Weekly summary: Episodes 191 to 193

Looks like I forgot to put up the weekly summary from the end of the previous series.  I don't remember much about it, but I have the statistics.  It looks like I had a particularly good game on Tuesday, anyway.

	Mon	Tue	Wed
Me	74	96	64
Champion	6	0	7
Challenger	0	10	17
David + Lily	76	95	74
Me (solo)	74	96	64

Andre Sardone won the last game before the finals, becoming the carryover champion for the next series.  The leaderboard for the finals is unchanged.

Tony Loui	52	83	44	62	49	52	342
Tamara McMahon	54	64	63	52	54	48	335
Barry Harridge	75	51	45	54	39	59	323
Matthew Thomason	46	64	49	44	52	65	310
Victor Tung	44	29	51	43	47	42	256
Oli Bryant	71	46	60	55	54	32	318
Richard Hartley	56	53	57	42	42	32	282
Jack Dell	59	73	40	50	36		258

Tuesday offered two full monties, which was nice.  Tuesday and Wednesday also each had an impossible numbers round, making it a difficult set of numbers for the week.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Full Monties		2		2
Missed Full Monties				0
Tough Numbers				0
Impossible Numbers		1	1	2

I managed to get optimal results on the numbers in these three games, which is very pleasing.  I also had optimal results on the letters in the last two games, and Tuesday's game was completely optimal.  I also managed to outscore David and Lily on that one, which was nice.

	Mon	Tue	Wed
Maximums: L	2	5	5
N	3	3	3
C	1	1	0

Contestants sorted by average score:

	Total	Games	Average
Tony Loui	342	6	57.00
Tamara McMahon	335	6	55.83
Barry Harridge	323	6	53.83
Oli Bryant	318	6	53.00
Peter Kougi	52	1	52.00
Matthew Thomason	310	6	51.67
Jack Dell	258	5	51.60
Rohan Long	153	3	51.00
Jason Dunn	102	2	51.00
Colwyn Buckland	51	1	51.00
Brian Morgan	151	3	50.33
Luke Brattoni	149	3	49.67
Mel Cox	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
Jeremy Rosen	95	2	47.50
Richard Hartley	282	6	47.00
Samuel Hastings	186	4	46.50
Daniel Drumm	92	2	46.00
Tom Fooks	133	3	44.33
Jonathan Goodman	44	1	44.00
Robyn Lee	86	2	43.00
Victor Tung	256	6	42.67
Greg Beers	211	5	42.20
Kannan Sethuraman	210	5	42.00
Andre Sardone*	42	1	42.00
Kathryn James	123	3	41.00
Kylie Thompson	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
Paula Messer	77	2	38.50
Brett Chaiyawat	188	5	37.60
Janine Huan	37	1	37.00
Had Thomas	37	1	37.00
Aram Kalyanasundaram	36	1	36.00
Luke Warden	72	2	36.00
Pat Sincock	71	2	35.50
David Waddell	71	2	35.50
Damien Chua	35	1	35.00
Ralph Lurie	35	1	35.00
Helen Hewitt	34	1	34.00
Jayden Spudvilas-Powell	34	1	34.00
Michael Bakker	66	2	33.00
Nathan Boadle	33	1	33.00
Alison Crowe	33	1	33.00
Chris Cincotta	32	1	32.00
Everson Kandare	32	1	32.00
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
Howard Smith	62	2	31.00
John Marsiglio	31	1	31.00
Gillian Stevens	31	1	31.00
Alex Ford	30	1	30.00
Bryce Lawrence	30	1	30.00
Jon Avotins	29	1	29.00
Matt Pitcher	29	1	29.00
Kapil Chauhan	28	1	28.00
Tim Shiel	28	1	28.00
Graham Smith	55	2	27.50
Phillip Gao	27	1	27.00
Anna Gunn	27	1	27.00
David Gunn	27	1	27.00
James Couti	53	2	26.50
Glen Chandler	26	1	26.00
Steve Simmons	25	1	25.00
Nicky Henderson	24	1	24.00
Preeti Goel	23	1	23.00
Louise Kuchmar	23	1	23.00
Vikas Ahuja	22	1	22.00
Daniel Goff	21	1	21.00
Laurence Guttman	21	1	21.00
Richard King	21	1	21.00
Mark Povey	21	1	21.00
Rob Carter	20	1	20.00
Rosemary Stafford	20	1	20.00
Nicky Betts	19	1	19.00
Liam Murphy	18	1	18.00
Basil Theophilos	18	1	18.00
Jenni Bradford	17	1	17.00
Seb Dworkin	17	1	17.00
Frank Rice	15	1	15.00
Vanessa Rule	15	1	15.00
Dane Watkins	15	1	15.00
Dan Boxshall	14	1	14.00
Cathy Henry	14	1	14.00
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
Kym Logan	6	1	6.00
Lexi Wright	0	1	0.00

Ep 193: James Couti, Andre Sardone (October 5, 2016; originally aired April 27, 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.


James Coutie gets his turn in the champion's seat, for the last game before the finals.  James has just finished his sixth season of lifesaving; he started of with normal lifesaving, then transitioned into teaching it.  He says that he mainly teaches the First Aid Awards now (I'm not sure what that is -- there is a UK organisation by that name, but presumably that is not what is meant), but he also does other things like Emergency Response, where he gets to ride jet skis.

Tonight's challenger is Andre Sardone, a roof plumber and Richard informs us that Andre has turned roof plumbing into a more creative endeavour.  Andre explains that he has always been good at drawing and painting, but about six years ago he decided to create artworks out of Colorbond steel (his chosen material in roof plumbing).  He creates wall-hanging artworks out of it: Like paintings, but instead of painting colours, he cuts shapes and layers them together to create an image.  (Unfortunately, Andre's website seems to be under construction at the time of writing this post, but a few older examples of his art can be found elsewhere, such as on this page.)


Andre bolted to an early lead by finding good seven-letter words in the first two rounds whereas James only managed five-letter words.  A win in the first numbers round from Andre saw him 19 points ahead at the first break.  James rallied a bit in the second third, finding one longer word in round four and then sharing the points in round five.  Andre squashed that recovery by solving the second numbers round, though, and was 22 points ahead at the second break.  That left James needing to outscore Andre on the last letters round, but his five-letter word was not sufficient to the task.  Neither was able to score in the final two rounds, and Andre won, 42 to 13.

Ep 192: Kylie Thompson, James Couti (October 4, 2016; originally aired April 26, 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 Kylie Thompson, and we find out that she is very much into jewellery making and beading.  She likes to get creative when she has some spare time, and make pieces for herself or friends and family.  Kylie's mother is also very much into those two activities also, and they've often talked about how they'd love to open a bead cafe where they could have a coffee and teach people how to bead.

Tonight's challenger is James Couti, a paramedic student.  That was a change of direction for James; he started out in architecture, since all through years 10, 11, 12 that was what he wanted to do.  But then he got involved in lifesaving and decided that he wanted to move into emergency health; thus the paramedic study.  James' eventual aim is to get into the air ambulance, but he says that is a long way off.


The game started off quietly enough, with fives and sixes in a couple of shared rounds.  James struck first blood with the numbers, solving a target that flummoxed Kylie.  Another shared round followed, then he extended his lead to sixteen points when Kylie erred in round five.  Kylie pulled back some ground in the next numbers round, and went into the second break a tantalising eleven points behind.

After the break, James handled a fertile mix better to pull away once more, and then chose a difficult numbers mix.  Kylie needed to solve it exactly in order to stay in contention, but the target was unreachable and that meant victory for James.  Neither could solve the conundrum -- both buzzed in with invalid answers -- and James finished the winner by eleven points, 40 to 29.

I had an excellent game tonight; optimal, even.  That included one round where I managed to find a better option than David, so I have finally gained that elusive solo victory -- only the second time that I have done so this series.  Not only that, but there were two full monties on offer today so I also (I think) registered my personal high score.  All in all, a very enjoyable game for me.

Ep 191: Kylie Thompson, Lexi Wright (October 3, 2016; originally aired April 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.


Kylie Thompson is in the champion's seat tonight, and Richard asks where her enthusiasm for teaching comes from.  Kylie says that it is her students, and seeing what they can achieve through what she teaches them.  She tries to build a really good rapport with them, and this has resulted in her being nicknamed "Nanny K" (after her maiden name of Nankervis); she acquired that during her first year of teaching, and even now after marriage and a name change she still gets called that in the corridors.

Tonight's challenger is Lexi Wright, a student doing a bachelor of science with a focus on genetics and mathematics.  She's still in first year, though, so it's a bit early to say how things will go.  With respect to genetics, Lexi is interested in research and matters like the Human Genome Project.


The pattern of the game was set in the very first round, where Kylie's five-letter word was one better than Lexi's declaration.  So it continued throughout the letters rounds: Kylie always was just one letter longer.  Both contestants struggled with the numbers, failing to get within range for the first two numbers rounds, and then in the last numbers round Kylie again was one closer to the target.  Neither could solve the conundrum, and Kylie won, 36 to 0.

Weekly summary: Episodes 186 to 190

I had a vastly more consistent week this time, always being close to David and Lily even if I only managed to equal them once.  That's always something to be happy about, though!  I've had a pretty good run this series, although I think it's safe to say I would not have done nearly as well at the time of airing.  Keeping this blog going has unquestionably improved my game.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Me	76	84	63	73	66
Champion	51	36	46	21	7
Challenger	20	15	31	38	35
David + Lily	77	84	77	75	77
Me (solo)	76	84	73	73	73

Tony went all the way, taking the top spot as he had seemed likely to do, and pushing Greg off the leaderboard.  Robyn won on Thursday, but then lost to Kylie; there's not enough games left before the finals for Kylie to get onto the leaderboard, so the top eight for the finals are now determined.

Tony Loui	52	83	44	62	49	52	342
Tamara McMahon	54	64	63	52	54	48	335
Barry Harridge	75	51	45	54	39	59	323
Matthew Thomason	46	64	49	44	52	65	310
Victor Tung	44	29	51	43	47	42	256
Oli Bryant	71	46	60	55	54	32	318
Richard Hartley	56	53	57	42	42	32	282
Jack Dell	59	73	40	50	36		258

Only one full monty was available this time, a sharp decline after the five from last week.  A numbers round proved to be too tough for Lily on Tuesday, and the rareness of that demonstrates just how very good she is.  There was also an impossible target on Thursday, but there's not much to be said about that.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Full Monties		1				1
Missed Full Monties						0
Tough Numbers		1				1
Impossible Numbers				1		1

I feel decent about my letters performance this week, but I did drop a couple more numbers maxima than I should have -- I just have to spot those better options within time.  I did solve all five conundrums within time, although Gillian did just beat me to the answer on Wednesday.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Maximums: L	4	5	3	3	3
N	3	2	2	3	2
C	1	1	1	1	1

Contestants sorted by average score:

	Total	Games	Average
Kylie Thompson*	58	1	58.00
Tony Loui	342	6	57.00
Tamara McMahon	335	6	55.83
Barry Harridge	323	6	53.83
Oli Bryant	318	6	53.00
Peter Kougi	52	1	52.00
Matthew Thomason	310	6	51.67
Jack Dell	258	5	51.60
Rohan Long	153	3	51.00
Jason Dunn	102	2	51.00
Colwyn Buckland	51	1	51.00
Brian Morgan	151	3	50.33
Luke Brattoni	149	3	49.67
Mel Cox	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
Jeremy Rosen	95	2	47.50
Richard Hartley	282	6	47.00
Samuel Hastings	186	4	46.50
Daniel Drumm	92	2	46.00
Tom Fooks	133	3	44.33
Jonathan Goodman	44	1	44.00
Robyn Lee	86	2	43.00
Victor Tung	256	6	42.67
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
Paula Messer	77	2	38.50
Brett Chaiyawat	188	5	37.60
Janine Huan	37	1	37.00
Had Thomas	37	1	37.00
Aram Kalyanasundaram	36	1	36.00
Luke Warden	72	2	36.00
Pat Sincock	71	2	35.50
David Waddell	71	2	35.50
Damien Chua	35	1	35.00
Ralph Lurie	35	1	35.00
Helen Hewitt	34	1	34.00
Jayden Spudvilas-Powell	34	1	34.00
Michael Bakker	66	2	33.00
Nathan Boadle	33	1	33.00
Alison Crowe	33	1	33.00
Chris Cincotta	32	1	32.00
Everson Kandare	32	1	32.00
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
Howard Smith	62	2	31.00
John Marsiglio	31	1	31.00
Gillian Stevens	31	1	31.00
Alex Ford	30	1	30.00
Bryce Lawrence	30	1	30.00
Jon Avotins	29	1	29.00
Matt Pitcher	29	1	29.00
Kapil Chauhan	28	1	28.00
Tim Shiel	28	1	28.00
Graham Smith	55	2	27.50
Phillip Gao	27	1	27.00
Anna Gunn	27	1	27.00
David Gunn	27	1	27.00
Glen Chandler	26	1	26.00
Steve Simmons	25	1	25.00
Nicky Henderson	24	1	24.00
Preeti Goel	23	1	23.00
Louise Kuchmar	23	1	23.00
Vikas Ahuja	22	1	22.00
Daniel Goff	21	1	21.00
Laurence Guttman	21	1	21.00
Richard King	21	1	21.00
Mark Povey	21	1	21.00
Rob Carter	20	1	20.00
Rosemary Stafford	20	1	20.00
Nicky Betts	19	1	19.00
Liam Murphy	18	1	18.00
Basil Theophilos	18	1	18.00
Jenni Bradford	17	1	17.00
Seb Dworkin	17	1	17.00
Frank Rice	15	1	15.00
Vanessa Rule	15	1	15.00
Dane Watkins	15	1	15.00
Dan Boxshall	14	1	14.00
Cathy Henry	14	1	14.00
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
Kym Logan	6	1	6.00

Ep 190: Robyn Lee, Kylie Thompson (September 30, 2016; originally aired April 22, 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.


Robyn Lee takes her turn in the champion's seat, and we find out that for a year and a half she used to play guitar in an eighteen-piece all-girl big band called Connie Lansberg and the Sisters of Sass.  Huh, that became quite short when written out; the chat seemed a bit longer than that.

Tonight's challenger is Kylie Thompson, a secondary school teacher with an Honours degree in astrophysics.  And she has a star named after her!  Her husband organised that for her 21st birthday, and it is called "Kylie's Celestial Utopia".  (Richard suggests that very few people would have a star named after them, but the star registry claims over two million people have done so.)


The contestants started with a nice pair of sevens, then shared the next round.  Then the momentum swung heavily in Kylie's favour: She solved the numbers round, found a longer word in round four, and Robyn miscounted her declaration in round five.  Another good numbers round for Kylie pushed her almost to a winning margin; when no full monty was available in the last letters round her victory was assured.  Robyn ended up solving the conundrum, but Kylie had a comfortable win, 58 to 28.

Ep 189: Daniel Goff, Robyn Lee (September 29, 2016; originally aired April 21, 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.


We have two new contestants tonight, after Tony Loui's successful retirement last night.  First up, taking the champion's position, is Daniel Goff, a retiree who worked in the Texas education system.  Daniel describes himself during that time as a jack-of-all-trades; he worked a lot with creating multiple choice questions (and answers!) for mathematics, reading, writing, science, and social studies.  Quite the range!  Then he also worked with the teachers, teaching them the way that they scored compositions -- they felt like that method of scoring was very educational for the child in learning how to improve.  (I admit that I don't quite follow what he means here; "scoring a composition" sounds like a film or music activity, but he might just be referring to marking an essay.)

Taking up the challenger's position is Robyn Lee, an automotive engineering student.  Another engineer (after Gillian yesterday)!  I hope she got a chance to chat with Gillian during the downtime of the filming.  Richard asks about Robyn's motivation; she responds that she has a big interest in motorsports, particularly Formula 1, which she sees as the pinnacle of automotive technologies -- a blend of technology and sport.  Robyn would love to one day work in a Formula 1 team, engineering racing parts and maybe also being involved in the race weekends themselves.


Robyn started with the better word in round one, then the next three rounds were shared.  A slightly risky option from her in round five brought reward, and then she ran away with the game, scoring thirty unanswered points in the second half.  Daniel had a couple of invalid answers which did not help his cause, including the conundrum at the end where he buzzed in with an eight-letter answer.  Robyn was not able to solve it, but had done more than enough to win, 58 to 21.

Ep 188: Tony Loui, Gillian Stevens (September 28, 2016; originally aired April 20, 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 sixth and final night for Tony, at least until the finals.  He's already guaranteed at least sixth position, while a win would mean at least fourth position; if he wins with 46 points or more then he takes first place on the leaderboard.  But first, there's the pre-game chat to get through.  Richard starts by mentioning that Tony has found a couple of nine-letter words so far, then segues through that to a golfing 'hole in one'.  (At the time, there had been at attempt to refer to nine-letter words as a 'hole in one', but the term did not catch on in the same way that 'full monty' did.)  Tony, it turns out, has scored a hole in one on a par three at a golf course about three years ago.  An impressive achievement!

Standing between Tony and successful retirement is Gillian Stevens, a mechanical engineer.  Richard asks about Gillian's motivation for that career choice, and Gillian responds to general merriment that she thinks it was a boy.  Then, more seriously, she says that her school went on one of those excursions where you can choose your career, and she saw a working model of an internal combustion engine.  It looked interesting, and she thought, "I want to build that".  Richard asks if she has fulfilled that dream; Gillian sighs as she admits that she is not in automotive engineering, but rather works on somewhat larger systems.  She says "marine systems", which I take to mean boats (or ships, if you prefer), or perhaps oil rigs.


The contestants shared the points in the first two letter rounds, then a difficult numbers round gave Tony a chance to take the lead.  His calculation seemed like it would be sound, but apparently he made an error (he did not say what), so the scores remained tied going into the first break.  The points were again shared in round four, but then an invalid answer from Gillian in round five finally separated the contestants.  That seemed to be the catalyst for Tony, as he romped home with good number results and a long word in the last letters round.  Gillian ended up solving the conundrum, but Tony comprehensively won, 52 to 31.

Ep 187: Tony Loui, Mark Povey (September 27, 2016; originally aired April 19, 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 Tony Loui's fifth night, and Richard wheels out the question about strategy.  Tony manages to give more of an answer than most contestants do, which is a nice change.  With the letters, he tries to make the longest he can from the first five or six letters so that he has a four- or five-letter word, then builds from that.  For the numbers, he tries to make it simple by using the biggest number first and get the closest that he can, and then adjust.  That's certainly an approach that I advocate, and it works quite often.

Tonight's challenger is Mark Povey, a storeman who served in the Royal Australian Navy for twenty-one years.  Richard asks about highlights of Mark's career in the navy; Mark does not get very specific, but does mention that he was on the ground for six months doing services with the United Nations in Mogadishu.  Aside from that, just a lot of time spent away from home, and that is when his fondness for crosswords, particularly David's cryptics, blossomed.  He has yet to finish one, but hopes to do so one day.


Things started out poorly for Tony, as he duplicated a letter in the first letters round.  Mark capitalised on that swing by finding a good word in the second round, building a 13 point lead after just two rounds.  But Tony rallied in the numbers, scoring points to narrow the gap to six.  A shared round followed in the letters, then Tony levelled the scores in round five.  The second numbers round was too difficult for both contestants, so they were tied going into the second break.

It looked like we were heading for a nailbiter of a finish, but Tony blew the game wide open by finding a full monty in the last letters game.  Mark was still in with a chance, but the numbers were not cooperative for him and instead Tony extended his lead.  The conundrum also turned out to be too hard for the contestants, so it was round seven that decided it all.  Tony won by 49 points to 21, a winning margin that does not reflect most of the game.

Ep 186: Tony Loui, Steve Simmons (September 26, 2016; originally aired April 18, 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 Tony Loui; a win here will surely put him into the finals.  In the pre-game chat, it is revealed that Tony has a prior interaction with both David and the Macquarie dictionary: About three years ago he entered a weekend cryptic crossword competition in the Sydney Morning Herald.  He describes himself as "lucky enough" to get it right, and then lucky to be drawn out first.  So he won a third edition Macquarie dictionary from solving a David Astle cryptic crossword.

Tonight's challenger is Steve Simmons, an English teacher who teaches Academic English.  That is for international students wishing to study at Australian universities (or other tertiary institutions).  And, huh, that's all the chat we have with Steve -- seems a bit short.


A miserly mix limited both contestants to fives in the first round, but thereafter the words went Tony's way.  Steve was unable to find longer than five (with the exception of one invalid answer); the numbers provided little scope for gain, and Tony was safe going into the last numbers round.  The conundrum ended up being too difficult for both contestants, and Tony finished the victor, 62 to 25.

Weekly summary: Episodes 181 to 185

This week may well have the biggest aggregate difference between myself and David and Lily, starting off with a whopping 30 point gap on Monday.  I struggled with the letters this week, missing several full monties and conundrums.  I ended up averaging 14 fewer points a game, a statistic I hope is not repeated.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Me	65	70	59	93	64
Champion	20	27	25	58	24
Challenger	10	17	52	26	15
David + Lily	95	87	71	97	77
Me (solo)	65	76	59	93	64

Tom won the first two games of the week, then Tony Loui burst onto the scene with three strong games, including the best score by any contestant this series.  If he keeps that performance up then he will easily take the top spot from Tamara.  Greg's only hope of staying in contention is for Tony to lose his next game.

Tamara McMahon	54	64	63	52	54	48	335
Barry Harridge	75	51	45	54	39	59	323
Matthew Thomason	46	64	49	44	52	65	310
Victor Tung	44	29	51	43	47	42	256
Oli Bryant	71	46	60	55	54	32	318
Richard Hartley	56	53	57	42	42	32	282
Jack Dell	59	73	40	50	36		258
Greg Beers	35	59	46	38	33		211

It was a week with many full monties available: David found five of them, and there was an obscure sixth one also on offer.  This might be the highest-scoring week, although Wednesday's set was very parsimonious.  Lily was confronted by one unreachable target this week, but otherwise solved everything.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Full Monties	2	1		2		5
Missed Full Monties					1	1
Tough Numbers						0
Impossible Numbers			1			1

My numbers performance was on part with previous weeks, but my letters work was way down and I missed three conundrums.  Combined with a glut of missed full monties, it's no wonder that my scores were so far behind David and Lily.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Maximums: L	2	2	3	4	2
N	2	3	3	2	3
C	0	1	0	1	0
Invalid: L	1	-	-	-	-

Contestants sorted by average score:

	Total	Games	Average
Tony Loui*	179	3	59.67
Tamara McMahon	335	6	55.83
Barry Harridge	323	6	53.83
Oli Bryant	318	6	53.00
Peter Kougi	52	1	52.00
Matthew Thomason	310	6	51.67
Jack Dell	258	5	51.60
Rohan Long	153	3	51.00
Jason Dunn	102	2	51.00
Colwyn Buckland	51	1	51.00
Brian Morgan	151	3	50.33
Luke Brattoni	149	3	49.67
Mel Cox	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
Jeremy Rosen	95	2	47.50
Richard Hartley	282	6	47.00
Samuel Hastings	186	4	46.50
Daniel Drumm	92	2	46.00
Tom Fooks	133	3	44.33
Jonathan Goodman	44	1	44.00
Victor Tung	256	6	42.67
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
Paula Messer	77	2	38.50
Brett Chaiyawat	188	5	37.60
Janine Huan	37	1	37.00
Had Thomas	37	1	37.00
Aram Kalyanasundaram	36	1	36.00
Luke Warden	72	2	36.00
Pat Sincock	71	2	35.50
David Waddell	71	2	35.50
Damien Chua	35	1	35.00
Ralph Lurie	35	1	35.00
Helen Hewitt	34	1	34.00
Jayden Spudvilas-Powell	34	1	34.00
Michael Bakker	66	2	33.00
Nathan Boadle	33	1	33.00
Alison Crowe	33	1	33.00
Chris Cincotta	32	1	32.00
Everson Kandare	32	1	32.00
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
Howard Smith	62	2	31.00
John Marsiglio	31	1	31.00
Alex Ford	30	1	30.00
Bryce Lawrence	30	1	30.00
Jon Avotins	29	1	29.00
Matt Pitcher	29	1	29.00
Kapil Chauhan	28	1	28.00
Tim Shiel	28	1	28.00
Graham Smith	55	2	27.50
Phillip Gao	27	1	27.00
Anna Gunn	27	1	27.00
David Gunn	27	1	27.00
Glen Chandler	26	1	26.00
Nicky Henderson	24	1	24.00
Preeti Goel	23	1	23.00
Louise Kuchmar	23	1	23.00
Vikas Ahuja	22	1	22.00
Laurence Guttman	21	1	21.00
Richard King	21	1	21.00
Rob Carter	20	1	20.00
Rosemary Stafford	20	1	20.00
Nicky Betts	19	1	19.00
Liam Murphy	18	1	18.00
Basil Theophilos	18	1	18.00
Jenni Bradford	17	1	17.00
Seb Dworkin	17	1	17.00
Frank Rice	15	1	15.00
Vanessa Rule	15	1	15.00
Dane Watkins	15	1	15.00
Dan Boxshall	14	1	14.00
Cathy Henry	14	1	14.00
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
Kym Logan	6	1	6.00

Ep 185: Tony Loui, Laurence Guttman (September 23, 2016; originally aired April 15, 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.


Tony Loui is back for his third night, and Richard refers to Tony as a keen traveller.  Tony states that he loves travelling, and last year was lucky enough to go to the last remaining ancient wonder of the world: The Great Pyramid of Giza.  Richard asks about the wonders of the modern world, and Tony indicates that he has seen four of them already, with the three left to see being the Taj Mahal, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio, and Machu Picchu.

Tonight's challenger is Laurence Guttman, a secondary school teacher who teaches both mathematics and English -- a combination that Richard describes as slightly unusual.  Laurence says that he has always enjoyed English, but has had mixed fortunes in the past with mathematics.  In particular, in his first year of university, when he "possibly wasn't taking things as seriously as [he] should", his father was the lecturer.  That is something that Laurence advises against if anyone else is in a similar situation, which I think is very understandable.  He also advises against then failing the course taught by one's father, which is something that he did.  Oops!


Tony was a little unfortunate to start off with an invalid word in the first round, as the Macquarie did not list the medical term that he found.  But a spate of invalid answers from Laurence (four invalid answers in the following five rounds) gave Tony a comfortable lead, and he was twenty-six points ahead going into the second break.  Tony scored points in the last letters round, ensuring his victory, and although Laurence rallied a little after that it was too late.  Tony gained his third win, 44 to 21.

Ep 184: Tony Loui, Alison Crowe (September 22, 2016; originally aired April 14, 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.


Tony Loui gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and we find out that he took a year off from being a doctor and instead worked as a flight attendant (travelling overseas); he adds that he loves travelling.  Richard asks how Tony found the experience, and Tony agrees with Richard's remark that it was a huge change.  Coping with the effects of flying can be difficult, and it was hard work, but he found it to be thoroughly enjoyable.

Tonight's challenger is Alison Crowe, a physical education student and competitive rower.  In fact, Alison has twice represented Australia in rowing -- she has been in two under-23 teams.  That involved racing overseas, in Germany and the Czech Republic (some details can be found here).  She lists that as probably one of the greatest things she has done so far.


It was a dominant performance from Tony tonight: He started off by finding a full monty, and followed up with an eight-letter word to sprint out to a huge early lead.  He continued to score well with the letters, and the numbers offered little scope for Alison to regain the lost ground.  Tony was a certain victor going into the second break.  He rounded off an excellent game by solving the conundrum quickly, posting a final winning score of 83 to 33.

I was having an even better game than Tony, as it turns out, but then the SBS website became uncooperative, refusing to advance past the end of round five.  I had to give up on it and come back a day or so later; that interruption, I believe, was responsible for my poor performance in round six as I came back to it cold (as it were).  A shame, as I felt in really good form at the time.

Ep 183: Tom Fooks, Tony Loui (September 21, 2016; originally aired April 13, 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 Tom Fooks, and the topic turns to knitting.  Tom says that he is part of a very esteemed club of motorcycle riders who knit.  (Sadly, he does not mean an actual club.)  He mostly knits little toys for cousins and friends and such, but occasionally does other things.  For instance, he has just completed a scarf, which he hopes will help out come winter.

Tonight's challenger is Tony Loui, a medical officer in a regional private hospital.  Tony also works as a hotel doctor in the Sydney CBD, so when a four- or five-star hotel has a guest who is ill, he might get called in to look at them.


The game started out quite closely, with matched scores in the first two letters rounds.  An error from Tony in the first numbers round saw Tom take the lead, but Tony levelled the scores again in the next letters round.  The remaining letters rounds provided no advantage to either contestant, but Tom was just slightly off the pace in the numbers; Tony solved them exactly, giving him a winning lead going into the conundrum.  It turned out to be too hard for everyone, so the game finished 52 to 32 in Tony's favour.

Ep 182: Tom Fooks, Helen Hewitt (September 20, 2016; originally aired April 12, 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.


Tom Fooks is back in the champion's seat tonight, but this time he has a win under his belt.  We find out that Tom rides a motorbike -- he loves the feeling of being on it -- and his favourite place to ride is down the Great Ocean Road.

Tonight's challenger is Helen Hewitt, a primary school teacher and netball umpire.  Helen has been an umpire for some time: She started off playing netball, then after she got older and had a few injuries she still wanted to be involved so she switched to umpiring.  Helen supervises over at Netball Victoria.


Helen fell victim to a phantom letter in the first round, allowing Tom to take an early lead.  A couple of shared rounds followed; then a good find from Helen put her ahead by a single point.  The fifth round was also shared, but then Helen faltered in the second numbers round, missing a relatively easy solution and catapulting Tom back into the lead.  He found an excellent word in round seven to push further ahead, but then he blanked on the last numbers round.  That gave Helen a chance, but she was unable to capitalise on the opportunity; she entered the conundrum behind by eleven points.  Tom solved it quickly in any case, finishing the winner with 55 points to 34.

Ep 181: Tom Fooks, Phillip Gao (September 19, 2016; originally aired April 11, 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.


We have two new contestants tonight, after Victor Tung's successful retirement in the previous episode.  That's somewhat good for me, given that I'm kind of starting anew after a gap.  First up, taking the champion's seat is Tom Fooks, a law student.  Richard notes that Tom is still at the study stage of the process, but asks what areas of law interest Tom the most.  Tom responds that he first got into studying law through working as a judge's associate last year, in the area of industrial relations, and that is something that he is really keen to get back into.  He takes the rosy view that it is helping employers and employees work together for the best possible outcomes.

Taking the challenger's seat is Phillip Gao, an accounting and finance student who is also a part-time auditor.  Richard informs us that Phillip does voluntary work with youth, and Phillip expands on that -- he is a volunteer with Wesley Mission Victoria, in their Kids Under Kanvas program.  (I sigh at the gratuitous misspelling in the program's name.)  That involves going on weekend outings with disabled children, to such places as Luna Park, the AFL sailing, and such.  Phillip finds it a really rewarding program.


Tom took the early lead by finding a seven-pointer in the first round, and was never headed thereafter.  Phillip really struggled on the words, never managing to find longer than five, and the only round where he managed to outpoint Tom was the second numbers round (where again he scored five points).  Tom's better handling of the letters gave him a comfortable margin, and he was safe going into the conundrum.  Neither contestant could solve it, so the game finished with Tom the victor, 46 to 27.

Weekly summary: Episodes 176 to 180

A consistent week for me, with all scores in the low seventies.  Equally consistently, I was not able to match David and Lily -- the closest I came was arguably on Tuesday, where I found a longer word than David but missed solving a numbers round.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Me	71	72	74	75	74
Champion	24	25	37	30	30
Challenger	17	24	10	15	14
David + Lily	76	74	75	76	76
Me (solo)	71	72	74	75	74

Victor beat all comers this week, becoming the second retiring champion in two weeks and pushing Kannan off the leaderboard (Greg holds on by a single point).  Victor's total was a bit low -- the next three people in contention all had higher totals -- but it's wins that count.

Tamara McMahon	54	64	63	52	54	48	335
Barry Harridge	75	51	45	54	39	59	323
Matthew Thomason	46	64	49	44	52	65	310
Victor Tung	44	29	51	43	47	42	256
Oli Bryant	71	46	60	55	54	32	318
Richard Hartley	56	53	57	42	42	32	282
Jack Dell	59	73	40	50	36		258
Greg Beers	35	59	46	38	33		211

No full monties on offer this week; Lily solved all numbers rounds and made it look easy.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Full Monties						0
Missed Full Monties						0
Tough Numbers						0
Impossible Numbers						0

No Wednesday drop for me this week; Monday was my worst performance.  I solved all of the conundrums this time, which helped to keep my scores healthy.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Maximums: L	3	5	4	4	3
N	2	2	3	3	3
C	1	1	1	1	1

Contestants sorted by average score:

	Total	Games	Average
Tamara McMahon	335	6	55.83
Barry Harridge	323	6	53.83
Oli Bryant	318	6	53.00
Peter Kougi	52	1	52.00
Matthew Thomason	310	6	51.67
Jack Dell	258	5	51.60
Rohan Long	153	3	51.00
Jason Dunn	102	2	51.00
Colwyn Buckland	51	1	51.00
Brian Morgan	151	3	50.33
Luke Brattoni	149	3	49.67
Mel Cox	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
Jeremy Rosen	95	2	47.50
Richard Hartley	282	6	47.00
Samuel Hastings	186	4	46.50
Daniel Drumm	92	2	46.00
Jonathan Goodman	44	1	44.00
Victor Tung	256	6	42.67
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
Paula Messer	77	2	38.50
Brett Chaiyawat	188	5	37.60
Janine Huan	37	1	37.00
Had Thomas	37	1	37.00
Aram Kalyanasundaram	36	1	36.00
Luke Warden	72	2	36.00
Pat Sincock	71	2	35.50
David Waddell	71	2	35.50
Damien Chua	35	1	35.00
Ralph Lurie	35	1	35.00
Jayden Spudvilas-Powell	34	1	34.00
Michael Bakker	66	2	33.00
Nathan Boadle	33	1	33.00
Chris Cincotta	32	1	32.00
Everson Kandare	32	1	32.00
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
Howard Smith	62	2	31.00
John Marsiglio	31	1	31.00
Alex Ford	30	1	30.00
Bryce Lawrence	30	1	30.00
Jon Avotins	29	1	29.00
Matt Pitcher	29	1	29.00
Kapil Chauhan	28	1	28.00
Tim Shiel	28	1	28.00
Graham Smith	55	2	27.50
Anna Gunn	27	1	27.00
David Gunn	27	1	27.00
Glen Chandler	26	1	26.00
Nicky Henderson	24	1	24.00
Preeti Goel	23	1	23.00
Louise Kuchmar	23	1	23.00
Vikas Ahuja	22	1	22.00
Richard King	21	1	21.00
Rob Carter	20	1	20.00
Rosemary Stafford	20	1	20.00
Nicky Betts	19	1	19.00
Liam Murphy	18	1	18.00
Basil Theophilos	18	1	18.00
Jenni Bradford	17	1	17.00
Seb Dworkin	17	1	17.00
Frank Rice	15	1	15.00
Vanessa Rule	15	1	15.00
Dane Watkins	15	1	15.00
Dan Boxshall	14	1	14.00
Cathy Henry	14	1	14.00
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
Kym Logan	6	1	6.00

Ep 180: Victor Tung, Dan Boxshall (September 16, 2016; originally aired April 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.

Ep 179: Victor Tung, Jon Avotins (September 15, 2016; originally aired April 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.

Ep 178: Victor Tung, Preeti Goel (September 14, 2016; originally aired April 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.

Just the summary for now, as I'm still very behind.