Countdown recap for Tuesday 29 June 2021.
Anne reminds us that three girls are doing Countdown and that the tea areas are tidier. In the intro, Rachel moans that Anne's chair is better than hers.
C1: Champion Steve Francom (2 wins, 157 points.)
C2: Challenger Louise Roberts. Originally from Bedford, now in Great Yarmouth. She's getting married in September. After 18 months. Bit quick to get married?
DC: Susie Dent and Rory Bremner.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: R P L O A O V U T
R02: W S D I I E Y D H
R03: 100, 25, 4, 8, 8, 9. Target: 251.
TTT: MADSMILE - "You ring Ms Watson's phone to talk about your problems."
R04: P R D I A O G T O
R05: B I H E D N E G U
R06: 50, 3, 2, 6, 5, 6. Target: 172.
R07: N E L R K A A M G
R08: M S O I O L N T M
R09: 50, 75, 100, 6, 8, 4. Target: 856.
TTT: BOBSALLY - "Bob and his brothers worked as these, but Sally didn't."
R10: N S N A I T F E N
R11: E O S R I W S G D
R12: C T P T U E E N R
R13: M P T U A U S F E
R14: 25, 100, 6, 8, 7, 4. Target: 647.
R15: H O L Y W A L L S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: R P L O A O V U T
Steve: UPROOT (6)
Louise: OVAL (4)
DC: PATROL (6) OVULATOR (8)
Score: 6–0 (max 8, jos 8)
Darren-o-meter: 1/1 (100%)
Although The Oval is the best cricket ground in the country, it's not a great Countdown word and Steve takes an early lead. Susie tells us an OVULATOR is a mammal who ovulates. So... a female, then?
Round 2: W S D I I E Y D H
Steve: WISHED (6)
Louise: WISHED (6)
DC: DISHED (6) WIDDIES (7)
Score: 12–6 (max 15, jos 15)
Darren-o-meter: 2/2 (100%)
Six for the contestants, a second darren out of two for DC.
Round 3: 100, 25, 4, 8, 8, 9. Target: 251.
Steve: 250.
Louise: 251. (100 + 25) × 8 ÷ 4 + 9 − 8 (10)
Score: 12–16 (max 25, jos 25)
This isn't hugely easy but Louise sees the way and takes the lead.
Teatime teaser: MADSMILE -> DILEMMAS
Round 4: P R D I A O G T O
Steve: ADOPT (5)
Louise: TORPID (6)
DC: PAROTID (7)
OT: PAROTOID (8)
Score: 12–22 (max 33, jos 32)
Darren-o-meter: 3/3 (100%)
Louise extends her lead with an excellent six, with a very obscure eight beating everyone.
Round 5: B I H E D N E G U
Steve: HEEDING (7)
Louise: BEHIND (6)
DC: BEGUINE (7)
OT: BUNGEED (7) NEIGHED (7)
Score: 19–22 (max 40, jos 39)
Darren-o-meter: 3/4 (75%)
It's our first non-darren round of the day and it's also Steve's first max which gets him to within 3 points.
Round 6: 50, 3, 2, 6, 5, 6. Target: 172.
Steve: 172. 3 × 50 + 6 × 5 − (6 + 2) (10)
Louise: 168.
Score: 29–22 (max 50, jos 49)
And now it's Louise's turn to miss an average-difficulty numbers game, putting Steve back in the lead.
Rory talks about when he used his impression talents to do prank calling, including calling his girlfriend pretending to be an ex, and prank calling various MPs in 1993 as then PM John Major, which was so believable it accidentally stopped a backbench rebellion. He also describes Ed Miliband's voice as a cross between Tony Blair and Chris Tarrant.
Round 7: N E L R K A A M G
Steve: MANAGER (7)
Louise: MANGLER (7)
OT: ALKARGEN (8)
Score: 36–29 (max 58, jos 56)
Darren-o-meter: 4/5 (80%)
Couple of sevens, one obscure eight.
Round 8: M S O I O L N T M
Steve: MOTIONS (7)
Louise: MOONLIT (7)
OT: LOTIONS (7) MOLIMOS (7) MOLINOS (7) NOMOLIS (7) SOLITON (7)
Score: 43–36 (max 65, jos 63)
Darren-o-meter: 4/6 (67%)
A flat round of sevens but I'm surprised Louise didn't go for LOTIONS, it was screaming out at us.
Round 9: 50, 75, 100, 6, 8, 4. Target: 856.
Steve: 856. 100 × 8 + 50 + 6 (10)
Louise: 856. 100 × 8 + 50 + 6 (10)
Score: 53–46 (max 75, jos 73)
thank u, next.
Teatime teaser: BOBSALLY -> BALLBOYS
Anne reminds us again that three girls are doing Countdown, which leads to a discussion on making sure their outfits don't clash, since Susie only ever wears black according to Rachel and thus Anne decides not to wear black again. A shame, as black is very much her colour.
Round 10: N S N A I T F E N
Steve: NANNIES (7)
Louise: INFANTS (7)
DC: TANNIES (7) INFANTES (8)
OT: NANNITES (8)
Score: 60–53 (max 83, jos 81)
Darren-o-meter: 4/7 (57%)
Both Steve and Louise will be kicking themselves, or perhaps not depending on whether they were aware of the 8s' existences as words.
Round 11: E O S R I W S G D
Steve: DOWSERS (7)
Louise: GROSSED (7)
DC: DOSSIER (7) DOWRIES (7)
OT: DIGRESS (7) DROWSES (7) GODISES (7) ROWDIES (7) SODGERS (7) WEIRDOS (7) WIDGERS (7) WORDIES (7)
Score: 67–60 (max 90, jos 88)
Darren-o-meter: 4/8 (50%)
Flat.
Susie talks about the evolution of English, including evolutions from wrong ways of saying things, such as "mischievious", "grevious bodily harm", and she talks at length about "nucular".
Round 12: C T P T U E E N R
Steve: PUNTER (6)
Louise: TUREEN (6)
DC: percent PUTTEE (6)
OT: CURETTE (7) PRECENT (7)
Score: 73–66 (max 97, jos 94)
Darren-o-meter: 4/9 (44%)
Sixes for the studio as Rory falls into the Americanism trap of having per cent as one word. There was an anagram of it, but it goes unnoticed.
After the round, Anne tells us Louise is a member of Mensa, almost trying to put Steve down. Girl power!
Round 13: M P T U A U S F E
Steve: PUMAS (5)
Louise: STUMP (5)
DC: SPUTUM (6)
OT: EMPUSA (6) ESTUFA (6) FUMETS (6) MEATUS (6) MUSEAU (6) MUTASE (6) SEPTUM (6)
Score: 78–71 (max 103, jos 100)
Darren-o-meter: 4/10 (40%)
Not a great day for the letters and it finishes with just fives for our contestants.
Round 14: 25, 100, 6, 8, 7, 4. Target: 647.
Steve: 648. (100 + 8) × 6 (7)
Louise: 650.
RR: 647. (100 + 8 + 4) × 6 − 25 (10)
Score: 85–71 (max 113, jos 110)
Louise's 2 large selection presumably is designed to take it to a conundrum, but she fails to spot the very easy 1 away, let alone the bang-on solution, which gives Steve his third win.
Round 15: H O L Y W A L L S
Louise buzzes on 2 seconds to say SHALLOWLY which is correct.
Final Score: 85–81 (max 123, jos 120)
That said, Louise is lightning quick on the conundrum which will make Steve ever more grateful he beat her on the final numbers round. It was a good game, if a relatively low-scoring one, and we will be back tomorrow to see whether Steve gets halfway to becoming an octochamp.
Anne doesn't say "goodbye" this time, but she still gives her little...
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=84