Thursday 2 May 2002 (Series 47, Prelim 89)

[Ryan Taylor]

Countdown recap for Thursday 2 May 2002.

C1: Wendy Roe (7 wins, 684 points.)
C2: Audrey Rumney.
DC: Tania Styles and Alistair Stewart.
CV: Carol Vorderman.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: G T N D O I S E L
R02: P R Z O E U R X I
R03: T P L O E A G N I
R04: C M D E A O S T I
R05: 100, 8, 2, 3, 7, 7. Target: 398.
TTT: AUDREYN
R06: V H J E S F A O G
R07: R U E K B N A C M
R08: Y S D T I O E W L
R09: R S R I E A P N M
R10: 75, 8, 5, 9, 3, 9. Target: 951.
TTT: BRUTALU
R11: T D S O U A L M E
R12: R T C E A I G F N
R13: S E E D H I P R T
R14: 100, 8, 1, 3, 7, 4. Target: 165.
R15: L I B R A D O P E (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Wendy Roe, well, what can I say? She made Countdown history by scoring 123 on her debut just over a week ago and now she is on course to become series 47's 7th octochamp.

Audrey Rumney will be trying her hardest to prevent this from happening. She is from Bournemouth in Dorset. Bournemouth reminds me of a good game, "I can't go to Bradford but I can go to Scunthorpe" (unlike Tinie Tempah). Enough of this! Let's begin...

...I forgot to introduce our wonderful guest for the week, Alistair Stewart. Didn't you just love him on them televised election debates between Brown, Cameron and Clegg? Dude this is 2002, we don't even know who Nick Clegg is...(neither do we and it's 2010!)

Tania Styles is still the woman with the dictionary. I don't know what she looks like, but I get the impression that with a name like Tania she is one filthy bitch. Perhaps that's just all the Footballer's Wives and Bad Girls I used to watch.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: G T N D O I S E L

C1: GLISTEN (7)
C2: DOTING (6)
DC: TINGLES (7) GODLIEST (8) SIDELONG (8)
Score: 7–0 (max 8)

Pretty poor 6 from that set of letters but as it's the first round I'll cut her some slack. SIDELONG is a nice spot by filthy Tania.

Round 2: P R Z O E U R X I

C1: ROPIER (6)
C2: router
DC: POXIER (6)
OT: POURER (6)
Score: 13–0 (max 14)

ROUTER? Where's the T love? Those glasses aren't doing you any favours. (I assumed with the name Audrey that she was more likely to wear glasses than not)

Round 3: T P L O E A G N I

C1: PLEATING (8)
C2: PLEATING (8)
DC: GELATION (8) PILOTAGE (8)
OT: LEGATION (8) PINOTAGE (8)
Score: 21–8 (max 22)

That's better dearest your catching her up, well, sort of, actually, no you're not, you're still 13 points down.

Round 4: C M D E A O S T I

C1: COASTED (7)
C2: STOIC (5)
DC: DOMESTIC (8)
OT: ATOMISED (8)
Score: 28–8 (max 30)

Audrey said she saw COASTED after the time - an unlikely story. But I'm willing to believe her. Wendy really is coasting.

Round 5: 100, 8, 2, 3, 7, 7. Target: 398.

C1: 398. (7-3)*100-2 (10)
C2: 398. (7-3)*100-2 (10)
Score: 38–18 (max 40)

The type of numbers game when you wished rounds were less than 30 seconds.

Teatime teaser: AUDREYN -> UNREADY

Round 6: V H J E S F A O G

C1: SHOVE (5)
C2: SHOVE (5)
DC: HAVES (5)
OT: FAVES (5) FOVEA (5) SHAVE (5) SHEAF (5) VEGAS (5)
Score: 43–23 (max 45)

Max from both. Go girls!

Round 7: R U E K B N A C M

C1: BUNKER (6)
C2: BACKER (6)
DC: BRACKEN (7)
OT: BUCKRAM (7) UNBRACE (7)
Score: 49–29 (max 52)

BACKER sounded dodgy-ish to me, but meh. Interesting one available here in the form of BUCKRAM.

BUCKRAM is "a coarse cotton fabric stiffened with glue; used in bookbinding and to stiffen clothing."

Round 8: Y S D T I O E W L

C1: WISELY (6)
C2: WILDEST (7)
OT: STYLOID (7) WOYLIES (7)
Score: 49–36 (max 59)

Wendy is beaten on a round and Audrey is able to gain some ground.

This sums up STYLOID pretty well: "adjective, Greek stylos = an instrument for writing, and eidos = shape or form; hence a pen- or pencil-like structure" as for WOYLIE? Not a clue. Google failed on me.

Round 9: R S R I E A P N M

C1: MARINERS (8)
C2: PRAISE (6)
Score: 57–36 (max 67)

Audrey's joy is shortlived as Wendy destroys her with a darrenic 8.

Round 10: 75, 8, 5, 9, 3, 9. Target: 951.

C1: 949. 75*(9+3)+8*5+9 (7)
C2: 953. 75*(9+3)+9*5+8 (7)
CV: 951. (75+5)*(9+3)-9 (10)
Score: 64–43 (max 77)

The numbers are no use to Audrey as Wendy matches her with 2 away.

Teatime teaser: BRUTALU -> TUBULAR

Round 11: T D S O U A L M E

C1: SALUTED (7)
C2: MOULTED (7)
DC: MODULATES (18)
Score: 71–50 (max 95)

9 - yay.
7 - nay

Round 12: R T C E A I G F N

C1: CRAFTING (8)
C2: CRAFTING (8)
DC: REFACING (8)
OT: CATERING (8) CREATING (8) REACTING (8)
Score: 79–58 (max 103)

I have concluded from evidence (R3 and R12) that Audrey can only spot an 8 if it contains -ING.

Round 13: S E E D H I P R T

C1: PERISHED (8)
C2: HIPSTER (7)
OT: PRIESTED (8) RESPITED (8)
Score: 87–58 (max 111)

Who's the octochamp? You are baby. Wendy seals victory as Audrey who was doomed when she sat in the chair perishes.

Round 14: 100, 8, 1, 3, 7, 4. Target: 165.

C1: 164.
C2: 165. 8*(7+1)+4-3+100 (10)
Score: 87–68 (max 121)

Although she shows some dogged spirit to still find a solution to his.

Round 15: L I B R A D O P E

C1 buzzes on 17 seconds to say PARBOILED which is correct.
Score: 97–68 (max 131)

A rather long 17 seconds but happiness ultimately for Wendy Roe. Wendy joins the likes of Chris Wills, Tom Hargreaves and Lee Hartley as octochamps this series and will surely be back to pit her wits against them in the summer.

I have been Ryan, thanks for reading (if indeed you did)

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

[Peter Mabey]

R8: WOYLIE - from NODE - a nocturnal rat-kangaroo, alternative name brush-tailed bettong http://www.quantum-conservation.org/EEP ... TTONG.html