There's another new game after the cut. That will be the last one for a while, as we should be back to unseen episodes again on Monday.
Round 1:
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Round 2:
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Round 3:
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Round 4:
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Round 5:
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Round 6:
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Round 7:
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Round 8:
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Round 9:
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14 comments:
Geoff, I did realise my mistake in calling last nights game a quarter not semi final, but couldn't be bothered posting again. But thanks for your encouraging comments.
I had no chance of taking either Andrew or Narween to a conundrum showdown tonight. They were fantastic!
NECKTIES (8) happy I found that. Those compound words are so much tougher to find.
FLOATS (0)
3*100 + 9 + 5 = 314 (10)
BOATED (0)
X campier - invalid (but I saw that Sam tried that too)
2*100 - (10-9) = 199 (10)
CHEERING (8)
(4+4)*(75+5) - 100/50 = 638 (10)
Andrew was so quick to solve it, I couldn't press pause quick enough, but I doubt I would have seen it even with minutes to try!
Your game - tough letters again.
BADGES
FATALIST - was pleased to see that
(25+1)*10 + 8 = 268
MOOCHED, CHUMMED
SAUNAS
(100+50)*4 - 3 - 75/25 = 594
FETCHED
(9-7)*(100+50) = 300 I played around for ages to try and get closer, but no luck
And no joy with the conundrum either.
Here are mine:
NECKTIES
FLAGS
3*(100+2)+8=314
BUOYED
MAPPER (not sure about that one)
contestants' way
CHEERING (also wondered about CHEESING)
Naween's way
x (great find from Andrew)
And the extra game
MOUSED
TALAS (name of a rock band so took a punt. TALA is in my second edition so could it be the plural?)
(25+1)*10+8=268
MOOCHED
BRASS
out of range (need more practice on four large)
DEFECT
out of range
x
Jan and Mike: I agree, Andrew and Naween were in great form, but it would have been nice if the first two numbers rounds posed a bit more challenge. Great wordwork from both Andrew and Naween, with Naween pulling out that good numbers solution when he needed it most. Well done to both of you on getting NECKTIES and solving the 638; I just did a quick run through and got stuck on the standard method, with the best I could get in time being 639 = (4 + 5)*(75 - 4). Similarly I would have had to try CAMPIER despite being pretty sure it was not valid.
It was a tough extra game, for sure. That tends to happen when all the vowels are duplicated like that, I think. TALAS is valid, with TALA being defined as "a rhythmic pattern in Indian music" -- nice work, Mike!
My results:
1. AMUSED
2. FATALIST
3. 268 = 10*(25 + 1) + 8
4. COMMODE
5. UNBARS
6. 593 = 3*4*50 - (100 + 75)/25
7. FETCHED
8. 300 = (9 - 7)*(100 + 50)
9. OSTRACISE
Round 8 was much harder in practice than it probably should have been. That 300 was a last-moment scramble to get something down; it is possible I did not manage to do so within time. If you want to keep poking at it, try making it as 230 + 75 or 405 - 100... that's often a difficult technique to see and apply within time, but occasionally useful.
Tough game tonight! Some awful numbers in particular, I barely got the last one down. Still no luck on the conundrum for me.
1. MEDUSA
2. FATALIST
3. 268 = 8*(25 + 1) + 50 + 10
4. MOOCHED
5. UNBARS (risky guess, but paid off)
6. 594 = 50/25*(4*75 - 3)
7. FETCHED
8. 305 = 10*(50 - (9 - 7)) - 100 - 75
9. - (funny scramble!)
And now the longer version; this is split into two parts because of comment length limits.
Round 1: S B G U E M O A D
I had BUGS, GUMBOS, GUMBOES (so that I could decide which plural form was correct later), AMUSED, SUBGAME, and DEGAMOUS. Then I went through to select a word to choose, deciding that the plural form was probably GUMBOS (correct), that I had looked up SUBGAME before and it was not there, and that I had no idea where I was pulling DEGAMOUS from. So with GUMBOES, SUBGAME, and DEGAMOUS all invalid (as later checking confirmed) I stayed with AMUSED for six. After time I added BADGES and MEDUSA as other sixes.
I may have been thinking of DIGAMOUS with my last "word". It is the adjective derived from DIGAMY: "second marriage; the practice of marrying again after the death or divorce of the first spouse".
There is a seven here: BODEGAS (plural of BODEGA: "a storehouse for wine, especially one which is above ground").
Round 2: F A I I T L S A T
Argh, that duplication. I had ALIT, FAIL, FAILS, and then was rather surprised to spot FATALIST. A surprisingly long word from such a bunch.
The next best is only six letters long, and is also unique: TAFIAS (plural of TAFIA: "a kind of rum made from the lower grades of molasses, refuse sugar, etc., in Haiti").
Round 3: Target 268 from 25 50 10 8 3 1
I started by considering this as 260 + 8, getting the solution 268 = 10*(25 + 1) + 8. Then I tried the standard method to get 268 = (10 + 3)*25 - 50 - (8 - 1), and finished by using the factorisation 4*67 to get 268 = (3 + 1)*(50 + 25 - 8).
Round 4: M H M O O U D C E
OK, it's going to be one of those games with the duplication... I had DOOM, DOUCHE, COMMODE, and MOOCHED. After time I checked up on CHUMMED and discovered that a verb sense was listed, in the sense of "to fish with chum" (where "chum" in that definition is essentially bits of fish). There are other verb senses related to the meaning of CHUM as a friend, but they all are listed as parts of phrases only.
The other seven is MOUCHED, with MOUCH being a variant form of MOOCH.
The other sixes are HUMMED, COMEDO (another term for a blackhead, in the sense of clogged facial follicle), and OUCHED. OUCHED is rather interesting to me; it means "to adorn with or as with ouches", where OUCH as a noun is "a clasp, buckle, or brooch, especially one worn for ornament".
(It also reminds me of Shaun Ellis, covered way back in the first post on this blog, who has a tattoo related to the other meaning of OUCH.)
Round 5: S B R A A N U A S
I had BARS, BARNS, BRASS, a dubious URBANS, SNUBS, an even more dubious BRAUNS, and was relieved to get UNBARS as the safe six. (Indeed, as expected, URBANS / BRAUNS are invalid.)
The other sixes are SAUNAS, ANABAS (not a plural -- it is a type of fish), ASANAS (ASANA: "any of the various yogic poses [...]"), BURANS (BURAN: "a violent storm of wind on the steppes of Russia and Siberia [...]"), BURSAS (one plural form of BURSA: "a pouch, sac, or vesicle [...] to facilitate motion, as between a tendon and a bone"), and SARANS (SARAN being a trademark for "any of various thermoplastic resins [...]").
Round 6: Target 593 from 50 25 75 100 3 4
I started off with one off with a reasonably straightforward 594 = 4*(100 + 50) - 3 - 75/25. Then late in the piece I spotted another way to get to 600 and rather fortuitously it has the right remaining numbers to get to the target: 593 = 3*4*50 - (100 + 75)/25.
Longer details continued:
Round 7: H T F E E E D C E
Those E's which have been conspicuously absent so far make an appearance at last. I had FEET, FETED, DEFECT, and FETCHED.
The other sixes are ETCHED, HEFTED, and CHEFED (CHEFFED is also an acceptable form of the same concept).
Round 8: Target 305 from 50 100 75 7 9 10
Yeesh, I got horribly lost on this. I was trying to decide between approaching from 300 or 325, and not loving either of them -- somehow overlooking a fairly findable one away 306 = 7*50 - (100 - 75) - 10 - 9 in the process -- and then moving on to such flights of fancy as descent from 675. With time running out (and quite possibly already expired, to be honest; I don't have a good means of timing these) I wrote down the five away 300 = (9 - 7)*(100 + 50).
After time I adjusted that to four away with 309 = (10 - 7)*100 + 9, then applied the 50/75 trick to get to one away with 306 = (10 - 7)*100 + 9*50/75.
After further searching I contemplating making the target piecemeal as 230 + 75. That brought immediate results as the 10 was there, and with 2, 7, 9 a 23 is formable; the resulting solution is 305 = 10*(7*100/50 + 9) + 75. A bit later I finally managed to get 405 - 100 to work, something that I had considered within time but been unable to manage. 405 is 45*9, which is why this was tempting, but getting the 45 was the stumbling block. The way I found is 305 = 9*(50 - (75 - 7*10)) - 100.
Round 9: EROTIC ASS
Hard to score this fairly again, as I was working with an alternate form which might have made it stand out more. I looked at the -ISE ending early on, and OSTRACISE followed directly.
PS: Oh, well done on solving the 305, Victor!
And thanks to you Geoff for the additional games, and, as ever, your formidable analysis!
As Mike said, thanks Geoff for the extra games. And also for your encouragement and 'mentoring' us. Thanks
Looks like SBS is not satisfed enough taking L+N off that it is not showing the season 2 yikes I hope it's an indicator of the new episodes but I think that's wishful thinking I might need to try the games you publish on the blog Geoff
Thanks all for your kind comments. And well-spotted, JT; that's a serious blow. I think it's purest optimism at this point to hope for new episodes, particularly unannounced one. I guess I'll have to work on getting a better format for the non-show games up...
Interestingly, the schedule for December fails to list Countdown episodes either. That will be a blow to any regular watchers of it that remain -- they'll miss out on the last ten episodes of the series, which includes the finals. A good way for SBS to cap off the alienation of their former viewers, really.
Well said Geoff.
I did not realise that even the repeats are being 'rested'. How sad, particularly as I have just bought a new spiral work book!
Mike, I had just bought a new book too!
JT - come and play here with us!
I feel really angry and let down. Have rung SBS to make a complaint - 1800 500 727.
Geoff, it will be fun to keep playing here,
However i will be suffering big withdrawal symptoms from no Lily, David and Richard.
Not Happy Jan
SMUDGE
FATALIST
268 = (25+1)*10 + 8 = 268
MOOCHED
X SUNBARS (confused with SUNDOGS)
593 = (3*100*50-75)/25 - 4 Keep those heavyweights coming, Geoff!
FETCHED
Nothing, ran out of time trying to nail it.
~45s, tough bland letters
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