Rounds: Here.
Jane is back for her fourth night, trying to get over that fourth game hurdle. Richard asks what sort of preparation she has been doing over the weekend; Jane responds that she has been revising her 75-times tables. She has also found a website where she can practice the maths with the clock counting down.
Tonight's challenger is Steve Hibbert, a full-time father to three children. They are aged five, four, and one, and looking after them keeps him busy; as he says, it is very challenging and rewarding at the same time. Steve also enjoys plane recognition (aka "plane spotting").
It's a good close game tonight, although the letters rounds were arguably a bit flat with findable sevens in most rounds and not much longer. Jane gets the lead in the first numbers round, and extends it in the next letters round. Steve then gets most of the ground back in the next numbers game, and they trade points in the remaining two main rounds. Steve is just two points behind going into the conundrum, and he solves it first to take the win, 48 to 40. Jane bows out at that troublesome fourth game, and it's very unlikely that she'll be back for the finals.
I'm flying high tonight, after recording an optimal game. I found best possible answers in every round, and solved the conundrum in a second. I'm pretty happy about this, as you might expect. Probably happier.
Showing posts with label Jane Taylor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jane Taylor. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Friday, 13 April 2012
Ep 425: Jane Taylor, Bonnie McAllister (April 13, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
There's more talk about Jane's around-Australia caravan trip tonight; it seems that things did not always go smoothly. Jane explains that despite it being a fairly new caravan the fridge didn't work, they lost their auto electrics at one stage, and the air conditioner rattled loose around Kakadu and sheared its attachements.
But probably the worst thing was losing a wheel off the caravan as they got to Wyndham, at the upper north of Western Australia. That's obviously not a good thing to happen, but fortunately it did so while the were going at quite low speed into a caravan park. That was on a Saturday afternoon; they managed to locate the part in Melbourne on Monday morning and (via Australia Post) received it in Kununurra by Wednesday afternoon.
Tonight's challenger is public servant Bonnie McAllister. Bonnie was in a beer ad once, which required her to run nude down Lydiard Street (in Ballarat). It was apparently a cold day, and all she (and others, apparently) had were a flesh-coloured G string and socks and shoes. She found it exhilarating, which surprises Richard, but it fits in somewhat with her personal motto of "Challenge accepted".
(That beer ad is almost certainly the 2009 VB commercial that won a Gold Lion award at the 2010 International Advertising Festival in Cannes. It's not a bad ad.)
Jane was in fantastic form tonight on the letters, starting off with a trio of excellent eights and only dropping a single letter behind optimal on them. She had a decent set on the numbers also, and solved the conundrum a little before the halfway point. Bonnie essentially matched Jane on the numbers but her consistent six-letter words were not enough and Jane finished a comprehensive 64 to 23 victor.
I was somewhat off form tonight; this showed up most clearly in the second numbers round where I missed a solution that I would have seen on a better day, but also in two of the letters rounds where I found eights easily afterwards but was stuck at seven during time. I went into the conundrum behind Jane, and perhaps feeling a bit fortunate to still be in contention, and was glad to solve it ahead of her and sneak home by four points. A wobbly game from me, but mostly a great game from Jane.
There's more talk about Jane's around-Australia caravan trip tonight; it seems that things did not always go smoothly. Jane explains that despite it being a fairly new caravan the fridge didn't work, they lost their auto electrics at one stage, and the air conditioner rattled loose around Kakadu and sheared its attachements.
But probably the worst thing was losing a wheel off the caravan as they got to Wyndham, at the upper north of Western Australia. That's obviously not a good thing to happen, but fortunately it did so while the were going at quite low speed into a caravan park. That was on a Saturday afternoon; they managed to locate the part in Melbourne on Monday morning and (via Australia Post) received it in Kununurra by Wednesday afternoon.
Tonight's challenger is public servant Bonnie McAllister. Bonnie was in a beer ad once, which required her to run nude down Lydiard Street (in Ballarat). It was apparently a cold day, and all she (and others, apparently) had were a flesh-coloured G string and socks and shoes. She found it exhilarating, which surprises Richard, but it fits in somewhat with her personal motto of "Challenge accepted".
(That beer ad is almost certainly the 2009 VB commercial that won a Gold Lion award at the 2010 International Advertising Festival in Cannes. It's not a bad ad.)
Jane was in fantastic form tonight on the letters, starting off with a trio of excellent eights and only dropping a single letter behind optimal on them. She had a decent set on the numbers also, and solved the conundrum a little before the halfway point. Bonnie essentially matched Jane on the numbers but her consistent six-letter words were not enough and Jane finished a comprehensive 64 to 23 victor.
I was somewhat off form tonight; this showed up most clearly in the second numbers round where I missed a solution that I would have seen on a better day, but also in two of the letters rounds where I found eights easily afterwards but was stuck at seven during time. I went into the conundrum behind Jane, and perhaps feeling a bit fortunate to still be in contention, and was glad to solve it ahead of her and sneak home by four points. A wobbly game from me, but mostly a great game from Jane.
Ep 424: Jane Taylor, Andrew Boyden (April 12, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
Jane is back for her second night, hoping to defend her carryover champion status. Since her retirement she has done a certain amount of travelling; she (and her partner, presumably) took a caravan around Australia for eight months. They started in Tasmania, and travelled anticlockwise around Australia, getting all the way up to Cape York and then westward and south once more.
Tonight's challenger is Andrew Boyden, who manages an international supply company. Back in May last year -- almost a year ago now -- his wife Alicia appeared on Letters and Numbers also. They compete keenly at home, as you might expect; Andrew says that they are running about fifty-fifty at the moment.
[Update: Andrew wrote a few posts about his experience with the show, although the last one never quite materialised. Part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5; and the as-yet empty part 6.]
Jane gets off to a flying start with an unanswered full monty, and has the better of most of the letters rounds. She oversteps once with an invalid word, but gets a commanding lead from those letters rounds nonetheless. The numbers go a bit each way (in part due to her invalid declaration, which looks like an oversight), and she is twenty points ahead going into the conundrum. Andrew buzzes in but his suggestion is invalid, and Jane ends up winning by 54 points to 34.
I had an exceptional game, and it should have been better; I threw away points on the second numbers round that were there for the taking. The perils of wasting time on the wrong idea! I only just got the conundrum solved within time, having wasted much of it ignoring the right fragment, but I did get there. If not for that numbers slip-up, I would have tied David and Lily. Still, it's always a good game when one gets a full monty!
Jane is back for her second night, hoping to defend her carryover champion status. Since her retirement she has done a certain amount of travelling; she (and her partner, presumably) took a caravan around Australia for eight months. They started in Tasmania, and travelled anticlockwise around Australia, getting all the way up to Cape York and then westward and south once more.
Tonight's challenger is Andrew Boyden, who manages an international supply company. Back in May last year -- almost a year ago now -- his wife Alicia appeared on Letters and Numbers also. They compete keenly at home, as you might expect; Andrew says that they are running about fifty-fifty at the moment.
[Update: Andrew wrote a few posts about his experience with the show, although the last one never quite materialised. Part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5; and the as-yet empty part 6.]
Jane gets off to a flying start with an unanswered full monty, and has the better of most of the letters rounds. She oversteps once with an invalid word, but gets a commanding lead from those letters rounds nonetheless. The numbers go a bit each way (in part due to her invalid declaration, which looks like an oversight), and she is twenty points ahead going into the conundrum. Andrew buzzes in but his suggestion is invalid, and Jane ends up winning by 54 points to 34.
I had an exceptional game, and it should have been better; I threw away points on the second numbers round that were there for the taking. The perils of wasting time on the wrong idea! I only just got the conundrum solved within time, having wasted much of it ignoring the right fragment, but I did get there. If not for that numbers slip-up, I would have tied David and Lily. Still, it's always a good game when one gets a full monty!
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Ep 423: Steve Malcolm, Jane Taylor (April 11, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
On Steve's second night we find out that he is training to be an ironman. No, not the Marvel superhero, an entrant in the ironman surf lifesaving event. Steve says that there are a couple of reasons for this; one is that he's reached the point in life where he has to fight the middle-aged spread and it's a good way of keeping control of that. It's also about the personal challenge, although when he is out there at four in the morning on a bicycle in the wind and the rain he does sometimes question whether it is worth it.
Tonight's challenger is Jane Taylor, a retired teacher and community development officer. Jane has been awarded the Centenary of Federation medal; she received that in 2001 as recognition of her paid work as a community development officer at a community centre, and her voluntary work in the same area as an elected member of council.
Jane showed good performance on the words today, outpointing Steve several times. Steve gained some of it back on the second numbers round, but he needed to outpoint Jane on the last to have a chance. Jane was able to outdo him on that round and be safe going into the conundrum; Steve solved a tough one very quickly, but Jane had the win, 47 to 37.
I was in decent form today, although there were some rocky spots and definite grounds to improve. Really, the only disappointing part was the second numbers round where I cunningly avoided following one line that would lead to a solution, and found another but had lost too much time in the process. I was slow on the conundrum as usual, but just barely got it within regulation time. All up it was easily enough for the win, but I'd like to do a bit better tomorrow.
On Steve's second night we find out that he is training to be an ironman. No, not the Marvel superhero, an entrant in the ironman surf lifesaving event. Steve says that there are a couple of reasons for this; one is that he's reached the point in life where he has to fight the middle-aged spread and it's a good way of keeping control of that. It's also about the personal challenge, although when he is out there at four in the morning on a bicycle in the wind and the rain he does sometimes question whether it is worth it.
Tonight's challenger is Jane Taylor, a retired teacher and community development officer. Jane has been awarded the Centenary of Federation medal; she received that in 2001 as recognition of her paid work as a community development officer at a community centre, and her voluntary work in the same area as an elected member of council.
Jane showed good performance on the words today, outpointing Steve several times. Steve gained some of it back on the second numbers round, but he needed to outpoint Jane on the last to have a chance. Jane was able to outdo him on that round and be safe going into the conundrum; Steve solved a tough one very quickly, but Jane had the win, 47 to 37.
I was in decent form today, although there were some rocky spots and definite grounds to improve. Really, the only disappointing part was the second numbers round where I cunningly avoided following one line that would lead to a solution, and found another but had lost too much time in the process. I was slow on the conundrum as usual, but just barely got it within regulation time. All up it was easily enough for the win, but I'd like to do a bit better tomorrow.
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