Friday 15 February 2002 (Series 47, Prelim 38)

[Ryan Taylor]

Countdown recap for Friday 15 February 2002.

C1: Champion David Franks (6 wins, 584 points.)
C2: Challenger Julie Cotton.
DC: Richard Samson and Roger McGough.
CV: Carol Vorderman.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: S D U R B E I V S
R02: R L C A O A F M G
R03: P T E I D N Y O A
R04: M R Z E U O F D H
R05: 10, 9, 4, 6, 3, 8. Target: 224.
TTT: BEJULIE
R06: S K T E I E D F C
R07: A W L F U Q G E I
R08: B N T D O E A R X
R09: M P G I I S U O D
R10: 25, 6, 7, 2, 9, 10. Target: 612.
TTT: CODBANS
R11: R T A D T E O L A
R12: S M C S E A U N B
R13: O E V T R A H F I
R14: 50, 1, 8, 6, 6, 10. Target: 627.
R15: B A R R Y R A I T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Friday is a big day for champion David Franks because if he wins today he is on the brink of being an octochamp.

Julie Cotton from the market town of Retford in Nottinghamshire is hoping to knock the stuffing out of David's, so far, immaculate run.

Scouser Roger McGough sits in DC for the last time this week. He has been a welcome new face alongside Richard Samson.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: S D U R B E I V S

C1: BRUISED (7)
C2: DIVERS (6)
DC: DISBURSE (8)
Score: 7–0 (max 8)

It starts. David dishes out a beater from the start.

Round 2: R L C A O A F M G

C1: ALARM (5)
C2: CALM (4)
DC: FORMAL (6) AMORAL (6)
OT: GLAMOR (6) MALOCA (6)
Score: 12–0 (max 14)

And another on to boot leaving Julie on 0.

Round 3: P T E I D N Y O A

C1: POINTED (7)
C2: POINTED (7)
DC: ANTIPODE (8)
Score: 19–7 (max 22)

Well she's on the board now but David should have got ANTIPODE really as he toyed with the idea of ANTIPODY^.

Round 4: M R Z E U O F D H

C1: FROZE (5)
C2: FOUR (4)
DC: HUMORED (7) FORMED (6)
Score: 24–7 (max 29)

Julie's gives us a second four letter word. This doesn't look promising for her.

Round 5: 10, 9, 4, 6, 3, 8. Target: 224.

C1: 223. 4*6*10-8-9 (7)
C2: 220.
CV: 224. (9-6/3)*8*4 (10)
Score: 31–7 (max 39)

David's usual 6 small is becoming a useful tool for him as he soars to a 24 point lead after just 5 rounds.

Teatime teaser: BEJULIE -> JUBILEE

Round 6: S K T E I E D F C

C1: -
C2: sticked
DC: DEFECTS (7)
OT: TICKSEED (8)
Score: 31–7 (max 47)

With David thinking he had an 8 but realising he spelt it wrong (probably DEFECITS^) you would think Julie could get a foot back in this game. But sadly she comes up with STICKED^, it's clearly STUCK.

TICKSEED, you guessed it, is a plant native to the Americas.

Round 7: A W L F U Q G E I

C1: EQUAL (5)
C2: QUAIL (5)
DC: GUILE (5)
OT: AGILE (5) AWFUL (5) QUALE (5) FUGAL (5) UGALI (5) WILGA (5)
Score: 36–12 (max 52)

A max for Julie. Wow! Well, it is only a 5 letter word.

Round 8: B N T D O E A R X

C1: ABORTED (7)
C2: exorted
DC: BANTER (6) BROADEN (7)
OT: BANDORE (7) BARONET (7) DEXTRAN (7)
Score: 43–12 (max 59)

Another invalid word from Julie is making the scoreline quite embarrassing for herself.

DEXTRAN is one of those lovely sciency words. Wiki says DEXTRAN is "a biopolymer of glucose produced by enzymes of certain bacteria; used as a substitute for blood plasma, and as a stationary phase in chromatography." Did you get any of that?

Round 9: M P G I I S U O D

C1: PIOUS (5)
C2: DIGS (4)
DC: PODIUMS (7) IMPIOUS (7)
OT: SIGMOID (7)
Score: 48–12 (max 66)

A hat-trick of fours now and David is now on a score 4 times bigger than Julie's.

Round 10: 25, 6, 7, 2, 9, 10. Target: 612.

C1: 613. 7*9*10-25+6+2 (7)
C2: -
CV: 612. ((10+9-7)*25+6)*2 (10)
Score: 55–12 (max 76)

And it just goes from bad to worse as Julie is left in no mans land with this numbers game.

Teatime teaser: CODBANS -> ABSCOND

Round 11: R T A D T E O L A

C1: RATTLED (7)
C2: LEOTARD (7)
DC: DOTTLE (6) ROTATED (7)
OT: DELATOR (7) TOADLET (7)
Score: 62–19 (max 83)

At least she gets to say LEOTARD on Countdown. You go girl!

Round 12: S M C S E A U N B

C1: AMUSES (6)
C2: CAME (4)
DC: SUNBEAMS (8)
Score: 68–19 (max 91)

Four fours! This is amazingly poor.

Round 13: O E V T R A H F I

C1: FATHER (6)
C2: FATHER (6)
DC: FAVORITE (8)
Score: 74–25 (max 99)

The American FAVORITE is not exactly a favourite amongst viewers with the US words still being allowed. Julie does quite well here to score 6 points.

Round 14: 50, 1, 8, 6, 6, 10. Target: 627.

C1: 630. (1+6+6+50)*10 (7)
C2: 632.
CV: 627. (50+6+6)*10+8-1 (10)
Score: 81–25 (max 109)

David was almost there, he had the right idea. Carol just fills him in (with the solution).

Round 15: B A R R Y R A I T

C1 buzzes on 3 seconds to say ARBITRARY which is correct.
Score: 91–25 (max 119)

Another impressive conundrum spot means David scores 91 and keeps up his statistics of not scoring less than 90. Julie tried her hardest, but it wasn't good enough. She would have struggled to beat a lot of players and her misery was just compounded by being placed against a potential octochamp.

David will celebrate his weekend knowing that only one game separates him from the Countdown Hall of Fame. Who will be his opponent? Hopefully someone a bit better than me Julie.

Enjoy your weekend you rogues, tatty bye!

Ryan

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=47