Rounds: Here.
Barry Harridge gets his turn in the champion's chair, and Richard opens by saying that, back in Barry's teaching days, there was a time that Barry "brought together the letters and the numbers". Barry explains that he had a mathematics class to teach, and the class included both computer science and literature students; they did some work with Lewis Carroll's symbolic logic, and on the final exam they were asked to use this symbolic logic to analyse the fundamental premise of Catch-22.
Tonight's challenger is Nathan Boadle, a circus performer, trainer, and fitness coach. Nathan used to be part of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, a circus for people between eight and eighteen that is based in Albury, where Nathan grew up. His main area of performance was aerial, so he could swing off anything that hung from the roof. Richard simplifies this a bit to Nathan being a trapeze performer, which Nathan mostly goes along with.
The game started out much like yesterday's game, with Barry dominating in the letters and the first numbers round being too easy to pose a problem for either contestant. Barry was a daunting thirty-one points ahead after five rounds, and it looked like we were slated for another blowout. But a tricky numbers round gave Nathan a chance, and then two invalid answers from Barry allowed Nathan to close the gap to just seven points going into the conundrum. Barry recovered to solve it quickly and scrape through with the win, 51 to 33.
Showing posts with label Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Games. Show all posts
Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Sunday, 29 May 2016
Ep 113: Matthew Thomason, Ryan Turk (May 27, 2016; originally aired Janury 5, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
It's Matthew Thomason's fifth night, and a win here should put him into the finals. His scoring has been decent, too, so even a loss tonight would stand him a decent shot at it, provided he scores adequately in the process. Richard wheels out the question about technique, suggesting that perhaps we are running short of anecdotes for Matthew to tell, unlikely though that would seem -- he strikes me as somewhat of a raconteur. In any case, Matthew indicates that there is no technique; he has done crosswords, including those by a certain DA, for many years, and he does the Target, but there doesn't seem to be a strategy behind any of it. Sometimes he just sees a word, and other times he does not.
Tonight's challenger is Ryan Turk, an I.T. network engineer who was once verbally abused by Jim Courier, the famous tennis player, while Ryan was working as a line umpire for the Australian Open. As Ryan relates it, he had called a ball out, and Courier responded by running over to him and screaming in his face. There was a certain amount of instant karma here, though, although this may not have been apparent at the time: Ryan had reconsidered his call and decided that the ball was in, and was going to correct himself, but was not able to do so after that behaviour.
(This matter is covered in the ITF's Rules of Tennis, in appendix VI: Role of Court Officials, and I imagine that the line umpires are also given explicit instruction about this. The relevant case decision is: If a line umpire realises a mistake, a correction should be made as soon as possible provided it is not as the result of a protest or appeal of a player. Also, the result must stand in such a situation: A chair umpire must never overrule as the result of the protest or appeal by a player.)
The contestants started out with matching words in the first round, but Matthew found an excellent word in the second round to take the early lead. He did so again in round four, pushing him clear by more than a conundrum. The remaining letter rounds were shared, but Ryan made some good tactical choices in the numbers rounds to score points there and take over the lead going into the conundrum. It was not enough, though, as Matthew continued his streak of very fast conundrum solutions to secure the win, 52 to 48.
I had decent results in most rounds, but unfortunately hit an invalid word in round two that set me back a bit. I was a touch too slow with the right approach in the second numbers round, but overall managed to do enough to be comfortably clear of the contestants. So far the winning run is continuing.
It's Matthew Thomason's fifth night, and a win here should put him into the finals. His scoring has been decent, too, so even a loss tonight would stand him a decent shot at it, provided he scores adequately in the process. Richard wheels out the question about technique, suggesting that perhaps we are running short of anecdotes for Matthew to tell, unlikely though that would seem -- he strikes me as somewhat of a raconteur. In any case, Matthew indicates that there is no technique; he has done crosswords, including those by a certain DA, for many years, and he does the Target, but there doesn't seem to be a strategy behind any of it. Sometimes he just sees a word, and other times he does not.
Tonight's challenger is Ryan Turk, an I.T. network engineer who was once verbally abused by Jim Courier, the famous tennis player, while Ryan was working as a line umpire for the Australian Open. As Ryan relates it, he had called a ball out, and Courier responded by running over to him and screaming in his face. There was a certain amount of instant karma here, though, although this may not have been apparent at the time: Ryan had reconsidered his call and decided that the ball was in, and was going to correct himself, but was not able to do so after that behaviour.
(This matter is covered in the ITF's Rules of Tennis, in appendix VI: Role of Court Officials, and I imagine that the line umpires are also given explicit instruction about this. The relevant case decision is: If a line umpire realises a mistake, a correction should be made as soon as possible provided it is not as the result of a protest or appeal of a player. Also, the result must stand in such a situation: A chair umpire must never overrule as the result of the protest or appeal by a player.)
The contestants started out with matching words in the first round, but Matthew found an excellent word in the second round to take the early lead. He did so again in round four, pushing him clear by more than a conundrum. The remaining letter rounds were shared, but Ryan made some good tactical choices in the numbers rounds to score points there and take over the lead going into the conundrum. It was not enough, though, as Matthew continued his streak of very fast conundrum solutions to secure the win, 52 to 48.
I had decent results in most rounds, but unfortunately hit an invalid word in round two that set me back a bit. I was a touch too slow with the right approach in the second numbers round, but overall managed to do enough to be comfortably clear of the contestants. So far the winning run is continuing.
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
Ep 267: Anushan Jegatheeswaran, Brydon Coverdale (February 24, 2015; originally aired September 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.
Anushan is back for his third night, and getting past that has been a bit of a problem for contestants recently. But before we find out about that, Richard notes that Anushan has "musical inclinations", as he puts it. Anushan explains that he plays the mridangam -- Richard asks for the name again, and fair enough, too (I'm glad I have transcripts to work from!) -- which is a kind of double-sided drum. It's a classical Indian instrument, and Anushan has been learning it for about ten years.
Tonight's challenger is Brydon Coverdale, a cricket journalist. Brydon has been on five tours around the world to watch and cover the cricket; he mentions in particular that he went to the 2011 World Cup earlier that year, which was in India and Sri Lanka. That was 7 or 8 week's worth, and great fun. He certainly enjoys his career!
The contestants were very closely matched tonight. They tied the first three letters rounds, and each one won of the others. The numbers were similarly close, and the small differences in their results shook out to give Brydon a slender two point lead going into the conundrum. It was anyone's game to win, but ultimately the conundrum was too difficult for both. Brydon becomes the new champion, winning 43 to 41.
I had a mental slip in round one that cost me the best answer, but otherwise did pretty well. The semi-highlight was finding a word (an hour or so after time, mind you) that David did not get. This week is definitely going much better than last week -- I hope the trend continues!
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.
Anushan is back for his third night, and getting past that has been a bit of a problem for contestants recently. But before we find out about that, Richard notes that Anushan has "musical inclinations", as he puts it. Anushan explains that he plays the mridangam -- Richard asks for the name again, and fair enough, too (I'm glad I have transcripts to work from!) -- which is a kind of double-sided drum. It's a classical Indian instrument, and Anushan has been learning it for about ten years.
Tonight's challenger is Brydon Coverdale, a cricket journalist. Brydon has been on five tours around the world to watch and cover the cricket; he mentions in particular that he went to the 2011 World Cup earlier that year, which was in India and Sri Lanka. That was 7 or 8 week's worth, and great fun. He certainly enjoys his career!
The contestants were very closely matched tonight. They tied the first three letters rounds, and each one won of the others. The numbers were similarly close, and the small differences in their results shook out to give Brydon a slender two point lead going into the conundrum. It was anyone's game to win, but ultimately the conundrum was too difficult for both. Brydon becomes the new champion, winning 43 to 41.
I had a mental slip in round one that cost me the best answer, but otherwise did pretty well. The semi-highlight was finding a word (an hour or so after time, mind you) that David did not get. This week is definitely going much better than last week -- I hope the trend continues!
As usual, details after the jump.
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