Rounds: Here.
Still nothing much to the pre-game chat. I can't decide if the contestants have exhausted their interesting facts about themselves, or if the producers think that it's better to just get straight into the show.
This final is certainly a contrast to the previous two, and ends up being a somewhat low-scoring but close-fought affair. Aside from one good eight-letter word the longest is six, and an early invalid choice by Daniel has him trailing. Kerin simply can't get into the numbers, though, and that gives Daniel just enough leeway to take the lead, helped along by an invalid word from Kerin. Once again it is anyone's match on the conundrum, but tonight it eludes them both; Daniel gets through, 32 to 26.
I was feeling much better about things today. Although I missed a word that I should have seen and was slow at the conundrum yet again, the rest I'm fairly happy with. I'd say this was the result of being better rested, but my sleeping problems of the last few weeks have persisted. Oh, well.
As usual, details after the jump.
Showing posts with label Kerin White. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kerin White. Show all posts
Monday, 5 March 2012
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Ep 358: Kerin White, Zac Newnham (January 11, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
It's Kerin's last night (until the finals, anyway); Richard wheels out the question about techniques. Kerin starts with the numbers, where she remarks that she finds the usual family mix the easiest, and she really dislikes the six-small option. That's a close match for the solving probability, so no real surprise there. With the letters, she likes to get those four consonants out first; it helps her envisage possible words from the start. I have to say, it was nice of her to tell her opponent how he should make his selections in order to put her out.
Speaking of whom, tonight's challenger is Zac Newnham, a pathology student who has written two novels. The first was a drama/romance novel (he describes it as "not what an eighteen-year-old boy would write", but he did); the second is a wartime drama novel, set at home -- it's about the consequences of war, of coming back from war and what happens to the people who have gone to one. He has not yet put them out for publication, but he hopes to be able to do so in a few years' time.
Zac finds a couple of decent words, but is mostly outdone by Kerin who is in good form for her final night, at least with the letters. The numbers don't go so well, but a careless error from Zac takes away his chance of a recovery, and a final rat pack selection leaves them both stumped. With neither solving the conundrum Kerin still manages to get the half-century, taking the game 51 to 24 and becoming the season's fourth retiring champion. (And second-highest scorer, too.)
I had seven excellent rounds, and then the ratpack likewise defeated me. I was unable to solve a tough conundrum so the round fizzled out; against that, I found a nine that eluded everyone, although I am in part relying on the show's laxness about plurals. More on that in the appropriate round. (For anyone keeping track of statistics, even if it were ruled invalid I would still scrape home a three-point victory on this game.)
As usual, details after the jump.
It's Kerin's last night (until the finals, anyway); Richard wheels out the question about techniques. Kerin starts with the numbers, where she remarks that she finds the usual family mix the easiest, and she really dislikes the six-small option. That's a close match for the solving probability, so no real surprise there. With the letters, she likes to get those four consonants out first; it helps her envisage possible words from the start. I have to say, it was nice of her to tell her opponent how he should make his selections in order to put her out.
Speaking of whom, tonight's challenger is Zac Newnham, a pathology student who has written two novels. The first was a drama/romance novel (he describes it as "not what an eighteen-year-old boy would write", but he did); the second is a wartime drama novel, set at home -- it's about the consequences of war, of coming back from war and what happens to the people who have gone to one. He has not yet put them out for publication, but he hopes to be able to do so in a few years' time.
Zac finds a couple of decent words, but is mostly outdone by Kerin who is in good form for her final night, at least with the letters. The numbers don't go so well, but a careless error from Zac takes away his chance of a recovery, and a final rat pack selection leaves them both stumped. With neither solving the conundrum Kerin still manages to get the half-century, taking the game 51 to 24 and becoming the season's fourth retiring champion. (And second-highest scorer, too.)
I had seven excellent rounds, and then the ratpack likewise defeated me. I was unable to solve a tough conundrum so the round fizzled out; against that, I found a nine that eluded everyone, although I am in part relying on the show's laxness about plurals. More on that in the appropriate round. (For anyone keeping track of statistics, even if it were ruled invalid I would still scrape home a three-point victory on this game.)
As usual, details after the jump.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Ep 357: Kerin White, Richelle Patrick (January 10, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
Apparently Kerin slept poorly last night, in anticipation of these next games. She tried reading a book to relax, but all these nine-letter words and prefixes and suffixes kept jumping out at her. It wasn't relaxing at all! (I can certainly relate to that; at my peak of involvement in the game, and still somewhat now, my mind was disassembling words like that all the time. It's the Tetris effect in action.)
Tonight's challenger is Richelle Patrick, a personal trainer and receptionist. A few years back (and possibly still now) she was involved in duathlons, both as an organiser and participant. Richard remarks that we don't hear much about duathlons, and I agree; I was thinking it was another term for a biathlon, in fact, but the sports turn out to be different. As Richelle explains, a duathlon is a bit like a triathlon but without a swim leg; it involves a run, a cycle, and another run -- she gives distances of 10km, 40km, and 5km respectively, but those may vary among duathlons.
Richelle starts off with an invalid word, and does poorly in the first numbers round. Kerin extends her lead in the next letters round to be ahead by 24 points after four rounds. That's hard to recover from, and while Richelle gets a little back she fails to take the opportunity presented in the last numbers round and Kerin is safe going into the conundrum. Kerin solves it in the dying seconds to finish off a comprehensive victory, 65 to 38.
I kept track with David and Lily throughout, and while I was slow to solve the conundrum I got there at the fifteen second mark. That's about as good as possible, really -- there was one longer word to be found as it turns out, but I'd not heard of it before and really the only blemish is the slowness of the conundrum solve. A nice game tonight.
As usual, details after the jump.
Apparently Kerin slept poorly last night, in anticipation of these next games. She tried reading a book to relax, but all these nine-letter words and prefixes and suffixes kept jumping out at her. It wasn't relaxing at all! (I can certainly relate to that; at my peak of involvement in the game, and still somewhat now, my mind was disassembling words like that all the time. It's the Tetris effect in action.)
Tonight's challenger is Richelle Patrick, a personal trainer and receptionist. A few years back (and possibly still now) she was involved in duathlons, both as an organiser and participant. Richard remarks that we don't hear much about duathlons, and I agree; I was thinking it was another term for a biathlon, in fact, but the sports turn out to be different. As Richelle explains, a duathlon is a bit like a triathlon but without a swim leg; it involves a run, a cycle, and another run -- she gives distances of 10km, 40km, and 5km respectively, but those may vary among duathlons.
Richelle starts off with an invalid word, and does poorly in the first numbers round. Kerin extends her lead in the next letters round to be ahead by 24 points after four rounds. That's hard to recover from, and while Richelle gets a little back she fails to take the opportunity presented in the last numbers round and Kerin is safe going into the conundrum. Kerin solves it in the dying seconds to finish off a comprehensive victory, 65 to 38.
I kept track with David and Lily throughout, and while I was slow to solve the conundrum I got there at the fifteen second mark. That's about as good as possible, really -- there was one longer word to be found as it turns out, but I'd not heard of it before and really the only blemish is the slowness of the conundrum solve. A nice game tonight.
As usual, details after the jump.
Ep 356: Kerin White, Brian McEvoy (January 9, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
The SBS website continues to be cooperative about showing the video; I'll stop mentioning it unless it turns bad again.
Kerin really likes the works of Stephen King and Dean Koontz; she's always "hanging out for the next book to be released". She likes the genre, and also that there is often a twist in their stories.
Challenging Kerin is construction worker Brian McEvoy. Brian is Irish, but his wife was born in Melbourne; four years ago they decided to take a year's break and visit Melbourne, and they've stayed ever since. Brian likes Melbourne a lot more than Ireland; he remarks that the weather is much better.
It's neck and neck from the two contestants for six rounds, with decent finds throughout from both. Kerin just manages to draw away in round seven, and then finds an excellent solution in round eight to deliver the knockout blow. Neither contestant can solve the conundrum -- Brian buzzes in with an incorrect guess -- and Kerin gets her fourth win, 63 to 46.
I had a bad miss in the second round, and made a mess of the conundrum similarly to Brian. Fortunately some other solid finds in the letters rounds kept me ahead for the win.
As usual, details after the jump.
The SBS website continues to be cooperative about showing the video; I'll stop mentioning it unless it turns bad again.
Kerin really likes the works of Stephen King and Dean Koontz; she's always "hanging out for the next book to be released". She likes the genre, and also that there is often a twist in their stories.
Challenging Kerin is construction worker Brian McEvoy. Brian is Irish, but his wife was born in Melbourne; four years ago they decided to take a year's break and visit Melbourne, and they've stayed ever since. Brian likes Melbourne a lot more than Ireland; he remarks that the weather is much better.
It's neck and neck from the two contestants for six rounds, with decent finds throughout from both. Kerin just manages to draw away in round seven, and then finds an excellent solution in round eight to deliver the knockout blow. Neither contestant can solve the conundrum -- Brian buzzes in with an incorrect guess -- and Kerin gets her fourth win, 63 to 46.
I had a bad miss in the second round, and made a mess of the conundrum similarly to Brian. Fortunately some other solid finds in the letters rounds kept me ahead for the win.
As usual, details after the jump.
Friday, 6 January 2012
Ep 355: Kerin White, John Day (January 6, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
The SBS website continues to be fast for me today; this is reassuring!
Tonight it's mentioned that Kerin makes platelet and plasma donations regularly. Unlike whole blood donations, the red blood cells are returned during the process which enables donors to give much more frequently; Kerin donates every fortnight. More information about the different types of donation may be found on the Red Cross blood donation website.
(I could swear that one of the contestants that I met during my time on the show also talked about this, but it may not have made it to air. I think it was Tim Clay, if so.)
Tonight's challenger is John Day, an analyst for a national food company who loves "the great outdoors". He had an unusual experience a few years back when he was scuba diving in New Zealand. The group he was in surfaced, and about a hundred metres from the boat was a pod of killer wales that just swam past them. That sounds awe-inspiring, and perhaps somewhat frightening.
It's another very close game tonight; the contestants each concede a round of each type to the other, but the difference is in the details: Kerin came out the better in the exchanges, giving her a precious four point lead going into the conundrum. The conundrum eludes both contestants, and Kerin survives to play another day, with a winning score of 46 to 42.
I had a shocking game tonight, missing several easily found words and deciding against the full monty. Combining those with an accidental early buzzer press on the conundrum made it a dire day for me on the words. The one small positive was getting the numbers correct each time, and that enabled me to limp home safely for an unconvincing win.
As usual, details after the jump.
The SBS website continues to be fast for me today; this is reassuring!
Tonight it's mentioned that Kerin makes platelet and plasma donations regularly. Unlike whole blood donations, the red blood cells are returned during the process which enables donors to give much more frequently; Kerin donates every fortnight. More information about the different types of donation may be found on the Red Cross blood donation website.
(I could swear that one of the contestants that I met during my time on the show also talked about this, but it may not have made it to air. I think it was Tim Clay, if so.)
Tonight's challenger is John Day, an analyst for a national food company who loves "the great outdoors". He had an unusual experience a few years back when he was scuba diving in New Zealand. The group he was in surfaced, and about a hundred metres from the boat was a pod of killer wales that just swam past them. That sounds awe-inspiring, and perhaps somewhat frightening.
It's another very close game tonight; the contestants each concede a round of each type to the other, but the difference is in the details: Kerin came out the better in the exchanges, giving her a precious four point lead going into the conundrum. The conundrum eludes both contestants, and Kerin survives to play another day, with a winning score of 46 to 42.
I had a shocking game tonight, missing several easily found words and deciding against the full monty. Combining those with an accidental early buzzer press on the conundrum made it a dire day for me on the words. The one small positive was getting the numbers correct each time, and that enabled me to limp home safely for an unconvincing win.
As usual, details after the jump.
Ep 354: Kerin White, David Armstrong (January 5, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
Maybe it's just coincidence, but after SBS sorted out their issues with the previous episode on the website, I actually managed to get this current one in appropriate time (i.e., no freezes or timeouts). Hopefully this signifies something having been fixed, as opposed to a once-off fluke.
Kerin has two sons, aged eleven and thirteen, and they like to compete against her when they all watch Letters and Numbers. When they beat her, particularly on the numbers, they certainly let her know.
Tonight's challenger is David Armstrong, a traffic controller and competitive pool player. He's been playing competitive pool for around six years and enjoys playing in the Victorian pool competitions. His team won a grand final "last week" in the Eastern District Pool League. (It's a bit difficult to find results properly given online; his team is the Manhattan Eightball Club, but I don't know which division he was referring to.)
David adds that he feels very fortunate because in Victoria they have some of the best pool players in the world and you can just go down to a local pub, meet a world-class player, and learn something from them.
It's a bit of a messy game today; no contestant gets longer than six in the letters rounds (admittedly two of them were just that hard), and the target is only reached once in the numbers. Kerin gets off to a fast start, and is up by twenty-two points after the first three rounds. David manages to get a little back at the end, but it's too little too late, and Kerin's excellent conundrum solution rounds out her victory, 56 to 31.
I felt somewhat off my game today, although in retrospect I did mostly keep up. The two letters rounds where I dropped a point (relative to David) were quite gettable, so that makes them stand out more. The conundrum eluded me within regulation time as well, but I was still enough ahead by that point to take the win.
Obviously David Armstrong's name is going to cause difficulties in the following, as I can't even use initials to distinguish between him and David Astle. (It's a minor relief that he did not win, although that's selfish of me.) I'll be resolving this by using David Astle's full name in the following.
As usual, details after the jump.
Maybe it's just coincidence, but after SBS sorted out their issues with the previous episode on the website, I actually managed to get this current one in appropriate time (i.e., no freezes or timeouts). Hopefully this signifies something having been fixed, as opposed to a once-off fluke.
Kerin has two sons, aged eleven and thirteen, and they like to compete against her when they all watch Letters and Numbers. When they beat her, particularly on the numbers, they certainly let her know.
Tonight's challenger is David Armstrong, a traffic controller and competitive pool player. He's been playing competitive pool for around six years and enjoys playing in the Victorian pool competitions. His team won a grand final "last week" in the Eastern District Pool League. (It's a bit difficult to find results properly given online; his team is the Manhattan Eightball Club, but I don't know which division he was referring to.)
David adds that he feels very fortunate because in Victoria they have some of the best pool players in the world and you can just go down to a local pub, meet a world-class player, and learn something from them.
It's a bit of a messy game today; no contestant gets longer than six in the letters rounds (admittedly two of them were just that hard), and the target is only reached once in the numbers. Kerin gets off to a fast start, and is up by twenty-two points after the first three rounds. David manages to get a little back at the end, but it's too little too late, and Kerin's excellent conundrum solution rounds out her victory, 56 to 31.
I felt somewhat off my game today, although in retrospect I did mostly keep up. The two letters rounds where I dropped a point (relative to David) were quite gettable, so that makes them stand out more. The conundrum eluded me within regulation time as well, but I was still enough ahead by that point to take the win.
Obviously David Armstrong's name is going to cause difficulties in the following, as I can't even use initials to distinguish between him and David Astle. (It's a minor relief that he did not win, although that's selfish of me.) I'll be resolving this by using David Astle's full name in the following.
As usual, details after the jump.
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Ep 353: Mark Arnold, Kerin White (January 4, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
Richard asks about Mark's sporting activities tonight; Mark notes that, coming from England as he does, the sport in question is football (the soccer variety). He has played indoor soccer for eleven years, and outdoor for seven. He has coached and refereed junior soccer for a year, and also refereed indoor soccer; it's not clear if this last is at the junior level or not.
Challenging Mark tonight is legal secretary Kerin White. Back in year twelve she won a book voucher as a prize for maths and used it to buy a dictionary. As you might imagine, this endears her immensely to David. In fact, the dictionary was a first edition of the Macquarie so that ties in nicely to the show.
It's a pretty good game from both contestants, with some decent finds in the letters rounds and nice close results in the numbers. Kerin gets a bit of a break in rounds five and six, but Mark gets some of it back on the final numbers round. Either contestant can win it going into the conundrum but it's Kerin who solves it, and takes the victory 55 to 40.
I had a good game too, with my solo score outpointing the David & Lily combination for the first time in a long while (courtesy of a missed numbers solution from Lily). The two longer words that David found were not ones I would necessarily have risked (I saw one of them, in fact), so I'm pretty satisfied with this result.
As usual, details after the jump.
Richard asks about Mark's sporting activities tonight; Mark notes that, coming from England as he does, the sport in question is football (the soccer variety). He has played indoor soccer for eleven years, and outdoor for seven. He has coached and refereed junior soccer for a year, and also refereed indoor soccer; it's not clear if this last is at the junior level or not.
Challenging Mark tonight is legal secretary Kerin White. Back in year twelve she won a book voucher as a prize for maths and used it to buy a dictionary. As you might imagine, this endears her immensely to David. In fact, the dictionary was a first edition of the Macquarie so that ties in nicely to the show.
It's a pretty good game from both contestants, with some decent finds in the letters rounds and nice close results in the numbers. Kerin gets a bit of a break in rounds five and six, but Mark gets some of it back on the final numbers round. Either contestant can win it going into the conundrum but it's Kerin who solves it, and takes the victory 55 to 40.
I had a good game too, with my solo score outpointing the David & Lily combination for the first time in a long while (courtesy of a missed numbers solution from Lily). The two longer words that David found were not ones I would necessarily have risked (I saw one of them, in fact), so I'm pretty satisfied with this result.
As usual, details after the jump.
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