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.
It's Tina's fifth night, and Richard wheels out the technique question. Sigh. Tina says that as a child in Denmark they were encouraged to do numbers in their heads, and so that is something that is probably helping her here.
Tonight's challenger is Samantha McLaine, a commerce, property, and construction student who loves live music. In fact, she has been to see 365 live bands perform, by her reckoning. Richard asks what it is about live music that appeals to her; Samantha tries to explain it, but it doesn't come across to well. It seems to be a combination of the physical immediacy and the uniqueness of the experience.
Samantha gained a small lead in the second round when she found a nice word, but Tina took the lead right back in the first numbers round. A couple of shared letters rounds followed, and then Tina's form on the numbers seemed to dessert her. Samantha closed out the game with two decent results on the numbers, and an excellent word in round 7. She was safe going into the conundrum; neither was able to solve it, so the scoreline remained 45 to 29 in Samantha's favour.
As usual, details after the jump.
Showing posts with label Tina Rose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tina Rose. Show all posts
Thursday, 19 March 2015
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Ep 283: Tina Rose, Tim Hoffman (March 18, 2015; originally aired September 28, 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.
This is Tina's fourth night, and a win here gives her an excellent chance of making the finals. Richard reveals that Tina came to Australia as a child from Denmark, and apparently had some troubles with the language. Tina expands on that: Her family came over on a boat, and they were taught English during the trip. But she found that when she went to school -- she was eleven at the time -- she was given a lot of grief about her accent. Tina's response was a determination to learn the language, get rid of her accent, and learn to spell. Now, when she does visit Denmark, people laugh at her because she speaks Danish with an Australian accent.
Facing off against Tina is Tim Hoffman, a freight and logistics consultant. Apparently, many years ago when they all lived in Sydney, David was flatmates with some of Tim's friends and so Tim got to know him briefly. He adds that he has sampled David's cooking. Richard asks if Tim can remember what David cooked, and Tim responds that he does not know what it was called; he is interrupted by laughter at that point, and Richard calls it "the closest thing to a non-compliment [he has] come across in a while". Tim continues by saying that he would describe it as a type of proto-puttanesca, and it was the first time he had ever seen a caper. He was impressed that it was garnished, however: "a very, very well-positioned piece of parsley". It's not quite clear how much of that was straight, and how much was deadpan ribbing of David; there is merriment, anyway.
Tim got the early lead when Tina used a letter twice in the first round, and three matched rounds followed. Then Tina ran away with the game, scoring unanswered points in all of the remaining rounds, including the conundrum, to finish with a decisive victory, 57 points to 26.
As usual, details after the jump.
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.
This is Tina's fourth night, and a win here gives her an excellent chance of making the finals. Richard reveals that Tina came to Australia as a child from Denmark, and apparently had some troubles with the language. Tina expands on that: Her family came over on a boat, and they were taught English during the trip. But she found that when she went to school -- she was eleven at the time -- she was given a lot of grief about her accent. Tina's response was a determination to learn the language, get rid of her accent, and learn to spell. Now, when she does visit Denmark, people laugh at her because she speaks Danish with an Australian accent.
Facing off against Tina is Tim Hoffman, a freight and logistics consultant. Apparently, many years ago when they all lived in Sydney, David was flatmates with some of Tim's friends and so Tim got to know him briefly. He adds that he has sampled David's cooking. Richard asks if Tim can remember what David cooked, and Tim responds that he does not know what it was called; he is interrupted by laughter at that point, and Richard calls it "the closest thing to a non-compliment [he has] come across in a while". Tim continues by saying that he would describe it as a type of proto-puttanesca, and it was the first time he had ever seen a caper. He was impressed that it was garnished, however: "a very, very well-positioned piece of parsley". It's not quite clear how much of that was straight, and how much was deadpan ribbing of David; there is merriment, anyway.
Tim got the early lead when Tina used a letter twice in the first round, and three matched rounds followed. Then Tina ran away with the game, scoring unanswered points in all of the remaining rounds, including the conundrum, to finish with a decisive victory, 57 points to 26.
As usual, details after the jump.
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
Ep 282: Tina Rose, Kathryn Bickerton (March 17, 2015; originally aired September 27, 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.
Tina is back for her third night, and Richard asks whether she practises art as well as teaching it. Tina regrets that she does not at the moment -- she is working, and studying, and the inference is that it is taking up all her time. However, if she did have the time, Tina would do sculpting. She says that she works primarily with clay; also mixed media and found objects and such, but clay is her passion.
Tonight's challenger is Kathryn Bickerton, a former mathematics teacher, who is currently studying for her diploma of divinity. Richard asks what Kathryn what she will do with that diploma, and Kathryn responds that she would like to help out teaching scripture in her children's local primary school. She adds that she has done high school teaching, but now that she has kids in primary school she thought that she needed retraining for that age bracket.
The contestants were essentially evenly matched in the letters rounds today, with only round two producing a small advantage to Tina. Tina erred in the first numbers round, with her invalid answer allowing Kathryn to overtake her. But the other two numbers rounds were all Tina's, as she solved them both while Kathryn was unable to. Tina took an unbeatable lead going into the conundrum, and continued her good form on those to solve it for a final scoreline of 63 to 34.
As usual, details after the jump.
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.
Tina is back for her third night, and Richard asks whether she practises art as well as teaching it. Tina regrets that she does not at the moment -- she is working, and studying, and the inference is that it is taking up all her time. However, if she did have the time, Tina would do sculpting. She says that she works primarily with clay; also mixed media and found objects and such, but clay is her passion.
Tonight's challenger is Kathryn Bickerton, a former mathematics teacher, who is currently studying for her diploma of divinity. Richard asks what Kathryn what she will do with that diploma, and Kathryn responds that she would like to help out teaching scripture in her children's local primary school. She adds that she has done high school teaching, but now that she has kids in primary school she thought that she needed retraining for that age bracket.
The contestants were essentially evenly matched in the letters rounds today, with only round two producing a small advantage to Tina. Tina erred in the first numbers round, with her invalid answer allowing Kathryn to overtake her. But the other two numbers rounds were all Tina's, as she solved them both while Kathryn was unable to. Tina took an unbeatable lead going into the conundrum, and continued her good form on those to solve it for a final scoreline of 63 to 34.
As usual, details after the jump.
Monday, 16 March 2015
Ep 281: Tina Rose, Surya Raviganesh (March 16, 2015; originally aired September 26, 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.
Tina takes her turn in the champion's seat to start off the week, and if Friday's game was representative then we would expect to see her for a while. Richard informs us that one of her talents is billiards, and Tina says that she has been playing for around ten years. Tina says that billiards is a challenge because it is counterintuitive -- whereas in pool or snooker you use the cue ball to sink the other ball, in billiards you're actually going in-off; she says that this means that you have to think about where your cue ball is going more than where the ball you're hitting is going.
(Nitpicking from me: In pool and snooker you also have to plan where your cue ball is going to end up, or you won't have a good next shot. It's a key part of the game, but one that is easy to overlook until you get reasonably competent. That said, billiards demands a more precise control of the positions of every ball because you emphatically do not want to sink the opponent's cue ball, and generally should aim to score points by canons rather than sinking.)
Tonight's challenger is Surya Raviganesh, who has just graduated with a master's degree in finance. Richard notes that Surya was working in the literacy field when he was in India. Surya explains that there is a charity called EVF (the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation) which aims to eradicate illiteracy in tribal areas of India. Richard has it slightly wrong: Surya was actually working here and supporting the organisation, which was done by holding charity events -- such as a trivia night and a cultural dance night -- with the proceeds being giving to the EVF to help them build schools.
Tina took the early lead with a classic eight, but Surya did well in the first numbers round to close the gap to a point. Then Tina scooted away with two better words, and a shared numbers round meant she was ahead by sixteen at the second break. Against the run of play, Surya found a better word than her in the last letters round (an unpleasant mix, admittedly), and capitalised on that by solving the last numbers round to tie up the scores going into the conundrum. It was anyone's to win, but Tina solved the conundrum and so survived the challenge, winning 46 to 36.
I was too slow to see the best option in round two, but otherwise had a maximal game. I rounded it out with a fast conundrum solution, in what was a good game overall.
As usual, details after the jump.
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.
Tina takes her turn in the champion's seat to start off the week, and if Friday's game was representative then we would expect to see her for a while. Richard informs us that one of her talents is billiards, and Tina says that she has been playing for around ten years. Tina says that billiards is a challenge because it is counterintuitive -- whereas in pool or snooker you use the cue ball to sink the other ball, in billiards you're actually going in-off; she says that this means that you have to think about where your cue ball is going more than where the ball you're hitting is going.
(Nitpicking from me: In pool and snooker you also have to plan where your cue ball is going to end up, or you won't have a good next shot. It's a key part of the game, but one that is easy to overlook until you get reasonably competent. That said, billiards demands a more precise control of the positions of every ball because you emphatically do not want to sink the opponent's cue ball, and generally should aim to score points by canons rather than sinking.)
Tonight's challenger is Surya Raviganesh, who has just graduated with a master's degree in finance. Richard notes that Surya was working in the literacy field when he was in India. Surya explains that there is a charity called EVF (the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation) which aims to eradicate illiteracy in tribal areas of India. Richard has it slightly wrong: Surya was actually working here and supporting the organisation, which was done by holding charity events -- such as a trivia night and a cultural dance night -- with the proceeds being giving to the EVF to help them build schools.
Tina took the early lead with a classic eight, but Surya did well in the first numbers round to close the gap to a point. Then Tina scooted away with two better words, and a shared numbers round meant she was ahead by sixteen at the second break. Against the run of play, Surya found a better word than her in the last letters round (an unpleasant mix, admittedly), and capitalised on that by solving the last numbers round to tie up the scores going into the conundrum. It was anyone's to win, but Tina solved the conundrum and so survived the challenge, winning 46 to 36.
I was too slow to see the best option in round two, but otherwise had a maximal game. I rounded it out with a fast conundrum solution, in what was a good game overall.
As usual, details after the jump.
Friday, 13 March 2015
Ep 280: Scott Ingram, Tina Rose (March 13, 2015; originally aired September 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. (Actually, there was one moment of recognition after the fact, which I will mention in due course. It did not help.)
Scott takes his turn in the champion's seat, and Richard asks him about something he mentioned last night (that I did not mention then): The sport of camogie. (The connection is that his partner plays it, as well as Gaelic football.) A bit unfairly, Scott is asked what the game's history is -- I think that would be a tough question for most people about most sports. Scott is not able to make much answer, describing it as the female version of hurling, and much like hockey except for being able to put the stick above the shoulder.
Tonight's challenger is Tina Rose, a keen Scrabble player with a high game score of 491 points. Richard asks her to lend some perspective about how impressed they should be; Tina isn't able to make much answer to that, saying that she thinks it is reasonably good. She adds that most Scrabble players would be happy to get at least 300 -- anything above that is acceptable, anything below that is definitely not. So 491 is "pretty good".
(That's certainly a vastly higher score than I could aspire to in Scrabble, so I'm impressed. I tried to find out information about Tina's competitive Scrabble performance, but was not able to do so. In the process I did come across statistics for some other former Letters and Numbers contestants, so I'll mention them here: Naween Fernando has a high game of 706 points, and Andrew Fisher has a high game of 664. Perhaps more remarkably, Andrew Fisher once lost a game after scoring 506 points.)
The contestants ended up evenly matched in the letters tonight, declaring equal results in every round. But the numbers were all Tina's: She solved them all, and Scott was not able to solve any of them. Her solution to the last numbers round, in particular, was one that few of the show's contestants would be capable of finding. Tina rounded out her dominant performance by solving the conundrum, registering an impressive 72 to 32 victory in her first game.
I was off my game tonight, and I knew it from the first round. I guess there's a lesson here about playing when hungry. Tina's good numbers results meant I could not get too far away, and when I stumbled in the last letters round it made the conundrum matter. Fortunately I was able to solve it before Tina did, and so scraped home with the win.
As usual, details after the jump.
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. (Actually, there was one moment of recognition after the fact, which I will mention in due course. It did not help.)
Scott takes his turn in the champion's seat, and Richard asks him about something he mentioned last night (that I did not mention then): The sport of camogie. (The connection is that his partner plays it, as well as Gaelic football.) A bit unfairly, Scott is asked what the game's history is -- I think that would be a tough question for most people about most sports. Scott is not able to make much answer, describing it as the female version of hurling, and much like hockey except for being able to put the stick above the shoulder.
Tonight's challenger is Tina Rose, a keen Scrabble player with a high game score of 491 points. Richard asks her to lend some perspective about how impressed they should be; Tina isn't able to make much answer to that, saying that she thinks it is reasonably good. She adds that most Scrabble players would be happy to get at least 300 -- anything above that is acceptable, anything below that is definitely not. So 491 is "pretty good".
(That's certainly a vastly higher score than I could aspire to in Scrabble, so I'm impressed. I tried to find out information about Tina's competitive Scrabble performance, but was not able to do so. In the process I did come across statistics for some other former Letters and Numbers contestants, so I'll mention them here: Naween Fernando has a high game of 706 points, and Andrew Fisher has a high game of 664. Perhaps more remarkably, Andrew Fisher once lost a game after scoring 506 points.)
The contestants ended up evenly matched in the letters tonight, declaring equal results in every round. But the numbers were all Tina's: She solved them all, and Scott was not able to solve any of them. Her solution to the last numbers round, in particular, was one that few of the show's contestants would be capable of finding. Tina rounded out her dominant performance by solving the conundrum, registering an impressive 72 to 32 victory in her first game.
I was off my game tonight, and I knew it from the first round. I guess there's a lesson here about playing when hungry. Tina's good numbers results meant I could not get too far away, and when I stumbled in the last letters round it made the conundrum matter. Fortunately I was able to solve it before Tina did, and so scraped home with the win.
As usual, details after the jump.
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Ep 294 [QF1]: Jacob Davey, Tina Rose (May 30, 2012; originally aired October 13, 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.
On to the series three finals! First up in the champion's seat is arts and science student Jacob Davey, the number one seed. He had a high game score of 72, and Richard notes that Jacob's average score was 58.8 over his six games, so his cumulative total was 353 points. Jacob turned 19 just a little before these finals.
In the challenger's position is fine art teacher Tina Rose, the number eight seed. During her time on the show she solved four conundrums in a row, and on her first showing she also had a 72-point game.
The game went back and forth, with Jacob taking a good early lead in the first third only to see Tina battle back in the second third. Tina emerged a single point ahead at the second break, but an invalid numbers round from her saw Jacob just safe going into the conundrum. Neither solved it, and Jacob took the first semifinal spot with a 44 to 32 victory.
I was two rounds off optimal again, for a pretty good game overall. One of those missed optimal answers was a full monty that eluded David's eagle eye, so I'm not too put out over that. I solved the conundrum in decent time to run out comfortably ahead, and a good start to this finals series for me.
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.
On to the series three finals! First up in the champion's seat is arts and science student Jacob Davey, the number one seed. He had a high game score of 72, and Richard notes that Jacob's average score was 58.8 over his six games, so his cumulative total was 353 points. Jacob turned 19 just a little before these finals.
In the challenger's position is fine art teacher Tina Rose, the number eight seed. During her time on the show she solved four conundrums in a row, and on her first showing she also had a 72-point game.
The game went back and forth, with Jacob taking a good early lead in the first third only to see Tina battle back in the second third. Tina emerged a single point ahead at the second break, but an invalid numbers round from her saw Jacob just safe going into the conundrum. Neither solved it, and Jacob took the first semifinal spot with a 44 to 32 victory.
I was two rounds off optimal again, for a pretty good game overall. One of those missed optimal answers was a full monty that eluded David's eagle eye, so I'm not too put out over that. I solved the conundrum in decent time to run out comfortably ahead, and a good start to this finals series for me.
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