c4countdown

Well, well, well boys and girls. This is a very special recap today because it is my first show to be recapped after moving in to my student house. Why is this special? Well, it means I can watch Countdown on this bad boy...



Oh yeah, I shopped at Primark for the first time today and picked up some £1 glasses which I fell in love with instantly and a t-shirt that says "Nerds Rock". I'm also wearing some £1 yellow shoes but to be fair, it is best that they are cut from this picture.

My level of excitement for this edition of Countdown is off the scale.

Countdown recap for Monday 20 September 2010.

C1: Champion Eoin Monaghan (3 wins, 328 points.)
C2: Challenger Dave Rudd.
DC: Susie Dent and Dave Spikey.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: E I E S K G S P G
R02: D S N O A O A T N
R03: E I A M V S N U D
R04: R N A O J E I N T
R05: 50, 10, 1, 2, 7, 9. Target: 154.
TTT: SCALEBAN - "Walks a tightrope with financial summaries"
R06: V B T A I E R L U
R07: E I O T Y N G R I
R08: F D M A E I S L N
R09: E A I D Q R H O T
R10: 75, 6, 7, 10, 5, 2. Target: 298.
TTT: ITINGLED - "If you're this then it shows you care"
R11: I U E S N R C O W
R12: C D L U O I E R X
R13: A E U D P L R L M
R14: 25, 2, 10, 8, 6, 5. Target: 708.
R15: S E C O N D B A D (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Eoin Monaghan is the 14 year old whizz kid from County Down and enjoys playing gaelic football which he is also pretty good at too. Is there anything he can't do? Well he can't play the lottery. Ha. Eoin is a Manchester United fan as well.

Dave Rudd is a chemist from Buntingford in Hertfordshire. He is a football fan too and once played in a 5 a side football team with his 4 sons making up the team. That's all I have to say on him.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: E I E S K G S P G

C1: SPIKE (5)
C2: SPIKES (6)
DC: PEGGIES (7)
Score: 0–6 (max 7)

Amazingly Eoin doesn't realise there are two S's and he trails for what is possibly the first time ever on the show? The strange sounding PEGGIES is the darren though which is a nautical term. I managed ESPIES after missing it from a recent duel.

Round 2: D S N O A O A T N

C1: NOONS (5)
C2: STOOD (5)
DC: SONATA (6) DONNAS (6)
OT: ODONATA (7)
Score: 5–11 (max 14)

Again a darrenic 7 is present but Eoin is stuck on 5. Alarm bells for Eoin already?

Round 3: E I A M V S N U D

C1: MAIDENS (7)
C2: ADVISE (6)
DC: INVADES (7) MEDIANS (7)
OT: MEDINAS (7) SIDEMAN (7) UNSAVED (7)
Score: 12–11 (max 21)

Eoin takes the lead with one of an assortment of 7's and that surely settles him down for what would be the first recording of the day. No looking back now eh?

Round 4: R N A O J E I N T

C1: ANOINTER (8)
C2: JANITOR (7)
Score: 20–11 (max 29)

This confirms that Eoin is back to his best picking out the only 8 whilst JANITOR is still a good spot from Dave but just not good enough.

Round 5: 50, 10, 1, 2, 7, 9. Target: 154.

C1: 154. (10-7)*50+((9-1)/2) (10)
C2: 152.
Score: 30–11 (max 39)

And Eoin's 3rd max in a row, on a slightly tricky numbers game, means the gap is now 19 points.

DC Guest Time: Dave Spikey chats basically about how stupid some sayings can be including the one about an apple tree growing inside you if you eat a pip.

Teatime teaser: SCALEBAN -> BALANCES

My housemate (astonished by the concept of recapping) jestingly asks "do you need to recap the adverts too?"

Round 6: V B T A I E R L U

C1: VAULTER (7)
C2: VALUER (6)
DC: VIBRATE (7)
OT: LIBRATE (7) TABLIER (7) TRIABLE (7) REBUILT (7) RIVULET (7) VIRTUAL (7)
Score: 37–11 (max 46)

Eoin wasn't entirely sure but VAULTER is good as Dave falls further behind missing some pretty routine 7's in the mix. Dave Spikey managed VIBRATE in DC. Enough said.

Round 7: E I O T Y N G R I

C1: GENITOR (7)
C2: TRYING (6)
OT: TRIGONE (7) IGNITER (7) RETYING (7) RIOTING (7)
Score: 44–11 (max 53)

Eoin's cool 7 prompts a response of "how do you know that?" from Dave Spikey. Dave Rudd will probably be annoyed by missing RIOTING, but at least he's TRYING. Just shoot me.

Round 8: F D M A E I S L N

C1: FIELDSMAN (18)
C2: enfilms
DC: DAMSEL (6) SALINE (6)
Score: 62–11 (max 71)

Oh good god. The killer blow. Once again a stupidly high quality 9 from Eoin means the gap is 51 points as Eoin zooms past the half century mark. FIELDSMAN can sit nicely with ANORTHITE now.

Round 9: E A I D Q R H O T

C1: DITHER (6)
C2: THREAD (6)
OT: ADROIT (6) DEARTH (6) HATRED (6) EDITOR (6) RIOTED (6) TRIODE (6) HAIRDO (6) HAIRED (6) HERIOT (6) IODATE (6) OATIER (6) ORATED (6) ROADIE (6) THORIA (6) TIRADE (6)
Score: 68–17 (max 77)

A ridiculous amount of sixes here. But at least it means Dave can move off 11 which he's been sat on since round 2.

Susie's Origins of Words: Susie talks about the phrases "dead ringers" and "saved by the bell" and how they are commonly misconceived. Saved by the bell actually originated from boxing.

For this numbers game Dave asks for the Charlton Athletic formation - "one at the top and nothing from the wings". I'm sure he found it funny. I preferred RR's - "Bobby Charlton".

Round 10: 75, 6, 7, 10, 5, 2. Target: 298.

C1: 298. (6-(7-5))*75-2 (10)
C2: 298. (10-6)*75-2 (10)
Score: 78–27 (max 87)

And that easy numbers game means Dave is well on the way to the 30 mark as Eoin maxes for the 8th round in a row.

Teatime teaser: ITINGLED -> DILIGENT

Round 11: I U E S N R C O W

C1: INSOURCE (8)
C2: UNWISE (6)
DC: COW COWS COWRIES (7)
Score: 86–27 (max 95)

The darren 8 means Eoin hits the top for the 9th consecutive round as DC are left without anything to do.

Round 12: C D L U O I E R X

C1: CLOUDIER (8)
C2: CLOUDIER (8)
Score: 94–35 (max 103)

I've seen CLOUDIER 8's to be honest. Quite a clear spot as Dave points out - "kind of jumped out".

Round 13: A E U D P L R L M

C1: ALLURED (7)
C2: LUMPED (6)
DC: PLEURAL (7)
OT: MEDULLA (7) RUMPLED (7)
Score: 101–35 (max 110)

Dave Spikey shows a bit of scientific knowledge with his PLEURAL spot which he knows refers to the lungs. In other news Eoin is still being fucking relentless as he now has Dave tied to a bedpost and is flogging him hard.

Round 14: 25, 2, 10, 8, 6, 5. Target: 708.

C1: 708. (5*6-2)*25+8 (10)
C2: -
Score: 111–35 (max 120)

Don't worry Dave it will soon be over as Eoin has now pulled the ball gag out and is ready with the stocks.

Round 15: S E C O N D B A D

C1 buzzes on 0.25 second to say ABSCONDED which is correct.
Final Score: 121–35 (max 130)

Eoin completes the beating with a stupidly fast conundrum solve.

What can I say? Well, we witnessed a masterclass from Eoin today as after 2 dodgy opening rounds he went on to max the next 13 clocking up his highest score to date. All that boldness would have looked sexy on Apterous. For me, even though Eoin battered Dave by 86 points it didn't make me enjoy the game less. I like to see good play at Countdown and if it means that a contestant is outclassed then so be it. They are playing the same game, just one of them is better than the other.

A message to Eoin...everyone I've spoken to have been so positive about you being on Countdown and are really impressed by you so far. People say to me "Have you seen this young kid on Countdown? He's amazing!" (or words to that effect).

A message for Dave Rudd. Unlucky man.

A slightly later recap than usual but it's here all the same.

Tatty bye dudes and dudettes.

Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=63

Pic of the yellow shoes if you want a like.

Matt Morrison wrote:Pic of the yellow shoes if you want a like.

This is blackmail but I am a like whore so here goes.

I'm not sure giving you precisely what you want counts as blackmail but hey

I need to see the yellow shoes in a variety of other situations and locations before I can issue a Like. Possibly they could take a trip to the cinema, or perhaps the beach? Maybe they could go and meet some other shoes at a shoe shop? But these are just ideas, the world is your oyster.

Oh, nice recap btw.

JimBentley wrote:I need to see the yellow shoes in a variety of other situations and locations before I can issue a Like. Possibly they could take a trip to the cinema, or perhaps the beach? Maybe they could go and meet some other shoes at a shoe shop? But these are just ideas, the world is your oyster.

Oh, nice recap btw.

Jim. I went and bought a newspaper (yes, the Mail) today wearing the yellow shoes. It is less than a 5 minute walk but the newsagents is situated on a busy road of shops and shoppers so the yellow shoes definitely didn't go unnoticed.

What's with all this fuss about yellow shoes? My shoes have (pictures of) skateboarding dinosaurs on them.

Michael Wallace wrote:What's with all this fuss about yellow shoes? My shoes have (pictures of) skateboarding dinosaurs on them.

You have just trumped on me. I'm going to buy moon boots.