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.
Anthony returns for his last night until the finals. Richard goes with a variation of the technique question, asking whether any of Anthony's training techniques for the half-marathons have helped him develop the mental stamina that has been on display here. The answer, more-or-less, is that there is no connection.
Standing in the way of Anthony's successful retirement is Jonathan Prout, a mathematics and science teacher who also conducts historical walking tours of Melbourne. Richard rather bizarrely says that we'll probably get to hear about those walking tours at some stage, which would only be true if Jonathan wins. In any case, Richard takes tonight's chat in another direction by noting that Jonathan is a big karaoke fan. Jonathan enthuses that he loves karaoke; a couple of years ago he was on a cruise and entered a karaoke competition that they held. He made the top five and had to sing in front of 650 passengers. His competition was an NFL anthem singer, a Russian opera singer, a Canadian jazz singer, and an Albury music teacher. As Richard observes, that's some tough competition! Jonathan is a little embarrassed to reveal that the song he sang was I'm Just a Gigolo.
The contestants shared points in the first two rounds, but then it was all Anthony. He took unanswered points in the next four rounds, and his last six rounds were all maximal. Jonathan recovered a little late in the piece to share the last two main rounds, and was only just a little slower at the conundrum, but the result was Anthony's best game so far and a 72 to 29 victory. Anthony successfully retired, and will be back in a week or so for the finals.
As usual, details after the jump.
Showing posts with label Anthony Kendall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anthony Kendall. Show all posts
Friday, 27 March 2015
Thursday, 26 March 2015
Ep 289: Anthony Kendall, Michael Stone (March 26, 2015; originally aired October 6, 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 Anthony's fifth night, and Richard wheels out a variant of the technique question, asking why Anthony makes the choices that he does. Anthony says that with the letters he just likes to keep the consonants and the vowels together. As for the numbers, he goes for the classroom mix because he finds it easier to have it dictated which large number will be used. That's a point that often eludes contestants: The easiest mix, in terms of most games being solvable, is the two-large one. But the single large number option is only barely behind it (each mix has approximately 98% of games solvable), and can be easier to work with since there is no need to choose which large number to work with. I'd certainly recommend it as the option for any contestants who were not too comfortable with the numbers (if the show were still going, anyway).
Tonight's challenger is Michael Stone, a software programmer. Richard says that Michael has the "extraordinary" talent of being able to recite the decimal version of one-seventh to as many decimal places as one wishes. I thought he was going to say "of pi", and the switch to one-seventh took me by surprise. It's also a joke, as the decimal expansion repeats after only six digits (0.142857142857...) so there's very little memorisation required. Well, that's a tiny bit amusing, but is that really the most interesting thing he could come up with? A shame, if so.
Anthony got a small lead in the first round when Michael tried an invalid answer; that proved to be a costly mistake. The next few rounds were shared, then the tables were reversed in round five as Anthony had the invalid answer; that tied up the scores. Another shared round followed, and we went into the second break with the scores level. Michael stumbled in the last letters round with another invalid answer, and Anthony capitalised on Michael's error by doing very well in the last numbers round to take the points and guarantee his victory. Michael got the consolation prize of solving the conundrum, but Anthony scraped home with the win, 50 to 49.
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 Anthony's fifth night, and Richard wheels out a variant of the technique question, asking why Anthony makes the choices that he does. Anthony says that with the letters he just likes to keep the consonants and the vowels together. As for the numbers, he goes for the classroom mix because he finds it easier to have it dictated which large number will be used. That's a point that often eludes contestants: The easiest mix, in terms of most games being solvable, is the two-large one. But the single large number option is only barely behind it (each mix has approximately 98% of games solvable), and can be easier to work with since there is no need to choose which large number to work with. I'd certainly recommend it as the option for any contestants who were not too comfortable with the numbers (if the show were still going, anyway).
Tonight's challenger is Michael Stone, a software programmer. Richard says that Michael has the "extraordinary" talent of being able to recite the decimal version of one-seventh to as many decimal places as one wishes. I thought he was going to say "of pi", and the switch to one-seventh took me by surprise. It's also a joke, as the decimal expansion repeats after only six digits (0.142857142857...) so there's very little memorisation required. Well, that's a tiny bit amusing, but is that really the most interesting thing he could come up with? A shame, if so.
Anthony got a small lead in the first round when Michael tried an invalid answer; that proved to be a costly mistake. The next few rounds were shared, then the tables were reversed in round five as Anthony had the invalid answer; that tied up the scores. Another shared round followed, and we went into the second break with the scores level. Michael stumbled in the last letters round with another invalid answer, and Anthony capitalised on Michael's error by doing very well in the last numbers round to take the points and guarantee his victory. Michael got the consolation prize of solving the conundrum, but Anthony scraped home with the win, 50 to 49.
As usual, details after the jump.
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Ep 288: Anthony Kendall, David Lowden (March 25, 2015; originally aired October 5, 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 the crucial fourth night for Anthony: A win here will very likely get him to the finals, particularly if he can keep his average up. But first, Richard lets us know that Anthony used to be very competitive in rugby, and asks if he still plays it. Anthony responds that he had to give up rugby some time ago; he grimaces as he says it was due to too many knee injuries. As Richard observes, they've obviously been fixed if Anthony is doing all that running! In fact, as Anthony explains, it was the reason he got into running in the first place. Part of going through his many knee reconstructions (I wince at the thought) meant that he had to run to get back to fitness in order to be able to play sport. Somewhere along the way he became enthused by the running itself and turned that into his sport of choice.
Tonight's challenge is David Lowden, a police officer who has proudly completed a couple of marathons. That is two full marathons, as he points out, but since then he has cut back and now does half-marathons, just like Anthony. He jokingly suggests that if the scores are tied at the end they should do a lap around the block to settle it.
David found an excellent word to take the initial lead, but then fell victim to a misheard (or mis-seen) letter and had an invalid answer in the second round. A couple of shared rounds followed, but Anthony took the lead in round five and extended it in round six. David was more than a conundrum's worth behind going into the final numbers round, so he tried to shake things up with a rat pack. But Anthony navigated it better to be safe going into the conundrum. He put the finishing touch on the victory with a fast solution to the conundrum, and the 63 to 31 victory gets him to his fifth game and likely into the finals.
In the rest of this write-up, I'll use "David" to refer to David Astel, and "David L" to refer to David Lowden.
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 the crucial fourth night for Anthony: A win here will very likely get him to the finals, particularly if he can keep his average up. But first, Richard lets us know that Anthony used to be very competitive in rugby, and asks if he still plays it. Anthony responds that he had to give up rugby some time ago; he grimaces as he says it was due to too many knee injuries. As Richard observes, they've obviously been fixed if Anthony is doing all that running! In fact, as Anthony explains, it was the reason he got into running in the first place. Part of going through his many knee reconstructions (I wince at the thought) meant that he had to run to get back to fitness in order to be able to play sport. Somewhere along the way he became enthused by the running itself and turned that into his sport of choice.
Tonight's challenge is David Lowden, a police officer who has proudly completed a couple of marathons. That is two full marathons, as he points out, but since then he has cut back and now does half-marathons, just like Anthony. He jokingly suggests that if the scores are tied at the end they should do a lap around the block to settle it.
David found an excellent word to take the initial lead, but then fell victim to a misheard (or mis-seen) letter and had an invalid answer in the second round. A couple of shared rounds followed, but Anthony took the lead in round five and extended it in round six. David was more than a conundrum's worth behind going into the final numbers round, so he tried to shake things up with a rat pack. But Anthony navigated it better to be safe going into the conundrum. He put the finishing touch on the victory with a fast solution to the conundrum, and the 63 to 31 victory gets him to his fifth game and likely into the finals.
In the rest of this write-up, I'll use "David" to refer to David Astel, and "David L" to refer to David Lowden.
As usual, details after the jump.
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
Ep 287: Anthony Kendall, Cathy Peck (March 24, 2015; originally aired October 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.
It's Anthony's third game tonight, and Richard returns to the topic of Anthony's running; as we heard before, Anthony will be running his 20th half-marathon this weekend. Richard asks how many full marathons Anthony has run, and it turns out that there was only one, a couple of years ago. There is reference to a joking comment that David made in an earlier game -- that Anthony could save time by doing ten full marathons instead of twenty half-marathons -- and Anthony points out that it does not work like that.
Tonight's challenger is Cathy Peck, a retired school teacher. This is not the first time that Cathy has been on television: Fifty years ago, she was on a show called Desmond Tester's Cabbage Quiz; as she explains it, if you got an answer correct then you got prizes. However, you had to stand and hold the prizes in your hand. If you dropped a prize, then you were given a cabbage in its place. And it was very difficult holding cabbages and prizes.
Anthony took the first letters round, but his invalid answer in round two let Cathy almost catch up. The points were shared in the first numbers round, but Anthony outscored Cathy in the next two letters rounds and it looked like he might run away with the match. Again the points were shared in the numbers round, and then Cathy found the best option in the last letters round to claw her way back into contention. Unfortunately, she made a simple error when writing her numbers answer in the last numbers round, and what should have been shared points again (and a chance for her to win if she solved the conundrum) turned into disaster. Neither contestant could solve the conundrum, and Anthony registered his third win, 51 to 32.
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.
It's Anthony's third game tonight, and Richard returns to the topic of Anthony's running; as we heard before, Anthony will be running his 20th half-marathon this weekend. Richard asks how many full marathons Anthony has run, and it turns out that there was only one, a couple of years ago. There is reference to a joking comment that David made in an earlier game -- that Anthony could save time by doing ten full marathons instead of twenty half-marathons -- and Anthony points out that it does not work like that.
Tonight's challenger is Cathy Peck, a retired school teacher. This is not the first time that Cathy has been on television: Fifty years ago, she was on a show called Desmond Tester's Cabbage Quiz; as she explains it, if you got an answer correct then you got prizes. However, you had to stand and hold the prizes in your hand. If you dropped a prize, then you were given a cabbage in its place. And it was very difficult holding cabbages and prizes.
Anthony took the first letters round, but his invalid answer in round two let Cathy almost catch up. The points were shared in the first numbers round, but Anthony outscored Cathy in the next two letters rounds and it looked like he might run away with the match. Again the points were shared in the numbers round, and then Cathy found the best option in the last letters round to claw her way back into contention. Unfortunately, she made a simple error when writing her numbers answer in the last numbers round, and what should have been shared points again (and a chance for her to win if she solved the conundrum) turned into disaster. Neither contestant could solve the conundrum, and Anthony registered his third win, 51 to 32.
As usual, details after the jump.
Monday, 23 March 2015
Ep 286: Anthony Kendall, Glenn Pile (March 23, 2015; originally aired October 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.
Anthony gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight. As mentioned before, Anthony is a keen long-distance runner, and Richard asks what sort of distance Anthony likes to run. Anthony responds that he mainly does half marathons, and he expects to be doing his twentieth this weekend.
Tonight's challenger is Glenn Pile, an operations manager who has completed over 600 parachute jumps. That seems like a goodly number! Richard suggests that it is quite a few jumps; Glenn says that there are many thousand-jumpers in the field, but six hundred is "reasonable". Glenn used to jump competitively, and managed to get to the national level, coming runner-up in the national competition. That was all pre-children, though -- he does not jump any more.
Anthony won the first two letter rounds, but Glenn took the first numbers round to close the gap. Then Anthony drew away again in the next numbers round to be a dangerous eleven points clear at the halfway mark. The next three rounds were shared, so Glenn needed unanswered points in the last numbers round to have a chance. But it went Anthony's way instead and ensured Anthony's victory. Glenn took the consolation prize of solving the conundrum, but the win was Anthony's, 51 to 43.
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.
Anthony gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight. As mentioned before, Anthony is a keen long-distance runner, and Richard asks what sort of distance Anthony likes to run. Anthony responds that he mainly does half marathons, and he expects to be doing his twentieth this weekend.
Tonight's challenger is Glenn Pile, an operations manager who has completed over 600 parachute jumps. That seems like a goodly number! Richard suggests that it is quite a few jumps; Glenn says that there are many thousand-jumpers in the field, but six hundred is "reasonable". Glenn used to jump competitively, and managed to get to the national level, coming runner-up in the national competition. That was all pre-children, though -- he does not jump any more.
Anthony won the first two letter rounds, but Glenn took the first numbers round to close the gap. Then Anthony drew away again in the next numbers round to be a dangerous eleven points clear at the halfway mark. The next three rounds were shared, so Glenn needed unanswered points in the last numbers round to have a chance. But it went Anthony's way instead and ensured Anthony's victory. Glenn took the consolation prize of solving the conundrum, but the win was Anthony's, 51 to 43.
As usual, details after the jump.
Friday, 20 March 2015
Ep 285: Samantha McLaine, Anthony Kendall (March 20, 2015; originally aired September 30, 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.
Samantha takes her turn in the champion's seat tonight, and Richard reminds us that she is a commerce, property, and construction student. Richard tries to get her to explain what is involved in that combination, but Samantha does not really grab the opportunity. She says that there are finance components, and a lot of property investment and valuation parts as well. Richard follows up by asking where Samantha thinks it will take her in professional terms; Samantha responds that hopefully it will be a combination of the two, maybe in property investments or development.
Tonight's challenger is Anthony Kendall, a software developer and keen long-distance runner. Like many of the software people who have been on the show (myself included), Anthony wrote a computer program to generate random rounds of the show for him to practise against. Hopefully it will serve him well tonight.
The contestants started with a shared round, but then Anthony leapt clear by winning the next three rounds. Samantha got a little back in round five, but that was the last positive result for her. Her troubles were compounded by not being able to get anywhere in the numbers rounds, and Anthony was safe going into the conundrum. He solved it quite quickly, and finished the victor with a solid 57 to 20 scoreline.
I tried for too much in the first round, but I had to chance it. Some consolation was gained in the second round where I outdid David, and if I had played it more safely in the first round I would have ended up tying with David and Lily. A good game overall, but an invalid result always hurts the solo total.
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.
Samantha takes her turn in the champion's seat tonight, and Richard reminds us that she is a commerce, property, and construction student. Richard tries to get her to explain what is involved in that combination, but Samantha does not really grab the opportunity. She says that there are finance components, and a lot of property investment and valuation parts as well. Richard follows up by asking where Samantha thinks it will take her in professional terms; Samantha responds that hopefully it will be a combination of the two, maybe in property investments or development.
Tonight's challenger is Anthony Kendall, a software developer and keen long-distance runner. Like many of the software people who have been on the show (myself included), Anthony wrote a computer program to generate random rounds of the show for him to practise against. Hopefully it will serve him well tonight.
The contestants started with a shared round, but then Anthony leapt clear by winning the next three rounds. Samantha got a little back in round five, but that was the last positive result for her. Her troubles were compounded by not being able to get anywhere in the numbers rounds, and Anthony was safe going into the conundrum. He solved it quite quickly, and finished the victor with a solid 57 to 20 scoreline.
I tried for too much in the first round, but I had to chance it. Some consolation was gained in the second round where I outdid David, and if I had played it more safely in the first round I would have ended up tying with David and Lily. A good game overall, but an invalid result always hurts the solo total.
As usual, details after the jump.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Ep 298 [SF1]: Jacob Davey, Anthony Kendall (June 5, 2012; originally aired October 19, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Disclaimer: I watched this episode when it first aired, and although I did not recall most of it I cannot rule out memory being a factor. In one instance (to be mentioned later) I remembered a result after the fact; it is an edge case for another reason, also to be mentioned later.
A few more snippets about the competitors are revealed. Jacob is a musical composer, and after his successful sixth episode he let out some of his emotional energy in a composition. At the rather less pleasant end of the spectrum, Anthony has had three knee reconstructions on his left knee, due to rugby and perhaps other sporting injuries.
The contestants were locked together for the first third, and if not for one risky play from Anthony would have been matched for the first seven rounds. However, those seven points conceded to Jacob were important, as Jacob outdid Anthony in the very tricky last numbers round to take an unassailable lead going into the conundrum. Jacob solved it in extremely quick time to take a heartily deserved win, 70 to 46.
I had some up and down in this game, and it was not a good time for it -- both contestants were in excellent form. I gained some advantage on the letters, but an extremely careless effort in the final numbers round saw me declare an invalid total and possibly become vulnerable again at the conundrum. I did solve it, but much slower than Jacob did, and for all I know slower than Anthony would have solved it also.
Disclaimer: I watched this episode when it first aired, and although I did not recall most of it I cannot rule out memory being a factor. In one instance (to be mentioned later) I remembered a result after the fact; it is an edge case for another reason, also to be mentioned later.
A few more snippets about the competitors are revealed. Jacob is a musical composer, and after his successful sixth episode he let out some of his emotional energy in a composition. At the rather less pleasant end of the spectrum, Anthony has had three knee reconstructions on his left knee, due to rugby and perhaps other sporting injuries.
The contestants were locked together for the first third, and if not for one risky play from Anthony would have been matched for the first seven rounds. However, those seven points conceded to Jacob were important, as Jacob outdid Anthony in the very tricky last numbers round to take an unassailable lead going into the conundrum. Jacob solved it in extremely quick time to take a heartily deserved win, 70 to 46.
I had some up and down in this game, and it was not a good time for it -- both contestants were in excellent form. I gained some advantage on the letters, but an extremely careless effort in the final numbers round saw me declare an invalid total and possibly become vulnerable again at the conundrum. I did solve it, but much slower than Jacob did, and for all I know slower than Anthony would have solved it also.
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Ep 296 [QF3]: Anthony Kendall, Simon Walsh (June 1, 2012; originally aired October 17, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Disclaimer: I watched this episode when it first aired, and although I did not recall any of it I cannot rule out memory being a factor.
In the champion's seat for tonight's quarterfinal is third seed Anthony Kendall. Anthony is a software developer and long-distance runner, and had the best final game score of anyone in the series.
Facing Anthony is the sixth seed, Simon Walsh. Simon is an accountant and self-confessed sport tragic. The first game he played on the show was against his wife, but hopefully that was taken in good spirit. (I'm a bit against such things, on the whole; I know the show likes those matchups, but it guarantees that one of the pair will only get one game. They might both have the potential to shine, if not for that.)
The game started out with a pair of matched rounds; then Anthony pulled ahead on the first numbers round -- a round that posed problems for Lily, as it turns out. Simon gained back that lost territory in the next letters round, but then fell behind on each of the remaining letters rounds. When the numbers failed to provide any swing -- he perhaps should have mixed it up on the last one -- Simon was out of contention going into the conundrum. He solved it first to take the consolation points, but was left to rue what might have been; Anthony made it to the semifinals with a 54 to 51 victory.
I was doing well, and even had a chance at a rare double feature of outdoing both David and Lily on the same game... but I wimped out of the key word. And then I had a disastrous numbers round where I got completely lost through overcomplication when the standard method would have worked well. Only two rounds short of optimal, but what a difference they make to the score!
Disclaimer: I watched this episode when it first aired, and although I did not recall any of it I cannot rule out memory being a factor.
In the champion's seat for tonight's quarterfinal is third seed Anthony Kendall. Anthony is a software developer and long-distance runner, and had the best final game score of anyone in the series.
Facing Anthony is the sixth seed, Simon Walsh. Simon is an accountant and self-confessed sport tragic. The first game he played on the show was against his wife, but hopefully that was taken in good spirit. (I'm a bit against such things, on the whole; I know the show likes those matchups, but it guarantees that one of the pair will only get one game. They might both have the potential to shine, if not for that.)
The game started out with a pair of matched rounds; then Anthony pulled ahead on the first numbers round -- a round that posed problems for Lily, as it turns out. Simon gained back that lost territory in the next letters round, but then fell behind on each of the remaining letters rounds. When the numbers failed to provide any swing -- he perhaps should have mixed it up on the last one -- Simon was out of contention going into the conundrum. He solved it first to take the consolation points, but was left to rue what might have been; Anthony made it to the semifinals with a 54 to 51 victory.
I was doing well, and even had a chance at a rare double feature of outdoing both David and Lily on the same game... but I wimped out of the key word. And then I had a disastrous numbers round where I got completely lost through overcomplication when the standard method would have worked well. Only two rounds short of optimal, but what a difference they make to the score!
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