Monday 1st February 2010 (Series 62, Prelim 16)

[Howard Somerset]

Countdown recap for Monday 1 February 2010.

C1: Champion Howard Lovelady (1 win, 81 points.)
C2: Challenger Norman Rudland.
DC: Susie Dent and Kaye Adams.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

Howard is back after the weekend break having surprised many people by knocking out James Rawson in his fifth game. Howard is a senior manager in social care, now living in York.
Trying to ensure that Howard's stay in the champions' chair is short-lived, is Norman, known as Norrie, a retired railway signal engineer from Edinburgh. He enjoys Pnk Floyd, pub quizzes and researching family trees.
Back this week for a third visit to dictionary corner is former Loose Women presenter, Kaye Adams.

R01: F D N G I A I A D
R02: M W S E O N C I T
R03: R N Y D A O I I L
R04: S V T S O E O R T
R05: 25, 1, 10, 6, 10, 3. Target: 130.
TTT: RESCALES - "A bit too casual with a whisper, perhaps."
R06: L C B U E R S A O
R07: N F G L A I E U N
R08: T R G P I A E M H
R09: N R N P O E O E D
R10: 75, 3, 3, 4, 2, 6. Target: 566.
TTT: OATPESTO - "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, more?"
R11: S Y Z R E A O E T
R12: N L P T E O A M I
R13: S L D V E O A O R
R14: 75, 3, 5, 10, 7, 2. Target: 759.
R15: M O V E Y C A S T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: F D N G I A I A D

C1: FADING (6)
C2: FADING (6)
DC: NAIAD (5)
OT: ADDING (6) AIDING (6) DANAID (6)
Score: 6–6 (max 6)

Round 2: M W S E O N C I T

C1: COMETS (6)
C2: SECTION (7)
DC: WINSOME (7)
OT: CENTIMOS (8)
Score: 6–13 (max 14)

First blood to Norrie, but not even dictionary corner sees the eight.

Round 3: R N Y D A O I I L

C1: ORDINAL (7)
C2: ORDINAL (7)
DC: RANDILY (7)
Score: 13–20 (max 21)

Round 4: S V T S O E O R T

C1: TOOTERS (7)
C2: VOTERS (6)
DC: TORSOS (6)
Score: 20–20 (max 28)

Howard's risk of a dodgy seven succeeds, and it's level again.

Round 5: 25, 1, 10, 6, 10, 3. Target: 130.

C1: 130. 25 x 6 - 10 - 10 (10)
C2: 130. 10 x 10 + 25 + 6 - 1 (10)
Score: 30–30 (max 38)

Kaye talked about the numerous superstitions from which her mother suffers, but strangely these do not include a fear of Friday the 13th.

Teatime teaser: RESCALES -> CARELESS

Round 6: L C B U E R S A O

C1: CAROUSEL (8)
C2: scourable
DC: SECULAR (7) CURABLE (7)
OT: ROUSABLE (8)
Score: 38–30 (max 46)

An attempt by Norrie to leap into a lead fails, his niner offering not being a valid word. Instead, it's Howard who takes an eight point lead.

Round 7: N F G L A I E U N

C1: fueling
C2: unfeeling
DC: LEAFING (7) LEANING (7) FINAGLE (7)
OT: UNGENIAL (8)
Score: 38–30 (max 54)

A second successive attempt at a nine from Norrie, failing this time because there is no second E in the selection.
Howard's offering is also rejected as it's a US spelling. A double L would be required.
So Howard's lead is unchanged.

Round 8: T R G P I A E M H

C1: PRIMATE (7)
C2: PRIMATE (7)
DC: MIGRATE (7) EPIGRAM (7)
OT: GRAPHITE (8) TERAPHIM (8)
Score: 45–37 (max 62)

Round 9: N R N P O E O E D

C1: OPENED (6)
C2: OPENER (6)
DC: POONED (6)
OT: DONNEE (6) NOONER (6) REOPEN (6) OPERON (6) PENNED (6) PONDER (6) REDONE (6)
Score: 51–43 (max 68)

For the Origins of Words section, Susie returns to a Call My Bluff style, and today Jeff correctly offers tightrope walker as the definition of FUNAMBULIST.

Round 10: 75, 3, 3, 4, 2, 6. Target: 566.

C1: 566. Mistake in working.
C2: -
RR: 566. (75 + 3 + 2) x (4 + 3) + 6 (10)
Score: 51–43 (max 78)

Howard's attempt actually took him to 564, and so the lead as we go into the second interval is still 8 points.

Teatime teaser: OATPESTO -> POTATOES

Round 11: S Y Z R E A O E T

C1: teazers
C2: ORATES (6)
DC: ERASE (5)
OT: ROSEATE (7)
Score: 51–49 (max 85)

Another mis-spelling costs Howard, whose lead is now cut to two points. Susie tells us that Z can be used in an alternative spelling for TEASEL, but not for TEASE.

Round 12: N L P T E O A M I

C1: POLENTA (7)
C2: IMPLANT (7)
DC: PTOMAINE (8)
Score: 58–56 (max 93)

Round 13: S L D V E O A O R

C1: LOVERS (6)
C2: OVERLOADS (18)
Score: 58–74 (max 111)

Norrie finally succeeds with a nine, at a very crucial time.

Round 14: 75, 3, 5, 10, 7, 2. Target: 759.

C1: 759. 10 x 75 + 7 + 2 (10)
C2: 759. 10 x 75 + 7 + 2 (10)
Score: 68–84 (max 121)

Round 15: M O V E Y C A S T

No one buzzes. The answer was VASECTOMY.
Score: 68–84 (max 131)

The conundrum was solved by a man in the audience sitting closely behind Dudley Doolittle.

So Norrie starts the week with a win, thus moving seats for tomorrow's game.

Apologies for the slight delay in today's recap; it was only passed to me this morning by Kai who's rather busy with other things right now. We'll be hearing from him again very soon.

Statistics Corner

Howard:
Total score - 68
Raw score - 80
Total % of max - 51.9
Raw % of max - 61.1
Total average score per round - 4.5
Raw average score per round - 5.3
Number of maxes - 7 (five letters, two numbers)

Norrie:
Total score - 84
Raw score - 90
Total % of max - 64.1
Raw % of max - 68.7
Total average score per round - 5.6
Raw average score per round - 6.0
Number of maxes - 6 (four letters, two numbers)


Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=62

[Dinos Sfyris]

Howard is back after the weekend break having surprised many people by knocking out James Rawson in his fifth game.

For a minute I thought you were talking about yourself in the 3rd person here mate!

[Howard Somerset]

Howard is back after the weekend break having surprised many people by knocking out James Rawson in his fifth game.

For a minute I thought you were talking about yourself in the 3rd person here mate!

It would be even more surprising if you were to recap a game with another contestant called Dinos.