Ep 286: Anthony Kendall, Glenn Pile (March 23, 2015; originally aired October 3, 2011)

Rounds: Here.

Disclaimer: I watched this episode when it first aired, and although I did not recall any of it I cannot rule out memory being a factor.


Anthony gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight.  As mentioned before, Anthony is a keen long-distance runner, and Richard asks what sort of distance Anthony likes to run.  Anthony responds that he mainly does half marathons, and he expects to be doing his twentieth this weekend.

Tonight's challenger is Glenn Pile, an operations manager who has completed over 600 parachute jumps.  That seems like a goodly number!  Richard suggests that it is quite a few jumps; Glenn says that there are many thousand-jumpers in the field, but six hundred is "reasonable".  Glenn used to jump competitively, and managed to get to the national level, coming runner-up in the national competition.  That was all pre-children, though -- he does not jump any more.


Anthony won the first two letter rounds, but Glenn took the first numbers round to close the gap.  Then Anthony drew away again in the next numbers round to be a dangerous eleven points clear at the halfway mark.  The next three rounds were shared, so Glenn needed unanswered points in the last numbers round to have a chance.  But it went Anthony's way instead and ensured Anthony's victory.  Glenn took the consolation prize of solving the conundrum, but the win was Anthony's, 51 to 43.


As usual, details after the jump.

Round 1: F T M D E I O E S

I had TIMED, DEMOTE, DEMOTES, and FOISTED.  After time I noted FOMITES (plural of FOMES: "a substance, as bedding or clothing (but not food), capable of transmitting infection") as another seven, and checked up on MISFEED (which seems to happen often enough to printers); it is not valid.

Glenn has MODEST for six, but is outdone by Anthony's choice of DEMOTES.  David says that it was the best he could do also, and mentions FOISTED as another.

The other seven is MODISTE ("a maker of or dealer in articles of fashionable attire, especially women's dresses, millinery, etc.").

Anthony: DEMOTES
Glenn: MODEST
Me: DEMOTES
David: DEMOTES, FOISTED

Scores: Anthony 7, Glenn 0, me 7


Round 2: L H N I A S O B U

I has HAIL, NAILS, the dubious HALONS, ABOLISH, and INHAULS (INHAUL: "a rope for hauling in a sail or spar").  A little after time I looked back at NAILS and saw the adjustment to HOBNAILS for eight.  Just needed to be a little bit quicker...

Glenn essays the invalid UNBIAS for six, but it is not costly as Anthony has found ABOLISH to go fourteen points ahead.  David is pretty pleased to have found HOBNAILS for eight.

The other sevens are HOBNAIL and ALBINOS.

Anthony: ABOLISH
Glenn: [invalid -- UNBIAS]
Me: ABOLISH
David: HOBNAILS

Scores: Anthony 14, Glenn 0, me 14


Round 3: Target 990 from 75 8 10 3 1 9

The factorisation is pretty obvious, and with 9 and 10 already present it was just a matter of making the 11.  I was not hard pressed to find 990 = (8 + 3)*10*9.  After time I looked at alternatives and found 990 = (75 + 3*8)*10.

Anthony is three off with 993; I think he must have applied the standard method and worked up from 975 to get 993 = (10 + 3)*75 + 9 + 8 + 1.  If so, note that tweaking would have gotten him to two off via 988 = (10 + 3)*(75 + 1), and that would be easily adjusted to a one-off 989 = (10 + 3)*(75 + 1) + 9 - 8.  But none of this matters, as Glenn has found the same solution that I did within time.  That's some much needed points for Glenn, and puts him right back in the hunt.

Lily has gone with the second of the solutions that I listed.

Anthony: 993
Glenn: 990
Me: 990
Lily: 990

Scores: Anthony 14, Glenn 10, me 24


First break: LOP PLAIN ("A book, a movie, and a dog... and a pretty French insect")

It was the last two parts of the clue that gave this away for me: PAPILLON is French for butterfly.

David's talk is about the words 'ogle', 'leer', and 'perv'.


Round 4: T G D I E A N H O

I had TIDE, DATING, and HEADING.  As usual, the fourth vowel does not play well with the -ING; the next consonant would have been an S, allowing several eights (but no nine).  After time I noted the other sevens of HEATING, OATHING (not valid, as it turns out), TANGOED, and HOGTIED.

Yet again the contestants go six-seven, with Glenn having DONATE while Anthony has HOGTIED.  David points out the -ING and HEADING as a possible seven, with GODETIA (a type of flower) being another.  He also suggests that Glenn should have taken a sixth consonant, point out that an R would have allowed THREADING.  I'll add that a C would have yielded DETACHING.

Anthony's lead is over ten points again.  If the remaining rounds go the same way he will be leading 35 to 30 going into the conundrum, but it's not very likely, of course.

The other sevens are INGOTED, GAHNITE (a mineral), and DOATING (DOAT being a variant spelling of DOTE).

Anthony: HOGTIED
Glenn: DONATE
Me: HEADING
David: HEADING, GODETIA

Scores: Anthony 21, Glenn 10, me 31


Round 5: S T K R A E A O P

I had STARK, STREAK, an uncertain KARATES (Scrabble seems to allow it, at any rate), and SEAPORT / PROTEAS.

This time both of the contestants have sixes; both chose STREAK, in fact.  David has found the only eight here: PARTAKES.

The other sevens are PARTAKE, PAKORAS, OSTRAKA (plural of OSTRAKON: "a pottery shard used in antiquity as a means of casting a vote"), ESPARTO (a type of grass), and KOTARES (KOTARE being a type of sacred kingfisher).

Anthony: STREAK
Glenn: STREAK
Me: PROTEAS
David: PARTAKES

Scores: Anthony 21 (27), Glenn 10 (16), me 38


Round 6: Target 481 from 25 6 10 10 9 5

The standard method is clearly the tempting option, since we have the required 6.  The nearby 475 is 19*25, and that leads directly to 481 = (10 + 9)*25 + 6.  I also noted an alternative of 481 = 5*10*10 - 25 + 6.

Glenn solved this "just at the end"; he has gone with the second of those solutions.  It turns out that Anthony has done it the same way, so he remains 11 points ahead.  Lily demonstrates the first solution that I found.

Anthony: 481
Glenn: 481
Me: 481
Lily: 481

Scores: Anthony 31 (37), Glenn 20 (26), me 48


Second break: EARL FLEW ("Auf wiedersehen, adieu")

It feels like this must be a reference to that song from The Sound of Music: So Long, FAREWELL.


Round 7: C S R M E U E A L

I had SCREAM (written after the first four letters), SERUM, SECURE, CESURAE* (plural of CESURA, variant spelling of CAESURA: "English Prosody a break, especially a sense pause, usually near the middle of a verse, and marked in scansion by a double vertical line [...]"), CESURAL (adjective derived from CESURA), MEASURE, and MAULERS.  After time I noted other sevens of AMERCES (AMERCE: "to punish by inflicting a discretionary penalty of any kind") / RACEMES.

Both contestants have found seven-letter words this time, Glenn with MAULERS and Anthony with CEREALS.  So Glenn has managed to do better in the last couple of letters rounds, but has not been able to close the gap with Anthony and could well lose this game before the conundrum.  David has opted for RECLUSE as his choice of seven.

Seven is the best to be done here, with the others being SECULAR / RECUSAL, MACULES (MACULE: variant spelling of MACKLE: "to blur, as from a double impression in printing"), RELUMES (RELUME: "to light or illuminate again"), MARCELS (MARCEL: "to wave (the hair) by means of special irons, producing the effect of regular, continuous waves"), and EUCLASE (another term for EUCLASITE, a mineral).

Anthony: CEREALS
Glenn: MAULERS
Me: MEASURE
David: RECLUSE

Scores: Anthony 38 (44), Glenn 27 (33), me 55


Round 8: Target 767 from 50 10 3 4 10 1

The tempting approach here seemed to be 770 - 3, but it does not quite work out.  It did let me get to one away, though, with 766 = (3*(10 - 1) + 50)*10 - 4.  A little after time I realised the factor of 13, with cofactor 59, and so found the solution 767 = (10 + 3)*(50 + 10 - 1).

Glenn is seven off the pace with 760, but Anthony has found the same approach that I did within time to get to 766.  That guarantees his victory and pushes his score over 50.  Lily has done well to find the solution that I gave above, and it turns out to be the only one.

Anthony: 766
Glenn: 760
Me: 766
Lily: 767

Scores: Anthony 45 (51), Glenn 27 (33), me 62


Round 9: LUCID RIDE

I spotted the answer of RIDICULED quickly; I can't say what it was that guided me to it.  Glenn got there just one second later to get the consolation prize of having solved the conundrum.

Anthony: [no answer]
Glenn: RIDICULED (3s)
Me: RIDICULED (2s)

Scores: Anthony 45 (51), Glenn 27 (43), me 72


Glenn did well to solve the conundrum that quickly, and if the game had been closer it would have given him the victory.  But the damage was done in those first three letters rounds, where Anthony consistant outdid him, seven to six.  In the end it was too much ground to give up; Glenn made a small amount of ground back on the numbers but not enough.  Anthony scores in the fifties again; can he keep it up?