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.
It's the important fourth night for Hugh Davidson, and Richard asks about technique. Specifically, he comments that Hugh's selections have led to some of the most spectacular number play that he thinks has been had on the show (I'm not sure about that, but it has certainly led to some challenging targets), and enquires what Hugh's strategy is. Hugh demurs, saying that 'strategy' is probably the wrong word for it, and that he has been pretty reckless. Also, he is likely to continue being so.
Tonight's challenger is Dave Gray, but not the one that I thought of when I heard the name. This Dave Gray is the head gardener at the historic Vaucluse House in Sydney, and has been for twenty-two years. He adds that he is actually the head gardener for the Historic Houses Trust (they changed their name to Sydney Living Museums in 2013), so he looks after a number of gardeners associated with historic properties throughout Sydney, and even one down in Nowra called Meroogal.
Dave agrees with Richard's next statement that the beautiful gardens are certainly an important part of the historic houses, because they reflect the period of which the house is set. For instance, at Vaucluse House they are trying to encapsulate the 19th century in the garden there.
Richard reminds us that one of Dave's colleagues from Vaucluse House was on the show a while back; that was Susan Bee, back in episode 132.
Dave took the early lead with a good word, but Hugh rallied in the second round to reduce the deficit to a single point. Hugh's usual choice of six small numbers stumped everyone, including Lily, who very unusually had nothing to say. The points were shared in the next round, then Dave chanced an invalid word in round five; that allowed Hugh to take the lead. Dave took it right back again with the numbers, and when he solved the final numbers round also he was safe going into the conundrum. Dave did very well to solve that conundrum quickly, and finished a comfortable winner, 51 to 26.
Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Ep 208: Hugh Davidson, Amrit Singh (October 25, 2016; originally aired May 18, 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.
Hugh Davidson returns for his third night, and Richard returns to the topic of Hugh's radio work, asking him how many programs he is putting to air at the moment. Hugh responds that he is doing two shows a week at the moment -- a live performance show on Tuesdays, and the piano show on Saturdays. Hugh would love to work in radio in the future, and particularly for one of the national broadcasters like the ABC or SBS.
Facing Hugh tonight is Amrit Singh, an IT professional who describes his greatest achievement as bungee jumping off the Auckland bridge. Richard asks Amrit whether he can describe what it is like to bungee jump. Amrit says that it is a pretty scary experience, and to him personally it was quite fulfilling. The worst moment was when he had to step out and just jump... they counted him down, and that was the scariest part. After that it was great.
Hugh starts out with a pair of seven-letter words, while Amrit is unable to match him. Neither could make headway on the first numbers round, but thereafter it all goes Hugh's way. He picks up points in all the remaining rounds, including the conundrum, and Amrit was only able to get on the scoring board in the last numbers round. It's a very one-sided affair, with Hugh winning 62 to 10.
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.
Hugh Davidson returns for his third night, and Richard returns to the topic of Hugh's radio work, asking him how many programs he is putting to air at the moment. Hugh responds that he is doing two shows a week at the moment -- a live performance show on Tuesdays, and the piano show on Saturdays. Hugh would love to work in radio in the future, and particularly for one of the national broadcasters like the ABC or SBS.
Facing Hugh tonight is Amrit Singh, an IT professional who describes his greatest achievement as bungee jumping off the Auckland bridge. Richard asks Amrit whether he can describe what it is like to bungee jump. Amrit says that it is a pretty scary experience, and to him personally it was quite fulfilling. The worst moment was when he had to step out and just jump... they counted him down, and that was the scariest part. After that it was great.
Hugh starts out with a pair of seven-letter words, while Amrit is unable to match him. Neither could make headway on the first numbers round, but thereafter it all goes Hugh's way. He picks up points in all the remaining rounds, including the conundrum, and Amrit was only able to get on the scoring board in the last numbers round. It's a very one-sided affair, with Hugh winning 62 to 10.
Monday, 28 November 2016
Ep 207: Hugh Davidson, Gabrielle Abel (October 24, 2016; originally aired May 17, 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.
Hugh Davidson gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and we find out that Hugh used to play A-grade competition table tennis in Geelong, back when he was in high school. Richard asks how one trains for table tennis, and Hugh goes bizarrely off on a tanget saying that it's a weird sport that attracts weird people. Did part of the conversation get snipped? That made no sense as a response.
Tonight's challenger is Gabrielle Abel, an award-winning mechanic. Richard asks how that came about, and Gabrielle responds that it was during her apprenticeship (which she entered at what she describes as "quite an older age"). Her employer suggested that she enter for the award, so she did, and she says that it was mostly about being a good ambassador for the trade and the industry. (I'm not sure if this is her downplaying her abilities or not; it originally came across to me that way, but on reflection I am rather less certain of that interpretation.)
Gabrielle's award, incidentally, was the 2006 WA Motor Apprentice of the Year. I can also find a suggestion that she received an RAC Pre-Apprentice of the Year award, although I'm not able to track down more information on that. Earlier this year, She Skills had a post about Gabrielle.
Hugh started off by overreaching, trying an invalid nine in the first round. That gave Gabrielle a good lead, but Hugh won the next two rounds (aided by an invalid answer from Gabrielle to the first numbers round) to take a slender lead into the first break. The contestants shared the points in the following three rounds, and the match had the makings of a close game. But Hugh found the better answer in round seven, and then solved the target in round eight to give him a winning margin going into the conundrum. He did well to solve that, too, winning with 51 points to 22.
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.
Hugh Davidson gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and we find out that Hugh used to play A-grade competition table tennis in Geelong, back when he was in high school. Richard asks how one trains for table tennis, and Hugh goes bizarrely off on a tanget saying that it's a weird sport that attracts weird people. Did part of the conversation get snipped? That made no sense as a response.
Tonight's challenger is Gabrielle Abel, an award-winning mechanic. Richard asks how that came about, and Gabrielle responds that it was during her apprenticeship (which she entered at what she describes as "quite an older age"). Her employer suggested that she enter for the award, so she did, and she says that it was mostly about being a good ambassador for the trade and the industry. (I'm not sure if this is her downplaying her abilities or not; it originally came across to me that way, but on reflection I am rather less certain of that interpretation.)
Gabrielle's award, incidentally, was the 2006 WA Motor Apprentice of the Year. I can also find a suggestion that she received an RAC Pre-Apprentice of the Year award, although I'm not able to track down more information on that. Earlier this year, She Skills had a post about Gabrielle.
Hugh started off by overreaching, trying an invalid nine in the first round. That gave Gabrielle a good lead, but Hugh won the next two rounds (aided by an invalid answer from Gabrielle to the first numbers round) to take a slender lead into the first break. The contestants shared the points in the following three rounds, and the match had the makings of a close game. But Hugh found the better answer in round seven, and then solved the target in round eight to give him a winning margin going into the conundrum. He did well to solve that, too, winning with 51 points to 22.
Saturday, 26 November 2016
Ep 206: James Morris, Hugh Davidson (October 23, 2016; originally aired May 16, 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.
It's the third night for James Morris, and we hear that he helps out at sports camps, trying to encourage kids under thirteen to get out and run and enjoy playing sport, to get outdoors into the fresh air and try to get fit. It's something that he would like to continue to do when he retires from construction.
Tonight's challenger is Hugh Davidson, a freelance sound recordist who also hosts and produces his own community radio show. That show aired on Radio 3MBS in Melbourne. He mostly plays old recordings of piano music from the '30s, '40s, and '50s.
It's yet another close game tonight, with the contestants finding equal results in the first two letters rounds. James gained a small lead from the first numbers round, but a tough letters round that followed saw Hugh equalise. An invalid word from Hugh let James take the lead once more, then Hugh rallied in the second numbers round to take the lead for the first time in the game. He extended it in the final letters round, only for James to narrow the margin with the numbers. Hugh was very slightly ahead going into the conundrum, but that margin was enough to give him victory as neither was able to solve it, leaving the final scoreline as 32 to 30 in his favour.
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.
It's the third night for James Morris, and we hear that he helps out at sports camps, trying to encourage kids under thirteen to get out and run and enjoy playing sport, to get outdoors into the fresh air and try to get fit. It's something that he would like to continue to do when he retires from construction.
Tonight's challenger is Hugh Davidson, a freelance sound recordist who also hosts and produces his own community radio show. That show aired on Radio 3MBS in Melbourne. He mostly plays old recordings of piano music from the '30s, '40s, and '50s.
It's yet another close game tonight, with the contestants finding equal results in the first two letters rounds. James gained a small lead from the first numbers round, but a tough letters round that followed saw Hugh equalise. An invalid word from Hugh let James take the lead once more, then Hugh rallied in the second numbers round to take the lead for the first time in the game. He extended it in the final letters round, only for James to narrow the margin with the numbers. Hugh was very slightly ahead going into the conundrum, but that margin was enough to give him victory as neither was able to solve it, leaving the final scoreline as 32 to 30 in his favour.
Friday, 25 November 2016
Weekly summary: Episodes 201 to 205
I had a fairly shaky restart to the game, finishing ten points behind on the solo totals in an unusual way, missing out on all three numbers rounds. Things picked up thereafter, and I even managed to get a solo win over David and Lily on Thursday. I was not able to play Tuesday's game since SBS did not make it available on their website for some reason.
Andre got to a fifth game before falling to James, who saw out the week with a pair of identical winning scores.
It was an uneventful week, with no full monties on offer and all numbers rounds solved by Lily.
I was consistent on my letters performance this week, dropping only one maximum in each game. The numbers started out somewhat shakily, as I failed to hit any maximum on Monday and still missed one on Wednesday. The week finished strongly as I finally hit my stride on the numbers, and I solved all of the conundrums presented to me.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 62 | 75 | 75 | 74 | |
| Champion | 11 | 27 | 10 | 46 | |
| Challenger | 24 | 17 | 10 | 24 | |
| David + Lily | 72 | 79 | 74 | 76 | |
| Me (solo) | 62 | 75 | 75 | 74 |
Andre got to a fifth game before falling to James, who saw out the week with a pair of identical winning scores.
| Andre Sardone | 42 | 47 | 69 | 51 | 40 | 249 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Morris* | 52 | 52 | 104 | ||||
| Des Mullen | 45 | 45 | |||||
| Tony Moran | 41 | 41 | |||||
| Jenny Lee | 29 | 29 |
It was an uneventful week, with no full monties on offer and all numbers rounds solved by Lily.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Missed Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Tough Numbers | 0 | |||||
| Impossible Numbers | 0 |
I was consistent on my letters performance this week, dropping only one maximum in each game. The numbers started out somewhat shakily, as I failed to hit any maximum on Monday and still missed one on Wednesday. The week finished strongly as I finally hit my stride on the numbers, and I solved all of the conundrums presented to me.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| N | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | |
| C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Morris* | 104 | 2 | 52.00 |
| Andre Sardone | 249 | 5 | 49.80 |
| Des Mullen | 45 | 1 | 45.00 |
| Tony Moran | 41 | 1 | 41.00 |
| Jenny Lee | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
Weekly summary: Episodes 191 to 193
Looks like I forgot to put up the weekly summary from the end of the previous series. I don't remember much about it, but I have the statistics. It looks like I had a particularly good game on Tuesday, anyway.
Andre Sardone won the last game before the finals, becoming the carryover champion for the next series. The leaderboard for the finals is unchanged.
Tuesday offered two full monties, which was nice. Tuesday and Wednesday also each had an impossible numbers round, making it a difficult set of numbers for the week.
I managed to get optimal results on the numbers in these three games, which is very pleasing. I also had optimal results on the letters in the last two games, and Tuesday's game was completely optimal. I also managed to outscore David and Lily on that one, which was nice.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 74 | 96 | 64 |
| Champion | 6 | 0 | 7 |
| Challenger | 0 | 10 | 17 |
| David + Lily | 76 | 95 | 74 |
| Me (solo) | 74 | 96 | 64 |
Andre Sardone won the last game before the finals, becoming the carryover champion for the next series. The leaderboard for the finals is unchanged.
| Tony Loui | 52 | 83 | 44 | 62 | 49 | 52 | 342 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tamara McMahon | 54 | 64 | 63 | 52 | 54 | 48 | 335 |
| Barry Harridge | 75 | 51 | 45 | 54 | 39 | 59 | 323 |
| Matthew Thomason | 46 | 64 | 49 | 44 | 52 | 65 | 310 |
| Victor Tung | 44 | 29 | 51 | 43 | 47 | 42 | 256 |
| Oli Bryant | 71 | 46 | 60 | 55 | 54 | 32 | 318 |
| Richard Hartley | 56 | 53 | 57 | 42 | 42 | 32 | 282 |
| Jack Dell | 59 | 73 | 40 | 50 | 36 | 258 |
Tuesday offered two full monties, which was nice. Tuesday and Wednesday also each had an impossible numbers round, making it a difficult set of numbers for the week.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Missed Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Tough Numbers | 0 | |||||
| Impossible Numbers | 1 | 1 | 2 |
I managed to get optimal results on the numbers in these three games, which is very pleasing. I also had optimal results on the letters in the last two games, and Tuesday's game was completely optimal. I also managed to outscore David and Lily on that one, which was nice.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| N | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| C | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Loui | 342 | 6 | 57.00 |
| Tamara McMahon | 335 | 6 | 55.83 |
| Barry Harridge | 323 | 6 | 53.83 |
| Oli Bryant | 318 | 6 | 53.00 |
| Peter Kougi | 52 | 1 | 52.00 |
| Matthew Thomason | 310 | 6 | 51.67 |
| Jack Dell | 258 | 5 | 51.60 |
| Rohan Long | 153 | 3 | 51.00 |
| Jason Dunn | 102 | 2 | 51.00 |
| Colwyn Buckland | 51 | 1 | 51.00 |
| Brian Morgan | 151 | 3 | 50.33 |
| Luke Brattoni | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Mel Cox | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Rob Hunt | 99 | 2 | 49.50 |
| Raf Goodens | 98 | 2 | 49.00 |
| Gary Beer | 49 | 1 | 49.00 |
| Ryan Turk | 48 | 1 | 48.00 |
| Jeremy Rosen | 95 | 2 | 47.50 |
| Richard Hartley | 282 | 6 | 47.00 |
| Samuel Hastings | 186 | 4 | 46.50 |
| Daniel Drumm | 92 | 2 | 46.00 |
| Tom Fooks | 133 | 3 | 44.33 |
| Jonathan Goodman | 44 | 1 | 44.00 |
| Robyn Lee | 86 | 2 | 43.00 |
| Victor Tung | 256 | 6 | 42.67 |
| Greg Beers | 211 | 5 | 42.20 |
| Kannan Sethuraman | 210 | 5 | 42.00 |
| Andre Sardone* | 42 | 1 | 42.00 |
| Kathryn James | 123 | 3 | 41.00 |
| Kylie Thompson | 123 | 3 | 41.00 |
| Jodi Knight | 82 | 2 | 41.00 |
| Avi Chanales | 163 | 4 | 40.75 |
| Margaret Frangos | 79 | 2 | 39.50 |
| Peter Stephenson | 78 | 2 | 39.00 |
| Paula Messer | 77 | 2 | 38.50 |
| Brett Chaiyawat | 188 | 5 | 37.60 |
| Janine Huan | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Had Thomas | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Aram Kalyanasundaram | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| Luke Warden | 72 | 2 | 36.00 |
| Pat Sincock | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| David Waddell | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| Damien Chua | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Ralph Lurie | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Helen Hewitt | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Jayden Spudvilas-Powell | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Michael Bakker | 66 | 2 | 33.00 |
| Nathan Boadle | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Alison Crowe | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Chris Cincotta | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Everson Kandare | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Cameron Ling | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Neil McInnes | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Ben Ripley | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Felix Johnson | 95 | 3 | 31.67 |
| Mike Vitale | 63 | 2 | 31.50 |
| Howard Smith | 62 | 2 | 31.00 |
| John Marsiglio | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Gillian Stevens | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Alex Ford | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Bryce Lawrence | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Jon Avotins | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Matt Pitcher | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Kapil Chauhan | 28 | 1 | 28.00 |
| Tim Shiel | 28 | 1 | 28.00 |
| Graham Smith | 55 | 2 | 27.50 |
| Phillip Gao | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Anna Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| David Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| James Couti | 53 | 2 | 26.50 |
| Glen Chandler | 26 | 1 | 26.00 |
| Steve Simmons | 25 | 1 | 25.00 |
| Nicky Henderson | 24 | 1 | 24.00 |
| Preeti Goel | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Louise Kuchmar | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Vikas Ahuja | 22 | 1 | 22.00 |
| Daniel Goff | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Laurence Guttman | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Richard King | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Mark Povey | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Rob Carter | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Rosemary Stafford | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Nicky Betts | 19 | 1 | 19.00 |
| Liam Murphy | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Basil Theophilos | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Jenni Bradford | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Seb Dworkin | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Frank Rice | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Vanessa Rule | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dane Watkins | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dan Boxshall | 14 | 1 | 14.00 |
| Cathy Henry | 14 | 1 | 14.00 |
| Susan Bee | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Mali Konda | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Rhys McCaig | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Matthew Ball | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Matt Bolton | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Kym Logan | 6 | 1 | 6.00 |
| Lexi Wright | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
Thursday, 24 November 2016
Ep 205: James Morris, Des Mullen (October 20, 2016; originally aired May 13, 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.
James Morris gets his turn in the champion's seat, after defeating Andre last night. In addition to his sporting prowess, James is also very into playing pool competitively; he says that he is captain of a pub in Melbourne, but I assume he means captain of some pool team associated with that pub. It was his girlfriend who really got him into the game, because she has played pool at the world level. Impressive!
Tonight's challenger is Des Mullen, a musician who played the part of the motorcycle cop in the Australian Village People. They toured around the country for about four years from the late '90s up to around 2002, performing specifically as "the Australian Village People" to avoid legal trouble. They did go to New Zealand once, and were asked to stay hidden as the organisers were trying to pass them off as the real Village People (oh, dear), and apart from the beard there was very little resemblance.
James took the lead with the best answer in the first round, but lost most of it on the first numbers round due to an invalid answer. He managed to extend his lead in round five, but for the most part the contestants found equal results with a series of rounds that did not hold out much potential for swing. Des was behind going into the conundrum but still in with a chance. It ended up proving to be too difficult for both contestants, however, so James held on for the win, 52 to 45.
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.
James Morris gets his turn in the champion's seat, after defeating Andre last night. In addition to his sporting prowess, James is also very into playing pool competitively; he says that he is captain of a pub in Melbourne, but I assume he means captain of some pool team associated with that pub. It was his girlfriend who really got him into the game, because she has played pool at the world level. Impressive!
Tonight's challenger is Des Mullen, a musician who played the part of the motorcycle cop in the Australian Village People. They toured around the country for about four years from the late '90s up to around 2002, performing specifically as "the Australian Village People" to avoid legal trouble. They did go to New Zealand once, and were asked to stay hidden as the organisers were trying to pass them off as the real Village People (oh, dear), and apart from the beard there was very little resemblance.
James took the lead with the best answer in the first round, but lost most of it on the first numbers round due to an invalid answer. He managed to extend his lead in round five, but for the most part the contestants found equal results with a series of rounds that did not hold out much potential for swing. Des was behind going into the conundrum but still in with a chance. It ended up proving to be too difficult for both contestants, however, so James held on for the win, 52 to 45.
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Ep 204: Andre Sardone, James Morris (October 20, 2016; originally aired May 12, 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.
Andre Sardone is back for his fifth night, and it's time for the usual question about technique. It's always a disappointing question from my point of view, and even worse this time when Andre drops the conversational ball. Richard asks if Andre has developed any techniques, and Andre's response is semantically equivalent to "yes", but without explaining what they are. There's just nowhere to go from there, so we move on to chat with the challenger.
Tonight's challenger is James Morris, a site manager for a construction company. James did a triathlon the previous weekend, and also does mountaineering and a range of other physial pursuits.
It was yet another very close game tonight. In fact, the contestants had equal scores for the first six rounds. It looked like we might well head into the conundrum with scores tied, but James found a longer word in round seven to take a small lead. Andre blanked on the last difficult numbers round, but James found a way to score points there and had suddenly won the game. Neither contestant was able to solve the conundrum, so the scoreline remained 52 to 40 in James' favour.
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.
Andre Sardone is back for his fifth night, and it's time for the usual question about technique. It's always a disappointing question from my point of view, and even worse this time when Andre drops the conversational ball. Richard asks if Andre has developed any techniques, and Andre's response is semantically equivalent to "yes", but without explaining what they are. There's just nowhere to go from there, so we move on to chat with the challenger.
Tonight's challenger is James Morris, a site manager for a construction company. James did a triathlon the previous weekend, and also does mountaineering and a range of other physial pursuits.
It was yet another very close game tonight. In fact, the contestants had equal scores for the first six rounds. It looked like we might well head into the conundrum with scores tied, but James found a longer word in round seven to take a small lead. Andre blanked on the last difficult numbers round, but James found a way to score points there and had suddenly won the game. Neither contestant was able to solve the conundrum, so the scoreline remained 52 to 40 in James' favour.
Ep 203: Andre Sardone, Tony Moran (October 19, 2016; originally aired May 11, 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.
It's the crucial fourth night for Andre. As of writing this, I have not seen the previous episode so I don't know how it went, but consulting the books suggests that his score was a very good 69 points. In the pre-game chat Richard says that it was a nail-biter, so his opponent must also have done well. Then the topic turns to chess, and we find out that Andre is the tournament director of the Bendigo chess club.
Tonight's challenger is Tony Moran, a school principal from Gunnedah, which Richard describes as "the home of the koalas". Tony is more precise, noting that Gunnedah claims to be "the koala capital of the world". They have had koalas in their schoolyard in the past (although not this year because there is construction going on), and often find them in the gum trees in the backyard. Richard asks if there is something particularly attractive to koalas about Gunnedah, to which Tony responds "lots of gum trees".
It was yet another close game for Andre tonight. He scooted out to an early lead in the first two letters rounds, but Tony gained ground back when Andre was not able to make progress on the first numbers round. The contestants matched each other over the next four rounds, then again Tony scored in the numbers while Andre was not able to get anywhere; that tied the scores going into the conundrum. Andre was able to solve that conundrum very quickly, though, giving him the win 51 to 41.
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.
It's the crucial fourth night for Andre. As of writing this, I have not seen the previous episode so I don't know how it went, but consulting the books suggests that his score was a very good 69 points. In the pre-game chat Richard says that it was a nail-biter, so his opponent must also have done well. Then the topic turns to chess, and we find out that Andre is the tournament director of the Bendigo chess club.
Tonight's challenger is Tony Moran, a school principal from Gunnedah, which Richard describes as "the home of the koalas". Tony is more precise, noting that Gunnedah claims to be "the koala capital of the world". They have had koalas in their schoolyard in the past (although not this year because there is construction going on), and often find them in the gum trees in the backyard. Richard asks if there is something particularly attractive to koalas about Gunnedah, to which Tony responds "lots of gum trees".
It was yet another close game for Andre tonight. He scooted out to an early lead in the first two letters rounds, but Tony gained ground back when Andre was not able to make progress on the first numbers round. The contestants matched each other over the next four rounds, then again Tony scored in the numbers while Andre was not able to get anywhere; that tied the scores going into the conundrum. Andre was able to solve that conundrum very quickly, though, giving him the win 51 to 41.
Tuesday, 22 November 2016
Ep 201: Andre Sardone, Jenny Lee (October 17, 2016; originally aired May 9, 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.
Andre Sardone returns for the new series, getting his turn in the champion's seat after the break for the finals. The pre-game talk is pretty much a non-event -- he is asked if he got up to anything creative, and responds that he did. But without giving any useful information, the conversation dies there. Contestants, this is not how to help out the show.
The first challenger for the new series is Jenny Lee, an engineering and science student. Jenny can solve a Rubik's cube, and her fastest time is forty-two seconds. (That's close to the winning time of the first speedcubing championship in 1981, which was thirty-eight seconds, but times have dropped greatly since then and the current record is an impressive 4.74 seconds, set by Mats Valk in 2016.) Richard asks Jenny about the number of possible combinations of a cube, which (unsurprisingly) she does not know offhand but guesses at 1032. That's not really a fair question, but for the record the actual figure is about 4.3*1019.
It ended up being a very close game. Jenny took the early lead when Andre's first word attempt was invalid, but Andre overtook her after the first numbers round. Jenny found her way back to the lead again in round five, only for Andre to once again get back in front due to the numbers. Andre extended his lead in the final numbers round, but the game was still up for grabs going into the conundrum. He ended up solving it first, for a 47 to 29 victory.
I had a disappointing night on the numbers, ending up one off the target each time. But my wordwork was acceptable, and I cruised home comfortably against the contestants.
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.
Andre Sardone returns for the new series, getting his turn in the champion's seat after the break for the finals. The pre-game talk is pretty much a non-event -- he is asked if he got up to anything creative, and responds that he did. But without giving any useful information, the conversation dies there. Contestants, this is not how to help out the show.
The first challenger for the new series is Jenny Lee, an engineering and science student. Jenny can solve a Rubik's cube, and her fastest time is forty-two seconds. (That's close to the winning time of the first speedcubing championship in 1981, which was thirty-eight seconds, but times have dropped greatly since then and the current record is an impressive 4.74 seconds, set by Mats Valk in 2016.) Richard asks Jenny about the number of possible combinations of a cube, which (unsurprisingly) she does not know offhand but guesses at 1032. That's not really a fair question, but for the record the actual figure is about 4.3*1019.
It ended up being a very close game. Jenny took the early lead when Andre's first word attempt was invalid, but Andre overtook her after the first numbers round. Jenny found her way back to the lead again in round five, only for Andre to once again get back in front due to the numbers. Andre extended his lead in the final numbers round, but the game was still up for grabs going into the conundrum. He ended up solving it first, for a 47 to 29 victory.
I had a disappointing night on the numbers, ending up one off the target each time. But my wordwork was acceptable, and I cruised home comfortably against the contestants.
Time to get back into the swing of things
Apologies for the long period of no communication. A combination of circumstances put me behind, then an illness followed and it was hard to get enthusiasm back for the task. I'm well again now, and starting work on the backlog.
Unfortunately, SBS failed to put up episode 202 on their OnDemand service, so I have missed that episode. I have no idea why they omitted this one -- in true SBS fashion there was no response to my email about it -- but it is annoying. I guess if they keep rolling out the re-runs then I'll get to see it again in a couple of years.
Unfortunately, SBS failed to put up episode 202 on their OnDemand service, so I have missed that episode. I have no idea why they omitted this one -- in true SBS fashion there was no response to my email about it -- but it is annoying. I guess if they keep rolling out the re-runs then I'll get to see it again in a couple of years.
Friday, 14 October 2016
NG 842
New game 842 is now available.
The re-run is episode 198; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.
The re-run is episode 198; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.
Thursday, 13 October 2016
NG 841
New game 841 is now available.
The re-run is episode 198; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.
The re-run is episode 198; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.
Wednesday, 12 October 2016
NG 840
New game 840 is now available.
The re-run is episode 198; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.
The re-run is episode 198; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
NG 839
New game 839 is now available.
The re-run is episode 197; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.
The re-run is episode 197; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.
Monday, 10 October 2016
NG 838
New game 838 is now available.
The re-run is episode 196; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.
The re-run is episode 196; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.
Sunday, 9 October 2016
New games back this week
I'll be putting up new games this coming week during the remaining
finals of series two (Monday's will probably be a little late, but I'll
aim to get the others up at the usual 6pm). Meanwhile, here's links to
my earlier writeups for the first quarterfinal (episode 194) and the second quarterfinal (episode 195).
In other news, the mezzacotta Puzzle Competition is on this week. This is run by the people who used to run the CiSRA Puzzle Competition, but no longer under the auspices of CiSRA. Check it out, maybe you'll find something to like there.
In other news, the mezzacotta Puzzle Competition is on this week. This is run by the people who used to run the CiSRA Puzzle Competition, but no longer under the auspices of CiSRA. Check it out, maybe you'll find something to like there.
Thursday, 6 October 2016
Ep 193: James Couti, Andre Sardone (October 5, 2016; originally aired April 27, 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.
James Coutie gets his turn in the champion's seat, for the last game before the finals. James has just finished his sixth season of lifesaving; he started of with normal lifesaving, then transitioned into teaching it. He says that he mainly teaches the First Aid Awards now (I'm not sure what that is -- there is a UK organisation by that name, but presumably that is not what is meant), but he also does other things like Emergency Response, where he gets to ride jet skis.
Tonight's challenger is Andre Sardone, a roof plumber and Richard informs us that Andre has turned roof plumbing into a more creative endeavour. Andre explains that he has always been good at drawing and painting, but about six years ago he decided to create artworks out of Colorbond steel (his chosen material in roof plumbing). He creates wall-hanging artworks out of it: Like paintings, but instead of painting colours, he cuts shapes and layers them together to create an image. (Unfortunately, Andre's website seems to be under construction at the time of writing this post, but a few older examples of his art can be found elsewhere, such as on this page.)
Andre bolted to an early lead by finding good seven-letter words in the first two rounds whereas James only managed five-letter words. A win in the first numbers round from Andre saw him 19 points ahead at the first break. James rallied a bit in the second third, finding one longer word in round four and then sharing the points in round five. Andre squashed that recovery by solving the second numbers round, though, and was 22 points ahead at the second break. That left James needing to outscore Andre on the last letters round, but his five-letter word was not sufficient to the task. Neither was able to score in the final two rounds, and Andre won, 42 to 13.
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.
James Coutie gets his turn in the champion's seat, for the last game before the finals. James has just finished his sixth season of lifesaving; he started of with normal lifesaving, then transitioned into teaching it. He says that he mainly teaches the First Aid Awards now (I'm not sure what that is -- there is a UK organisation by that name, but presumably that is not what is meant), but he also does other things like Emergency Response, where he gets to ride jet skis.
Tonight's challenger is Andre Sardone, a roof plumber and Richard informs us that Andre has turned roof plumbing into a more creative endeavour. Andre explains that he has always been good at drawing and painting, but about six years ago he decided to create artworks out of Colorbond steel (his chosen material in roof plumbing). He creates wall-hanging artworks out of it: Like paintings, but instead of painting colours, he cuts shapes and layers them together to create an image. (Unfortunately, Andre's website seems to be under construction at the time of writing this post, but a few older examples of his art can be found elsewhere, such as on this page.)
Andre bolted to an early lead by finding good seven-letter words in the first two rounds whereas James only managed five-letter words. A win in the first numbers round from Andre saw him 19 points ahead at the first break. James rallied a bit in the second third, finding one longer word in round four and then sharing the points in round five. Andre squashed that recovery by solving the second numbers round, though, and was 22 points ahead at the second break. That left James needing to outscore Andre on the last letters round, but his five-letter word was not sufficient to the task. Neither was able to score in the final two rounds, and Andre won, 42 to 13.
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Ep 192: Kylie Thompson, James Couti (October 4, 2016; originally aired April 26, 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.
It's the third night for Kylie Thompson, and we find out that she is very much into jewellery making and beading. She likes to get creative when she has some spare time, and make pieces for herself or friends and family. Kylie's mother is also very much into those two activities also, and they've often talked about how they'd love to open a bead cafe where they could have a coffee and teach people how to bead.
Tonight's challenger is James Couti, a paramedic student. That was a change of direction for James; he started out in architecture, since all through years 10, 11, 12 that was what he wanted to do. But then he got involved in lifesaving and decided that he wanted to move into emergency health; thus the paramedic study. James' eventual aim is to get into the air ambulance, but he says that is a long way off.
The game started off quietly enough, with fives and sixes in a couple of shared rounds. James struck first blood with the numbers, solving a target that flummoxed Kylie. Another shared round followed, then he extended his lead to sixteen points when Kylie erred in round five. Kylie pulled back some ground in the next numbers round, and went into the second break a tantalising eleven points behind.
After the break, James handled a fertile mix better to pull away once more, and then chose a difficult numbers mix. Kylie needed to solve it exactly in order to stay in contention, but the target was unreachable and that meant victory for James. Neither could solve the conundrum -- both buzzed in with invalid answers -- and James finished the winner by eleven points, 40 to 29.
I had an excellent game tonight; optimal, even. That included one round where I managed to find a better option than David, so I have finally gained that elusive solo victory -- only the second time that I have done so this series. Not only that, but there were two full monties on offer today so I also (I think) registered my personal high score. All in all, a very enjoyable game for me.
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.
It's the third night for Kylie Thompson, and we find out that she is very much into jewellery making and beading. She likes to get creative when she has some spare time, and make pieces for herself or friends and family. Kylie's mother is also very much into those two activities also, and they've often talked about how they'd love to open a bead cafe where they could have a coffee and teach people how to bead.
Tonight's challenger is James Couti, a paramedic student. That was a change of direction for James; he started out in architecture, since all through years 10, 11, 12 that was what he wanted to do. But then he got involved in lifesaving and decided that he wanted to move into emergency health; thus the paramedic study. James' eventual aim is to get into the air ambulance, but he says that is a long way off.
The game started off quietly enough, with fives and sixes in a couple of shared rounds. James struck first blood with the numbers, solving a target that flummoxed Kylie. Another shared round followed, then he extended his lead to sixteen points when Kylie erred in round five. Kylie pulled back some ground in the next numbers round, and went into the second break a tantalising eleven points behind.
After the break, James handled a fertile mix better to pull away once more, and then chose a difficult numbers mix. Kylie needed to solve it exactly in order to stay in contention, but the target was unreachable and that meant victory for James. Neither could solve the conundrum -- both buzzed in with invalid answers -- and James finished the winner by eleven points, 40 to 29.
I had an excellent game tonight; optimal, even. That included one round where I managed to find a better option than David, so I have finally gained that elusive solo victory -- only the second time that I have done so this series. Not only that, but there were two full monties on offer today so I also (I think) registered my personal high score. All in all, a very enjoyable game for me.
Monday, 3 October 2016
Ep 191: Kylie Thompson, Lexi Wright (October 3, 2016; originally aired April 25, 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.
Kylie Thompson is in the champion's seat tonight, and Richard asks where her enthusiasm for teaching comes from. Kylie says that it is her students, and seeing what they can achieve through what she teaches them. She tries to build a really good rapport with them, and this has resulted in her being nicknamed "Nanny K" (after her maiden name of Nankervis); she acquired that during her first year of teaching, and even now after marriage and a name change she still gets called that in the corridors.
Tonight's challenger is Lexi Wright, a student doing a bachelor of science with a focus on genetics and mathematics. She's still in first year, though, so it's a bit early to say how things will go. With respect to genetics, Lexi is interested in research and matters like the Human Genome Project.
The pattern of the game was set in the very first round, where Kylie's five-letter word was one better than Lexi's declaration. So it continued throughout the letters rounds: Kylie always was just one letter longer. Both contestants struggled with the numbers, failing to get within range for the first two numbers rounds, and then in the last numbers round Kylie again was one closer to the target. Neither could solve the conundrum, and Kylie won, 36 to 0.
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.
Kylie Thompson is in the champion's seat tonight, and Richard asks where her enthusiasm for teaching comes from. Kylie says that it is her students, and seeing what they can achieve through what she teaches them. She tries to build a really good rapport with them, and this has resulted in her being nicknamed "Nanny K" (after her maiden name of Nankervis); she acquired that during her first year of teaching, and even now after marriage and a name change she still gets called that in the corridors.
Tonight's challenger is Lexi Wright, a student doing a bachelor of science with a focus on genetics and mathematics. She's still in first year, though, so it's a bit early to say how things will go. With respect to genetics, Lexi is interested in research and matters like the Human Genome Project.
The pattern of the game was set in the very first round, where Kylie's five-letter word was one better than Lexi's declaration. So it continued throughout the letters rounds: Kylie always was just one letter longer. Both contestants struggled with the numbers, failing to get within range for the first two numbers rounds, and then in the last numbers round Kylie again was one closer to the target. Neither could solve the conundrum, and Kylie won, 36 to 0.
Sunday, 2 October 2016
Weekly summary: Episodes 186 to 190
I had a vastly more consistent week this time, always being close to David and Lily even if I only managed to equal them once. That's always something to be happy about, though! I've had a pretty good run this series, although I think it's safe to say I would not have done nearly as well at the time of airing. Keeping this blog going has unquestionably improved my game.
Tony went all the way, taking the top spot as he had seemed likely to do, and pushing Greg off the leaderboard. Robyn won on Thursday, but then lost to Kylie; there's not enough games left before the finals for Kylie to get onto the leaderboard, so the top eight for the finals are now determined.
Only one full monty was available this time, a sharp decline after the five from last week. A numbers round proved to be too tough for Lily on Tuesday, and the rareness of that demonstrates just how very good she is. There was also an impossible target on Thursday, but there's not much to be said about that.
I feel decent about my letters performance this week, but I did drop a couple more numbers maxima than I should have -- I just have to spot those better options within time. I did solve all five conundrums within time, although Gillian did just beat me to the answer on Wednesday.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 76 | 84 | 63 | 73 | 66 |
| Champion | 51 | 36 | 46 | 21 | 7 |
| Challenger | 20 | 15 | 31 | 38 | 35 |
| David + Lily | 77 | 84 | 77 | 75 | 77 |
| Me (solo) | 76 | 84 | 73 | 73 | 73 |
Tony went all the way, taking the top spot as he had seemed likely to do, and pushing Greg off the leaderboard. Robyn won on Thursday, but then lost to Kylie; there's not enough games left before the finals for Kylie to get onto the leaderboard, so the top eight for the finals are now determined.
| Tony Loui | 52 | 83 | 44 | 62 | 49 | 52 | 342 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tamara McMahon | 54 | 64 | 63 | 52 | 54 | 48 | 335 |
| Barry Harridge | 75 | 51 | 45 | 54 | 39 | 59 | 323 |
| Matthew Thomason | 46 | 64 | 49 | 44 | 52 | 65 | 310 |
| Victor Tung | 44 | 29 | 51 | 43 | 47 | 42 | 256 |
| Oli Bryant | 71 | 46 | 60 | 55 | 54 | 32 | 318 |
| Richard Hartley | 56 | 53 | 57 | 42 | 42 | 32 | 282 |
| Jack Dell | 59 | 73 | 40 | 50 | 36 | 258 |
Only one full monty was available this time, a sharp decline after the five from last week. A numbers round proved to be too tough for Lily on Tuesday, and the rareness of that demonstrates just how very good she is. There was also an impossible target on Thursday, but there's not much to be said about that.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Missed Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Tough Numbers | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Impossible Numbers | 1 | 1 |
I feel decent about my letters performance this week, but I did drop a couple more numbers maxima than I should have -- I just have to spot those better options within time. I did solve all five conundrums within time, although Gillian did just beat me to the answer on Wednesday.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| N | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kylie Thompson* | 58 | 1 | 58.00 |
| Tony Loui | 342 | 6 | 57.00 |
| Tamara McMahon | 335 | 6 | 55.83 |
| Barry Harridge | 323 | 6 | 53.83 |
| Oli Bryant | 318 | 6 | 53.00 |
| Peter Kougi | 52 | 1 | 52.00 |
| Matthew Thomason | 310 | 6 | 51.67 |
| Jack Dell | 258 | 5 | 51.60 |
| Rohan Long | 153 | 3 | 51.00 |
| Jason Dunn | 102 | 2 | 51.00 |
| Colwyn Buckland | 51 | 1 | 51.00 |
| Brian Morgan | 151 | 3 | 50.33 |
| Luke Brattoni | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Mel Cox | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Rob Hunt | 99 | 2 | 49.50 |
| Raf Goodens | 98 | 2 | 49.00 |
| Gary Beer | 49 | 1 | 49.00 |
| Ryan Turk | 48 | 1 | 48.00 |
| Jeremy Rosen | 95 | 2 | 47.50 |
| Richard Hartley | 282 | 6 | 47.00 |
| Samuel Hastings | 186 | 4 | 46.50 |
| Daniel Drumm | 92 | 2 | 46.00 |
| Tom Fooks | 133 | 3 | 44.33 |
| Jonathan Goodman | 44 | 1 | 44.00 |
| Robyn Lee | 86 | 2 | 43.00 |
| Victor Tung | 256 | 6 | 42.67 |
| Greg Beers | 211 | 5 | 42.20 |
| Kannan Sethuraman | 210 | 5 | 42.00 |
| Kathryn James | 123 | 3 | 41.00 |
| Jodi Knight | 82 | 2 | 41.00 |
| Avi Chanales | 163 | 4 | 40.75 |
| Margaret Frangos | 79 | 2 | 39.50 |
| Peter Stephenson | 78 | 2 | 39.00 |
| Paula Messer | 77 | 2 | 38.50 |
| Brett Chaiyawat | 188 | 5 | 37.60 |
| Janine Huan | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Had Thomas | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Aram Kalyanasundaram | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| Luke Warden | 72 | 2 | 36.00 |
| Pat Sincock | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| David Waddell | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| Damien Chua | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Ralph Lurie | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Helen Hewitt | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Jayden Spudvilas-Powell | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Michael Bakker | 66 | 2 | 33.00 |
| Nathan Boadle | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Alison Crowe | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Chris Cincotta | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Everson Kandare | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Cameron Ling | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Neil McInnes | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Ben Ripley | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Felix Johnson | 95 | 3 | 31.67 |
| Mike Vitale | 63 | 2 | 31.50 |
| Howard Smith | 62 | 2 | 31.00 |
| John Marsiglio | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Gillian Stevens | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Alex Ford | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Bryce Lawrence | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Jon Avotins | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Matt Pitcher | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Kapil Chauhan | 28 | 1 | 28.00 |
| Tim Shiel | 28 | 1 | 28.00 |
| Graham Smith | 55 | 2 | 27.50 |
| Phillip Gao | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Anna Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| David Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Glen Chandler | 26 | 1 | 26.00 |
| Steve Simmons | 25 | 1 | 25.00 |
| Nicky Henderson | 24 | 1 | 24.00 |
| Preeti Goel | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Louise Kuchmar | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Vikas Ahuja | 22 | 1 | 22.00 |
| Daniel Goff | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Laurence Guttman | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Richard King | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Mark Povey | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Rob Carter | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Rosemary Stafford | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Nicky Betts | 19 | 1 | 19.00 |
| Liam Murphy | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Basil Theophilos | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Jenni Bradford | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Seb Dworkin | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Frank Rice | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Vanessa Rule | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dane Watkins | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dan Boxshall | 14 | 1 | 14.00 |
| Cathy Henry | 14 | 1 | 14.00 |
| Susan Bee | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Mali Konda | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Rhys McCaig | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Matthew Ball | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Matt Bolton | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Kym Logan | 6 | 1 | 6.00 |
Ep 190: Robyn Lee, Kylie Thompson (September 30, 2016; originally aired April 22, 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.
Robyn Lee takes her turn in the champion's seat, and we find out that for a year and a half she used to play guitar in an eighteen-piece all-girl big band called Connie Lansberg and the Sisters of Sass. Huh, that became quite short when written out; the chat seemed a bit longer than that.
Tonight's challenger is Kylie Thompson, a secondary school teacher with an Honours degree in astrophysics. And she has a star named after her! Her husband organised that for her 21st birthday, and it is called "Kylie's Celestial Utopia". (Richard suggests that very few people would have a star named after them, but the star registry claims over two million people have done so.)
The contestants started with a nice pair of sevens, then shared the next round. Then the momentum swung heavily in Kylie's favour: She solved the numbers round, found a longer word in round four, and Robyn miscounted her declaration in round five. Another good numbers round for Kylie pushed her almost to a winning margin; when no full monty was available in the last letters round her victory was assured. Robyn ended up solving the conundrum, but Kylie had a comfortable win, 58 to 28.
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.
Robyn Lee takes her turn in the champion's seat, and we find out that for a year and a half she used to play guitar in an eighteen-piece all-girl big band called Connie Lansberg and the Sisters of Sass. Huh, that became quite short when written out; the chat seemed a bit longer than that.
Tonight's challenger is Kylie Thompson, a secondary school teacher with an Honours degree in astrophysics. And she has a star named after her! Her husband organised that for her 21st birthday, and it is called "Kylie's Celestial Utopia". (Richard suggests that very few people would have a star named after them, but the star registry claims over two million people have done so.)
The contestants started with a nice pair of sevens, then shared the next round. Then the momentum swung heavily in Kylie's favour: She solved the numbers round, found a longer word in round four, and Robyn miscounted her declaration in round five. Another good numbers round for Kylie pushed her almost to a winning margin; when no full monty was available in the last letters round her victory was assured. Robyn ended up solving the conundrum, but Kylie had a comfortable win, 58 to 28.
Ep 189: Daniel Goff, Robyn Lee (September 29, 2016; originally aired April 21, 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.
We have two new contestants tonight, after Tony Loui's successful retirement last night. First up, taking the champion's position, is Daniel Goff, a retiree who worked in the Texas education system. Daniel describes himself during that time as a jack-of-all-trades; he worked a lot with creating multiple choice questions (and answers!) for mathematics, reading, writing, science, and social studies. Quite the range! Then he also worked with the teachers, teaching them the way that they scored compositions -- they felt like that method of scoring was very educational for the child in learning how to improve. (I admit that I don't quite follow what he means here; "scoring a composition" sounds like a film or music activity, but he might just be referring to marking an essay.)
Taking up the challenger's position is Robyn Lee, an automotive engineering student. Another engineer (after Gillian yesterday)! I hope she got a chance to chat with Gillian during the downtime of the filming. Richard asks about Robyn's motivation; she responds that she has a big interest in motorsports, particularly Formula 1, which she sees as the pinnacle of automotive technologies -- a blend of technology and sport. Robyn would love to one day work in a Formula 1 team, engineering racing parts and maybe also being involved in the race weekends themselves.
Robyn started with the better word in round one, then the next three rounds were shared. A slightly risky option from her in round five brought reward, and then she ran away with the game, scoring thirty unanswered points in the second half. Daniel had a couple of invalid answers which did not help his cause, including the conundrum at the end where he buzzed in with an eight-letter answer. Robyn was not able to solve it, but had done more than enough to win, 58 to 21.
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.
We have two new contestants tonight, after Tony Loui's successful retirement last night. First up, taking the champion's position, is Daniel Goff, a retiree who worked in the Texas education system. Daniel describes himself during that time as a jack-of-all-trades; he worked a lot with creating multiple choice questions (and answers!) for mathematics, reading, writing, science, and social studies. Quite the range! Then he also worked with the teachers, teaching them the way that they scored compositions -- they felt like that method of scoring was very educational for the child in learning how to improve. (I admit that I don't quite follow what he means here; "scoring a composition" sounds like a film or music activity, but he might just be referring to marking an essay.)
Taking up the challenger's position is Robyn Lee, an automotive engineering student. Another engineer (after Gillian yesterday)! I hope she got a chance to chat with Gillian during the downtime of the filming. Richard asks about Robyn's motivation; she responds that she has a big interest in motorsports, particularly Formula 1, which she sees as the pinnacle of automotive technologies -- a blend of technology and sport. Robyn would love to one day work in a Formula 1 team, engineering racing parts and maybe also being involved in the race weekends themselves.
Robyn started with the better word in round one, then the next three rounds were shared. A slightly risky option from her in round five brought reward, and then she ran away with the game, scoring thirty unanswered points in the second half. Daniel had a couple of invalid answers which did not help his cause, including the conundrum at the end where he buzzed in with an eight-letter answer. Robyn was not able to solve it, but had done more than enough to win, 58 to 21.
Saturday, 1 October 2016
Ep 188: Tony Loui, Gillian Stevens (September 28, 2016; originally aired April 20, 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.
It's the sixth and final night for Tony, at least until the finals. He's already guaranteed at least sixth position, while a win would mean at least fourth position; if he wins with 46 points or more then he takes first place on the leaderboard. But first, there's the pre-game chat to get through. Richard starts by mentioning that Tony has found a couple of nine-letter words so far, then segues through that to a golfing 'hole in one'. (At the time, there had been at attempt to refer to nine-letter words as a 'hole in one', but the term did not catch on in the same way that 'full monty' did.) Tony, it turns out, has scored a hole in one on a par three at a golf course about three years ago. An impressive achievement!
Standing between Tony and successful retirement is Gillian Stevens, a mechanical engineer. Richard asks about Gillian's motivation for that career choice, and Gillian responds to general merriment that she thinks it was a boy. Then, more seriously, she says that her school went on one of those excursions where you can choose your career, and she saw a working model of an internal combustion engine. It looked interesting, and she thought, "I want to build that". Richard asks if she has fulfilled that dream; Gillian sighs as she admits that she is not in automotive engineering, but rather works on somewhat larger systems. She says "marine systems", which I take to mean boats (or ships, if you prefer), or perhaps oil rigs.
The contestants shared the points in the first two letter rounds, then a difficult numbers round gave Tony a chance to take the lead. His calculation seemed like it would be sound, but apparently he made an error (he did not say what), so the scores remained tied going into the first break. The points were again shared in round four, but then an invalid answer from Gillian in round five finally separated the contestants. That seemed to be the catalyst for Tony, as he romped home with good number results and a long word in the last letters round. Gillian ended up solving the conundrum, but Tony comprehensively won, 52 to 31.
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.
It's the sixth and final night for Tony, at least until the finals. He's already guaranteed at least sixth position, while a win would mean at least fourth position; if he wins with 46 points or more then he takes first place on the leaderboard. But first, there's the pre-game chat to get through. Richard starts by mentioning that Tony has found a couple of nine-letter words so far, then segues through that to a golfing 'hole in one'. (At the time, there had been at attempt to refer to nine-letter words as a 'hole in one', but the term did not catch on in the same way that 'full monty' did.) Tony, it turns out, has scored a hole in one on a par three at a golf course about three years ago. An impressive achievement!
Standing between Tony and successful retirement is Gillian Stevens, a mechanical engineer. Richard asks about Gillian's motivation for that career choice, and Gillian responds to general merriment that she thinks it was a boy. Then, more seriously, she says that her school went on one of those excursions where you can choose your career, and she saw a working model of an internal combustion engine. It looked interesting, and she thought, "I want to build that". Richard asks if she has fulfilled that dream; Gillian sighs as she admits that she is not in automotive engineering, but rather works on somewhat larger systems. She says "marine systems", which I take to mean boats (or ships, if you prefer), or perhaps oil rigs.
The contestants shared the points in the first two letter rounds, then a difficult numbers round gave Tony a chance to take the lead. His calculation seemed like it would be sound, but apparently he made an error (he did not say what), so the scores remained tied going into the first break. The points were again shared in round four, but then an invalid answer from Gillian in round five finally separated the contestants. That seemed to be the catalyst for Tony, as he romped home with good number results and a long word in the last letters round. Gillian ended up solving the conundrum, but Tony comprehensively won, 52 to 31.
Ep 187: Tony Loui, Mark Povey (September 27, 2016; originally aired April 19, 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.
It's Tony Loui's fifth night, and Richard wheels out the question about strategy. Tony manages to give more of an answer than most contestants do, which is a nice change. With the letters, he tries to make the longest he can from the first five or six letters so that he has a four- or five-letter word, then builds from that. For the numbers, he tries to make it simple by using the biggest number first and get the closest that he can, and then adjust. That's certainly an approach that I advocate, and it works quite often.
Tonight's challenger is Mark Povey, a storeman who served in the Royal Australian Navy for twenty-one years. Richard asks about highlights of Mark's career in the navy; Mark does not get very specific, but does mention that he was on the ground for six months doing services with the United Nations in Mogadishu. Aside from that, just a lot of time spent away from home, and that is when his fondness for crosswords, particularly David's cryptics, blossomed. He has yet to finish one, but hopes to do so one day.
Things started out poorly for Tony, as he duplicated a letter in the first letters round. Mark capitalised on that swing by finding a good word in the second round, building a 13 point lead after just two rounds. But Tony rallied in the numbers, scoring points to narrow the gap to six. A shared round followed in the letters, then Tony levelled the scores in round five. The second numbers round was too difficult for both contestants, so they were tied going into the second break.
It looked like we were heading for a nailbiter of a finish, but Tony blew the game wide open by finding a full monty in the last letters game. Mark was still in with a chance, but the numbers were not cooperative for him and instead Tony extended his lead. The conundrum also turned out to be too hard for the contestants, so it was round seven that decided it all. Tony won by 49 points to 21, a winning margin that does not reflect most of the game.
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.
It's Tony Loui's fifth night, and Richard wheels out the question about strategy. Tony manages to give more of an answer than most contestants do, which is a nice change. With the letters, he tries to make the longest he can from the first five or six letters so that he has a four- or five-letter word, then builds from that. For the numbers, he tries to make it simple by using the biggest number first and get the closest that he can, and then adjust. That's certainly an approach that I advocate, and it works quite often.
Tonight's challenger is Mark Povey, a storeman who served in the Royal Australian Navy for twenty-one years. Richard asks about highlights of Mark's career in the navy; Mark does not get very specific, but does mention that he was on the ground for six months doing services with the United Nations in Mogadishu. Aside from that, just a lot of time spent away from home, and that is when his fondness for crosswords, particularly David's cryptics, blossomed. He has yet to finish one, but hopes to do so one day.
Things started out poorly for Tony, as he duplicated a letter in the first letters round. Mark capitalised on that swing by finding a good word in the second round, building a 13 point lead after just two rounds. But Tony rallied in the numbers, scoring points to narrow the gap to six. A shared round followed in the letters, then Tony levelled the scores in round five. The second numbers round was too difficult for both contestants, so they were tied going into the second break.
It looked like we were heading for a nailbiter of a finish, but Tony blew the game wide open by finding a full monty in the last letters game. Mark was still in with a chance, but the numbers were not cooperative for him and instead Tony extended his lead. The conundrum also turned out to be too hard for the contestants, so it was round seven that decided it all. Tony won by 49 points to 21, a winning margin that does not reflect most of the game.
Ep 186: Tony Loui, Steve Simmons (September 26, 2016; originally aired April 18, 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.
It's the crucial fourth night for Tony Loui; a win here will surely put him into the finals. In the pre-game chat, it is revealed that Tony has a prior interaction with both David and the Macquarie dictionary: About three years ago he entered a weekend cryptic crossword competition in the Sydney Morning Herald. He describes himself as "lucky enough" to get it right, and then lucky to be drawn out first. So he won a third edition Macquarie dictionary from solving a David Astle cryptic crossword.
Tonight's challenger is Steve Simmons, an English teacher who teaches Academic English. That is for international students wishing to study at Australian universities (or other tertiary institutions). And, huh, that's all the chat we have with Steve -- seems a bit short.
A miserly mix limited both contestants to fives in the first round, but thereafter the words went Tony's way. Steve was unable to find longer than five (with the exception of one invalid answer); the numbers provided little scope for gain, and Tony was safe going into the last numbers round. The conundrum ended up being too difficult for both contestants, and Tony finished the victor, 62 to 25.
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.
It's the crucial fourth night for Tony Loui; a win here will surely put him into the finals. In the pre-game chat, it is revealed that Tony has a prior interaction with both David and the Macquarie dictionary: About three years ago he entered a weekend cryptic crossword competition in the Sydney Morning Herald. He describes himself as "lucky enough" to get it right, and then lucky to be drawn out first. So he won a third edition Macquarie dictionary from solving a David Astle cryptic crossword.
Tonight's challenger is Steve Simmons, an English teacher who teaches Academic English. That is for international students wishing to study at Australian universities (or other tertiary institutions). And, huh, that's all the chat we have with Steve -- seems a bit short.
A miserly mix limited both contestants to fives in the first round, but thereafter the words went Tony's way. Steve was unable to find longer than five (with the exception of one invalid answer); the numbers provided little scope for gain, and Tony was safe going into the last numbers round. The conundrum ended up being too difficult for both contestants, and Tony finished the victor, 62 to 25.
Friday, 30 September 2016
Weekly summary: Episodes 181 to 185
This week may well have the biggest aggregate difference between myself and David and Lily, starting off with a whopping 30 point gap on Monday. I struggled with the letters this week, missing several full monties and conundrums. I ended up averaging 14 fewer points a game, a statistic I hope is not repeated.
Tom won the first two games of the week, then Tony Loui burst onto the scene with three strong games, including the best score by any contestant this series. If he keeps that performance up then he will easily take the top spot from Tamara. Greg's only hope of staying in contention is for Tony to lose his next game.
It was a week with many full monties available: David found five of them, and there was an obscure sixth one also on offer. This might be the highest-scoring week, although Wednesday's set was very parsimonious. Lily was confronted by one unreachable target this week, but otherwise solved everything.
My numbers performance was on part with previous weeks, but my letters work was way down and I missed three conundrums. Combined with a glut of missed full monties, it's no wonder that my scores were so far behind David and Lily.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 65 | 70 | 59 | 93 | 64 |
| Champion | 20 | 27 | 25 | 58 | 24 |
| Challenger | 10 | 17 | 52 | 26 | 15 |
| David + Lily | 95 | 87 | 71 | 97 | 77 |
| Me (solo) | 65 | 76 | 59 | 93 | 64 |
Tom won the first two games of the week, then Tony Loui burst onto the scene with three strong games, including the best score by any contestant this series. If he keeps that performance up then he will easily take the top spot from Tamara. Greg's only hope of staying in contention is for Tony to lose his next game.
| Tamara McMahon | 54 | 64 | 63 | 52 | 54 | 48 | 335 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Harridge | 75 | 51 | 45 | 54 | 39 | 59 | 323 |
| Matthew Thomason | 46 | 64 | 49 | 44 | 52 | 65 | 310 |
| Victor Tung | 44 | 29 | 51 | 43 | 47 | 42 | 256 |
| Oli Bryant | 71 | 46 | 60 | 55 | 54 | 32 | 318 |
| Richard Hartley | 56 | 53 | 57 | 42 | 42 | 32 | 282 |
| Jack Dell | 59 | 73 | 40 | 50 | 36 | 258 | |
| Greg Beers | 35 | 59 | 46 | 38 | 33 | 211 |
It was a week with many full monties available: David found five of them, and there was an obscure sixth one also on offer. This might be the highest-scoring week, although Wednesday's set was very parsimonious. Lily was confronted by one unreachable target this week, but otherwise solved everything.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| Missed Full Monties | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Tough Numbers | 0 | |||||
| Impossible Numbers | 1 | 1 |
My numbers performance was on part with previous weeks, but my letters work was way down and I missed three conundrums. Combined with a glut of missed full monties, it's no wonder that my scores were so far behind David and Lily.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| N | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| C | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Invalid: L | 1 | - | - | - | - |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Loui* | 179 | 3 | 59.67 |
| Tamara McMahon | 335 | 6 | 55.83 |
| Barry Harridge | 323 | 6 | 53.83 |
| Oli Bryant | 318 | 6 | 53.00 |
| Peter Kougi | 52 | 1 | 52.00 |
| Matthew Thomason | 310 | 6 | 51.67 |
| Jack Dell | 258 | 5 | 51.60 |
| Rohan Long | 153 | 3 | 51.00 |
| Jason Dunn | 102 | 2 | 51.00 |
| Colwyn Buckland | 51 | 1 | 51.00 |
| Brian Morgan | 151 | 3 | 50.33 |
| Luke Brattoni | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Mel Cox | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Rob Hunt | 99 | 2 | 49.50 |
| Raf Goodens | 98 | 2 | 49.00 |
| Gary Beer | 49 | 1 | 49.00 |
| Ryan Turk | 48 | 1 | 48.00 |
| Jeremy Rosen | 95 | 2 | 47.50 |
| Richard Hartley | 282 | 6 | 47.00 |
| Samuel Hastings | 186 | 4 | 46.50 |
| Daniel Drumm | 92 | 2 | 46.00 |
| Tom Fooks | 133 | 3 | 44.33 |
| Jonathan Goodman | 44 | 1 | 44.00 |
| Victor Tung | 256 | 6 | 42.67 |
| Greg Beers | 211 | 5 | 42.20 |
| Kannan Sethuraman | 210 | 5 | 42.00 |
| Kathryn James | 123 | 3 | 41.00 |
| Jodi Knight | 82 | 2 | 41.00 |
| Avi Chanales | 163 | 4 | 40.75 |
| Margaret Frangos | 79 | 2 | 39.50 |
| Peter Stephenson | 78 | 2 | 39.00 |
| Paula Messer | 77 | 2 | 38.50 |
| Brett Chaiyawat | 188 | 5 | 37.60 |
| Janine Huan | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Had Thomas | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Aram Kalyanasundaram | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| Luke Warden | 72 | 2 | 36.00 |
| Pat Sincock | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| David Waddell | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| Damien Chua | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Ralph Lurie | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Helen Hewitt | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Jayden Spudvilas-Powell | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Michael Bakker | 66 | 2 | 33.00 |
| Nathan Boadle | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Alison Crowe | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Chris Cincotta | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Everson Kandare | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Cameron Ling | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Neil McInnes | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Ben Ripley | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Felix Johnson | 95 | 3 | 31.67 |
| Mike Vitale | 63 | 2 | 31.50 |
| Howard Smith | 62 | 2 | 31.00 |
| John Marsiglio | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Alex Ford | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Bryce Lawrence | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Jon Avotins | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Matt Pitcher | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Kapil Chauhan | 28 | 1 | 28.00 |
| Tim Shiel | 28 | 1 | 28.00 |
| Graham Smith | 55 | 2 | 27.50 |
| Phillip Gao | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Anna Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| David Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Glen Chandler | 26 | 1 | 26.00 |
| Nicky Henderson | 24 | 1 | 24.00 |
| Preeti Goel | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Louise Kuchmar | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Vikas Ahuja | 22 | 1 | 22.00 |
| Laurence Guttman | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Richard King | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Rob Carter | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Rosemary Stafford | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Nicky Betts | 19 | 1 | 19.00 |
| Liam Murphy | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Basil Theophilos | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Jenni Bradford | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Seb Dworkin | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Frank Rice | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Vanessa Rule | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dane Watkins | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dan Boxshall | 14 | 1 | 14.00 |
| Cathy Henry | 14 | 1 | 14.00 |
| Susan Bee | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Mali Konda | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Rhys McCaig | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Matthew Ball | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Matt Bolton | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Kym Logan | 6 | 1 | 6.00 |
Thursday, 29 September 2016
Ep 185: Tony Loui, Laurence Guttman (September 23, 2016; originally aired April 15, 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.
Tony Loui is back for his third night, and Richard refers to Tony as a keen traveller. Tony states that he loves travelling, and last year was lucky enough to go to the last remaining ancient wonder of the world: The Great Pyramid of Giza. Richard asks about the wonders of the modern world, and Tony indicates that he has seen four of them already, with the three left to see being the Taj Mahal, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio, and Machu Picchu.
Tonight's challenger is Laurence Guttman, a secondary school teacher who teaches both mathematics and English -- a combination that Richard describes as slightly unusual. Laurence says that he has always enjoyed English, but has had mixed fortunes in the past with mathematics. In particular, in his first year of university, when he "possibly wasn't taking things as seriously as [he] should", his father was the lecturer. That is something that Laurence advises against if anyone else is in a similar situation, which I think is very understandable. He also advises against then failing the course taught by one's father, which is something that he did. Oops!
Tony was a little unfortunate to start off with an invalid word in the first round, as the Macquarie did not list the medical term that he found. But a spate of invalid answers from Laurence (four invalid answers in the following five rounds) gave Tony a comfortable lead, and he was twenty-six points ahead going into the second break. Tony scored points in the last letters round, ensuring his victory, and although Laurence rallied a little after that it was too late. Tony gained his third win, 44 to 21.
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.
Tony Loui is back for his third night, and Richard refers to Tony as a keen traveller. Tony states that he loves travelling, and last year was lucky enough to go to the last remaining ancient wonder of the world: The Great Pyramid of Giza. Richard asks about the wonders of the modern world, and Tony indicates that he has seen four of them already, with the three left to see being the Taj Mahal, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio, and Machu Picchu.
Tonight's challenger is Laurence Guttman, a secondary school teacher who teaches both mathematics and English -- a combination that Richard describes as slightly unusual. Laurence says that he has always enjoyed English, but has had mixed fortunes in the past with mathematics. In particular, in his first year of university, when he "possibly wasn't taking things as seriously as [he] should", his father was the lecturer. That is something that Laurence advises against if anyone else is in a similar situation, which I think is very understandable. He also advises against then failing the course taught by one's father, which is something that he did. Oops!
Tony was a little unfortunate to start off with an invalid word in the first round, as the Macquarie did not list the medical term that he found. But a spate of invalid answers from Laurence (four invalid answers in the following five rounds) gave Tony a comfortable lead, and he was twenty-six points ahead going into the second break. Tony scored points in the last letters round, ensuring his victory, and although Laurence rallied a little after that it was too late. Tony gained his third win, 44 to 21.
Tuesday, 27 September 2016
Ep 184: Tony Loui, Alison Crowe (September 22, 2016; originally aired April 14, 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.
Tony Loui gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and we find out that he took a year off from being a doctor and instead worked as a flight attendant (travelling overseas); he adds that he loves travelling. Richard asks how Tony found the experience, and Tony agrees with Richard's remark that it was a huge change. Coping with the effects of flying can be difficult, and it was hard work, but he found it to be thoroughly enjoyable.
Tonight's challenger is Alison Crowe, a physical education student and competitive rower. In fact, Alison has twice represented Australia in rowing -- she has been in two under-23 teams. That involved racing overseas, in Germany and the Czech Republic (some details can be found here). She lists that as probably one of the greatest things she has done so far.
It was a dominant performance from Tony tonight: He started off by finding a full monty, and followed up with an eight-letter word to sprint out to a huge early lead. He continued to score well with the letters, and the numbers offered little scope for Alison to regain the lost ground. Tony was a certain victor going into the second break. He rounded off an excellent game by solving the conundrum quickly, posting a final winning score of 83 to 33.
I was having an even better game than Tony, as it turns out, but then the SBS website became uncooperative, refusing to advance past the end of round five. I had to give up on it and come back a day or so later; that interruption, I believe, was responsible for my poor performance in round six as I came back to it cold (as it were). A shame, as I felt in really good form at the time.
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.
Tony Loui gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and we find out that he took a year off from being a doctor and instead worked as a flight attendant (travelling overseas); he adds that he loves travelling. Richard asks how Tony found the experience, and Tony agrees with Richard's remark that it was a huge change. Coping with the effects of flying can be difficult, and it was hard work, but he found it to be thoroughly enjoyable.
Tonight's challenger is Alison Crowe, a physical education student and competitive rower. In fact, Alison has twice represented Australia in rowing -- she has been in two under-23 teams. That involved racing overseas, in Germany and the Czech Republic (some details can be found here). She lists that as probably one of the greatest things she has done so far.
It was a dominant performance from Tony tonight: He started off by finding a full monty, and followed up with an eight-letter word to sprint out to a huge early lead. He continued to score well with the letters, and the numbers offered little scope for Alison to regain the lost ground. Tony was a certain victor going into the second break. He rounded off an excellent game by solving the conundrum quickly, posting a final winning score of 83 to 33.
I was having an even better game than Tony, as it turns out, but then the SBS website became uncooperative, refusing to advance past the end of round five. I had to give up on it and come back a day or so later; that interruption, I believe, was responsible for my poor performance in round six as I came back to it cold (as it were). A shame, as I felt in really good form at the time.
Friday, 23 September 2016
Ep 183: Tom Fooks, Tony Loui (September 21, 2016; originally aired April 13, 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.
It's the third night for Tom Fooks, and the topic turns to knitting. Tom says that he is part of a very esteemed club of motorcycle riders who knit. (Sadly, he does not mean an actual club.) He mostly knits little toys for cousins and friends and such, but occasionally does other things. For instance, he has just completed a scarf, which he hopes will help out come winter.
Tonight's challenger is Tony Loui, a medical officer in a regional private hospital. Tony also works as a hotel doctor in the Sydney CBD, so when a four- or five-star hotel has a guest who is ill, he might get called in to look at them.
The game started out quite closely, with matched scores in the first two letters rounds. An error from Tony in the first numbers round saw Tom take the lead, but Tony levelled the scores again in the next letters round. The remaining letters rounds provided no advantage to either contestant, but Tom was just slightly off the pace in the numbers; Tony solved them exactly, giving him a winning lead going into the conundrum. It turned out to be too hard for everyone, so the game finished 52 to 32 in Tony's favour.
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.
It's the third night for Tom Fooks, and the topic turns to knitting. Tom says that he is part of a very esteemed club of motorcycle riders who knit. (Sadly, he does not mean an actual club.) He mostly knits little toys for cousins and friends and such, but occasionally does other things. For instance, he has just completed a scarf, which he hopes will help out come winter.
Tonight's challenger is Tony Loui, a medical officer in a regional private hospital. Tony also works as a hotel doctor in the Sydney CBD, so when a four- or five-star hotel has a guest who is ill, he might get called in to look at them.
The game started out quite closely, with matched scores in the first two letters rounds. An error from Tony in the first numbers round saw Tom take the lead, but Tony levelled the scores again in the next letters round. The remaining letters rounds provided no advantage to either contestant, but Tom was just slightly off the pace in the numbers; Tony solved them exactly, giving him a winning lead going into the conundrum. It turned out to be too hard for everyone, so the game finished 52 to 32 in Tony's favour.
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Ep 182: Tom Fooks, Helen Hewitt (September 20, 2016; originally aired April 12, 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.
Tom Fooks is back in the champion's seat tonight, but this time he has a win under his belt. We find out that Tom rides a motorbike -- he loves the feeling of being on it -- and his favourite place to ride is down the Great Ocean Road.
Tonight's challenger is Helen Hewitt, a primary school teacher and netball umpire. Helen has been an umpire for some time: She started off playing netball, then after she got older and had a few injuries she still wanted to be involved so she switched to umpiring. Helen supervises over at Netball Victoria.
Helen fell victim to a phantom letter in the first round, allowing Tom to take an early lead. A couple of shared rounds followed; then a good find from Helen put her ahead by a single point. The fifth round was also shared, but then Helen faltered in the second numbers round, missing a relatively easy solution and catapulting Tom back into the lead. He found an excellent word in round seven to push further ahead, but then he blanked on the last numbers round. That gave Helen a chance, but she was unable to capitalise on the opportunity; she entered the conundrum behind by eleven points. Tom solved it quickly in any case, finishing the winner with 55 points to 34.
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.
Tom Fooks is back in the champion's seat tonight, but this time he has a win under his belt. We find out that Tom rides a motorbike -- he loves the feeling of being on it -- and his favourite place to ride is down the Great Ocean Road.
Tonight's challenger is Helen Hewitt, a primary school teacher and netball umpire. Helen has been an umpire for some time: She started off playing netball, then after she got older and had a few injuries she still wanted to be involved so she switched to umpiring. Helen supervises over at Netball Victoria.
Helen fell victim to a phantom letter in the first round, allowing Tom to take an early lead. A couple of shared rounds followed; then a good find from Helen put her ahead by a single point. The fifth round was also shared, but then Helen faltered in the second numbers round, missing a relatively easy solution and catapulting Tom back into the lead. He found an excellent word in round seven to push further ahead, but then he blanked on the last numbers round. That gave Helen a chance, but she was unable to capitalise on the opportunity; she entered the conundrum behind by eleven points. Tom solved it quickly in any case, finishing the winner with 55 points to 34.
Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Ep 181: Tom Fooks, Phillip Gao (September 19, 2016; originally aired April 11, 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.
We have two new contestants tonight, after Victor Tung's successful retirement in the previous episode. That's somewhat good for me, given that I'm kind of starting anew after a gap. First up, taking the champion's seat is Tom Fooks, a law student. Richard notes that Tom is still at the study stage of the process, but asks what areas of law interest Tom the most. Tom responds that he first got into studying law through working as a judge's associate last year, in the area of industrial relations, and that is something that he is really keen to get back into. He takes the rosy view that it is helping employers and employees work together for the best possible outcomes.
Taking the challenger's seat is Phillip Gao, an accounting and finance student who is also a part-time auditor. Richard informs us that Phillip does voluntary work with youth, and Phillip expands on that -- he is a volunteer with Wesley Mission Victoria, in their Kids Under Kanvas program. (I sigh at the gratuitous misspelling in the program's name.) That involves going on weekend outings with disabled children, to such places as Luna Park, the AFL sailing, and such. Phillip finds it a really rewarding program.
Tom took the early lead by finding a seven-pointer in the first round, and was never headed thereafter. Phillip really struggled on the words, never managing to find longer than five, and the only round where he managed to outpoint Tom was the second numbers round (where again he scored five points). Tom's better handling of the letters gave him a comfortable margin, and he was safe going into the conundrum. Neither contestant could solve it, so the game finished with Tom the victor, 46 to 27.
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.
We have two new contestants tonight, after Victor Tung's successful retirement in the previous episode. That's somewhat good for me, given that I'm kind of starting anew after a gap. First up, taking the champion's seat is Tom Fooks, a law student. Richard notes that Tom is still at the study stage of the process, but asks what areas of law interest Tom the most. Tom responds that he first got into studying law through working as a judge's associate last year, in the area of industrial relations, and that is something that he is really keen to get back into. He takes the rosy view that it is helping employers and employees work together for the best possible outcomes.
Taking the challenger's seat is Phillip Gao, an accounting and finance student who is also a part-time auditor. Richard informs us that Phillip does voluntary work with youth, and Phillip expands on that -- he is a volunteer with Wesley Mission Victoria, in their Kids Under Kanvas program. (I sigh at the gratuitous misspelling in the program's name.) That involves going on weekend outings with disabled children, to such places as Luna Park, the AFL sailing, and such. Phillip finds it a really rewarding program.
Tom took the early lead by finding a seven-pointer in the first round, and was never headed thereafter. Phillip really struggled on the words, never managing to find longer than five, and the only round where he managed to outpoint Tom was the second numbers round (where again he scored five points). Tom's better handling of the letters gave him a comfortable margin, and he was safe going into the conundrum. Neither contestant could solve it, so the game finished with Tom the victor, 46 to 27.
Weekly summary: Episodes 176 to 180
A consistent week for me, with all scores in the low seventies. Equally consistently, I was not able to match David and Lily -- the closest I came was arguably on Tuesday, where I found a longer word than David but missed solving a numbers round.
Victor beat all comers this week, becoming the second retiring champion in two weeks and pushing Kannan off the leaderboard (Greg holds on by a single point). Victor's total was a bit low -- the next three people in contention all had higher totals -- but it's wins that count.
No full monties on offer this week; Lily solved all numbers rounds and made it look easy.
No Wednesday drop for me this week; Monday was my worst performance. I solved all of the conundrums this time, which helped to keep my scores healthy.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 71 | 72 | 74 | 75 | 74 |
| Champion | 24 | 25 | 37 | 30 | 30 |
| Challenger | 17 | 24 | 10 | 15 | 14 |
| David + Lily | 76 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 76 |
| Me (solo) | 71 | 72 | 74 | 75 | 74 |
Victor beat all comers this week, becoming the second retiring champion in two weeks and pushing Kannan off the leaderboard (Greg holds on by a single point). Victor's total was a bit low -- the next three people in contention all had higher totals -- but it's wins that count.
| Tamara McMahon | 54 | 64 | 63 | 52 | 54 | 48 | 335 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Harridge | 75 | 51 | 45 | 54 | 39 | 59 | 323 |
| Matthew Thomason | 46 | 64 | 49 | 44 | 52 | 65 | 310 |
| Victor Tung | 44 | 29 | 51 | 43 | 47 | 42 | 256 |
| Oli Bryant | 71 | 46 | 60 | 55 | 54 | 32 | 318 |
| Richard Hartley | 56 | 53 | 57 | 42 | 42 | 32 | 282 |
| Jack Dell | 59 | 73 | 40 | 50 | 36 | 258 | |
| Greg Beers | 35 | 59 | 46 | 38 | 33 | 211 |
No full monties on offer this week; Lily solved all numbers rounds and made it look easy.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Missed Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Tough Numbers | 0 | |||||
| Impossible Numbers | 0 |
No Wednesday drop for me this week; Monday was my worst performance. I solved all of the conundrums this time, which helped to keep my scores healthy.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| N | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tamara McMahon | 335 | 6 | 55.83 |
| Barry Harridge | 323 | 6 | 53.83 |
| Oli Bryant | 318 | 6 | 53.00 |
| Peter Kougi | 52 | 1 | 52.00 |
| Matthew Thomason | 310 | 6 | 51.67 |
| Jack Dell | 258 | 5 | 51.60 |
| Rohan Long | 153 | 3 | 51.00 |
| Jason Dunn | 102 | 2 | 51.00 |
| Colwyn Buckland | 51 | 1 | 51.00 |
| Brian Morgan | 151 | 3 | 50.33 |
| Luke Brattoni | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Mel Cox | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Rob Hunt | 99 | 2 | 49.50 |
| Raf Goodens | 98 | 2 | 49.00 |
| Gary Beer | 49 | 1 | 49.00 |
| Ryan Turk | 48 | 1 | 48.00 |
| Jeremy Rosen | 95 | 2 | 47.50 |
| Richard Hartley | 282 | 6 | 47.00 |
| Samuel Hastings | 186 | 4 | 46.50 |
| Daniel Drumm | 92 | 2 | 46.00 |
| Jonathan Goodman | 44 | 1 | 44.00 |
| Victor Tung | 256 | 6 | 42.67 |
| Greg Beers | 211 | 5 | 42.20 |
| Kannan Sethuraman | 210 | 5 | 42.00 |
| Kathryn James | 123 | 3 | 41.00 |
| Jodi Knight | 82 | 2 | 41.00 |
| Avi Chanales | 163 | 4 | 40.75 |
| Margaret Frangos | 79 | 2 | 39.50 |
| Peter Stephenson | 78 | 2 | 39.00 |
| Paula Messer | 77 | 2 | 38.50 |
| Brett Chaiyawat | 188 | 5 | 37.60 |
| Janine Huan | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Had Thomas | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Aram Kalyanasundaram | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| Luke Warden | 72 | 2 | 36.00 |
| Pat Sincock | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| David Waddell | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| Damien Chua | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Ralph Lurie | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Jayden Spudvilas-Powell | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Michael Bakker | 66 | 2 | 33.00 |
| Nathan Boadle | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Chris Cincotta | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Everson Kandare | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Cameron Ling | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Neil McInnes | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Ben Ripley | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Felix Johnson | 95 | 3 | 31.67 |
| Mike Vitale | 63 | 2 | 31.50 |
| Howard Smith | 62 | 2 | 31.00 |
| John Marsiglio | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Alex Ford | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Bryce Lawrence | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Jon Avotins | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Matt Pitcher | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Kapil Chauhan | 28 | 1 | 28.00 |
| Tim Shiel | 28 | 1 | 28.00 |
| Graham Smith | 55 | 2 | 27.50 |
| Anna Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| David Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Glen Chandler | 26 | 1 | 26.00 |
| Nicky Henderson | 24 | 1 | 24.00 |
| Preeti Goel | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Louise Kuchmar | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Vikas Ahuja | 22 | 1 | 22.00 |
| Richard King | 21 | 1 | 21.00 |
| Rob Carter | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Rosemary Stafford | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Nicky Betts | 19 | 1 | 19.00 |
| Liam Murphy | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Basil Theophilos | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Jenni Bradford | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Seb Dworkin | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Frank Rice | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Vanessa Rule | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dane Watkins | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dan Boxshall | 14 | 1 | 14.00 |
| Cathy Henry | 14 | 1 | 14.00 |
| Susan Bee | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Mali Konda | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Rhys McCaig | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Matthew Ball | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Matt Bolton | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Kym Logan | 6 | 1 | 6.00 |
Ep 180: Victor Tung, Dan Boxshall (September 16, 2016; originally aired April 8, 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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
Ep 179: Victor Tung, Jon Avotins (September 15, 2016; originally aired April 7, 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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
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