Tuesday 24th August 2010 (Series 63, Prelim 32)

[Ryan Taylor]

Countdown recap for Tuesday 24 August 2010.

C1: Challenger Matt Cecil.
C2: Challenger Peter Godwin.
DC: Susie Dent and Gary Wilmot.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: S N A D O E M B R
R02: S M I O A T R I E
R03: X G W U E P F O A
R04: Y M T E A R S N A
R05: 100, 5, 7, 4, 6, 7. Target: 253.
TTT: TOMNFERN - "Think about Berry, Plant and Rose but ignore the garden"
R06: R T E O A H C L E
R07: M S R A O E T D G
R08: U I S Q N O T R I
R09: V T W A O A R D I
R10: 100, 25, 3, 8, 2, 8. Target: 884.
TTT: POORDART - "If it opens, you're off the stage"
R11: T K E I N C L E I
R12: D T A U E N N G I
R13: P R E U L N S O E
R14: 75, 8, 4, 6, 5, 3. Target: 222.
R15: M A N C H B E R K (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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After Tom became an octochamp yesterday that meant there were two spaces free.

Step up Matt Cecil a media and PR assistant for Wycombe Wanderers. He has a degree in English and Linguistics from the University of Leeds and says he wants to be a sports broadcaster.

Jeff: Which sports broadcaster do you want to be like?
Matt: [long pause] Des Lynam
Jeff: That's our runner-up today, Matt Cecil.

BANTER!!

And against Matt is the conundrum solverer from yesterday's show, Peter Godwin. He is a retired hotelier and HGV driver from Southampton. He would like to visit Alaska, the Amazon and Antarctica. Jeff asks if he will "start on B next", "yeah Bath and Bristol" replies Peter.

Two seemingly decent chaps and we of course have the superb Gary Wilmot in DC for a second time. His first appearance was good so I'm looking forward to this. Just before we kick things off, Gary mentions his dad (Harry Wilmot) who was a bass vocalist for The Southlanders. His dad, it turns out, sang the line "I am a mole and I live in a hole" which I had never heard of before. So you can imagine my surprise that when Mario ("The Mole") from Big Brother was evicted in 3rd place last night, they played that song. Massive coincidence, I go from not knowing this song to learning about it and hearing it in the same day. I think this wins the coincidence thread hands down.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: S N A D O E M B R

C1: SOMBER (6)
C2: BROADENS (8)
DC: ABDOMENS (8)
OT: BANDORES (8) RANSOMED (8)
Score: 0–8 (max 8)

Peter opens the stronger of the two finding a decent max 8.

Round 2: S M I O A T R I E

C1: MOISTER (7)
C2: ATOMISER (8)
DC: SO
OT: AMORTISE (8) SERIATIM (8)
Score: 0–16 (max 16)

And again finds the very common ATOMISER leaving Matt in a bit of a pickle. Gary had SO for 2 btw.

Round 3: X G W U E P F O A

C1: fuge
C2: WAGE (4)
DC: PAGE APEX
OT: AGUE APEX FAUX GAPE PAGE GAWP OUPA PEGO POUF
Score: 0–20 (max 20)

This is going from bad to worse for Matt as he tries FUGE^ possibly thinking of CENTRIFUGE or something? Or as Susie thought FUGUE. Poor spelling from Matt. 4 was the pitiful max.

Round 4: Y M T E A R S N A

C1: MASTERY (7)
C2: MASTERY (7)
DC: TEARS (5) AMNESTY (7) MARTENS (7)
OT: MANTRAS (7) SMARTEN (7) NAMASTE (7) SMETANA (7) YANTRAS (7)
Score: 7–27 (max 27)

Finally! Matt is on the board.

Round 5: 100, 5, 7, 4, 6, 7. Target: 253.

C1: 254. (6-4)*100+7*7+5 (7)
C2: 263.
RR: 253. (100-5*7)*4-7 (10)
Score: 14–27 (max 37)

And his numbers skillz are better than Peter's. He's right back in this now.

DC Guest Time: Gary tells more tales of funny things that people have said to him. This one involved his daughter when she was very young. She said "I wanna drink", Gary (trying to teach her manners) replied "haven't you forgotten something?" to which his daughter says "ummmmm and a biscuit". Adorable!

Another time his daughter's R.E. teacher asked the class "when do we buy hot cross buns?", she stuck her hand up and said "when it has a reduced sticker on it". Genius! You couldn't write this stuff...oh...I think he just did.

Teatime teaser: TOMNFERN -> FRONTMEN

Round 6: R T E O A H C L E

C1: TEACHER (7)
C2: TREACLE (7)
DC: CHORTLE (7) CHLORATE (8)
OT: TROCHLEAE (18)
Score: 21–34 (max 55)

Good enough 7's from Matt and Peter but there was a 9. Some people on the forum spotted it, well done.

Round 7: M S R A O E T D G

C1: ROASTED (7)
C2: ROASTED (7)
DC: ORGASMED (8)
Score: 28–41 (max 63)

Best part of the show was when Susie ORGASMED.

Round 8: U I S Q N O T R I

C1: QUOITS (6)
C2: SQUINT (6)
DC: NITROUS (7)
OT: IRONIST (7) TURIONS (7)
Score: 34–47 (max 70)

Then she comes out with a 7 beating both contestants who think it's col to use the Q. If that final vowel was an E then REQUINTOS was available as I'm sure everybody was aware of. Particularly Jack "goat" Hurst.

Round 9: V T W A O A R D I

C1: DIRT (4)
C2: TOWARD (6)
DC: AVIATOR (7)
Score: 34–53 (max 77)

Similar set of letters to yesterday and Peter is able to recall TOWARD to take 6 points and enhance is handsome lead. 19 points now, he's looking good for the win.

Susie's Origins of Words: She is still talking about the origin of band names. This time she mentions the Mamas and the Papas, The Petshop Boys and Prefab Sprout. (ALBUQUERQUE!!!!!!)

Round 10: 100, 25, 3, 8, 2, 8. Target: 884.

C1: 883. 100*8+25*3+8 (7)
C2: 886.
OT: 884. (100+8)*8+25-3-2 (10)
Score: 41–53 (max 87)

But Peter's numbers game is a bit shabby again and he is beaten to the 7 points. Rachel rather embarrassingly tries to fudge it but then confesses she did not get this mediocre target. I wonder if Jon Corby hates Rachel now. She might have to win him back over by cheating on quiz machines.

Teatime teaser: POORDART -> TRAPDOOR

TRAPDOOR+H=ARTHROPOD...I learnt this when reviewing Davies' games with Kirk and we saw that Innis had gone with TRAPDOOR but Chris had ARTHROPOD. Amazing stuff.

Round 11: T K E I N C L E I

C1: TICKLE (6)
C2: TINKLE (6)
DC: INCITE (6) nicked KINETIC (7)
OT: CENTILE (7) NECKLET (7) NECKTIE (7)
Score: 47–59 (max 94)

A bit of a slip up from Gary in DC as he says they have NICKED which wasn't available. -KLE is all the craze and Matt and Peter take 6 points each.

Round 12: D T A U E N N G I

C1: DAUNTING (8)
C2: TENDING (7)
DC: tanning DETUNING (8)
OT: UNTINGED (8) INUNDATE (8)
Score: 55–59 (max 102)

Peter will be kicking himself missing a longer -ING word and with Matt spotting the max he's back within 10 points of Peter, a position he hasn't been in since the start of the game.

Round 13: P R E U L N S O E

C1: PRUNES (6)
C2: OPENERS (7)
DC: ELOPERS (7) REPULSE (7)
OT: LEPROUS (7) PELORUS (7) REOPENS (7) PLEURON (7) UNREELS (7) UNROPES (7)
Score: 55–66 (max 109)

Peter comes back strong though and leaves Matt hurting after missing a lot of 7's. Peter may have just saved the day, then again, it is the numbers round coming up and Peter hasn't scored yet on the numbers!

Round 14: 75, 8, 4, 6, 5, 3. Target: 222.

C1: 222. 75*3-8+5 (10)
C2: 222. 75*3-8+5 (10)
Score: 65–76 (max 119)

Luckily for Peter CECIL was being kind. A simple numbers game means Peter is in that lovely position of 11 points ahead and has that awesome feeling that he has just won his first game of Countdown.

Round 15: M A N C H B E R K

C2 buzzes on 6 seconds to say BENCHMARK which is correct.
Final Score: 65–86 (max 129)

Peter keeps up his 100% conundrum success on the show spotting this one fairly quickly. 2/2 conundrums now but Peter needs to work on his numbers especially with 30 points available. It could well prove to be his downfall tomorrow. Hard luck to Matt, the start was what cost him the game, he was slow out of the blocks and he was always chasing the game.

Find out with James tomorrow if Peter can make it to 2 wins and keep up his conundrum solving.

Tatty bye!

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63