
A DC beater for Andy now. That's the Andy we know and love.
Round 13: T U R C N E A L R
C1: CENTRAL (7)
C2: NATURE (6)
DC: NUCLEAR (7) CENTAUR (7) UNCLEAR (7) CURRANT (7) CURRENT (7)
OT: NEUTRAL (7) TRUNCAL (7) UNCRATE (7)
Score: 55–49 (max 100)
Loadsa loadsa of 7's, but the magic number is 6, which is now Andy's lead. Has Jacqui blown it big time
Round 14: 50, 5, 1, 10, 4, 10. Target: 651.
C1: 650. (10 x 10 x (5 + 1)) + 50 (7)
C2: 650. (10 + 4 - 1) x 50 (7)
JS: 651. ((50 + 10 + 5) x 10) + 1 (10)
Score: 62–56 (max 110)
Another 600-target, but both contestants go for the safe 1 away, leaving Jeff to steal the show. I have a feeling that if he was playing today, then he'd probably have won.
Well, crucial conundrum time it is. Not since Carl solved FLATTERED a week ago has a conundrum been solved.
Will that change today
Round 15: L O W M A R K E T
C1 buzzes on 24.75 seconds to say TOWELMARK which is INCORRECT.
C2 does not buzz.
The answer was METALWORK.
Final Score: 62–56 (max 120)
A big, emphatic NO.
That TOWELMARK guess probably sums up today's game. It was one of the worst combined performances for a good while. To be clinically brutal, it was bordering on farcical today.
Andy's performance in the first 8-9 rounds was a complete shadow to his brilliant showing 2 days ago, but he has managed to get to 3 wins, but he will need to improve a great deal if he's to get 5 more wins to become an octochamp by this time next week.
I'll be back next week for the next installments.
Till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Andy:
Total score - 62
Raw score - 79
Total % of max - 52
Raw % of max - 66
Total average score per round - 4.1
Raw average score per round - 5.3
Number of maxes - 3
Jacqui:
Total score - 56
Raw score - 69
Total % of max - 47
Raw % of max - 58
Total average score per round - 3.7
Raw average score per round - 4.6
Number of maxes - 3
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=65
