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.


Round 1: T G J I O E R N I

I had GOITRE, JOINTER, IGNITER, and RIOTING, rightly rejecting JOINTIER along the way.

It's sixes from the contestants, with Luke having TIRING to Kannan's REJOIN.  David has gone that one better with his choice of RIOTING.

The other sevens are TIERING and GENITOR ("a father in the biological sense, sometimes distinguished from a legal or acting father").

Kannan: REJOIN
Luke: TIRING
Me: RIOTING
David: RIOTING

Scores: Kannan 0 (6), Luke 0 (6), me 7


Round 2: M O E N C T A B R

I had OMEN, a speculative INCOME but the I did not arrive, COMET, COMBAT, BOATMEN, ROMANCE, BROMANCE, and ENACTOR.

Luke is not thrilled by his four of BEAM, and rightly so as Kannan has found OCTANE for six.  David points out that BOATMEN was a recent word on the show (from episode 144), but has found the better answer of BROMANCE.

The other eight is COMBATER.  The other sevens are BACONER, BARONET / REBOANT, and BROMATE.

Kannan: OCTANE
Luke: BEAM
Me: BROMANCE
David: BROMANCE

Scores: Kannan 0 (12), Luke 0 (6), me 15


Round 3: Target 165 from 100 25 4 6 7 2

Applying the standard method, I found 165 = 7*25 - 6 - 4.  Then I considered the option of 140 + 25, pleasingly using up the small numbers for 165 = 2*7*(6 + 4) + 25.

Both contestants have managed to solve this, using the same method: 165 = (25 + 4)*2 + 7 + 100.  Lily demonstrates another solution of 165 = 2*100 - 25 - 6 - 4.

Kannan: 165
Luke: 165
Me: 165
Lily: 165

Scores: Kannan 10 (22), Luke 10 (16), me 25


First break: PEGS WINE ("A type of change")

In this case, the change is SWEEPING.

David's talk is about the words tarmac (originally tarmacadam) and macadamia.


Round 4: E O I S L C E D N

I had LIES, COILS, SLICE, SLICED, LESION, was dubious about LESIONED (not valid), likewise unsure about ENCOILED (also not valid), ENCLOSED, and INCLOSED.  After time I noted other eights of SILENCED / LICENSED / DECLINES.

Kannan has SLICED for six, but Luke has taken the lead by finding SILENCED for eight.  David mentions other eights of LICENSED, ENCLOSED, and CODEINES.

The remaining eight is CINEOLES.

Kannan: SLICED
Luke: SILENCED
Me: ENCLOSED
David: LICENSED, ENCLOSED, CODEINES

Scores: Kannan 10 (22), Luke 18 (24), me 33


Round 5: P D F O E I P T E

I had DOPE, PIPED, and TIPPED.  A bit after time I found the seven of EPIDOTE (a type of mineral).

Kannan has PIPED for five, but is pipped by Luke's find of TIPPED.  David has done even better, finding PEPTIDE for seven.

EPIDOTE and PEPTIDE are the only sevens.  The remaining sixes are FOETID and TOPPED.

Kannan: PIPED
Luke: TIPPED
Me: TIPPED
David: PEPTIDE

Scores: Kannan 10 (22), Luke 24 (30), me 39


Round 6: Target 345 from 50 25 7 5 6 1

I started with the straightforward 345 = 7*50 - 5, then used the factorisation 5*69 for another solution: 345 = 5*(50 + 25 - 6).

Kannan is seven away with 338, presumably 6*50 + 25 + 7 + 5 + 1.  An odd blind spot there, starting so far away instead of using 7*50.  Luke has found the same solution that I used first (which was also Lily's approach), and that's 24 points he has gained in the last three rounds.  Kannan is now in a lot of trouble.

Kannan: 338
Luke: 345
Me: 345
Lily: 345

Scores: Kannan 10 (22), Luke 34 (40), me 49


Second break: ACE RIVAL ("Devil-may-care on horseback")

Both parts of the clue are linked to CAVALIER.


Round 7: S R S N O E A O L

I had SNORES, REASONS / SEÑORAS, OARLESS, rightly rejected SENSORAL, LOANERS, SALOONS, and thought that SALOONERS was far too much of a stretch.  After time I found another seven of LASSOER.

Luke has REASONS for seven, but Kannan has decided to try for a nine.  Understandable given the game situation, but a tied result here would still have left him in with a chance, so it's not a clear-cut decision.  He has chanced SALOONERS, and it is not valid, giving Luke a winning margin.  David has found the eight of AEROSOLS.

The other eight is ROSEOLAS (ROSEOLA: "a kind of rose-coloured rash").  The other sevens are AEROSOL / ROSEOLA, LOOSENS, and SOONERS (SOONER as a noun: "Colloquial a lazy person").

Kannan: [invalid -- SALOONERS]
Luke: REASONS
Me: REASONS
David: AEROSOLS

Scores: Kannan 10 (22), Luke 41 (47), me 56


Round 8: Target 654 from 50 75 7 1 8 2

My first thought was to put aside the 8 and 2 to make the final offset of 4, and the rest cooperated to give me a solution: 654 = (7 + 1)*75 + 50 + 8/4 (there's a few variations on this idea).  Then I noticed that 8*7 = 56 was quite near the needed 54, leading me to the shorter solution of 654 = 8*(75 + 7) - 2.

If Kannan had stayed with SALOONS last round, he would be 18 points behind and need to solve this exactly to still have a chance.  Luke makes it possible by being four away with 650, but Kannan has only got to one off with 653 = 8*75 + 50 + 1 + 2.  He really doesn't like subtraction -- a small adjustment would have turned that into a solution of 654 = 8*75 + 50 + 7 - 2 - 1.

Lily demonstrates the second of the solutions that I found.

Kannan: 653
Luke: 650
Me: 654
Lily: 654

Scores: Kannan 10 (29), Luke 41 (47), me 66


Round 9: SLEEP ROWS

The -LESS fragment is worth a look when it is present; in this case it guided me to the answer of POWERLESS.  Neither contestant was able to solve it, so the scores remain unchanged.

Kannan: [no answer]
Luke: [no answer]
Me: POWERLESS (4s)

Scores: Kannan 10 (29), Luke 41 (47), me 76


A dominant performance in the middle third saw Luke take a winning lead in this game.  Kannan had a small chance to come back from it, but he took the big risk in round seven and it did not pay off.  That brings his run to an end with five wins but a low total; he takes fifth place on the current leaderboard, but it's not clear if it will be quite enough to make the finals (it would not have been in series one).  Good play from Luke tonight, aside from that wobble in round two.