Sort of. Enjoy.Countdown recap for Wednesday 11 August 2010.
C1: Champion Tom Rowell (4 wins, 382 points.) An Apteforumite from Husband's Bosworth, Leicestershire. His ambitions are to win the lottery (not unreasonable), open a cake shop (fairly realistic), and to replace Jeff as the host of Countdown. (Join the queue, mate.
)C2: Challenger Andrew Mossford. From Sale, Cheshire, but was born in Chester. He is wearing a "charity shop jacket" that he wears on golf holidays with his old schoolmates. As Jeff says, "Mr Whiteley would certainly approve". One of his hobbies is playing real tennis.
DC: Susie Dent and William Roache.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: Q T P O E O D K I
R02: M T S U I U I R M
R03: T J E O E N S A U
R04: R L R E O A X N S
R05: 75, 9, 5, 6, 10, 3. Target: 204.
TTT: NEEDDIAL - "The phone's been cut off - you didn't pay the bill in time"
R06: O I E T M G I D T
R07: R V P R O E O W G
R08: R S N A E I D L N
R09: L M T E O E D N B
R10: 25, 10, 8, 7, 2, 1. Target: 621.
TTT: SNIFFRIG - "These mythical creatures used to inhabit the Midlands"
R11: U P S T E O A C W
R12: D G N E O A T C R
R13: C Z R N U E A H N
R14: 5, 8, 10, 7, 7, 4. Target: 630.
R15: A Z U R E P I L L (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: Q T P O E O D K I
C1: POKED (5)
C2: OPTED (5)
DC: POKIE (5)
OT: DEPOT (5) TOPED (5) KIDEO (5) KITED (5) OOTID (5) PIKED (5) POOED (5) TEPID (5) TOKED (5) TOPOI (5)
Score: 5–5 (max 5)
Plenty of 5's around here. My disallowed pooted from my 2nd show is also there. Won't make that mistake again.
TOPED means to drink alcoholic liquor habitually and to excess.
A KIDEO is an informal term for videotapes or other video entertainment for children.
TOKED relates to TOKE, a tip or gratuity given by a gambler to a dealer or other employee at a casino.
TOPOI (plural of TOPOS) are conventions or motifs, especially in a literary work.
Round 2: M T S U I U I R M
C1: STRUM (5)
C2: SUMMIT (6)
DC: SURIMI (6)
OT: MUTISM (6) SMRITI (6) TRUISM (6)
Score: 5–11 (max 11)
Andrew hits peak form witht hat 6, putting Tom behind for the first time since he began his run.
SMRITI are writings in Hinduism, containing traditions concerning law, rituals, teachings of the sages, the epics, and the Puranas.
Round 3: T J E O E N S A U
C1: SAUTEE (6)
C2: UNEASE (6)
DC: STONE (5) SENATE (6) SOUTANE (7)
Score: 11–17 (max 18)
ALARMALARMALARMALARMALARM
Tom's SAUTEE is not in the dictionary
Well it is, but only with 1 E. Will that be crucial later on 
Round 4: R L R E O A X N S
C1: LOANERS (7)
C2: REASON (6)
DC: RELAX (5) SNARLER (7)
Score: 18–17 (max 25)
Tom takes the lead with that 7.
Round 5: 75, 9, 5, 6, 10, 3. Target: 204.
C1: 204. (75 x 3) - (10 + 6 + 5) (10)
C2: 204. (75 x 3) - (10 + 6 + 5) (10)
Score: 28–27 (max 35)
William talks about the time where his fellow Coronation Street actor Graham Haberfield, who played Jerry Booth in the soap, used to play practical jokes involving fur coats. This later leads to William telling of the time where he thought he had kicked Graham on the shin, because he thought he was going to jump him, but instead he was on all fours, so he caused him to bleed above the eye.
Teatime teaser: NEEDDIAL -> DEADLINE
Round 6: O I E T M G I D T
C1: mitted
C2: MIDGET (6)
DC: OMITTED (7)
Score: 28–33 (max 42)
Oh dear. Tom OMITTED the O and got himself an illegal 6, whereas the darrenic 7 was in his grasp.
Round 7: R V P R O E O W G
C1: OVERGROW (8)
C2: OVERGROW (8)
DC: PROVE (5)
Score: 36–41 (max 50)
A brilliant darren by both contestants there.
Round 8: R S N A E I D L N
C1: INLANDERS (18)
C2: lanniers
DC: ISLANDER (8) LANNER (6)
Score: 54–41 (max 68)
And an even better darrenic 9 by Tom follows immediately.
Round 9: L M T E O E D N B
C1: ENTOMBED (8)
C2: EMBOLDEN (8)
Score: 62–49 (max 76)
2 more brilliant 8's by the contestants here. This is turning out to be a cracker of a contest, despite the DC faux pas.
Susie's Origin Of Words tells of the origins of "a wing and a prayer" and "pie in the sky".
Round 10: 25, 10, 8, 7, 2, 1. Target: 621.
C1: 622. ((10 + 8 + 7) x 25) - (2 + 1) (7)
C2: 622. ((10 + 8 + 7) x 25) - (2 + 1) (7)
RR: 621. ((25 x 8) + 7) x (2 + 1) (10)
Score: 69–56 (max 86)
A trickier numbers than it looked here. But Rachel makes it sem so easy.
Teatime teaser: SNIFFRIG -> GRIFFINS
Round 11: U P S T E O A C W
C1: OUTPACES (8)
C2: COWPATS (7)
DC: WASTE (5) TEACUPS (7)
Score: 77–56 (max 94)
Another brilliant darren by Tom trumps Andrew's stinky 7 there.
Round 12: D G N E O A T C R
C1: cognated
C2: TANGOED (7)
DC: COGNATE (7) CAGED (5) NOTECARD (8)
OT: DRAGONET (8)
Score: 77–63 (max 102)
Oooh, Tom's risky 8 is just that. The lead shrinks to 14, meaning it's still anyone's game, just about.
Round 13: C Z R N U E A H N
C1: CRANE (5)
C2: REACH (5)
DC: CHURN (5) NUANCE (6)
OT: CANNER (6) CHENAR (6) CUNNER (6) RAUNCH (6)
Score: 82–68 (max 108)
A few 6's available here, even if most of them are slightly out of the ordinary.
A CUNNER (also known as a BERGALL) is a small wrasse, Tautogolabrus adspersus, common in the North Atlantic coastal waters of the United States.
Round 14: 5, 8, 10, 7, 7, 4. Target: 630.
C1: 630. (4 + 5) x 7 x 10 (10)
C2: 630. (4 + 5) x 7 x 10 (10)
Score: 92–78 (max 118)
Andrew's tactic of 6 small fails to pay off as an easy target appears, but if he gets the conundrum, the result might take a different complexion.
Round 15: A Z U R E P I L L
C2 buzzes on 5 seconds to say PLURALIZE which is correct.
Final Score: 92–88 (max 128)
Well, well, well. Andrew gets the conundrum, and loses by just 4 points, whereas if SAUTEE had been disallowed, Andrew would be our new champion by a margin of 2 points.
But, as it is, Tom is the champion, and has won 5 shows now. Can he reach 6 tomorrow or rather today
I'll be back shortly.
Statistics Corner
Tom:
Total score - 92
Raw score - 97
Total % of max - 72
Raw % of max - 76
Total average score per round - 6.1
Raw average score per round - 6.5
Number of maxes - 8
Andrew:
Total score - 88
Raw score - 101
Total % of max - 69
Raw % of max - 79
Total average score per round - 5.9
Raw average score per round - 6.7
Number of maxes - 7
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63