Rounds: Here.
This is Christopher Weldon's fourth night, and a win here will put him in good position to move into the finals rankings. Richard talks about Christopher's so-far impressive conundrum speed and jokingly suggests that Christopher's typing speed may be a contributing factor. Christopher plays up to it well, saying that maybe his typing speed is increased exponentially by having only one button to focus on.
Tonight's challenger is Nick Carr, a GP who does regular radio and TV segments. Nick says that David's crosswords are both the highlight and the lowlight of his weekends. He adds that he used to enjoy his weekends, sitting back and reading the papers. Now he sits there scratching his head over David's crosswords all weekend; he doesn't get to read anything any more. But of course, when he does manage to get one out it is all the sweeter for the difficulty.
It was a close game tonight, one that kept us guessing up until the end. Christopher started off promisingly with points in the first round, then several shared rounds followed. (Nick overlooked a simple modification of his first numbers game that would have given him points there, mind you.) Then Nick found an excellent word to claim the lead, only for Christopher to take it right back again in the next numbers round. Nick was unlucky that his attempt for the last letters round was not valid, and the result of all this was that Christopher was ahead by precisely ten points going into the conundrum. It looked like time would expire without it being solved, but with less than two seconds left Nick found the answer and took the game to a tiebreaker conundrum. He ended up solving that, too, somewhat more quickly, and took a deserved 54 to 44 victory.
I played reasonably well, just dropping the one letters maximum in the main rounds. Some of my numbers solutions were a bit overcomplicated, but they got the job done and that is what counts. David had found that maximum that I missed, but then I found a longer word in the tough final letters round, and the chance to tie was still available. Unfortunately, that first conundrum was too hard for me; I solved the second one rather quickly but the damage was done and the tie slipped away. Still, some nice words on offer tonight and a good game despite the conundrum woes.
Showing posts with label Christopher Weldon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christopher Weldon. Show all posts
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
Monday, 29 October 2012
Ep 81: Christopher Weldon, Paul Power (October 29, 2012; originally aired November 22, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
Christopher Weldon is back after the weekend for his third game. Christopher's day job (as opposed to his scriptwriting) is to write on-hold messages for businesses. Richard makes the observation that when you hear such a message on the phone you don't generally stop and realise that someone had to have written it, and Christopher agrees; he then adds that much of the time the writer was him. We also find out that Christopher has an impressive typing speed of around 117 words per minute.
Tonight's challenger is Paul Power, a retired organisational psychologist. Paul explains that organisational psychology is the study of people at work: Everything from career choice, why people choose certain vocations, through to effective leadership. Richard asks how psychology is part of this; Paul responds that psychology is the study of people and behaviour, so this is about people behaving at work... hopefully, people behaving well at work.
Christopher found a good word in the first round to establish an early lead; Paul looked to get it back in the second round, but it turned out that he had used one of the letters twice. A few shared rounds followed, but then an error from Paul in the second numbers round allowed Christopher to push his lead out to twenty points. Paul finally won a round in the next letters round, but then lost more points in the last numbers round to ensure Christopher's win. Paul buzzed in quickly on the conundrum, but it was invalid, and Christopher solved it shortly thereafter, finishing with a sizeable 56 to 24 victory.
I had a good game with two bad moments: I got so flustered on the first numbers round that I lost track of my backup plan and finished further away than both contestants, and then I missed a findable better word in the last letters round. The rest went fairly well -- I was particularly happy with my solution to the last numbers round -- and I solved the conundrum quickly for a change, finishing comfortably ahead.
Christopher Weldon is back after the weekend for his third game. Christopher's day job (as opposed to his scriptwriting) is to write on-hold messages for businesses. Richard makes the observation that when you hear such a message on the phone you don't generally stop and realise that someone had to have written it, and Christopher agrees; he then adds that much of the time the writer was him. We also find out that Christopher has an impressive typing speed of around 117 words per minute.
Tonight's challenger is Paul Power, a retired organisational psychologist. Paul explains that organisational psychology is the study of people at work: Everything from career choice, why people choose certain vocations, through to effective leadership. Richard asks how psychology is part of this; Paul responds that psychology is the study of people and behaviour, so this is about people behaving at work... hopefully, people behaving well at work.
Christopher found a good word in the first round to establish an early lead; Paul looked to get it back in the second round, but it turned out that he had used one of the letters twice. A few shared rounds followed, but then an error from Paul in the second numbers round allowed Christopher to push his lead out to twenty points. Paul finally won a round in the next letters round, but then lost more points in the last numbers round to ensure Christopher's win. Paul buzzed in quickly on the conundrum, but it was invalid, and Christopher solved it shortly thereafter, finishing with a sizeable 56 to 24 victory.
I had a good game with two bad moments: I got so flustered on the first numbers round that I lost track of my backup plan and finished further away than both contestants, and then I missed a findable better word in the last letters round. The rest went fairly well -- I was particularly happy with my solution to the last numbers round -- and I solved the conundrum quickly for a change, finishing comfortably ahead.
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Ep 80: Christopher Weldon, Jasper Johnson (October 26, 2012; originally aired November 19, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
Christopher Weldon gets his turn in the champion's seat after his good come-from-behind victory over Peter Smith last night. Richard mentions that Christopher is an acting graduate as well as a writer, and that he has melded those two facets together as he has written at least one script. Christopher says that he would like to do more scriptwriting; he has written one play already. He admits that it might sound impressive but the play only went for ten minutes, so he can call himself a playwright with very little effort. He'd like to write more things, and jokingly adds that he particularly wants to write anything that he can put himself in and be funny and then have people love him...
Tonight's challenger is Jasper Johnson, a year twelve student and the show's youngest competitor so far. Jasper's grandmother is from Germany; she lives in Australia, but Jasper has always wanted to visit Germany. Early last year (2009) he got the opportunity to do so as an exchange student; his school has a sister school in Hamburg, which is in the north of Germany. He was there for three months, made many new friends and generally had an exciting experience.
Jasper got the early lead in the first round, and a couple of shared rounds followed. There was an exchange of points in the middle letters rounds, and then more matched results all the way up to conundrum. For the second time Christopher was seven points behind going into the conundrum, and once again he solved it quickly to take the win, 54 to 51.
I had a reasonable game, missing several tough maxima in the middle section but otherwise doing well enough. Christopher was too fast for me on the conundrum again, but this time there was only a second in it. Fortunately I'd managed to do enough in the rest of the rounds to finish comfortably ahead.
Christopher Weldon gets his turn in the champion's seat after his good come-from-behind victory over Peter Smith last night. Richard mentions that Christopher is an acting graduate as well as a writer, and that he has melded those two facets together as he has written at least one script. Christopher says that he would like to do more scriptwriting; he has written one play already. He admits that it might sound impressive but the play only went for ten minutes, so he can call himself a playwright with very little effort. He'd like to write more things, and jokingly adds that he particularly wants to write anything that he can put himself in and be funny and then have people love him...
Tonight's challenger is Jasper Johnson, a year twelve student and the show's youngest competitor so far. Jasper's grandmother is from Germany; she lives in Australia, but Jasper has always wanted to visit Germany. Early last year (2009) he got the opportunity to do so as an exchange student; his school has a sister school in Hamburg, which is in the north of Germany. He was there for three months, made many new friends and generally had an exciting experience.
Jasper got the early lead in the first round, and a couple of shared rounds followed. There was an exchange of points in the middle letters rounds, and then more matched results all the way up to conundrum. For the second time Christopher was seven points behind going into the conundrum, and once again he solved it quickly to take the win, 54 to 51.
I had a reasonable game, missing several tough maxima in the middle section but otherwise doing well enough. Christopher was too fast for me on the conundrum again, but this time there was only a second in it. Fortunately I'd managed to do enough in the rest of the rounds to finish comfortably ahead.
Ep 79: Peter Smith, Christopher Weldon (October 25, 2012; originally aired November 18, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
Peter Smith returns to the champion's chair but this time as a bona fide champion. Richard notes that forty-seven years ago Peter was "right at the cutting edge of computing", and asks for more information. Peter explains that he was working on a computer called CSIRAC, which was built by the CSIR (the name at the time for what is now called the CSIRO) not long after the Second World War. (He adds "at Melbourne university", but it is not clear if he means it was built there or he was working there; certainly the latter is true but the former is not: CSIRAC was originally built in Sydney and later transferred to Melbourne.)
Richard asks for more details about it, and Peter says that the machine would have comfortably filled the studio. (That surprises me, based on some of the photos, but perhaps the more interactive photo selection available at the museum's pages will give a better idea; presumably there was more to it than the obvious selection of cabinets, and the depth is a bit unclear.) He says that it was immensely powerful for its day, but by comparison with today's computers: "Think of the cheapest, smallest mobile phone you can get and that would beat it hands down". He finishes by mentioning that the computer is now in the Melbourne Museum, and he is glad that he is not in there with it.
Tonight's challenger is Christopher Weldon, a writer who has moved house fifty-seven times. That is really quite a lot of moves, and naturally Richard asks about the reasons behind that. Christopher responds that there has never been one real reason for it; sometimes it was an important move due to a parent having a new job, and sometimes it was because the shower head was a bit dodgy and they wanted a new one. While he was living with his parents most of that travel was in Queensland and a bit in the Northern Territory; since he has been living by himself it has been generally Canberra and now Melbourne.
It was a nice close game tonight; Christopher got the early advantage in the second letters round, only for Peter to draw level again with a much better result in the first numbers round. Peter then took the lead with an excellent find in round four, and carried that lead all the way to the conundrum. Christopher needed to solve it first to win, and did so when he found an extremely fast solution to what seemed like a difficult conundrum. Christopher got the win, 46 to 43.
I started off with a relatively poor miss -- a word I've found many times before but not this time. I had good results for the most part thereafter, but failed to solve a tricky numbers game that was nonetheless approachable. Christopher was too fast for me on the conundrum, but I got there in due course and my main rounds had kept me in front.
Peter Smith returns to the champion's chair but this time as a bona fide champion. Richard notes that forty-seven years ago Peter was "right at the cutting edge of computing", and asks for more information. Peter explains that he was working on a computer called CSIRAC, which was built by the CSIR (the name at the time for what is now called the CSIRO) not long after the Second World War. (He adds "at Melbourne university", but it is not clear if he means it was built there or he was working there; certainly the latter is true but the former is not: CSIRAC was originally built in Sydney and later transferred to Melbourne.)
Richard asks for more details about it, and Peter says that the machine would have comfortably filled the studio. (That surprises me, based on some of the photos, but perhaps the more interactive photo selection available at the museum's pages will give a better idea; presumably there was more to it than the obvious selection of cabinets, and the depth is a bit unclear.) He says that it was immensely powerful for its day, but by comparison with today's computers: "Think of the cheapest, smallest mobile phone you can get and that would beat it hands down". He finishes by mentioning that the computer is now in the Melbourne Museum, and he is glad that he is not in there with it.
Tonight's challenger is Christopher Weldon, a writer who has moved house fifty-seven times. That is really quite a lot of moves, and naturally Richard asks about the reasons behind that. Christopher responds that there has never been one real reason for it; sometimes it was an important move due to a parent having a new job, and sometimes it was because the shower head was a bit dodgy and they wanted a new one. While he was living with his parents most of that travel was in Queensland and a bit in the Northern Territory; since he has been living by himself it has been generally Canberra and now Melbourne.
It was a nice close game tonight; Christopher got the early advantage in the second letters round, only for Peter to draw level again with a much better result in the first numbers round. Peter then took the lead with an excellent find in round four, and carried that lead all the way to the conundrum. Christopher needed to solve it first to win, and did so when he found an extremely fast solution to what seemed like a difficult conundrum. Christopher got the win, 46 to 43.
I started off with a relatively poor miss -- a word I've found many times before but not this time. I had good results for the most part thereafter, but failed to solve a tricky numbers game that was nonetheless approachable. Christopher was too fast for me on the conundrum, but I got there in due course and my main rounds had kept me in front.
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