Ep 381: Alan Nash, Kim Fielke (February 13, 2012)

Some years ago, Alan had afternoon tea with the Queen.  Alan explains the circumstances: He was living in London at the time, and apparently an Australian living in London can apply to meet their head of state at one of a number of royal events.  It is essentially a lottery; his wife entered them into it and they were selected, so they -- and about two thousand other people, he notes -- went to Buckingham Palace and had afternoon tea with the Queen and Prince Philip.  And yes, there were cucumber sandwiches.

Tonight's challenger is Kim Fielke, an anaesthetist.  He currently works in Hamilton, but Richard notes that in the past Kim has worked in some pretty remote parts of the country.  Richard asks what Kim likes about such locales.  Kim responds that in the smaller places (which by inference remote locations are likely to be) he has a bit more independence and tends to develop closer ties with (and a better feel for) the community.  Richard asks if he would like to "go bush" again, and Kim agrees that he would, once the kids have finished school.

A couple of rounds in David takes a moment to ask Alan if he happens to own a property that he leases out.  Alan responds that he does, a little cautiously as he doesn't see why this is being asked right now; nor did anyone else, I'd wager -- I certainly didn't.  David states that this is now a very exciting moment for the show: Given the answer to the question and that Kim is an anaesthetist, the contestants are a letter and a number (one who lets, one who numbs).  Heh!


The game is perhaps closer than the final scoreline might suggest.  Both contestants started with invalid eight-letter words, and then found a good eight-letter word in the next round.  The ensuing three rounds prove the difference, however, as Alan just pipped Kim each time to gain a twenty point lead.  There wasn't much scope to get it back after that; Kim could conceivably have solved the final number round to have a chance going into the conundrum, but he was not able to and in any case Alan solved the conundrum quickly to seal a clear win, 54 to 24.

I was in good touch this game, keeping track with David and Lily on all but one round, where David found a word not in my vocabulary.  Alan beat me to the conundrum by about half a second, but I'd still accumulated enough of a lead for a comfortable victory.

As usual, details after the break.