Countdown recap for Wednesday 30 June 2021.
Anne reminds us that she's older than Countdown itself. Rachel instructs her to always be nice to her and Susie, and explains that she and Pasha stayed in bed (wink wink) during the lockdown(s).
C1: Champion Steve Francom (3 wins, 242 points.) An accountant, whereupon Anne slips into Weakest Link mode and says "he thinks as it's as exciting as it sounds".
C2: Challenger Jo Nice. A store manager in retail in Chelmsford, living in Colchester, setting up a running joke about the fact there's shoplifters running amok in her store throughout the episode. She's also single, so Anne slips into Weakest Link mode and points out there's an army base in Colchester and she should have a go on the men. (Fine, as long as I go first.) She's also wearing bright yellow, and Anne is wearing bright pink (apparently because Jo likes bright pink), so today's episode looks a bit like discount Teletubbies.
DC: Susie Dent and Rory Bremner.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: A T C E N G A R I
R02: S L S D U A E N B
R03: 25, 100, 8, 1, 3, 9. Target: 826.
TTT: TINYMORE - "He thought his problems were tiny, but he couldn't be more wrong."
R04: D H L O T E A J S
R05: N P R O U E M L E
R06: 4, 3, 10, 1, 4, 5. Target: 265.
R07: R O E T L A G S F
R08: H R W S E O E P D
R09: 25, 50, 10, 8, 7, 3. Target: 796.
TTT: SAYSLOVE - "When it comes to sausages, these aren't the weakest links."
R10: M T P L I U A K E
R11: M O T I S D O U T
R12: R S W S I A E D N
R13: I O D Y G R I A F
R14: 10, 1, 1, 8, 3, 4. Target: 755.
R15: B E T T Y C O O D (conundrum)
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: A T C E N G A R I
Steve: REACTING (8)
Jo: REACTING (8)
DC: CREATING (8)
OT: AERATING (8) CANAIGRE (8) CARINATE (8) CATERING (8) CITRANGE (8) CRANIATE (8)
Score: 8–8 (max 8, jos 8)
Darren-o-meter: 0/1 (0%)
Lots of -ING 8s to start us off, including for our contestants and DC.
Round 2: S L S D U A E N B
Steve: BUNDLES (7)
Jo: bandless (risky)
DC: BALDNESS (8)
OT: SUBDEANS (8)
Score: 15–8 (max 16, jos 16)
Darren-o-meter: 0/2 (0%)
Jo asked to declare first, even though her word is longer. It gives Steve a 7-point lead.
Round 3: 25, 100, 8, 1, 3, 9. Target: 826.
Steve: 826. 8 × 100 + 25 + 1 (10)
Jo: 825.
Score: 25–8 (max 26, jos 26)
thank u, ne-- wait, what? How did Jo miss that!?
Teatime teaser: TINYMORE -> ENORMITY
Round 4: D H L O T E A J S
Steve: JOLTED (6)
Jo: JOSTLED (7)
DC: LOATHED (7) SHOALED (7)
OT: AJOSTLE (7) LOATHES (7)
Score: 25–15 (max 33, jos 33)
Darren-o-meter: 0/3 (0%)
Jo gets the gap back to 10 points by inserting an S into Steve's word. Missing that Ariana numbers game probably stings even more now.
Round 5: N P R O U E M L E
Steve: REPLUME (7) (risky)
Jo: MOURN (5)
DC: OPENER (6)
OT: ENPLUME (7) PLEROME (7) PLEURON (7) POLEMEN (7) PREMUNE (7)
Score: 32–15 (max 40, jos 40)
Darren-o-meter: 0/4 (0%)
Lots of 7s but only Steve in the studio manages to see one.
Jo says "she likes the numbers". She didn't in Round 3...
Round 6: 4, 3, 10, 1, 4, 5. Target: 265.
Steve: 269.
Jo: 262. (4 + 1) × 5 × 10 + 3 × 4 (7)
RR: 265. ((4 + 1) × 10 + 3) × 5 (10)
Score: 32–22 (max 50, jos 50)
Jo gets three away and gets the gap back down to 10 points.
Rory's impression today is David Attenborough as an intro into his wildlife charity work. He also does a bit of Boris Johnson, saying Northern Labour MPs are now an endangered species too.
Round 7: R O E T L A G S F
Steve: FLOATERS (8)
Jo: SOFTER (6)
DC: GLOATERS (8) LEGATORS (8)
OT: FROGLETS (8) REFLOATS (8)
Score: 40–22 (max 58, jos 58)
Darren-o-meter: 0/5 (0%)
There's a FLOATER from Steve. And that's all I need to say about that.
Round 8: H R W S E O E P D
Steve: SHOWERED (8)
Jo: SHOWERED (8)
DC: RESHOWED (8)
OT: DEPOWERS (8)
Score: 48–30 (max 66, jos 66)
Darren-o-meter: 0/6 (0%)
Eights for our contestants, one more for DC, and one more for the computer.
Round 9: 25, 50, 10, 8, 7, 3. Target: 796.
Steve: 795. (not written down) (50 + 25 + 3) × 10 + 8 + 7 (7)
Jo: 795. (7 − 3) × 8 × 25 − 50 ÷ 10 (7)
RR: 796. (after the ad break) (25 − 10) × (50 + 3) + 8 − 7 (10)
Score: 55–37 (max 76, jos 76)
Rachel has to use the ad break to get this one, which is very difficult and both contestants settle for 1 away.
Teatime teaser: SAYSLOVE -> SAVELOYS
My brother got the teaser, which he was overjoyed with.
Round 10: M T P L I U A K E
Steve: IMPUTE (6)
Jo: MAPLE (5)
DC: UPTAKE (6) MAPLIKE (7)
OT: ALUMITE (7) METALIK (7) PALMIET (7) PLUMATE (7)
Score: 61–37 (max 83, jos 83)
Darren-o-meter: 0/7 (0%)
Steve extends his lead further, with Susie able to take us to 7, before she explains hyphens are on their way out, and many words are now becoming one word rather than hyphenated.
Round 11: M O T I S D O U T
Steve: UTMOST (6)
Jo: STOUT (5)
OT: OUTMOST (7)
Score: 67–37 (max 90, jos 89)
Darren-o-meter: 1/8 (13%)
No DC words make the edit, as it's straight into OOW. The gap goes out to 30.
OOW Susie tells us about eggcorn.
Round 12: R S W S I A E D N
Steve: SANDIER (7)
Jo: RAINED (6)
DC: WARDENS (7) WARINESS (8) SARDINES (8)
OT: ARIDNESS (8) SWANDRIS (8)
Score: 74–37 (max 98, jos 97)
Darren-o-meter: 1/9 (11%)
Steve isn't across the line yet but Jo will need a metamax 38 from the last three rounds to win it now. There are eights from DC.
Unfortunately, as this point I accidentally refreshed the recap writer, so had to restart the episode again on All4. Sloblock.
Round 13: I O D Y G R I A F
Steve: FRIGID (6)
Jo: ROAD (4)
OT: FIGARY (6) GODIFY (6) RAIOID (6)
Score: 80–37 (max 104, jos 103)
Darren-o-meter: 1/10 (10%)
And that gets Steve across the line and into the promised land of half-octochampdom, with Jo only on 4.
Round 14: 10, 1, 1, 8, 3, 4. Target: 755.
Steve: -
Jo: -
RR: 756. (7)
OT: 756. (10 − 1) × (8 − 1) × 4 × 3 (7)
Score: 80–37 (max 111, jos 110)
This is a horrible 6 small and your only scoring options are 750, 756, and 760.
Round 15: B E T T Y C O O D
No one buzzes. Susie gives the answer, which was BOYCOTTED.
Final Score: 80–37 (max 121, jos 120)
Once again, my brother beat me to the conundrum which he was unduly happy about. He also beat both contestants, so I may just print out an application form on his behalf.
It's four wins for Steve, which means he's halfway to becoming an octochamp at Anne's earliest possibility, just as how Nick Hewer's era began with Jack Worsley...?
Join us again for Countdown. Goodbye.
Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=84