Countdown recap for Thursday 11 March 2010.
C1: Champion Kevin Davis (3 wins, 276 points.) From Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. He's an Arsenal fan, as well as enjoying puzzles and online gaming, particularly a Countdown-related website. I wonder which one that is
C2: Challenger Darryl Hall. From Peterlee, County Durham. He recently worked as a volunteer for the Prince's Trust in Romania, where he helped to renovate an orphanage. His parents have got a cat called Stelling, which is unfortunately, not a pedigree cat, but a moggy.
DC: Susie Dent and Pam Ayres.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: L O N C I E S T N
R02: P M A U D T A H O
R03: N E A F X E D R I
R04: R T E F O E R H I
R05: 100, 75, 50, 1, 5, 5. Target: 141.
TTT: HISGROWL - "According to Barry, she was this for a living"
R06: N O I T W A E R R
R07: M I E S D A P S I
R08: T L A E B D O E T
R09: L O U O S R T G I
R10: 25, 9, 5, 9, 1, 1. Target: 609.
TTT: MEANRATE - "This type of woman can be a bit of a shark"
R11: K Y U E G S A N C
R12: M P O I Z T E A S
R13: N O R U P S E M A
R14: 100, 75, 4, 10, 6, 3. Target: 792.
R15: A N T I I L I L Y (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: L O N C I E S T N
C1: LINNETS (7)
C2: SILENT (6)
DC: CLONES (6) INSOLENT (8)
OT: LECTIONS (8)
Score: 7–0 (max 8)
Darryl's score stays SILENT as Kevin takes the early lead.
Round 2: P M A U D T A H O
C1: THUMP (5)
C2: haunt
DC: MAHOUT (6)
OT: AMADOU (6)
Score: 12–0 (max 14)
Darryl seems to be seeing things as a phantom N means he is still to get off the mark.
AMADOU is a spongy substance prepared from fungi.
Round 3: N E A F X E D R I
C1: REFINED (7)
C2: REFINED (7)
OT: DEFINER (7) INDEXER (7) REFIXED (7)
Score: 19–7 (max 21)
2 REFINED words, and Darryl is off the mark.
Round 4: R T E F O E R H I
C1: FERRET (6)
C2: forfiter
DC: FROTHIER (8)
OT: THEREFOR (8)
Score: 25–7 (max 29)
Clearly Darryl is still under some sort of illusion as a phantom 2nd F, coupled with a misspelling of FORFEIT, gives Kevin the 6 points.
Round 5: 100, 75, 50, 1, 5, 5. Target: 141.
C1: 141. 100 + 50 - (5 + 5) + 1 (10)
C2: 141. 100 + 50 - (5 + 5) + 1 (10)
Score: 35–17 (max 39)
Pam reads a poem about "Clive The Birdman".
Teatime teaser: HISGROWL -> SHOWGIRL
Round 6: N O I T W A E R R
C1: WAITER (6)
C2: rationer
DC: IRONWARE (8)
OT: ANTERIOR (8) INTERWAR (8)
Score: 41–17 (max 47)
No phantom letters this time, but Darryl's word is not in the dictionary.
INTERWAR, quite simply, occurs during a period of peace between two wars.
Round 7: M I E S D A P S I
C1: IMPASSE (7)
C2: PASSED (6)
DC: DAISIES (7)
OT: APSIDES (7)
Score: 48–17 (max 54)
Just more bad luck for Darryl, as his 6 is outshone by the fairly similar 7 from Kevin.
Round 8: T L A E B D O E T
C1: BELATED (7)
C2: BATTLED (7)
DC: BLOATED (7)
OT: ABETTED (7) BLATTED (7) BLEATED (7) BLOTTED (7) BOTTLED (7) LADETTE (7) TOADLET (7)
Score: 55–24 (max 61)
Round 9: L O U O S R T G I
C1: GROUTS (6)
C2: STOOL (5)
DC: UROLOGIST (18)
Score: 61–24 (max 79)
You'd thought that 6 might've been good from that set of letters, until you realise there's GLORIOUS for 8, then DC completely take the piss (quite literally) with the brilliant 9!
Susie's Origin Of Words returns with Jeff in the hotseat.
Jeff has to guess where the word SHUCKS originates from.
Is it:
a) A deliberate misspelling of HUSKS, the outer covering or strippings of Indian corn, chestnuts, hickory nuts, etc.
b) An Australian slang term, SHOOK, meaning that you were in love with someone, or were enthusiastic about them.
c) A euphemism for something a bit ruder, when you have some terrible luck.
Jeff goes b), but the answer is a).
Round 10: 25, 9, 5, 9, 1, 1. Target: 609.
C1: 601. ((9 + 9 + 5 + 1) x 25) + 1 (5)
C2: -
RR: 603. (5)
OT: 610. ((9 x (5 - 1)) + 25) x (9 + 1) (7)
Score: 66–24 (max 86)
Geez
An odd numbers game with an odd target and no even points available. Not even Rachel can get within 5. Teatime teaser: MEANRATE -> MANEATER
Round 11: K Y U E G S A N C
C1: SNAKE (5)
C2: sunkage
DC: SNEAKY (6) GANSEY (6)
OT: AGENCY (6) CAUSEY (6) CAYUSE (6) SCUNGE (6) SCUNGY (6) SNAKEY (6) UNCASE (6) USANCE (6) UNEASY (6)
Score: 71–24 (max 92)
Dear oh dear, that dodgy 7 just about sums up Darryl's day. Well and truly sinking, sinking, more or less sunk.
A CAYUSE is an American Indian pony.
A SCUNGE is slang for a dirty or despicable person or place.
USANCE is a length of time, exclusive of days of grace and varying in different places, allowed by custom or usage for the payment of foreign bills of exchange.
Round 12: M P O I Z T E A S
C1: PASTIME (7)
C2: TEAMS (5)
DC: ATOMIZES (8)
Score: 78–24 (max 100)
Now officially sunk.
Round 13: N O R U P S E M A
C1: MOUSER (6)
C2: PRUNES (6)
DC: SUPERMAN (8)
OT: ENAMOURS (8) NEUROMAS (8)
Score: 84–30 (max 108)
Only the 4th time today that Darryl has scored. Interestingly the only 3 letters games he's scored in have been in the 3rd round of each half.
For his 2nd numbers, Darryl decides to go with 2 large and 5 small. Only after putting them up on the board, does Rachel realise that she has picked up 1 too many.
Round 14: 100, 75, 4, 10, 6, 3. Target: 792.
C1: 792. (75 x 10) + ((4 + 3) x 6) (10)
C2: 792. ((75 + 4) x 10) + (6 / 3) (10)
Score: 94–40 (max 118)
Kevin has now put himself in shooting distance of his first century.
Round 15: A N T I I L I L Y
C2 buzzes on 9.75 seconds to say INITIALLY which is correct.
Score: 94–50 (max 128)
But, almost out of nowhere, Darryl manages to stop Kevin from getting his century by solving the conundrum.
Just a small blemish on what has been a brilliant game for Kevin. Just too many bad declarations meant that Darryl was never really in the game, yet he and Kevin still finished on the same numbers of maxes.
Unfortunately, next week, some poncey horse racing festival means that Countdown has been relegated to just a Monday show, so my next recap won't be until March 24th, which could be Kevin's octochamp show.
So, until then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Kevin:
Total score - 94
Raw score - 94
Total % of max - 73
Raw % of max - 73
Total average score per round - 6.3
Raw average score per round - 6.3
Number of maxes - 5
Darryl:
Total score - 50
Raw score - 72
Total % of max - 39
Raw % of max - 56
Total average score per round - 3.3
Raw average score per round - 4.8
Number of maxes - 5
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=62