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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
Monday, 29 August 2016
Ep 159: Richard Hartley, Everson Kandare (August 18, 2016; originally aired March 10, 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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
Ep 158: Richard Hartley, Tim Shiel (August 17, 2016; originally aired March 9, 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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
Ep 157: Richard Hartley, Jenni Bradford (August 16, 2016; originally aired March 8, 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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
Ep 156: Richard Hartley, David Gunn (August 15, 2016; originally aired March 7, 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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
Since one of the contestants is named David, I will be using DA to refer to David Astle in the rest of this post.
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.
Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.
Since one of the contestants is named David, I will be using DA to refer to David Astle in the rest of this post.
Weekly summary: Episodes 151 to 155
I did not manage to equal (or exceed) David and Lily in the solo totals this week, but I came close throughout. There were generally only a couple of rounds difference each game; my best chance came on Thursday, where I was briefly ahead before I came unstuck on the numbers. This was a much more consistently good week than last week, despite the highs then, and I am happy about that.
Greg managed to get to a fifth game before Rob ended his run. Greg just barely pips Kannan for fifth place, but the totals are low enough that both could easily miss out on the finals. Jack, sitting above them in fourth place, is looking fairly secure. Richard put Rob out in a close game on Friday, starting off with a good total.
A couple of tough full monties this week eluded David's eagle eye. Lily continues to be in fine form -- this is the third week in a row that she has solved every numbers round.
My maximum count is the same as last week, in the main rounds at any rate. I picked up one letters maximum but dropped one in the numbers. I did solve all conundrums this week, so that's a small improvement over last week. My performance was much more consistent this week.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 69 | 75 | 74 | 74 | 76 |
| Champion | 32 | 27 | 15 | 20 | 30 |
| Challenger | 22 | 6 | 7 | 34 | 34 |
| David + Lily | 73 | 76 | 78 | 76 | 77 |
| Me (solo) | 69 | 75 | 74 | 74 | 76 |
Greg managed to get to a fifth game before Rob ended his run. Greg just barely pips Kannan for fifth place, but the totals are low enough that both could easily miss out on the finals. Jack, sitting above them in fourth place, is looking fairly secure. Richard put Rob out in a close game on Friday, starting off with a good total.
| Barry Harridge | 75 | 51 | 45 | 54 | 39 | 59 | 323 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Thomason | 46 | 64 | 49 | 44 | 52 | 65 | 310 |
| Oli Bryant | 71 | 46 | 60 | 55 | 54 | 32 | 318 |
| Jack Dell | 59 | 73 | 40 | 50 | 36 | 258 | |
| Greg Beers | 35 | 59 | 46 | 38 | 33 | 211 | |
| Kannan Sethuraman | 42 | 53 | 45 | 41 | 29 | 210 | |
| Brett Chaiyawat | 25 | 59 | 28 | 42 | 34 | 188 | |
| Samuel Hastings | 46 | 58 | 58 | 24 | 186 |
A couple of tough full monties this week eluded David's eagle eye. Lily continues to be in fine form -- this is the third week in a row that she has solved every numbers round.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Missed Full Monties | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Tough Numbers | 0 | |||||
| Impossible Numbers | 0 |
My maximum count is the same as last week, in the main rounds at any rate. I picked up one letters maximum but dropped one in the numbers. I did solve all conundrums this week, so that's a small improvement over last week. My performance was much more consistent this week.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| N | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Hartley* | 56 | 1 | 56.00 |
| Barry Harridge | 323 | 6 | 53.83 |
| Oli Bryant | 318 | 6 | 53.00 |
| Matthew Thomason | 310 | 6 | 51.67 |
| Jack Dell | 258 | 5 | 51.60 |
| Jason Dunn | 102 | 2 | 51.00 |
| Colwyn Buckland | 51 | 1 | 51.00 |
| Brian Morgan | 151 | 3 | 50.33 |
| Luke Brattoni | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Rob Hunt | 99 | 2 | 49.50 |
| Raf Goodens | 98 | 2 | 49.00 |
| Gary Beer | 49 | 1 | 49.00 |
| Ryan Turk | 48 | 1 | 48.00 |
| Samuel Hastings | 186 | 4 | 46.50 |
| Daniel Drumm | 92 | 2 | 46.00 |
| Jonathan Goodman | 44 | 1 | 44.00 |
| Greg Beers | 211 | 5 | 42.20 |
| Kannan Sethuraman | 210 | 5 | 42.00 |
| Kathryn James | 123 | 3 | 41.00 |
| Jodi Knight | 82 | 2 | 41.00 |
| Avi Chanales | 163 | 4 | 40.75 |
| Margaret Frangos | 79 | 2 | 39.50 |
| Peter Stephenson | 78 | 2 | 39.00 |
| Brett Chaiyawat | 188 | 5 | 37.60 |
| Janine Huan | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Aram Kalyanasundaram | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| Luke Warden | 72 | 2 | 36.00 |
| David Waddell | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| Damien Chua | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Jayden Spudvilas-Powell | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Michael Bakker | 66 | 2 | 33.00 |
| Nathan Boadle | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Cameron Ling | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Neil McInnes | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Ben Ripley | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Felix Johnson | 95 | 3 | 31.67 |
| Mike Vitale | 63 | 2 | 31.50 |
| John Marsiglio | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Bryce Lawrence | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Matt Pitcher | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Anna Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Glen Chandler | 26 | 1 | 26.00 |
| Nicky Henderson | 24 | 1 | 24.00 |
| Louise Kuchmar | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Vikas Ahuja | 22 | 1 | 22.00 |
| Rob Carter | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Rosemary Stafford | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Liam Murphy | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Basil Theophilos | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Seb Dworkin | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Frank Rice | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Vanessa Rule | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dane Watkins | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Susan Bee | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Mali Konda | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Rhys McCaig | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Matthew Ball | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Matt Bolton | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
Monday, 22 August 2016
Ep 155: Rob Hunt, Richard Hartley (August 12, 2016; originally aired Match 4, 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.
Rob Hunt gets his turn in the champion's seat, after defeating Greg Beers last night. Rob is learning Spanish at the moment; he originally started that because he wanted to travel around South America. As he puts it, in a lot of places in the world, he can get away with just speaking English loudly, but in South America you really need to know the lingo. Richard pulls David into the conversation at this point, as David also travelled around South America at one point, and asks him about his Spanish. David responds in Spanish that he can speak it a little, but not well. Still in Spanish, he asks Rob if he is going to win, and Rob responds in Spanish that he hopes so.
Tonight's challenger is Richard Hartley, a planetary science student and guitar teacher. As he explains it, planetary science is a mix of astronomy and geology, that looks at the formation of planets, the solar system, and more broadly the whole universe. Richard has been studying it for three years in London; he has just a few exams to go and then it will all be done.
The contestants start out with matched answers in the first round, then Richard moves ahead in the second round with a good find. The first numbers round was too easy, so Richard took the advantage into the first break. An error from Rob in round four allowed Richard to move further ahead, and he extended that lead still further in round five. Richard looked like he might cruise home, but invalid answers from him in the next two main rounds put Rob right back in contention. It had the makings of quite a comeback when Rob buzzed in first at the conundrum, but he did not have the answer. That gave Richard the game; he picked up a few more points by solving the conundrum, finishing the winner by 56 to 42.
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.
Rob Hunt gets his turn in the champion's seat, after defeating Greg Beers last night. Rob is learning Spanish at the moment; he originally started that because he wanted to travel around South America. As he puts it, in a lot of places in the world, he can get away with just speaking English loudly, but in South America you really need to know the lingo. Richard pulls David into the conversation at this point, as David also travelled around South America at one point, and asks him about his Spanish. David responds in Spanish that he can speak it a little, but not well. Still in Spanish, he asks Rob if he is going to win, and Rob responds in Spanish that he hopes so.
Tonight's challenger is Richard Hartley, a planetary science student and guitar teacher. As he explains it, planetary science is a mix of astronomy and geology, that looks at the formation of planets, the solar system, and more broadly the whole universe. Richard has been studying it for three years in London; he has just a few exams to go and then it will all be done.
The contestants start out with matched answers in the first round, then Richard moves ahead in the second round with a good find. The first numbers round was too easy, so Richard took the advantage into the first break. An error from Rob in round four allowed Richard to move further ahead, and he extended that lead still further in round five. Richard looked like he might cruise home, but invalid answers from him in the next two main rounds put Rob right back in contention. It had the makings of quite a comeback when Rob buzzed in first at the conundrum, but he did not have the answer. That gave Richard the game; he picked up a few more points by solving the conundrum, finishing the winner by 56 to 42.
Ep 154: Greg Beers, Rob Hunt (August 11, 2016; originally aired March 3, 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.
It's the fifth night for Greg Beers, and his total is a little low so a win here may be necessary to reach the finals, or at least a high-scoring loss. Richard returns to the topic of Greg's four-wheel driving adventures, and asks him what the wildest and most remote spot is that he has been to. Greg immediately thinks of the Karunjie Track, up at the top of WA: They drove on that one day, going over rocky riverbeds and through grass over a metre high at times; when they got to the end they looked around and saw a sign that said, "Track closed". Heh. (Seems like he still had an easier time of it than this person did.)
Tonight's challenger is Rob Hunt, a web developer and scuba-diving instructor. Richard remarks that that is quite a combination, and asks how Rob balances the two. Rob opines that there is no better occupation in the world than swimming around underwater; he worked as a scuba-diving instructor for quite a few years, but it's a lifestyle choice and there is not a lot of money in it. So he moved on after that to web design.
A nice word from Greg in round one gave him the early lead, but Rob levelled immediately in round two. An easy numbers round did not trouble either contestant, and the scores were level going into the first break. Rob took the lead in round four, and then a fifteen point swing hinged on the validity of Greg's word in round five. Unluckily for him it was not valid, and Rob rode that fourteen point lead all the way to the conundrum. Greg buzzed in very quickly with an invalid answer, and Rob solved it a little later to push over the half-century mark, winning 57 to 33.
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 the fifth night for Greg Beers, and his total is a little low so a win here may be necessary to reach the finals, or at least a high-scoring loss. Richard returns to the topic of Greg's four-wheel driving adventures, and asks him what the wildest and most remote spot is that he has been to. Greg immediately thinks of the Karunjie Track, up at the top of WA: They drove on that one day, going over rocky riverbeds and through grass over a metre high at times; when they got to the end they looked around and saw a sign that said, "Track closed". Heh. (Seems like he still had an easier time of it than this person did.)
Tonight's challenger is Rob Hunt, a web developer and scuba-diving instructor. Richard remarks that that is quite a combination, and asks how Rob balances the two. Rob opines that there is no better occupation in the world than swimming around underwater; he worked as a scuba-diving instructor for quite a few years, but it's a lifestyle choice and there is not a lot of money in it. So he moved on after that to web design.
A nice word from Greg in round one gave him the early lead, but Rob levelled immediately in round two. An easy numbers round did not trouble either contestant, and the scores were level going into the first break. Rob took the lead in round four, and then a fifteen point swing hinged on the validity of Greg's word in round five. Unluckily for him it was not valid, and Rob rode that fourteen point lead all the way to the conundrum. Greg buzzed in very quickly with an invalid answer, and Rob solved it a little later to push over the half-century mark, winning 57 to 33.
Sunday, 14 August 2016
Ep 153: Greg Beers, Glen Chandler (August 10, 2016; originally aired March 2, 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.
It's the crucial fourth night for Greg, and it's the old question about technique. This always feels like a waste of a contestant chat to me. In this case, Greg states that in the letters rounds he likes to go with vowels first and consonants later.
Tonight's challenger is Glen Chandler, a retired foreign aid consultant with a PhD in geography. Richard asks her for more details about what that involved; Glen responds that she worked on a range of projects -- mainly water supply and sanitation, but also agriculture, environment, planning, and livestock. So she has learned a whole range of things about the world during the course of her work.
The contestants started out with identical answers in the first round, then Greg found an excellent word to take the early lead in round two. The first numbers round was too difficult for the contestants, so Greg carried an eight-point lead into the first break. Another round of shared points followed, then a phantom letter in round five led to an invalid answer from Greg, allowing Glen back within a point. Greg stretched that lead a little in the second numbers round, but lost ground with another invalid answer in the last letters round. Both contestants managed to make errors in the last numbers round, and the difference was just two points (in Greg's favour) going into the conundrum. Greg managed to solve it, sealing his win 38 to 26.
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 the crucial fourth night for Greg, and it's the old question about technique. This always feels like a waste of a contestant chat to me. In this case, Greg states that in the letters rounds he likes to go with vowels first and consonants later.
Tonight's challenger is Glen Chandler, a retired foreign aid consultant with a PhD in geography. Richard asks her for more details about what that involved; Glen responds that she worked on a range of projects -- mainly water supply and sanitation, but also agriculture, environment, planning, and livestock. So she has learned a whole range of things about the world during the course of her work.
The contestants started out with identical answers in the first round, then Greg found an excellent word to take the early lead in round two. The first numbers round was too difficult for the contestants, so Greg carried an eight-point lead into the first break. Another round of shared points followed, then a phantom letter in round five led to an invalid answer from Greg, allowing Glen back within a point. Greg stretched that lead a little in the second numbers round, but lost ground with another invalid answer in the last letters round. Both contestants managed to make errors in the last numbers round, and the difference was just two points (in Greg's favour) going into the conundrum. Greg managed to solve it, sealing his win 38 to 26.
Tuesday, 9 August 2016
Ep 152: Greg Beers, Rosemary Stafford (August 9, 2016; originally aired March 1, 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.
It's the third night for Greg Beers, and Richard raises the topic of misadventure during Greg's outback adventures. Greg relates how three years ago he (and others) were driving up the Innamincka track (maybe he was referring to the Strzelecki Track?); they stopped at a camp site, and he jumped into a natural spring there and dislocated his shoulder. His wife and friends eventually got into contact with the Flying Doctors, who instructed a local to give Greg and injection of morphine. Said local's qualifications were that he'd previously injected a camel once. (Richard interjects that Greg probably did not put up as much argument as the camel.) Anyway, eight hours later Greg was on the plane and into Whyalla hospital, the shoulder was put back in place, and all was well.
Tonight's challenger is Rosemary Stafford, a public servant for the Department of Justice in the Reporting Services Branch. This branch deals with recording what happens in the courts -- which is done digitally -- then transcribing that into transcript for the judges and lawyers.
Rosemary took the early lead with a good word in round one, but Greg recovered with points in the next two rounds to be ten points ahead going into the first break. Rosemary did better in round four, round five was shared, but the numbers were again favourable to Greg. Rosemary kept her hopes alive by getting the better answer in the last letters round, and got close in the final numbers round. However, Greg was closer, and that sealed the win for him. He buzzed in on the conundrum with an incorrect answer, but still had the win, 46 to 20.
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 the third night for Greg Beers, and Richard raises the topic of misadventure during Greg's outback adventures. Greg relates how three years ago he (and others) were driving up the Innamincka track (maybe he was referring to the Strzelecki Track?); they stopped at a camp site, and he jumped into a natural spring there and dislocated his shoulder. His wife and friends eventually got into contact with the Flying Doctors, who instructed a local to give Greg and injection of morphine. Said local's qualifications were that he'd previously injected a camel once. (Richard interjects that Greg probably did not put up as much argument as the camel.) Anyway, eight hours later Greg was on the plane and into Whyalla hospital, the shoulder was put back in place, and all was well.
Tonight's challenger is Rosemary Stafford, a public servant for the Department of Justice in the Reporting Services Branch. This branch deals with recording what happens in the courts -- which is done digitally -- then transcribing that into transcript for the judges and lawyers.
Rosemary took the early lead with a good word in round one, but Greg recovered with points in the next two rounds to be ten points ahead going into the first break. Rosemary did better in round four, round five was shared, but the numbers were again favourable to Greg. Rosemary kept her hopes alive by getting the better answer in the last letters round, and got close in the final numbers round. However, Greg was closer, and that sealed the win for him. He buzzed in on the conundrum with an incorrect answer, but still had the win, 46 to 20.
Ep 151: Greg Beers, Vikas Ahuja (August 8, 2016; originally aired February 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.
It's Greg Beers' turn in the champion's seat, and he'll be hoping to avoid last week's run of challenger victories. It's a surprisingly short pre-game chat for him -- Richard informs us that Greg loves to travel to way-out places, and asks how off-road he goes with the four-wheel drive. Greg responds that he goes for the rough stuff -- it is the most fun. And that's it from him: A short answer to a longer question.
Tonight's challenger is Vikas Ahuja, a public servant with an engineering degree in computers. Richard asks Vikas when he discovered that he had a real love of words, and Vikas relates how one of his uncles gave him a word game when he was seven or eight years old, and they loved playing that together. Vikas adds that he thinks that he gave the same game to his son at a similar age, so this is a good family pastime for them. He thinks his son has a larger vocabulary, but (as with Kannan from a couple of weeks ago) his son is not old enough to appear on the show.
Greg found the longer word in round one, and again in round two when Vikas fell victim to phantom duplication of a letter. The first numbers round was easy enough for both to solve, but then Greg just kept on extending his lead, admittedly aided by another invalid word from Vikas in round four. Greg was 34 points ahead going into the final letters round, meaning that Vikas needed a full monty to even have a chance, but the mix was an unproductive one. Vikas got some points back in the last numbers game, but Greg solved the conundrum to finish an emphatic victory, 59 to 22.
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 Greg Beers' turn in the champion's seat, and he'll be hoping to avoid last week's run of challenger victories. It's a surprisingly short pre-game chat for him -- Richard informs us that Greg loves to travel to way-out places, and asks how off-road he goes with the four-wheel drive. Greg responds that he goes for the rough stuff -- it is the most fun. And that's it from him: A short answer to a longer question.
Tonight's challenger is Vikas Ahuja, a public servant with an engineering degree in computers. Richard asks Vikas when he discovered that he had a real love of words, and Vikas relates how one of his uncles gave him a word game when he was seven or eight years old, and they loved playing that together. Vikas adds that he thinks that he gave the same game to his son at a similar age, so this is a good family pastime for them. He thinks his son has a larger vocabulary, but (as with Kannan from a couple of weeks ago) his son is not old enough to appear on the show.
Greg found the longer word in round one, and again in round two when Vikas fell victim to phantom duplication of a letter. The first numbers round was easy enough for both to solve, but then Greg just kept on extending his lead, admittedly aided by another invalid word from Vikas in round four. Greg was 34 points ahead going into the final letters round, meaning that Vikas needed a full monty to even have a chance, but the mix was an unproductive one. Vikas got some points back in the last numbers game, but Greg solved the conundrum to finish an emphatic victory, 59 to 22.
Monday, 8 August 2016
Weekly summary: Episodes 146 to 150
This has definitely been a better week for me than the previous few. All scores against the contestants were in the seventies, which is the first time that has happened this series (my solo totals managed it in week three, but I was beaten to the conundrum by one of the contestants). Tuesday was particularly good, as I had a maximal game that included a word that David did not find, giving me the very rare solo victory. I managed a tie on Wednesday, too, although that time the game turned out to be just short of optimal. All in all, a welcome return after the long break.
The challengers won every game this week, so there was a lot of turnover. Kannan's run came to an end on Monday, leaving him at five wins and displacing Brett from fifth place. We're at the halfway mark (a little over it, since there are only 43 episodes left before the finals).
Another week with little to report on this front -- there was just the one full monty on Thursday. Lily continues her excellent solving form.
This was a much better week for the maxima, with Tuesday's maximal game being the highlight. A couple of oversights on the numbers at the end of the week, but the letters performance is getting better.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 76 | 74 | 77 | 72 | 70 |
| Champion | 10 | 12 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| Challenger | 41 | 7 | 10 | 34 | 13 |
| David + Lily | 78 | 73 | 77 | 86 | 74 |
| Me (solo) | 76 | 74 | 77 | 72 | 70 |
The challengers won every game this week, so there was a lot of turnover. Kannan's run came to an end on Monday, leaving him at five wins and displacing Brett from fifth place. We're at the halfway mark (a little over it, since there are only 43 episodes left before the finals).
| Barry Harridge | 75 | 51 | 45 | 54 | 39 | 59 | 323 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Thomason | 46 | 64 | 49 | 44 | 52 | 65 | 310 |
| Oli Bryant | 71 | 46 | 60 | 55 | 54 | 32 | 318 |
| Jack Dell | 59 | 73 | 40 | 50 | 36 | 258 | |
| Kannan Sethuraman | 42 | 53 | 45 | 41 | 29 | 210 | |
| Brett Chaiyawat | 25 | 59 | 28 | 42 | 34 | 188 | |
| Samuel Hastings | 46 | 58 | 58 | 24 | 186 | ||
| Avi Chanales | 53 | 37 | 43 | 30 | 163 |
Another week with little to report on this front -- there was just the one full monty on Thursday. Lily continues her excellent solving form.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Missed Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Tough Numbers | 0 | |||||
| Impossible Numbers | 0 |
This was a much better week for the maxima, with Tuesday's maximal game being the highlight. A couple of oversights on the numbers at the end of the week, but the letters performance is getting better.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| N | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Harridge | 323 | 6 | 53.83 |
| Oli Bryant | 318 | 6 | 53.00 |
| Matthew Thomason | 310 | 6 | 51.67 |
| Jack Dell | 258 | 5 | 51.60 |
| Jason Dunn | 102 | 2 | 51.00 |
| Colwyn Buckland | 51 | 1 | 51.00 |
| Brian Morgan | 151 | 3 | 50.33 |
| Luke Brattoni | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Raf Goodens | 98 | 2 | 49.00 |
| Gary Beer | 49 | 1 | 49.00 |
| Ryan Turk | 48 | 1 | 48.00 |
| Samuel Hastings | 186 | 4 | 46.50 |
| Daniel Drumm | 92 | 2 | 46.00 |
| Jonathan Goodman | 44 | 1 | 44.00 |
| Kannan Sethuraman | 210 | 5 | 42.00 |
| Kathryn James | 123 | 3 | 41.00 |
| Jodi Knight | 82 | 2 | 41.00 |
| Avi Chanales | 163 | 4 | 40.75 |
| Margaret Frangos | 79 | 2 | 39.50 |
| Peter Stephenson | 78 | 2 | 39.00 |
| Brett Chaiyawat | 188 | 5 | 37.60 |
| Janine Huan | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Aram Kalyanasundaram | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| Luke Warden | 72 | 2 | 36.00 |
| David Waddell | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| Greg Beers* | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Damien Chua | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Jayden Spudvilas-Powell | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Michael Bakker | 66 | 2 | 33.00 |
| Nathan Boadle | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Cameron Ling | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Neil McInnes | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Ben Ripley | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Felix Johnson | 95 | 3 | 31.67 |
| Mike Vitale | 63 | 2 | 31.50 |
| John Marsiglio | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Bryce Lawrence | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Matt Pitcher | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Anna Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Nicky Henderson | 24 | 1 | 24.00 |
| Louise Kuchmar | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Rob Carter | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Liam Murphy | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Basil Theophilos | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Seb Dworkin | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Frank Rice | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Vanessa Rule | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dane Watkins | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Susan Bee | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Mali Konda | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Rhys McCaig | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Matthew Ball | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Matt Bolton | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
Sunday, 7 August 2016
Ep 150: Margaret Frangos, Greg Beers (August 5, 2016; originally aired February 25, 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.
Margaret Frangos returns for her second night, and Richard says that there is a connection between Margaret and the Macquarie dictionary that David is using. As Margaret explains, she studied English linguistics at Macquarie University in the late 1970's, and had to do a paper at the time about what should and should not go into a dictionary; it was very much on everyone's mind then -- the first edition was published in 1981, and would have been in the works for some considerable time. Margaret adds that two of the lecturers that she had were very involved in the executive committee that was formed to put the dictionary together. Richard suggests that Margaret was thus part of the genesis of the show's reference book; Margaret would like to be able to say that is true, but does not think that much of her paper was used.
As an aside, Margaret was somewhat hoarse during this episode; it's a good thing this was the last episode of the day.
Tonight's challenger is Greg Beers, a customs broker and very keen coin collector. Greg likes to collect Australian coins, particularly the older ones but also the newer issues. He has always found it fascinating that a coin can be worth a lot more than its face value, in some cases many of thousands of dollars. He even has some of those, but mainly they are worth a lot less than that.
The game was a little low-scoring, and that's been a theme all this week. The contestants started out with a pair of five-letter words, then Margaret took the lead in round two. Greg struck back immediately with points in round three, going into the break one point ahead. Another shared round followed, then Greg did well to find a good answer in round five and move seven points ahead. The scores should have been tied going into the second break, but an error from Margaret in the seoncd numbers round meant that Greg moved fourteen points ahead instead. The next two rounds produced no swing, and Greg was safe going into the conundrum. Margaret managed to solve it, but the damage from her error in round six was too much: Greg won the game, 35 to 31.
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.
Margaret Frangos returns for her second night, and Richard says that there is a connection between Margaret and the Macquarie dictionary that David is using. As Margaret explains, she studied English linguistics at Macquarie University in the late 1970's, and had to do a paper at the time about what should and should not go into a dictionary; it was very much on everyone's mind then -- the first edition was published in 1981, and would have been in the works for some considerable time. Margaret adds that two of the lecturers that she had were very involved in the executive committee that was formed to put the dictionary together. Richard suggests that Margaret was thus part of the genesis of the show's reference book; Margaret would like to be able to say that is true, but does not think that much of her paper was used.
As an aside, Margaret was somewhat hoarse during this episode; it's a good thing this was the last episode of the day.
Tonight's challenger is Greg Beers, a customs broker and very keen coin collector. Greg likes to collect Australian coins, particularly the older ones but also the newer issues. He has always found it fascinating that a coin can be worth a lot more than its face value, in some cases many of thousands of dollars. He even has some of those, but mainly they are worth a lot less than that.
The game was a little low-scoring, and that's been a theme all this week. The contestants started out with a pair of five-letter words, then Margaret took the lead in round two. Greg struck back immediately with points in round three, going into the break one point ahead. Another shared round followed, then Greg did well to find a good answer in round five and move seven points ahead. The scores should have been tied going into the second break, but an error from Margaret in the seoncd numbers round meant that Greg moved fourteen points ahead instead. The next two rounds produced no swing, and Greg was safe going into the conundrum. Margaret managed to solve it, but the damage from her error in round six was too much: Greg won the game, 35 to 31.
Ep 149: Michael Bakker, Margaret Frangos (August 4, 2016; originally aired February 24, 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.
It's Michael Bakker's turn in the champion's seat, and Richard asks him about his business plans for the future. Michael says that there is a big competition run every year by the Pharmacy Guild (the governing body of pharmacy) to develop a business plan, and he and his friends have entered that. (I think this is the National Student Business Plan competition.) He believes that they have come up with some unique ideas that they hope will revolutionise rural pharmacy and services.
Tonight's challenger is Margaret Frangos, a head teacher who supports secondary students with online learning. Richard enquires about the main focus of her educational efforts; Margaret responds that for many years she was involved in mulicultural education, and in particular with secondary-aged, newly-arrived migrant and refugee students. Those students came and learnt English with her (and her colleagues) before they went into high school.
Margaret got the early lead thanks to an invalid word from Michael in round one, but he levelled the scores in round two. Two tied rounds followed, then Margaret found a longer word in round five to go ahead once more. Michael was unable to make progress on the second numbers round, and that gave Margaret a potentially-winning advantage. The next letters round was also shared, so the last numbers round was do-or-die for Michael. Unfortunately for him it was a little easy, and both contestants solved it. Neither could find the conundrum, and Margaret became the new champion with a 48 to 34 victory.
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 Michael Bakker's turn in the champion's seat, and Richard asks him about his business plans for the future. Michael says that there is a big competition run every year by the Pharmacy Guild (the governing body of pharmacy) to develop a business plan, and he and his friends have entered that. (I think this is the National Student Business Plan competition.) He believes that they have come up with some unique ideas that they hope will revolutionise rural pharmacy and services.
Tonight's challenger is Margaret Frangos, a head teacher who supports secondary students with online learning. Richard enquires about the main focus of her educational efforts; Margaret responds that for many years she was involved in mulicultural education, and in particular with secondary-aged, newly-arrived migrant and refugee students. Those students came and learnt English with her (and her colleagues) before they went into high school.
Margaret got the early lead thanks to an invalid word from Michael in round one, but he levelled the scores in round two. Two tied rounds followed, then Margaret found a longer word in round five to go ahead once more. Michael was unable to make progress on the second numbers round, and that gave Margaret a potentially-winning advantage. The next letters round was also shared, so the last numbers round was do-or-die for Michael. Unfortunately for him it was a little easy, and both contestants solved it. Neither could find the conundrum, and Margaret became the new champion with a 48 to 34 victory.
Friday, 5 August 2016
Ep 148: Mike Vitale, Michael Bakker (August 3, 2016; originally aired February 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.
Mike Vitale is back for his second night, and we find out that Mike and his wife look after dogs for Seeing Eye Dogs Australia. At the moment they are looking after an eight-month-old labrador named Eve, and they expect to have her for another eight months. Richard asks whether they are training Eve themselves, but Mike explains that training to be a seeing eye dog will be done later by professionals. What they are doing at the moment is socialising her; she goes everywhere with them -- she even comes to his lectures (he adds, "and sleeps through them just like everyone else"). She'll go on trams, trains, buses, on visits to the shops -- all the kinds of activities that will be important for her to be familiar with later. (She was not brought to the filming, however.)
Tonight's challenger is Michael Bakker, who is in his fourth year of a pharmacy degree. Apparently Michael entered that degree as a result of a bet with a friend. We don't quite get the details on what he describes as an informal bet, but he does say that the VCE can be a difficult time, particularly the pressure to work out what you'll be doing for the rest of your life. So Michael thought, "Why not leave that up to someone else?" His best friend applied for pharmacy, which seemed agreeable to him, so to pharmacy he went and it has suited him quite well.
The contestants found equal-scoring results in the first two rounds, and the first number round proved too difficult for both. Another matched round followed, then Michael finally got a small lead in round five. It did not last long, as Mike snatched the lead back on the numbers, then extended it in the last letters round. But Michael fought back, solving the last numbers round to take a slender lead going into the conundrum. Neither was able to solve it, so Michael won, 32 to 29.
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.
Mike Vitale is back for his second night, and we find out that Mike and his wife look after dogs for Seeing Eye Dogs Australia. At the moment they are looking after an eight-month-old labrador named Eve, and they expect to have her for another eight months. Richard asks whether they are training Eve themselves, but Mike explains that training to be a seeing eye dog will be done later by professionals. What they are doing at the moment is socialising her; she goes everywhere with them -- she even comes to his lectures (he adds, "and sleeps through them just like everyone else"). She'll go on trams, trains, buses, on visits to the shops -- all the kinds of activities that will be important for her to be familiar with later. (She was not brought to the filming, however.)
Tonight's challenger is Michael Bakker, who is in his fourth year of a pharmacy degree. Apparently Michael entered that degree as a result of a bet with a friend. We don't quite get the details on what he describes as an informal bet, but he does say that the VCE can be a difficult time, particularly the pressure to work out what you'll be doing for the rest of your life. So Michael thought, "Why not leave that up to someone else?" His best friend applied for pharmacy, which seemed agreeable to him, so to pharmacy he went and it has suited him quite well.
The contestants found equal-scoring results in the first two rounds, and the first number round proved too difficult for both. Another matched round followed, then Michael finally got a small lead in round five. It did not last long, as Mike snatched the lead back on the numbers, then extended it in the last letters round. But Michael fought back, solving the last numbers round to take a slender lead going into the conundrum. Neither was able to solve it, so Michael won, 32 to 29.
Wednesday, 3 August 2016
Ep 147: Luke Warden, Mike Vitale (August 2, 2016; originally aired February 22, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Luke Warden gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and Richard asks what drew him to work at a bowling club. Luke explains that he used to work in telecommunications in Sydney for a number of years, and after that particular company collapsed he decided that it was time to get out of the rat-race and take a more relaxed lifestyle in a more enjoyable environment.
Tonight's challenger is Mike Vitale, a university professor with a PhD in mathematics. Mike is also the director of the Monash Asia Pacific Centre for Science and Wealth Creation, which, as he explains, does research and teaching about commercialisation of research; that is, the process by which a research idea is brought to market in the form of a product. This can cover specific instances of inventions, and also the slightly more nebulous case where someone has discovered something which may turn out to have real-world applications.
After a matched first round, Mike took points in the next three rounds to go twenty-one points ahead of Luke. The game looked in danger of becoming a blowout, but Luke pegged Mike back a little in the fifth round. Mike forged further ahead in round six, although he missed an easy adjustment that would have given him three more points. But a phantom letter on the last letters round on his part kept Luke in the game; Luke was able to capitalise on that with points in the last numbers round, and was still barely in the game going into the conundrum. But it proved too tough for both contestants, and Mike hung on for the win, 34 to 25.
Luke Warden gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and Richard asks what drew him to work at a bowling club. Luke explains that he used to work in telecommunications in Sydney for a number of years, and after that particular company collapsed he decided that it was time to get out of the rat-race and take a more relaxed lifestyle in a more enjoyable environment.
Tonight's challenger is Mike Vitale, a university professor with a PhD in mathematics. Mike is also the director of the Monash Asia Pacific Centre for Science and Wealth Creation, which, as he explains, does research and teaching about commercialisation of research; that is, the process by which a research idea is brought to market in the form of a product. This can cover specific instances of inventions, and also the slightly more nebulous case where someone has discovered something which may turn out to have real-world applications.
After a matched first round, Mike took points in the next three rounds to go twenty-one points ahead of Luke. The game looked in danger of becoming a blowout, but Luke pegged Mike back a little in the fifth round. Mike forged further ahead in round six, although he missed an easy adjustment that would have given him three more points. But a phantom letter on the last letters round on his part kept Luke in the game; Luke was able to capitalise on that with points in the last numbers round, and was still barely in the game going into the conundrum. But it proved too tough for both contestants, and Mike hung on for the win, 34 to 25.
Tuesday, 2 August 2016
Ep 146: Kannan Sethuraman, Luke Warden (August 1, 2016; originally aired February 21, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
It's the fifth night for Kannan Sethuraman, and a good performance here might see him into the finals. Richard returns to the topic of Kannan's work, noting that Kannan does some very important practical consultative work; for example, with hospitals, to try and make them more efficient. He asks how that works. Kannan gives an example: 60% of operating theatre sessions are typically delayed. So what they do is try to answer the questions: Where are the bottlenecks? Why do they get delayed? How can we ensure that they start on time, and that more patients can be treated in a given period of time?
Tonight's challenger is Luke Warden, operations manager at a bowling club, who has just completed a diploma of hospitality. Luke was also lead singer in a band called TidalBridge, that was around from 2006 to 2008; during that time they wrote twelve or thirteen original songs. Some of those songs they uploaded to a national youth radio network's unsigned internet site, as a result of which they got national exposure and a couple of songs made it into the national charts. The band members are still in contact, and occasionally get together for a jam and to write some new material.
(I can't find full details on that at the moment, but Luke's page on ArtistTrove says that they had songs at numbers 6 and 7 on the October 2007 JJJ Unearthed Pop chart. My guess would be that the songs in question were This Town and Don't Mind Me; both can be listened to here.)
The contestants started off with matched words in round one, then a surprisingly short answer from Luke in round two saw Kannan take the lead. An easy numbers round followed, then the middle third was all Luke -- he scored 24 unanswered points to be a daunting 18 points ahead at the second break. Kannan risked it all in round seven, chancing a nine in the hopes of levelling the scores; it was not valid, and that gave Luke a winning margin. Kannan added to his score in the last numbers game; neither was able to solve the conundrum, resulting in a final scoreline of 47 to 29 in Luke's favour.
It's the fifth night for Kannan Sethuraman, and a good performance here might see him into the finals. Richard returns to the topic of Kannan's work, noting that Kannan does some very important practical consultative work; for example, with hospitals, to try and make them more efficient. He asks how that works. Kannan gives an example: 60% of operating theatre sessions are typically delayed. So what they do is try to answer the questions: Where are the bottlenecks? Why do they get delayed? How can we ensure that they start on time, and that more patients can be treated in a given period of time?
Tonight's challenger is Luke Warden, operations manager at a bowling club, who has just completed a diploma of hospitality. Luke was also lead singer in a band called TidalBridge, that was around from 2006 to 2008; during that time they wrote twelve or thirteen original songs. Some of those songs they uploaded to a national youth radio network's unsigned internet site, as a result of which they got national exposure and a couple of songs made it into the national charts. The band members are still in contact, and occasionally get together for a jam and to write some new material.
(I can't find full details on that at the moment, but Luke's page on ArtistTrove says that they had songs at numbers 6 and 7 on the October 2007 JJJ Unearthed Pop chart. My guess would be that the songs in question were This Town and Don't Mind Me; both can be listened to here.)
The contestants started off with matched words in round one, then a surprisingly short answer from Luke in round two saw Kannan take the lead. An easy numbers round followed, then the middle third was all Luke -- he scored 24 unanswered points to be a daunting 18 points ahead at the second break. Kannan risked it all in round seven, chancing a nine in the hopes of levelling the scores; it was not valid, and that gave Luke a winning margin. Kannan added to his score in the last numbers game; neither was able to solve the conundrum, resulting in a final scoreline of 47 to 29 in Luke's favour.
Monday, 1 August 2016
Weekly summary: Episodes 141 to 145
I'm finally back in sync, although not fully caught up -- the previous week's episodes are not properly written up yet. I hope to fill those in over the coming week. I came close to matching David and Lily a couple of times this week, with the sad case being Tuesday, where I would have outdone them if I had only solved the conundrum. Still, this feels like improvement over previous weeks.
Brian saw off Daniel, then lost to Kannan who swept the rest of the week. He is very likely to overtake Brett unless he gets overwhelmed in his next game, and a win will see him into the finals. Even a loss may well do so, although his total is a little low.
Just a couple of full monties on offer this week to liven things up. That said, Lily did some excellent solving -- there were some rounds that could easily have tripped her up (as they did me).
This was a much better week for the maxima, with Tuesday being the highlight. A couple of oversights on the numbers at the end of the week, but the letters performance is getting better.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 72 | 65 | 83 | 74 | 57 |
| Champion | 28 | 16 | 15 | 0 | 27 |
| Challenger | 16 | 30 | 15 | 0 | 5 |
| David + Lily | 74 | 74 | 84 | 87 | 77 |
| Me (solo) | 72 | 65 | 83 | 74 | 64 |
Brian saw off Daniel, then lost to Kannan who swept the rest of the week. He is very likely to overtake Brett unless he gets overwhelmed in his next game, and a win will see him into the finals. Even a loss may well do so, although his total is a little low.
| Barry Harridge | 75 | 51 | 45 | 54 | 39 | 59 | 323 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Thomason | 46 | 64 | 49 | 44 | 52 | 65 | 310 |
| Oli Bryant | 71 | 46 | 60 | 55 | 54 | 32 | 318 |
| Jack Dell | 59 | 73 | 40 | 50 | 36 | 258 | |
| Brett Chaiyawat | 25 | 59 | 28 | 42 | 34 | 188 | |
| Kannan Sethuraman* | 42 | 53 | 45 | 41 | 181 | ||
| Samuel Hastings | 46 | 58 | 58 | 24 | 186 | ||
| Avi Chanales | 53 | 37 | 43 | 30 | 163 |
Just a couple of full monties on offer this week to liven things up. That said, Lily did some excellent solving -- there were some rounds that could easily have tripped her up (as they did me).
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Missed Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Tough Numbers | 0 | |||||
| Impossible Numbers | 0 |
This was a much better week for the maxima, with Tuesday being the highlight. A couple of oversights on the numbers at the end of the week, but the letters performance is getting better.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| N | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Harridge | 323 | 6 | 53.83 |
| Oli Bryant | 318 | 6 | 53.00 |
| Matthew Thomason | 310 | 6 | 51.67 |
| Jack Dell | 258 | 5 | 51.60 |
| Jason Dunn | 102 | 2 | 51.00 |
| Colwyn Buckland | 51 | 1 | 51.00 |
| Brian Morgan | 151 | 3 | 50.33 |
| Luke Brattoni | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Raf Goodens | 98 | 2 | 49.00 |
| Gary Beer | 49 | 1 | 49.00 |
| Ryan Turk | 48 | 1 | 48.00 |
| Samuel Hastings | 186 | 4 | 46.50 |
| Daniel Drumm | 92 | 2 | 46.00 |
| Kannan Sethuraman* | 181 | 4 | 45.25 |
| Jonathan Goodman | 44 | 1 | 44.00 |
| Kathryn James | 123 | 3 | 41.00 |
| Jodi Knight | 82 | 2 | 41.00 |
| Avi Chanales | 163 | 4 | 40.75 |
| Peter Stephenson | 78 | 2 | 39.00 |
| Brett Chaiyawat | 188 | 5 | 37.60 |
| Janine Huan | 37 | 1 | 37.00 |
| Aram Kalyanasundaram | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| David Waddell | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| Damien Chua | 35 | 1 | 35.00 |
| Jayden Spudvilas-Powell | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Nathan Boadle | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Cameron Ling | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Neil McInnes | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Ben Ripley | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Felix Johnson | 95 | 3 | 31.67 |
| John Marsiglio | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Bryce Lawrence | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Matt Pitcher | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Anna Gunn | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Nicky Henderson | 24 | 1 | 24.00 |
| Louise Kuchmar | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Rob Carter | 20 | 1 | 20.00 |
| Liam Murphy | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Basil Theophilos | 18 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Seb Dworkin | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
| Frank Rice | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Vanessa Rule | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Dane Watkins | 15 | 1 | 15.00 |
| Susan Bee | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Mali Konda | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Rhys McCaig | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| Matthew Ball | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
| Matt Bolton | 12 | 1 | 12.00 |
Ep 145: Kannan Sethuraman, Matt Pitcher (July 29, 2016; originally aired February 18, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
It's the important fourth night for Kannan; a win here will give him a chance of making the finals. Alas, Richard wheels out the question about technique; this time he also asks specifically about Kannan's choice of two large numbers in the numbers rounds. Kannan responds that he thinks it gives you a better ability to manipulate the numbers and get to the target, and adds that three large numbers are too hard for him. He's right about this -- the two large mix is the most solvable of all, by a narrow margin over the single large number. I'd still recommend a single large number for people, though, as the clarity of having only a single large number can make it easier to get in the right vicinity.
Tonight's challenger is Matt Pitcher, a pharmacist whose dream is to one day become an acclaimed independent filmmaker. When asked by Richard, Matt admits that he has not done much in the way of film work yet, but he is in the process of writing his first screenplay. He says that he has connections who may be able to assist him, and he is hoping to get that into a short film festival. In response to Richard's question about genre (strangely limited to "mystery or horror"), Matt gives a fairly noncommital "all of the above".
(I haven't had much success tracking down information about that, but you can see a video of his here.)
Kannan started out with an excellent word in the first round, and then followed that up with four more scoring rounds. Matt was only able to match him in round two, and it was shaping up that the game would be decided before the second break. But an arithmetic error from Kannan in round six kept Matt in the game for one more round. The final letters were a frugal mix, and Matt was unable to outdo Kannan as he needed to. The final numbers round was too hard for anyone (except Lily!) to get close; Matt managed to solve the conundrum, but Kannan was a decisive winner, 41 to 29.
It's the important fourth night for Kannan; a win here will give him a chance of making the finals. Alas, Richard wheels out the question about technique; this time he also asks specifically about Kannan's choice of two large numbers in the numbers rounds. Kannan responds that he thinks it gives you a better ability to manipulate the numbers and get to the target, and adds that three large numbers are too hard for him. He's right about this -- the two large mix is the most solvable of all, by a narrow margin over the single large number. I'd still recommend a single large number for people, though, as the clarity of having only a single large number can make it easier to get in the right vicinity.
Tonight's challenger is Matt Pitcher, a pharmacist whose dream is to one day become an acclaimed independent filmmaker. When asked by Richard, Matt admits that he has not done much in the way of film work yet, but he is in the process of writing his first screenplay. He says that he has connections who may be able to assist him, and he is hoping to get that into a short film festival. In response to Richard's question about genre (strangely limited to "mystery or horror"), Matt gives a fairly noncommital "all of the above".
(I haven't had much success tracking down information about that, but you can see a video of his here.)
Kannan started out with an excellent word in the first round, and then followed that up with four more scoring rounds. Matt was only able to match him in round two, and it was shaping up that the game would be decided before the second break. But an arithmetic error from Kannan in round six kept Matt in the game for one more round. The final letters were a frugal mix, and Matt was unable to outdo Kannan as he needed to. The final numbers round was too hard for anyone (except Lily!) to get close; Matt managed to solve the conundrum, but Kannan was a decisive winner, 41 to 29.
Ep 144: Kannan Sethuraman, Mali Konda (July 28, 2016; originally aired February 17, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
It's the third night for Kannan Sethuraman, and Richard turns the topic to Kannan's academic journey. Kannan relates that he finished his MBA in India, then went to Wharton for his PhD; that is part of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. After finishing his PhD in operations management, Kannan worked in Michigan for around six years, returned briefly to India, then joined the Melbourne Business School in 2001.
Tonight's challenger is Mali Konda, a senior analyst in the banking sector. Richard slightly obliquely says that Mali has skills in working with blind people, and leads her to describe how that came about. Mali was waiting for the bus one day, and a blind student asked her what she was studying. After she answered (we never find out what it was), he asked if she would be able to help him read his books. Mali was willing, and after a while all the blind students ended up joining in, and her whole family got involved in helping the blind. Mali has since learned braille.
The contestants started out with a tied first round, then Kannan took a modest lead in round two. The first numbers round was too hard for both of them, but thereafter it was all Kannan. He picked up twenty points in the middle third of the game, and Mali needed to find a full monty in the last letters round to have a chance. She could not, and that was game to Kannan. He moved further ahead in the last numbers round; neither contestant could solve the conundrum, so Kannan got his third win, 45 to 13.
It's the third night for Kannan Sethuraman, and Richard turns the topic to Kannan's academic journey. Kannan relates that he finished his MBA in India, then went to Wharton for his PhD; that is part of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. After finishing his PhD in operations management, Kannan worked in Michigan for around six years, returned briefly to India, then joined the Melbourne Business School in 2001.
Tonight's challenger is Mali Konda, a senior analyst in the banking sector. Richard slightly obliquely says that Mali has skills in working with blind people, and leads her to describe how that came about. Mali was waiting for the bus one day, and a blind student asked her what she was studying. After she answered (we never find out what it was), he asked if she would be able to help him read his books. Mali was willing, and after a while all the blind students ended up joining in, and her whole family got involved in helping the blind. Mali has since learned braille.
The contestants started out with a tied first round, then Kannan took a modest lead in round two. The first numbers round was too hard for both of them, but thereafter it was all Kannan. He picked up twenty points in the middle third of the game, and Mali needed to find a full monty in the last letters round to have a chance. She could not, and that was game to Kannan. He moved further ahead in the last numbers round; neither contestant could solve the conundrum, so Kannan got his third win, 45 to 13.
Ep 143: Kannan Sethuraman, Cameron Ling (July 27, 2016; originally aired February 16, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Kannan Sethuraman gets his turn in the champion's seat, and the topic turns again to his son -- Richard asks whether Kannan compared his results with Anand after the previous game. Kannan says that he did, and they both did well.
Tonight's challenger is Cameron Ling, a budding novelist who teaches English as a second language. Cameron teaches in a school for new migrant children, so it is kids that have just arrived in Australia; the school tries to get them ready for mainstream schooling here.
Kanna found a good word in round one to take the early lead, then the next four rounds were shared. Round six proved to be significant, with Cameron's invalid answer giving points to Kannan again, and the final numbers round also went Kannan's way. That gave him a winning lead going into the conundrum; neither could solve it, so Kannan won 53 to 32.
Kannan Sethuraman gets his turn in the champion's seat, and the topic turns again to his son -- Richard asks whether Kannan compared his results with Anand after the previous game. Kannan says that he did, and they both did well.
Tonight's challenger is Cameron Ling, a budding novelist who teaches English as a second language. Cameron teaches in a school for new migrant children, so it is kids that have just arrived in Australia; the school tries to get them ready for mainstream schooling here.
Kanna found a good word in round one to take the early lead, then the next four rounds were shared. Round six proved to be significant, with Cameron's invalid answer giving points to Kannan again, and the final numbers round also went Kannan's way. That gave him a winning lead going into the conundrum; neither could solve it, so Kannan won 53 to 32.
Ep 142: Brian Morgan, Kannan Sethuraman (July 26, 2016; originally aired February 15, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
On Brian Morgan's third night, Richard notes that Brian has travelled quite widely, and asks if he has any traveller's tips. Brian says that he has just come back from Vietnam (as mentioned earlier), and he thought it was wonderful, as were the people, and everything was very cheap.
Tonight's challenger is Kannan Sethuraman, an associate professor with a PhD in operations management. Richard tantalises that there is an interesting story behind how Kannan came to be on the show tonight, and then throws to Kannan. Kannan explains that he actually wanted to find out whether his son (Anand Bharadwaj, an avid Scrabble player) could participate on the show, but it turned out that Anand was not old enough -- he is ten, and contestants are required to be at least sixteen years old. That said, Anand had quite the background already, being the youngest player to compete for Australia in the World Youth Scrabble Championship (his first time being in 2009, I think); he went on to win the 2011 WYSC.
Brian was the first to find an advantage, outscoring Kannan in the second round to get a decent lead. Kannan struck back immediately with the first numbers round to overtake Brian, only for Brian to retake the lead again in round five. The second numbers round was too easy, and another letters win saw Brian extend his lead to nine points. But Kannan continued his good performance on the numbers to inflict another reversal and headed into the conundrum a single point ahead. Neither contestant was able to solve the conundrum, so that single point gave Kannan the win, 42 to 41.
On Brian Morgan's third night, Richard notes that Brian has travelled quite widely, and asks if he has any traveller's tips. Brian says that he has just come back from Vietnam (as mentioned earlier), and he thought it was wonderful, as were the people, and everything was very cheap.
Tonight's challenger is Kannan Sethuraman, an associate professor with a PhD in operations management. Richard tantalises that there is an interesting story behind how Kannan came to be on the show tonight, and then throws to Kannan. Kannan explains that he actually wanted to find out whether his son (Anand Bharadwaj, an avid Scrabble player) could participate on the show, but it turned out that Anand was not old enough -- he is ten, and contestants are required to be at least sixteen years old. That said, Anand had quite the background already, being the youngest player to compete for Australia in the World Youth Scrabble Championship (his first time being in 2009, I think); he went on to win the 2011 WYSC.
Brian was the first to find an advantage, outscoring Kannan in the second round to get a decent lead. Kannan struck back immediately with the first numbers round to overtake Brian, only for Brian to retake the lead again in round five. The second numbers round was too easy, and another letters win saw Brian extend his lead to nine points. But Kannan continued his good performance on the numbers to inflict another reversal and headed into the conundrum a single point ahead. Neither contestant was able to solve the conundrum, so that single point gave Kannan the win, 42 to 41.
Ep 141: Brian Morgan, Damien Chua (July 26, 2016; originally aired February 14, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Brian Morgan takes his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and the topic turns to cricket. Brian is an umpire, and has been doing that for six or seven years. He says that he has always had a great passion for cricket, and being an umpire is a great way to keep involved.
Tonight's challenger is Damien Chua, an optometrist whose goal is to travel to every continent in the world. So far he has been to four of them, with Africa, South America, and Antarctica to go. He'd particularly love to do an African safari one day.
The contestants found identical words in the first round, then Brian gained a small lead in round two. Two shared rounds followed, then Brian found another winning word in round five to go a crucial twelve points ahead. An easy numbers game and a vowel-heavy letters round saw the contestants continue to share points, and Damien needed to outdo Brian in the last numbers round to stay in with a chance. Brian was one off the target, but Damien was not able to solve it (or, indeed, to get close), and that ensured Brian's victory. Brian finished off with a very quick solution to the conundrum to pad out the scoreline, winning 64 to 35.
Brian Morgan takes his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and the topic turns to cricket. Brian is an umpire, and has been doing that for six or seven years. He says that he has always had a great passion for cricket, and being an umpire is a great way to keep involved.
Tonight's challenger is Damien Chua, an optometrist whose goal is to travel to every continent in the world. So far he has been to four of them, with Africa, South America, and Antarctica to go. He'd particularly love to do an African safari one day.
The contestants found identical words in the first round, then Brian gained a small lead in round two. Two shared rounds followed, then Brian found another winning word in round five to go a crucial twelve points ahead. An easy numbers game and a vowel-heavy letters round saw the contestants continue to share points, and Damien needed to outdo Brian in the last numbers round to stay in with a chance. Brian was one off the target, but Damien was not able to solve it (or, indeed, to get close), and that ensured Brian's victory. Brian finished off with a very quick solution to the conundrum to pad out the scoreline, winning 64 to 35.
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