Rounds: Here.
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play
through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I
was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a
quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
This is Kashi's last night for the main games, win or lose; the pre-game chat pretty much amounts to only that, with Richard barely giving her an opportunity for a word.
Facing Kashi is a very familiar Naween Fernando, described as an accountant who likes to stay indoors on Sundays but makes an exception when it comes to Scrabble. Naween has competed in every World Scrabble Championship since 1995, and his best placing was third in 2005. At the time this episode was filmed that was better than Andrew Fisher, although that has since changed.
Naween was in strong form from the outset, finding a good eight-letter word while Kashi's seven was invalid. He continued to score strongly, with Kashi unable to find a valid word longer than six throughout the evening. The first two numbers games were too easy and offered little scope for advancement, and Naween had the game won before the last (slightly more difficult) numbers round. He took the points there although he did not solve it exactly, and finished off by getting the conundrum for an impressive debut score and a 73 to 32 win.
Naween offered very little chance to beat him, but I was happy to be keeping up. It was still level-pegging after round 7, but I solved the last numbers round that he did not; the game might have ended in a tie but I managed to get the conundrum first, and took the victory with what turned out to be an optimal game.
Showing posts with label Kashi Ross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kashi Ross. Show all posts
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Friday, 10 August 2012
Ep 25: Kashi Ross, Carol Campbell (August 10, 2012; originally aired September 3, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
On Kashi's fifth night we find out that she is a competitive table tennis player; she has been playing for many years. Last year she was a student at a university so she competed in the team and ended up coming second in the university championship. But she's not likely to take it further -- it's more of a hobby; she has a table at home, though, and will happily play guests who like the game.
Tonight's challenger is Carol Campbell, a retired teacher. Carol has lived in four different countries and had forty-two (!) different addresses. Richard asks what her favourite address was, and Carol responds -- perhaps misinterpreting the question -- that it was Egypt. There were fantastic opportunities there and the cultures are quite different, especially with regard to education. They take a very top-down approach to education, whereas Carol tends to run a very cooperative and interactive classroom, and her students loved it.
It was a relatively low-scoring game, with the numbers providing only five points in total. Carol was able to match Kashi several times in the letters but not outdo her, and Kashi had the game wrapped up before the conundrum. Kashi completed the win by solving the conundrum first, and the final scoreline was 45 to 17 in her favour.
I had a good game except for once again missing a numbers option; it's really been a bad week on that front. On the other hand, I did find the full monty which continues a good run of form from me on that front. I solved the conundrum quickly and very nearly managed to keep both contestants scoreless, so it's a good way to end the week.
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
On Kashi's fifth night we find out that she is a competitive table tennis player; she has been playing for many years. Last year she was a student at a university so she competed in the team and ended up coming second in the university championship. But she's not likely to take it further -- it's more of a hobby; she has a table at home, though, and will happily play guests who like the game.
Tonight's challenger is Carol Campbell, a retired teacher. Carol has lived in four different countries and had forty-two (!) different addresses. Richard asks what her favourite address was, and Carol responds -- perhaps misinterpreting the question -- that it was Egypt. There were fantastic opportunities there and the cultures are quite different, especially with regard to education. They take a very top-down approach to education, whereas Carol tends to run a very cooperative and interactive classroom, and her students loved it.
It was a relatively low-scoring game, with the numbers providing only five points in total. Carol was able to match Kashi several times in the letters but not outdo her, and Kashi had the game wrapped up before the conundrum. Kashi completed the win by solving the conundrum first, and the final scoreline was 45 to 17 in her favour.
I had a good game except for once again missing a numbers option; it's really been a bad week on that front. On the other hand, I did find the full monty which continues a good run of form from me on that front. I solved the conundrum quickly and very nearly managed to keep both contestants scoreless, so it's a good way to end the week.
Ep 24: Kashi Ross, Jonathan Scarlett (August 9, 2012; originally aired September 2, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
This is Kashi's fourth night, and she gets a question that will become a frequent occurrence for fourth-nighters: Richard asks what techniques she has. She answers much the same as everyone else does, that she looks for affixes or common patterns in the letters, and tries to get to the nearest multiple of 100 or 50 in the numbers (and then work from there).
Tonight's challenger is Jonathan Scarlett, who is in his final year of study for a double degree in electrical engineering and computer science. Jonathan also plays guitar -- he's done so for six years -- and performs with the Engineering Music Society. Richard finds the combination a little unusual, and asks if they are all musical engineers. Jonathan explains that you don't have to be an engineer to join -- it's just that the society was created by engineers so that's what they decided to call it. It's basically a club where people get together to play music; they have an orchestra, a concert band, and a couple of stage bands which he plays electric guitar in.
It was a very close game this time; Jonathan got the early lead in the first round, but then Kashi was rewarded for her risk in the second round to claim the lead. A couple of shared rounds followed, and then Kashi extended her lead with another good word, only for Jonathan to retake it in the following numbers round. Then he found the better word, but an error on his part in the last numbers round allowed Kashi to take a slender lead into the conundrum. It was all there to play for, but it proved too difficult for them both and Kashi just got home, 41 to 39.
I bobbled a numbers game yet again -- I'm really getting a bit bothered by that -- and missed a word that I should have seen. Aside from that it was mostly smooth sailing, and I solved the conundrum in relatively short time to round out a comfortable win.
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
This is Kashi's fourth night, and she gets a question that will become a frequent occurrence for fourth-nighters: Richard asks what techniques she has. She answers much the same as everyone else does, that she looks for affixes or common patterns in the letters, and tries to get to the nearest multiple of 100 or 50 in the numbers (and then work from there).
Tonight's challenger is Jonathan Scarlett, who is in his final year of study for a double degree in electrical engineering and computer science. Jonathan also plays guitar -- he's done so for six years -- and performs with the Engineering Music Society. Richard finds the combination a little unusual, and asks if they are all musical engineers. Jonathan explains that you don't have to be an engineer to join -- it's just that the society was created by engineers so that's what they decided to call it. It's basically a club where people get together to play music; they have an orchestra, a concert band, and a couple of stage bands which he plays electric guitar in.
It was a very close game this time; Jonathan got the early lead in the first round, but then Kashi was rewarded for her risk in the second round to claim the lead. A couple of shared rounds followed, and then Kashi extended her lead with another good word, only for Jonathan to retake it in the following numbers round. Then he found the better word, but an error on his part in the last numbers round allowed Kashi to take a slender lead into the conundrum. It was all there to play for, but it proved too difficult for them both and Kashi just got home, 41 to 39.
I bobbled a numbers game yet again -- I'm really getting a bit bothered by that -- and missed a word that I should have seen. Aside from that it was mostly smooth sailing, and I solved the conundrum in relatively short time to round out a comfortable win.
Ep 23: Kashi Ross, Robin Wedd (August 8, 2012; originally aired September 1, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
It gets mentioned that Kashi has travelled to over thirty countries. Richard asks if she has a favourite destination, and Kashi responds that New York City is definitely one of the most exciting places on earth. She has also spent a lot of time in India and says that it is very fond in her heart. That is certainly a contrast!
(At the end of this piece Richard twice calls her Kushi rather than Kashi; I guess it was not considered worth a reshoot over.)
Tonight's challenger is Robin Wedd, an oceanographer with a PhD in physics. Robin's job involves predicting the climate up to a year ahead, using all the observations they can get from the ocean and the atmosphere. They combine that with a model of the oceans that they have developed, feed it all into a supercomputer, and analyse what comes out; the hope is that they can predict the ocean state about a year ahead. So far it's OK to about two or three months with general climate results, but it gets pretty fuzzy by the year mark.
It was a close game that had the potential for a first; Kashi got out to an early lead in the first two rounds but Robin closed the gap to a single point in the numbers. Kashi pulled clear a bit more in the next letters round, then an invalid attempt from her allowed Robin to get closer again. Robin could have taken the lead in the second numbers round but made an error, and the net result was that Kashi was ahead by precisely ten points at the conundrum. That could have led to a tiebreaker conundrum if Robin solved it first, but neither was able to and Kashi ran out the winner, 34 to 24.
My performance was a little mixed again, as I overcomplicated a numbers round and failed to solve it. On the other hand, I did find the full monty on offer tonight, and that is always enjoyable. I finished up with a conundrum solution in decent time, and overall it was a decent game.
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
It gets mentioned that Kashi has travelled to over thirty countries. Richard asks if she has a favourite destination, and Kashi responds that New York City is definitely one of the most exciting places on earth. She has also spent a lot of time in India and says that it is very fond in her heart. That is certainly a contrast!
(At the end of this piece Richard twice calls her Kushi rather than Kashi; I guess it was not considered worth a reshoot over.)
Tonight's challenger is Robin Wedd, an oceanographer with a PhD in physics. Robin's job involves predicting the climate up to a year ahead, using all the observations they can get from the ocean and the atmosphere. They combine that with a model of the oceans that they have developed, feed it all into a supercomputer, and analyse what comes out; the hope is that they can predict the ocean state about a year ahead. So far it's OK to about two or three months with general climate results, but it gets pretty fuzzy by the year mark.
It was a close game that had the potential for a first; Kashi got out to an early lead in the first two rounds but Robin closed the gap to a single point in the numbers. Kashi pulled clear a bit more in the next letters round, then an invalid attempt from her allowed Robin to get closer again. Robin could have taken the lead in the second numbers round but made an error, and the net result was that Kashi was ahead by precisely ten points at the conundrum. That could have led to a tiebreaker conundrum if Robin solved it first, but neither was able to and Kashi ran out the winner, 34 to 24.
My performance was a little mixed again, as I overcomplicated a numbers round and failed to solve it. On the other hand, I did find the full monty on offer tonight, and that is always enjoyable. I finished up with a conundrum solution in decent time, and overall it was a decent game.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Ep 22: Kashi Ross, Michael Clark (August 7, 2012; originally aired August 31, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
Until she was about 28, Kashi rollerbladed everywhere for transport. She does not say when this started, but does specifically single out her university days for that; she could not afford a car at the time and found walking too slow. And, well, that's pretty much all there is to that anecdote.
Tonight's challenger is Michael Clark, a bank analyst who keeps fit by playing golf and squash; he has also recently competed in a half-marathon. Richard asks if he plans to do a full marathon at any point; Michael responds that he is thinking about it... but not very hard.
The game started off fairly innocuously with a couple of matched rounds. Michael drew clear in the first numbers round and then extended the lead in the next letters round. Both contestants had invalid answers in the following round, and then Kashi struck back with four good results (including solving the conundrum) to hold Michael scoreless in the last four rounds and take the win, 46 to 28.
I was definitely playing below my best today, three times seeing a better word just a little after time expired. It was the numbers performance that really disappointed me, though, as I missed two solutions; in fact, one of them I struggled so badly with that I did not even get anything down on paper within time. I hope it's a long time before that happens again -- there were quite a few ways to get close and not getting something down was poor time management. I did solve the conundrum quickly to salvage something from the day, but in terms of maxima it's one of my worst results for a while.
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
Until she was about 28, Kashi rollerbladed everywhere for transport. She does not say when this started, but does specifically single out her university days for that; she could not afford a car at the time and found walking too slow. And, well, that's pretty much all there is to that anecdote.
Tonight's challenger is Michael Clark, a bank analyst who keeps fit by playing golf and squash; he has also recently competed in a half-marathon. Richard asks if he plans to do a full marathon at any point; Michael responds that he is thinking about it... but not very hard.
The game started off fairly innocuously with a couple of matched rounds. Michael drew clear in the first numbers round and then extended the lead in the next letters round. Both contestants had invalid answers in the following round, and then Kashi struck back with four good results (including solving the conundrum) to hold Michael scoreless in the last four rounds and take the win, 46 to 28.
I was definitely playing below my best today, three times seeing a better word just a little after time expired. It was the numbers performance that really disappointed me, though, as I missed two solutions; in fact, one of them I struggled so badly with that I did not even get anything down on paper within time. I hope it's a long time before that happens again -- there were quite a few ways to get close and not getting something down was poor time management. I did solve the conundrum quickly to salvage something from the day, but in terms of maxima it's one of my worst results for a while.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Ep 21: Kashi Ross, Erez Gordon (August 6, 2012; originally aired August 30, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
There are two new contestants tonight due to Andrew Fisher's successful retirement on Friday. Taking the champion's position is Kashi Ross, a teacher who has recently been playing competitive Scrabble around Australia. Kashi has also played over twenty-three thousand online games of Scrabble over the last five years. As Richard points out, that is an average of over twelve games a day which sounds like an enormous time investment. Kashi clarifies that the vast majority of the games she plays are fast ones where each side has only three minutes to play, so it is only a bit over an hour per day.
In the challenger's position is Erez Gordon, a hospitality consultant who won The Age Good Food Guide's Service Excellence Award a few years ago. (That was in 2002, in recognition of his performance as Maitre d'Hotel of Jacques Reymond.) Erez loves good food and wine, and travelling the globe to find it. Richard asks if the food options determine where Erez travels, and Erez agrees that they play a major role but often it is simply about places where you have not been before. He notes that when he went to the Bahamas he was disappointed to find that they had no regional cuisine at all; the locale more than made up for it, though.
Kashi got off to an early lead in the first round, although neither contestant used the retsina mix to best advantage. She extended that lead in the first numbers round, and the contestants were essentially matched for the rest of the main rounds. Neither managed to score in the last two rounds, with the conundrum feeling somewhat difficult, and Kashi won 48 to 31.
I had a reasonable game, but missed three of the best letters results. The first was a bit careless, but the other two were words I was always going to struggle to see. Against that, I very nearly tied with the David and Lily combination when David had a mental bobble of his own, being two letters off best on one round. It just goes to show how it can happen to anyone!
Disclaimer: While I have not seen this episode before, I did play through the blue book (episodes 1 to 50) around ten months ago when I was scheduled to be a contestant on the show. Additionally, I did a quick flick through it a few months back to collect words for my posts about word validity.
There are two new contestants tonight due to Andrew Fisher's successful retirement on Friday. Taking the champion's position is Kashi Ross, a teacher who has recently been playing competitive Scrabble around Australia. Kashi has also played over twenty-three thousand online games of Scrabble over the last five years. As Richard points out, that is an average of over twelve games a day which sounds like an enormous time investment. Kashi clarifies that the vast majority of the games she plays are fast ones where each side has only three minutes to play, so it is only a bit over an hour per day.
In the challenger's position is Erez Gordon, a hospitality consultant who won The Age Good Food Guide's Service Excellence Award a few years ago. (That was in 2002, in recognition of his performance as Maitre d'Hotel of Jacques Reymond.) Erez loves good food and wine, and travelling the globe to find it. Richard asks if the food options determine where Erez travels, and Erez agrees that they play a major role but often it is simply about places where you have not been before. He notes that when he went to the Bahamas he was disappointed to find that they had no regional cuisine at all; the locale more than made up for it, though.
Kashi got off to an early lead in the first round, although neither contestant used the retsina mix to best advantage. She extended that lead in the first numbers round, and the contestants were essentially matched for the rest of the main rounds. Neither managed to score in the last two rounds, with the conundrum feeling somewhat difficult, and Kashi won 48 to 31.
I had a reasonable game, but missed three of the best letters results. The first was a bit careless, but the other two were words I was always going to struggle to see. Against that, I very nearly tied with the David and Lily combination when David had a mental bobble of his own, being two letters off best on one round. It just goes to show how it can happen to anyone!
Monday, 14 May 2012
Ep 96 [QF3]: David Jones, Kashi Ross (May 14, 2012; originally aired December 13, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
We're back after the weekend with the third quarterfinal from series one; the box giving the original airdate is back, but they've got the correct date this time. So that's good.
In the champion's position is third seed David Jones, a public servant who successfully retired undefeated during the main part of the series. Richard asks about David's memories of his earlier games, and in particular the first one. David says that in the very first round he saw an eight-letter word just before the clock finished and that was enough to settle him down.
Taking up the challenger's seat as sixth seed is teacher Kashi Ross. Kashi was carryover champion for five episodes, so it sounds like she lost the sixth game. Richard asks about her memories too, and it seems that they were mostly of the errors that she made (using letters or numbers twice, etc.).
Both contestants found some good words, and honours were even from the letters rounds. But Kashi seemed to be particularly weak on the numbers, not managing to get close to some very achievable targets. That let David get a seventeen point lead that he carried into the conundrum; neither could solve it, and so David won 54 to 37. He will be back on Wednesday to face Andrew in the quarterfinal.
I started off with a very bad effort in the first round; that put me on the back foot, and easy numbers rounds made catching up difficult. David faltered in the fourth round to let me equalise, and I managed to outdo him on a numbers round to get ten points ahead. That was where things stood at the conundrum which raised the possibility of a tie, but with no-one solving it -- it was too hard for me to get within time also -- I scraped home with that ten-point win.
With two David's to worry about the potential for confusion arises, so I'll be using surname initials to clarify.
We're back after the weekend with the third quarterfinal from series one; the box giving the original airdate is back, but they've got the correct date this time. So that's good.
In the champion's position is third seed David Jones, a public servant who successfully retired undefeated during the main part of the series. Richard asks about David's memories of his earlier games, and in particular the first one. David says that in the very first round he saw an eight-letter word just before the clock finished and that was enough to settle him down.
Taking up the challenger's seat as sixth seed is teacher Kashi Ross. Kashi was carryover champion for five episodes, so it sounds like she lost the sixth game. Richard asks about her memories too, and it seems that they were mostly of the errors that she made (using letters or numbers twice, etc.).
Both contestants found some good words, and honours were even from the letters rounds. But Kashi seemed to be particularly weak on the numbers, not managing to get close to some very achievable targets. That let David get a seventeen point lead that he carried into the conundrum; neither could solve it, and so David won 54 to 37. He will be back on Wednesday to face Andrew in the quarterfinal.
I started off with a very bad effort in the first round; that put me on the back foot, and easy numbers rounds made catching up difficult. David faltered in the fourth round to let me equalise, and I managed to outdo him on a numbers round to get ten points ahead. That was where things stood at the conundrum which raised the possibility of a tie, but with no-one solving it -- it was too hard for me to get within time also -- I scraped home with that ten-point win.
With two David's to worry about the potential for confusion arises, so I'll be using surname initials to clarify.
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