Ep 51: Liam Bastick, Chris Ryan (September 17, 2012; originally aired October 11, 2010)

Rounds: Here.


Liam Bastick faces his fourth game tonight, and there's been some pretty strong contenders in recent weeks.  Can he clear the fourth game hurdle and book a probable spot in the finals?  We'll find out, but first we get to discuss his numbers ability as Richard asks how Liam developed those skills.  Liam explains that he was the first child; his mother took time off work and from the age of two to three she taught him the times tables (up to twelve) by rote learning.  He agrees with Richard that it is an important skill to have, and I heartily agree -- having those very basic details down pat makes later developments substantially easier.

Tonight's challenger is Chris Ryan, a secondary school teacher also described as a multilinguist.  Richard asks how many languages Chris knows, and Chris responds that he is up to "about five".  His mother was (is?) Mauritian so his first language was French; when he went to school he had to learn English, and then later some Latin.  In his thirties he learned Irish Gaelic which he got involved in due to the beauty of Irish poetry.  Unfortunately, Richard's comments along the way have perhaps distracted Chris, and we don't find out what the fifth language is.


It was a close game, with honours even in the first round and Liam getting a small lead in the second.  The first numbers game was too hard for both, and when Liam overreached in the next round Chris was able to level the scores.  Chris drew ahead in the next round, and two shared rounds followed; Liam managed to gain on the last numbers round to take a one-point lead into the conundrum; he did well to solve it quite quickly to seal the win, 46 to 35.

I had a decent game except for one round, and the conundrum was too tough for me.  A slightly risky option in another round turned out to be the right decision, so there were definitely some pleasing facets to it.  Overall a satisfactory game but with room for improvement.