Spoilers for Monday 29th June 2026 - "Restaurant rule" Scrapped after 24 years

[Philip A]

The new series and the last before the 2027 Champion of Champions begins with a change to the rules.

From now on, all plurals mass nouns will be disallowed on Countdown (and Apterous). The dictionary must either give the plural in bold, or have a [count noun] sentence on the page.

This means no more ‘tiramisus’ or ‘polentas’. The suggestion that you could order more than one in a restaurant is no more.

To be clear: this is a change made to Countdown and not a change made to Oxford Dictionaries Premium.

Not a huge change really, but I think it’s good to keep the rules fair and consistent.

[John Garcia]

To be clear: this is a change made to Countdown and not a change made to Oxford Dictionaries Premium.

Would have been funnier if you'd said: "To be clear: this is a change made to Countdown and not a change made to restaurant menus"
Seriously though I think it's a good change.
The existence of the rule was completely arbitrary in the sense that you can reasonably use such plural mass nouns in other contexts. Linguistically there is nothing unique about a restaurant or food.

[Gevin Chapwell]

Linguine speaking there is though.

[Philip A]

To be clear: this is a change made to Countdown and not a change made to Oxford Dictionaries Premium.

Would have been funnier if you'd said: "To be clear: this is a change made to Countdown and not a change made to restaurant menus"
Seriously though I think it's a good change.
The existence of the rule was completely arbitrary in the sense that you can reasonably use such plural mass nouns in other contexts. Linguistically there is nothing unique about a restaurant or food.

Fully agree.

[Gevin Chapwell]

I think it was likely triggered by LAGERS being disallowed 4 times in under a year in 2001/2, whereas BRANDIES was allowed simply because it was an "irregular" plural and explicitly listed. Maybe the dictionary is better designed these days. Will LAGERS be allowed based on the dictionary entry of LAGER?

[Philip A]

I think it was likely triggered by LAGERS being disallowed 4 times in under a year in 2001/2, whereas BRANDIES was allowed simply because it was an "irregular" plural and explicitly listed. Maybe the dictionary is better designed these days. Will LAGERS be allowed based on the dictionary entry of LAGER?

Yes, LAGERS is fine as there is a count noun sentence on the page. Same for BRANDIES and COFFEES.

[Gevin Chapwell]

Where did this news come from btw? According to this Apterous ticket, there already wasn't a restaurant rule back in 2024.

[Philip A]

Where did this news come from btw? According to this Apterous ticket, there already wasn't a restaurant rule back in 2024.

Here it is.

[Gevin Chapwell]

Where did this news come from btw? According to this Apterous ticket, there already wasn't a restaurant rule back in 2024.

Here it is.

Ah yes, thanks. I did see that but forgot where I saw it. Seems they actually introduced the change earlier (at least as far back as 2024) but just forgot about it.

[Fiona T]

yeah it got removed from the guidelines, but was still applied on the show. Contestants are now explicitly briefed that it's not a thing. Does make sense but there are some daft examples which aren't flagged as count where many of the example sentences are pluralised, but that's down to the dictionary.

[Ian Volante]

Sausages?

[Martin Hurst]

Sausages?

https://youtube.com/shorts/g5qLcjcJ3UQ? ... Q1B5wz1jbm

[Gevin Chapwell]

I thought it was going to be Keir Starmer.

[John Garcia]

Sausages?

It's listed as a (non-mass) noun first (1), then (1.1) as a mass noun. So sausages is fine.

noun
1 an item of food in the form of a cylindrical length of minced pork or other meat encased in a skin, typically sold raw to be grilled or fried before eating.
1.1[mass noun] minced and seasoned meat encased in a skin and cooked or preserved, sold mainly to be eaten cold in slices: smoked German sausage

[Philip A]

Sausages?

It's listed as a (non-mass) noun first (1), then (1.1) as a mass noun. So sausages is fine.

noun
1 an item of food in the form of a cylindrical length of minced pork or other meat encased in a skin, typically sold raw to be grilled or fried before eating.
1.1[mass noun] minced and seasoned meat encased in a skin and cooked or preserved, sold mainly to be eaten cold in slices: smoked German sausage

I think Ian was joking.

[Philip A]

Is this the first time that the first show of any series had a contestant declaring a 9 in the first letters game?