Ep 296 [QF3]: Anthony Kendall, Simon Walsh (June 1, 2012; originally aired October 17, 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.


In the champion's seat for tonight's quarterfinal is third seed Anthony Kendall.  Anthony is a software developer and long-distance runner, and had the best final game score of anyone in the series.

Facing Anthony is the sixth seed, Simon Walsh.  Simon is an accountant and self-confessed sport tragic.  The first game he played on the show was against his wife, but hopefully that was taken in good spirit.  (I'm a bit against such things, on the whole; I know the show likes those matchups, but it guarantees that one of the pair will only get one game.  They might both have the potential to shine, if not for that.)


The game started out with a pair of matched rounds; then Anthony pulled ahead on the first numbers round -- a round that posed problems for Lily, as it turns out.  Simon gained back that lost territory in the next letters round, but then fell behind on each of the remaining letters rounds.  When the numbers failed to provide any swing -- he perhaps should have mixed it up on the last one -- Simon was out of contention going into the conundrum.  He solved it first to take the consolation points, but was left to rue what might have been; Anthony made it to the semifinals with a 54 to 51 victory.

I was doing well, and even had a chance at a rare double feature of outdoing both David and Lily on the same game... but I wimped out of the key word.  And then I had a disastrous numbers round where I got completely lost through overcomplication when the standard method would have worked well.  Only two rounds short of optimal, but what a difference they make to the score!