Enjoy.
Countdown recap for Thursday 31 March 2011.
C1: Champion Andrew McNamara (1 win, 83 points.) From Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He is currently training to become a maths teacher. His ambition is to go travelling around the world, preferably to New Zealand or Australia.
C2: Challenger Frank Beechey. From Coventry, Warwickshire. He works in retail management. He's a big Coventry City supporter. One of his claims to fame is playing in goal against Ardilles, not Ossie, but his son, Freddy.
His favourite place in the world is his garage, but it's no ordinary garage, because Frank has converted it and inside there is a bar, a pool table, a 32" flat screen TV and a dartboard. DC: Susie Dent and Paul Zenon.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: R U O F Z N E O F
R02: P A S E T H I V N
R03: R I O Q S T A E M
R04: N E S U T R I D L
R05: 25, 2, 1, 9, 5, 4. Target: 909.
TTT: LIMOGANG - "The time of day to go roaming around"
R06: R O W A P D I C O
R07: C A E G X B I E D
R08: N U M A L E R B U
R09: S E U I R G V S A
R10: 75, 5, 2, 6, 8, 2. Target: 698.
TTT: TIPHORSE - "A good horse will be tipped to win several of these"
R11: T E A N P I A T M
R12: T O L E J A S R E
R13: D I E S T N A I G
R14: 8, 5, 1, 7, 9, 10. Target: 885.
R15: R U N T I T L E S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Enjoy the show.
Round 1: R U O F Z N E O F
C1: OFFER (5)
C2: OFFER (5)
DC: UNFROZE (7)
Score: 5–5 (max 7)
There looked like there was nothing better than 5 here, but a brilliant and
darrenic 7 is spotted by DC.Round 2: P A S E T H I V N
C1: PANTIES (7)
C2: pastive
DC: PASTIE (6) THESPIAN (8)
Score: 12–5 (max 15)
DC go darrenic again as they act up to get the 8, leaving everyone else to amuse themselves with Andrew's PANTIES.
Round 3: R I O Q S T A E M
C1: MASTER (6)
C2: MASTER (6)
DC: ATOMISER (8) AMORTISE (8)
Score: 18–11 (max 23)
DC once again come up trumps with both available 8's.
Round 4: N E S U T R I D L
C1: UNREST (6)
C2: UNREST (6)
DC: TENDRILS (8) INSULTED (8) INTRUDES (8)
OT: DILUENTS (8) DILUTERS (8) INSULTER (8) LUSTRINE (8) NURDIEST (8) STUDLIER (8) TRUNDLES (8) UNDERLIT (8) UNLISTED (8)
Score: 24–17 (max 31)
Oh dear, are heading back into early week territory
Neither contestant can get past 6, even with a DOZEN 8's available 
Round 5: 25, 2, 1, 9, 5, 4. Target: 909.
C1: 905.
C2: 909. (9 x 4 x 25) + (5 x 2) - 1 (10)
Score: 24–27 (max 41)
Oh dear, Andrew writes down the wrong target, leaving Frank to pave his way into the lead with his solution.
Paul impresses with a magic trick in honour of their 500th episode which was (NOT) yesterday, involving finding a card consisting of the 3 elements picked by Rachel, Susie and Jeff. After successfully completing the trick, Paul magics up a bottle of champagne to celebrate later.
Teatime teaser: LIMOGANG -> GLOAMING
Round 6: R O W A P D I C O
C1: COWARD (6)
C2: DOOR (4)
DC: PARODIC (7) PICADOR (7)
Score: 30–27 (max 48)
And now Andrew's 3 point deficit turns into a 3 point lead, and yet again, DC get both the maximum words available again.
Round 7: C A E G X B I E D
C1: CAGED (5)
C2: CAGED (5)
OT: ABIDE (5) BADGE (5) BEEDI (5) BEGAD (5) BEIGE (5) CADGE (5) CEBID (5) CEIBA (5) DEBAG (5) GIBED (5) XEBEC (5)
Score: 35–32 (max 53)
Just 5's now, even though there looked like more.
A BEEDI (or BIDI) is an inexpensive Indian cigarette, locally produced usually from cut tobacco rolled in leaf.
A XEBEC is a small, three-masted vessel of the Mediterranean, formerly much used by corsairs, now employed to some extent in commerce.
Round 8: N U M A L E R B U
C1: UNREAL (6)
C2: NUMERAL (7)
DC: LABURNUM (8)
Score: 35–39 (max 61)
As Frank regains the lead, another brilliant DC darren emerges. Now am I right in thinking that there was an anagram of LABURNUM in the ODE2r
Round 9: S E U I R G V S A
C1: SAVERS (6)
C2: SAVERS (6)
DC: SEVRUGAS (8)
Score: 41–45 (max 69)
More DC magic with another awesome 8
Susie's definitely providing her own magic today. SUPER COOL STUFF!!! Susie's Origins Of Words talks about the origin of "ordeal".
Round 10: 75, 5, 2, 6, 8, 2. Target: 698.
C1: -
C2: 693. (8 - 6 + 75) x (5 + 2 + 2) (7)
JS: 698. ((75 - 5) x (8 + 2)) - 2 (10)
Score: 41–52 (max 79)
As Andrew blanks and Frank struggles to give his answer, Jeff impresses with his method, the same as mine, but not the same as Rachel's
Teatime teaser: TIPHORSE -> TROPHIES
Round 11: T E A N P I A T M
C1: ANIMATE (7)
C2: ATTAIN (6)
DC: PATIENT (7)
Score: 48–52 (max 86)
Andrew gets himself back into it with his very good 7.
Round 12: T O L E J A S R E
C1: RELATES (7)
C2: TEASER (6)
OT: OLEASTER (8)
Score: 55–52 (max 94)
That's the first max that DC have missed today, but Andrew won't care, because he has retaken the lead, as Frank starts to show signs of crumbling.....
An OLEASTER is an ornamental shrub or small tree, Elaeagnus angustifolia, of Eurasia, having fragrant yellow flowers and an olivelike fruit.
Round 13: D I E S T N A I G
C1: SEDATING (8)
C2: TIDINGS (7)
DC: DINGIEST (8) DAINTIES (8)
OT: IDEATING (8) STEADING (8)
Score: 63–52 (max 102)
Andrew now looks like he's poised to cross the finishing line, as he finds one of the available 8's.
Round 14: 8, 5, 1, 7, 9, 10. Target: 885.
C1: 889. ((7 + 5 - 1) x 8 x 10) + 9 (7)
C2: -
RR: 885. (((8 + 9) x 10) + 7) x 5 (10)
Score: 70–52 (max 112)
Frank's disintegration is complete, as he can't even get close in this numbers
So, Andrew's 4 away gives him the win.Round 15: R U N T I T L E S
C1 buzzes on 23 seconds to say UNLITTERS which is incorrect.
C2 does not buzz.
The answer was TURNSTILE.
Final Score: 70–52 (max 122)
Luckily his conundrum skills aren't needed, as his guess, although his guess seemed reasonable........., it was WRONG!
Andrew is through, but after yesterday's impressive win over Mark, his performance was quite a few levels down, but he won and will be back tomorrow for the April Fool's Day show. Join Mike for that.
After a nice trip to Leicester this weekend, I'll be back on Wednesday with the next midweek installment.
So, till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Andrew:
Total score - 70
Raw score - 83
Total % of max - 57
Raw % of max - 68
Total average score per round - 4.7
Raw average score per round - 5.5
Number of maxes - 3
Frank:
Total score - 52
Raw score - 85
Total % of max - 43
Raw % of max - 70
Total average score per round - 3.5
Raw average score per round - 5.7
Number of maxes - 2
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=64
