c4countdown

What a day it’s been at the World Cup with many of the nations you might have expected to dominate and go through falling like dominoes instead. Time flies too, it’s been five years since Nick Hewer’s last episode (hope he’s doing well in retirement!), Adam Latchford being crowned the Grand Champion of Series 83 and ten years since Prince’s death too. Back to the present, and all three players who scored above 900 Points in their Preliminaries are still in the game, but one of them will be knocked out at the end here. Luke’s got his best suit on as he anticipates this will be his last appearance, and thank you to whoever had the idea of comparing him in his Preliminaries earlier in the year to now (missed opportunity for John Payne last Series sadly though). The atmosphere’s going to be more serious here, so let’s see how Charlie and him get on!

First Third: Good start as per usual in R1, and as I’m sure some of you would like to SIP on a cold drink on such a HOT day in R2 just as what the letters reminds you. The first breakaway happens with Charlie pulling ahead with TROPHIES, talk about the trophy here being presented tomorrow! Alright, 6 Small it is again from Charlie here, and oh dear, such an achievable target as Rachel slides out of the screen, absolutely not worthy of the Semi-Finals indeed, but not before Luke manages to smile at Charlie just like how Ian and Patrick did in the same round!

Second Third: Bless Tamara and Tom on the Countdown Production Team as we come back from the first break, with many of our former contestants writing in the Daily Chat how the both of them were extremely pleasant and helpful assistants when they were on the show. The gap widens with Charlie spotting the medical term CASEOUS in R4, but doesn’t do so in R5 with both getting PEAVINE. “Oh, Rachel… ”, goes Luke as he picks 6 Small reluctantly, and you could just about see Charlie trying to suppress his laughter from that hilarious encounter. There goes CECIL again with another easy target, great plan innit with Rachel going “Pwoah…”. Waste of more time (and ink) then with a boring round. After a bizarre Anecdotal quiz to temporarily take off our minds from this game in which no one got a single answer right , Charlie pulls ahead more with TANGELO in R8 as the letters selection reminded me about LATENESS yesterday in the meantime. I was expecting Charlie to go for 6 Small again in R9, but Rachel is the winner here as she predicted a 1 Large puzzle given how CECIL has been ridiculous today. Here comes a hard one with no way out using 25 × 15 + 1, so it’s no surprise both get one away and Luke remarking “Good” as Rachel confirms his solution after some mental calculation of 378; he probably thought he’d gone wrong, but phew!

Last Third: “What a nice anagram in R10”, I thought, because it really is and there was a nine in there, with both getting SEROTINES! Luke then proceeds to go with the obscure word of ZEUGMAS in R11 to tie with Charlie’s MORGUES. Into Origins of Words, and if you could get the spelling of those two words without subtitles or any reference, then you are no doubt a genius, just saying . Thereafter, the selections just became more generous here, and with Charlie’s DORADO to match Luke’s ADROIT in R13, it’s over, the second spot in the Grand Final is filled and Luke is really heading out. The last 1 Large puzzle comes from him and it’s manageable for a Semi-Finals if you spot the solution (ironically compared to the 6 Small puzzles here). Bad luck, he misses and Charlie cements his win! Now, can Charlie make it a perfect ten in terms of the conundrum solves just like Patrick or will his streak be stopped? Here comes DeCLAN RICE (nearly) and an appropriate scrabble in the World Cup season! Charlie buzzes in and confidently says it’s about time and seasonal things! I’m just dizzy at this point! What in the world just happened?! Someone help me out here!

Just like yesterday’s Semi-Finals, this match had little room for error, a slip-up and whoever drops behind will lose out. Sadly, that’s Luke whom I initially predicted would be beaten by Charlie with a margin of 20-25 points, but it ended up way wider at 42 points . However, I’m sure he’ll take the “prize” of best-dressed for Finals here and no one can beat him. I agree with Colin, if Patrick and Charlie weren’t here he’ll no doubt be the #1 Seed and the top contender for Grand Champion (which happened to be the case for months!). I’ve seen his name floating around for years on Apterous, seen his rise, and was wondering when he would come on the show, and he did just that this year. His journey may have come to an end here, but may it continue online for years to come. Give yourself a pat on the back and see you around when I’m next online in the in-game client, that’s for sure!

And so, the stage for the Grand Final is now set, with yet again the top two seeds facing each other. Both Patrick and Charlie have had incredible and record breaking runs thus far, solving 10 out of 10 of their conundrums, both scoring above 1200 points each and never dropped below a century in every single game thus far. Already meme-worthy images have been flying around on Discord with Charlie teasing it’s a Hydrogen Bomb vs a Hydrogen Bomb and Brett Davids, our Series 92 Runner-Up, generating an AI image of the both of them in a gladiator arena. Whose fuse is going to blow first, and who will be the first victorious champion of 2026 in the arena? You certainly do not want to miss this Final live, one that I think many of us will look back in awe!

Progress:
QF1 (18 June 2026): Patrick Thompson (#1) vs Tom Bashford (#8) (118 - 64)
QF2 (19 June 2026): Charlie Harrison (#2) vs Megel Barker (#7) (120 - 86)
QF3 (22 June 2026): Luke Selway (#3) vs Callum Ridley (#6) (102 - 76)
QF4 (23 June 2026): Daniel Face (#4) vs Ian Kinsella (#5) (102 - 107)
SF1 (24 June 2026): Patrick Thompson (QF1 Winner) vs Ian Kinsella (QF4 Winner) (138 - 99)
SF2 (25 June 2026): Charlie Harrison (QF2 Winner) vs Luke Selway (QF3 Winner) (128 - 86)
GF (26 June 2026): Patrick Thompson (SF1 Winner) vs Charlie Harrison (SF2 Winner)