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.
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