Monday 27th September 2010 (Series 63, Prelim 56)

[Ryan Taylor]

Countdown recap for Monday 27 September 2010.

Thankfully I just made it back at precisely 15:25 in time for Countdown after a boring first day at university filling in form after form after form. *Sigh* I can see why I dropped out the first time. Anyway, timing my walk home to the exact minute put a smile back on my face.

C1: Challenger Conor McCaughey.
C2: Challenger Heather Driver.
DC: Susie Dent and Dr. Phil Hammond.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: N G A N R E U X I
R02: M R U A S R E U T
R03: P N O R A N I E V
R04: L G C A U I M G O
R05: 25, 6, 9, 10, 2, 3. Target: 261.
TTT: CRABYETI - "Sharpness of tongue but bitter to taste"
R06: S B D U E I S J R
R07: C H E O F T I K E
R08: Z L S A E T I L E
R09: H P I U A T L O R
R10: 75, 8, 5, 1, 2, 6. Target: 360.
TTT: GAINDOSE - "Gaine a dose of medicine once you've found out what's wrong"
R11: S V P E O A N O E
R12: S F T O E I P T D
R13: M A Q R I D E O G
R14: 25, 3, 6, 5, 1, 5. Target: 642.
R15: C L E A N C O D E (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

Today we have two new challengers. Yayyyyy.

Let's meet these wonderful, wonderful people...

Another Irishman is sat in the champions chair after Eoin's departure on Friday. This time in the form of Conor McCaughey. He is a civil servant from Moy, County Tyrone and lives with his girlfriend. He loves his golf he does and competed in the NI Golf Championship (or something equally insignificant) and came "about 160th" (which means he came 169th) out of 300.

Heather Driver from Elgin, Scotland, is Conor's opponent today. She is a full time Mum to her 3 children and a carer for her grandad. She would love Stephen Fry and Tim Minchin to come to dinner. Already I am liking Heather, she is really bubbly and smiling a lot - a complete contrast to her opponent (but he's probably just nervous). Heather confesses to being a lifetime fan of the show watching it from the start so I am really hoping for a Heather victory to day.

Dr. Phil Hammond is again in DC and I am quite sure that nobody is complaining at that. He always is an excellent guest so I may actually watch the anecdotes this week.

Enjoy the show.

Round 1: N G A N R E U X I

C1: NEARING (7)
C2: EARNING (7)
DC: REGAIN (6)
OT: ANGUINE (7) GUANINE (7) ENGRAIN (7) GRANNIE (7) ENURING (7) GUNNERA (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 7)

Straightforward 7's (and maxes) mean Heather and Conor are on the board and both should be happy with that start.

Round 2: M R U A S R E U T

C1: MASTER (6)
C2: MATURES (7)
DC: UTERUS (6) ARMREST (7)
OT: SMARTER (7) AUTEURS (7) ERRATUM (7) MATURER (7) STRUMAE (7) TRUMEAU (7)
Score: 7–14 (max 14)

Heather drives into the lead with back to back maxes picking out MATURES. Dr Phil fittingly finds a 6 saying "never miss a UTERUS".

Round 3: P N O R A N I E V

C1: -
C2: overpin
DC: PANNIER (7)
OT: PAVONINE (8)
Score: 7–14 (max 22)

Conor is just completely blank here so I'm definitely putting that down to nerves. However Heather fails to capitalise on his mistake by declaring an invalid.

Round 4: L G C A U I M G O

C1: CLAIM (5)
C2: MOGUL (5)
DC: GLIOMA (6)
OT: AGOGIC (6) LOGGIA (6)
Score: 12–19 (max 28)

I would have liked to see Heather pick two final vowels for potentially MAGICAL or GLAUCOMA and others but as such a tricky selection is left and both just manage a 5. Dr Phil is able to pull out GLIOMA and explaining what it means (a brain tumour).

Round 5: 25, 6, 9, 10, 2, 3. Target: 261.

C1: 261. 25*10+9+2 (10)
C2: 261. Mistake in working.
Score: 22–19 (max 38)

A simple numbers game punishes Heather. She says she does it a far more complicated way and that complicated way turns out to be the wrong way. She used the 10 twice. Unlucky.

DC Guest Time Dr Phil Hammond is as funny as ever telling us why he first wanted to be a doctor (to get a girlfriend) and concludes as he so often does advertising his latest product tongue-in-cheek. His product isn't called tongue-in-cheek, it's his new DVD 'Confessions of a Doctor' available on Amazon.

Teatime teaser: CRABYETI -> ACERBITY

Round 6: S B D U E I S J R

C1: DURESS (6)
C2: SUBSIDE (7)
DC: DISBURSE (8)
Score: 22–26 (max 46)

Heather puts that first numbers game to the back of her mind as she manages an excellent 7 to beat Conor and regain the lead.

Round 7: C H E O F T I K E

C1: CHOKE (5)
C2: kitch
DC: CHEEK (5)
OT: FETICH (6) FITCHE (6) HOCKET (6) TECHIE (6) THICKO (6)
Score: 27–26 (max 52)

Not a nice selection and it's worse for Heather as she loses her lead by her poor spelling of KITSCH. She could have had KETCH (a two masted sailing vessel) or if she was a bit sharper she could have had one of the 5 available 6's which DC also missed. THICKO. DC aren't on top form today.

Round 8: Z L S A E T I L E

C1: ALLIES (6)
C2: LAZIEST (7)
DC: TALLIES (7)
OT: SITELLA (7) TAILLES (7) TEAZELS (7) TEAZLES (7) TELLIES (7)
Score: 27–33 (max 59)

Heather predictably asks for "a nicer one" after the Z pops out. Yawn. Still that didn't make me like her less thankfully. She uses her experience of Countdown to find a max and a beater with the -IEST ending.

Round 9: H P I U A T L O R

C1: PORTAL (6)
C2: palour
OT: TROUPIAL (8)
Score: 33–33 (max 67)

Argh. Heather again buggers up with the invalid spelling of PALLOR (lividness) - I confess, I thought she meant PARLOUR. TROUPIAL goes unseen as DC miss yet another max. Not a great day for them.

Susie's Origins of Words: Susie talks more on how many phrases originally come from Aesop's fables.

Round 10: 75, 8, 5, 1, 2, 6. Target: 360.

C1: 360. Mistake in working.
C2: 360. 75*5-(8+6+1) (10)
Score: 33–43 (max 77)

Conor and Heather switch roles on the numbers game this time as Conor completely messes up. He does 75-2 then gives up. He could have subtracted the 1 to get 72 and then multiply by the 5. No trouble for Heather though and she pulls away by 10 points.

Teatime teaser: GAINDOSE -> DIAGNOSE

Round 11: S V P E O A N O E

C1: OPENS (5)
C2: SPOON (5)
DC: POOVES (6)
OT: PAEONS (6) PEONES (6) VEENAS (6)
Score: 38–48 (max 83)

Some quite obscure 6's in this selection although PAEONS and PEONES will be familiar to many. POOVES is an alternative to POOFS and VEENAS is a stringed musical instrument.

Round 12: S F T O E I P T D

C1: POTTIES (7)
C2: SPOTTED (7)
DC: TIPTOES (7) TOPSIDE (7)
OT: DEPOSIT (7) DOPIEST (7) POSITED (7) FOISTED (7) SPITTED (7) TIPTOED (7)
Score: 45–55 (max 90)

Loads of 7's here and everybody found one. The 10 point gap is still with Heather meaning it could be a tense finish.

Round 13: M A Q R I D E O G

C1: GAMER (5)
C2: ADMIRE (6)
DC: IDEOGRAM (8)
Score: 45–61 (max 98)

Heather demonstrates her superiority on the letters rounds by beating Conor. IDEOGRAM was there for 8 and if that Q were a V (or S) you could have had a 9 as Davies would know perfectly well.

Round 14: 25, 3, 6, 5, 1, 5. Target: 642.

C1: -
C2: -
RR: 642. 5*5*25+3*6-1 (10)
Score: 45–61 (max 108)

As soon as the numbers gets a bit tricky both Heather and Conor are a little out of their depths. Rachel gets her moment to earn her keep with a tidy solve. But that's fine for Heather as she knows she has won the game. Huzzah!

Round 15: C L E A N C O D E

No one buzzes. The answer was CONCEALED.
Final Score: 45–61 (max 118)

And the conundrum goes without a buzz from the contestants leaving a long-haired fellow - with a strange tongue piercing(?) - to reveal all.

All in all of course Countdown is brought back into normality after Eoin's run with words like ANORTHITE, VERMINOUS, TAMBOTIE, I could go on. But it is still as good as ever. I was really pleased to see Heather win today just because I reckon she wanted to win a bit more than Conor whilst Heather was so happy to be on the show she loves and winning on it too. I wish her luck in her game tomorrow which I will be recapping too.

Until then, HAND.

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

[James Robinson]

Round 6: S B D U E I S J R

C1: JURESS (6)
C2: SUBSIDE (7)
DC: DISBURSE (8)
Score: 22–26 (max 46)

Heather puts that first numbers game to the back of her mind as she manages an excellent 7 to beat Conor and regain the lead.

DURESS, not JURESS, Ryan.
Another mistake like that and you'll be put under DURESS

[Ryan Taylor]

Round 6: S B D U E I S J R

C1: JURESS (6)
C2: SUBSIDE (7)
DC: DISBURSE (8)
Score: 22–26 (max 46)

Heather puts that first numbers game to the back of her mind as she manages an excellent 7 to beat Conor and regain the lead.

DURESS, not JURESS, Ryan.
Another mistake like that and you'll be put under DURESS

Thanks James. I thought JURESS was maybe a female JURY - a-lol!

[Mike Brown]

Thanks James. I thought JURESS was maybe a female JURY - a-lol!

To be fair, he could have been spelling it JURESS, as he declared it risky and wasn't asked to spell it. We will never know for sure!

[Ryan Taylor]

Thanks James. I thought JURESS was maybe a female JURY - a-lol!

To be fair, he could have been spelling it JURESS, as he declared it risky and wasn't asked to spell it. We will never know for sure!

Good point. Although I'm betting James is right.

[James Robinson]

Thanks James. I thought JURESS was maybe a female JURY - a-lol!

To be fair, he could have been spelling it JURESS, as he declared it risky and wasn't asked to spell it. We will never know for sure!

Not unless we go to County Tyrone, Mike. Another long walk for us.

[Mike Brown]

Good point. Although I'm betting James is right.

Very likely and i must admit I noted it down as DURESS as well. I quite fancy that trip to County Tyrone, though.