Ep 162: Rohan Long, Graham Smith (August 23, 2016; originally aired March 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.

Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.

Ep 257: Rebecca Skovron, Cameron Begley (February 10, 2015; originally aired August 23, 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.


Rebecca gets her turn in the champion's seat after her tiebreaker win over Judithe last night.  Richard effuses about how exciting that game was, then shifts to asking Rebecca when her love of music developed.  Rebecca answers that it started when she was very little: She had piano lessons from the age of five or six.  Meeting her husband also helped continue that love; he is the biggest music fan she knows, and in particular a huge Beatles fan.

Tonight's challenger is Cameron Begley, a general manager for the CSIRO.  Richard notes that the CSIRO engages in a huge range of scientific work, and asks Cameron what sort of things he is involved with.  Cameron explains that he is involved on the commercial side, so he gets to work with the wonderful scientists at CSIRO and then take the results out to their customers.  (It feels a bit odd to me to think of the CSIRO as having customers, but it does make sense.)  There is also an insect collection at the site he operates in Canberra that he is enthusiastic about; additionally, he gets to work with "a whole bunch" of biotechnology scientists.


Rebecca took the lead early as Cameron seemed to struggle to find any form at the start; by the halfway mark she was a daunting 20 points ahead.  The remaining letter rounds were too difficult for Rebecca to stretch that lead, however, and Cameron fought his way back into contention with two solves on the numbers rounds.  For the third game in a row the scores were tied going into the conundrum, and neither contestant solved it.  So once more unto the tiebreaker, and this time it was Cameron who found the solution first to take home the victory, 46 to 36.

I missed a difficult option in the first round, but thereafter I was hitting the best results.  The highlight came in round 5 where I outdid David, and the potential for another tie loomed.  Alas, the conundrum was extremely difficult -- it took me almost five minutes to solve it -- and so that tie slipped away.  The second conundrum was much easier.  Another solid win for me, but when compared with David and Lily it is another case of "the one that got away".  Maybe next game...


Brief details after the jump (to be fleshed out later).

Ep 256: Judithe Hall, Rebecca Skovron (February 9, 2015; originally aired August 22, 2011)

Rounds: Here.

Disclaimer: I watched this episode when it first aired, and although I did not recall any of the main rounds I cannot rule out memory being a factor.  I definitely did recall something about the conundrum, which I'll get to in due course.


On Judithe's third night, Richard reveals that she taught in Hong Kong for a while.  Judithe says that she really enjoyed it; the staff and students were wonderful, and the students were voracious readers and very keen to learn.  She obviously approved of all that.

Challenging Judithe tonight is Rebecca Skovron, who is studying to be a teacher while running her own theatre company.  Richard naturally focuses on that second part, asking her what sort of productions she puts together.  Rebecca states that they do exclusively musical theatre; in response to Richard's followup question she clarifies that she does not do any of the singing, expressing her opinion that the audience should be very grateful for that.


It's another close game tonight with the contestants matching each other in most declarations.  Judithe slips slightly with an invalid declaration in the first numbers round to give Rebecca an edge, but a risky choice in the last letters round pays off and gets her level again.  Both contestants make errors on the last numbers round, and so for the second game in a row Judithe goes into the conundrum on a tied score.

Rebecca is unlucky on the conundrum, buzzing in with what I would have thought was a valid word; however, it is not the answer wanted.  She stares at Judithe while the clock ticks down, and perhaps her psychic interference works as Judithe does not find the solution.  So, once more we are onto a tiebreaker conundrum.  Again time ticks down, and on Judithe's past form Rebecca might be in trouble if the clock gets down to just a few seconds left.  But Rebecca gets there first, and takes a hard-fought victory, 53 to 43.

I started off well enough, and hit the high point in round 4 where I managed to outdo David for once.  I had dreams of a very rare victory against the combined team, but a poor miss in the next round saw that hope gone.  David then found an excellent word in round 7 to take away the consolation prize of a tie.  So near, and yet so far.  On the plus side again, I had excellent speed on both conundrums; however, I do clearly recall the issue around the first conundrum from when the show originally aired, and that is almost certainly responsible for my unusually good speed on that round.  Overall it was a good game, with much to be happy about.

As usual, details after the jump.

Ep 255: Judithe Hall, Brad Tucker (February 6, 2015; originally aired August 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.


Judithe returns after yesterday's solid win over Shyam.  Richard asks how the unusual spelling of her first name came about; Judithe explains that both of her parents had names with an 'e' on the end, and decided that she should not be left out.  There's a little further banter about possible other names with 'e' appended.

Tonight's challenger is Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist.  Richard mentions the terms "dark energy" and "supernovae" and asks if that is the kind of thing that Brad studies.  Brad affirms that, explaining that the supernovae (which he describes as "bright stellar explosions") are used to figure out what dark energy is.  He adds that they think that dark energy is a force that is causing the universe to expand, and indeed to increase in that expansion.


It was quite the close game tonight.  Brad did not seem as comfortable on the letters as he would have liked, but fortunately for him Judithe did not quite match her performance from yesterday.  She twice picked up a small lead from the letter rounds, but each time Brad was able to gain back that ground on the numbers.  It turned out that both contestants were tied going into the conundrum, and with neither solving it the tiebreaker conundrum was wheeled out.  Time ticked down again, then in an echo of yesterday's game Judithe found the solution with only a handful of seconds left on the clock.  She scraped by with the win, 51 to 41.

I had an excellent game tonight, except for a bit of a brain freeze on the last numbers round.  Brad liked the heavyweight mix, which is sure to make Sam happy but I seem to be a bit rusty on it.  That stopped me from having an optimal game, and fretting over that may have contributed to my poor performance on the second conundrum.  Still, my score made it into the eighties, and that's a rare occurrence.

As usual, details after the jump.

Ep 82: Christopher Weldon, Nick Carr (October 30, 2012; originally aired November 23, 2010)

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.

Ep 67: Ian Campbell-Fraser, Kathryn Jones (October 9, 2012; originally aired November 2, 2010)

Rounds: Here.


This is the crucial fourth game for Ian Campbell-Fraser, with a win pushing him into the finals rankings.  For a loss to get him there he would have to score over ninety points, and I think we can safely conclude that losing with such a score is rather unlikely.  Meanwhile, Ian briefly explains what he does: Currently, he is working for the National Native Title Tribunal, whose main job is to help Aboriginal claimant groups, governments, farmers, and miners come together and reach an agreement about Aboriginal native title rights.

Tonight's challenger is Kathryn Jones, a geotechnical engineer with a bachelor of arts and a degree in engineering.  When Kathryn started university she decided that she wanted to study engineering and build bridges; after two years of that she decided that structural engineering was not for her.  Then they started talking about soil and rock and water, revealing a more interpretive side to engineering than just crunching numbers, and that re-engaged her interest.


Ian gained the early lead in the first round, and then a lot of shared rounds followed.  Kathryn finally found a better answer in the last letters round to tie up the scores.  Neither was able to make that much of the later numbers rounds -- which to be fair did have some challenge to them -- and the scores were tied going into the conundrum.  The main conundrum was a very tough one that neither could solve, so the tiebreaker conundrum was wheeled out.  It looked like it might prove likewise elusive, but Kathryn saw her way through to the answer with five seconds left and won the game 44 to 34.

I had a good series of main rounds, although I missed the best option in one letters game.  I negotiated the numbers rounds safely, although in the case of the last one only just in time.  But both conundrums defeated me comprehensively tonight so I have some sympathy for the contestants' woes.

Ep 399: [SF1] Alan Nash, Toby Baldwin (March 8, 2012)

Rounds: Here.


A little banter worth noting in the pre-game chat tonight.  Richard mentions the many conundrum showdowns in the series so far, and Alan claims that it is part of the contestants' efforts to boost ratings for the show.  Alan adds that they'll do their best to get another one tonight.  Spoiler alert for all of two paragraphs: They do.

Toby mentions that he can almost form a sentence from all the conundrums that he has solved: FRIVOLOUS AGITATION; CORPORATE PORCUPINE OVERJOYED.


The lead switches back and forth several times, with neither contestant able to get a decisive break.  Alan starts off with an invalid word to give Toby the early lead, but Toby follows up with an invalid answer on the numbers to hand the lead back to Alan.  A good word sees Toby take the lead again, only to give it back to Alan with another invalid numbers round.  Then another good word gives him the lead again, and he finally gets a valid answer in the numbers to take a ten point lead into the conundrum.  Alan solves the conundrum quickly to tie the scores and force a second one, and then solves that second one even faster to take the win, 50 to 40.  Those two crucial conundrums make up for the lack of one last night.

Meanwhile, I was having an erratic and not very satisfactory effort.  I started with a careless invalid word without a decent fallback, and arguably that cost me this game.  My numbers could have been better but those were harder finds, and my invalid guess at the first conundrum sealed the loss.  A disappointing result after three good games, and incidentally my worst result of the series.  My two worst scores have come against Alan in the finals series; a worrying sign.

As usual, details after the jump.

Ep 367: Paul Merry, Angie Pearce (January 24, 2012)

There's a little talk with Paul about the psychology of poker playing, but there's nothing of substance said.

Tonight's challenger is Angie Pearce, a retired teacher and quiz show aficionado.  She has been on The Einstein Factor, Sale of the Century (twice, which may simply mean that she won once and returned the next day), Pass the Buck, The Weakest Link, Mastermind, Jeopardy, and a couple of others that slip her mind at the moment.  Richard asks if she needed different talents or approaches to them, but as she points out they were mostly all games of general knowledge; the only other ability required was to buzz in first.

(As an aside, her appearance on The Einstein Factor was in episode ten of series two, originally aired on April 17, 2005; her special topic was "CS Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia".  I was given the show's quiz book for Christmas, so I looked up the associated questions and was able to get 11 of the 15 correct, which I'm pleased with given how long it is since I last read them.  Of course, I wasn't under the time pressure that she would have been (which was often exacerbated by Peter Berner stumbling over reading the questions), although I did aim to answer them quickly.)


Angie gets a good lead on Paul in the first two rounds -- in much the same way that Paul did to Maurie in yesterday's game -- but Paul reclaims it in the next two rounds due to good numbers work and an invalid word from Angie.  The remaining letters rounds are equal and they trade results in the numbers, so the scores are all tied up going into the conundrum.  It proves to be too difficult for them both so a second is required, and Angie solves that to take the victory, 43 to 33.

I had good letters performance today, but let myself down badly in the numbers.  I solved the second conundrum but not the first, for what ended up being a very easy win.

As usual, details after the jump.

Ep 344: Sam Gaffney, Leanne Cox (December 22, 2011)

Rounds: Here.


Richard reveals that Sam plays indoor cricket, and asks why the indoor version specifically.  Sam lists a few of the advantages: It doesn't take very long; it never gets rained out; and you don't get sunburned playing it (which he asides is good for him, and as a similarly-complexioned person I can certainly relate to that).  He plays it a couple of times a week; Richard asks if it has a different feel to the outdoor game.  Sam notes a major difference that everyone gets to bat for four overs and bowl for two overs, so you don't get a duck and have to sit there watching everyone else for six hours.  It's much more participatory, as Richard puts it.

Challenging Sam tonight is Leanne Cox, a secondary maths and physics teacher.  (That's what Richard says, anyway... should that have been "secondary school"?  She teaches at Frankston High School, at any rate.)  Leanne has the rather unusual habit of counting letters in words, especially in long words; she admits that this makes reading books a particularly slow process.  She's quite quick at it by now, and Richard opines somewhat optimistically that it may help her in the game.  It's hard to see a direct connection, but such a habit will have made her pay more attention to words than most people, and that could plausibly make her more adept at manipulating them.


It's a close game tonight; Leanne gets the jump in the first round with a well-spotted eight, but Sam equalises in the next round.  Assisted by easy numbers rounds, thereafter it is level-pegging all the way to the conundrum; neither solves it, and a second conundrum is required.  Sam finds this one quickly, and is probably relieved to take the 67 to 57 victory.  Leanne certainly had chances -- most notably in round 4 -- and may perhaps consider herself a little unlucky; a score of 57 would be enough to win most games.

I was in better form tonight, just missing that initial eight but otherwise doing as well as possible.  That gave me a satisfactory winning margin, and puts my record against Sam at two games apiece.

As usual, details after the jump.

Ep 340: Megan Marks, Jimmy Driscoll (December 16, 2011)

Rounds: Here.


On Megan's second night we find out that she loves to study; apparently the tally reaches 19 years!  She has four degrees: Two arts, one science, and one computer science; it is not stated what level those were taken to.

Megan's challenger tonight is recruiting coordinator Jimmy Driscoll, who finds footballers for the North Melbourne Football Club.  This involves finding new prospects, interviewing them, getting them into the club and working out their contracts.

(The above is essentially all the content of both chats.  It feels like those have been getting very short recently; are the contestants not having much to say about the topics, or being cut short for time reasons?)


It's an extremely close match, with equal lengths being declared in every letters round and the numbers being far too easy.  But a stumble from Megan on the final numbers round sees Jimmy taking a ten point lead into the conundrum; Megan manages to solve it first, and we have the first double conundrum of the series.  This results in a new high total game for the series.  (As a participant in the previous record holder, I'm mildly put out about that second conundrum which allowed them to overtake this record.)  Megan wins, 71 to 61.

I started badly, missing some easy longer words in the first round and being undone by the Macquarie not listing my word in the second round.  That put me in poor position, and the next many rounds offered little scope for advancement over the contestants.  I finally nudged into a one-point lead going into the conundrum, but I never like it coming down to that.  As it turns out I solved both of them in a second (they were each pretty apposite to the show), and scraped home with the win.

As usual, details after the jump.