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 important fourth night for Hugh Davidson, and Richard asks about technique. Specifically, he comments that Hugh's selections have led to some of the most spectacular number play that he thinks has been had on the show (I'm not sure about that, but it has certainly led to some challenging targets), and enquires what Hugh's strategy is. Hugh demurs, saying that 'strategy' is probably the wrong word for it, and that he has been pretty reckless. Also, he is likely to continue being so.
Tonight's challenger is Dave Gray, but not the one that I thought of when I heard the name. This Dave Gray is the head gardener at the historic Vaucluse House in Sydney, and has been for twenty-two years. He adds that he is actually the head gardener for the Historic Houses Trust (they changed their name to Sydney Living Museums in 2013), so he looks after a number of gardeners associated with historic properties throughout Sydney, and even one down in Nowra called Meroogal.
Dave agrees with Richard's next statement that the beautiful gardens are certainly an important part of the historic houses, because they reflect the period of which the house is set. For instance, at Vaucluse House they are trying to encapsulate the 19th century in the garden there.
Richard reminds us that one of Dave's colleagues from Vaucluse House was on the show a while back; that was Susan Bee, back in episode 132.
Dave took the early lead with a good word, but Hugh rallied in the second round to reduce the deficit to a single point. Hugh's usual choice of six small numbers stumped everyone, including Lily, who very unusually had nothing to say. The points were shared in the next round, then Dave chanced an invalid word in round five; that allowed Hugh to take the lead. Dave took it right back again with the numbers, and when he solved the final numbers round also he was safe going into the conundrum. Dave did very well to solve that conundrum quickly, and finished a comfortable winner, 51 to 26.
Showing posts with label Series 3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Series 3. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Ep 208: Hugh Davidson, Amrit Singh (October 25, 2016; originally aired May 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.
Hugh Davidson returns for his third night, and Richard returns to the topic of Hugh's radio work, asking him how many programs he is putting to air at the moment. Hugh responds that he is doing two shows a week at the moment -- a live performance show on Tuesdays, and the piano show on Saturdays. Hugh would love to work in radio in the future, and particularly for one of the national broadcasters like the ABC or SBS.
Facing Hugh tonight is Amrit Singh, an IT professional who describes his greatest achievement as bungee jumping off the Auckland bridge. Richard asks Amrit whether he can describe what it is like to bungee jump. Amrit says that it is a pretty scary experience, and to him personally it was quite fulfilling. The worst moment was when he had to step out and just jump... they counted him down, and that was the scariest part. After that it was great.
Hugh starts out with a pair of seven-letter words, while Amrit is unable to match him. Neither could make headway on the first numbers round, but thereafter it all goes Hugh's way. He picks up points in all the remaining rounds, including the conundrum, and Amrit was only able to get on the scoring board in the last numbers round. It's a very one-sided affair, with Hugh winning 62 to 10.
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.
Hugh Davidson returns for his third night, and Richard returns to the topic of Hugh's radio work, asking him how many programs he is putting to air at the moment. Hugh responds that he is doing two shows a week at the moment -- a live performance show on Tuesdays, and the piano show on Saturdays. Hugh would love to work in radio in the future, and particularly for one of the national broadcasters like the ABC or SBS.
Facing Hugh tonight is Amrit Singh, an IT professional who describes his greatest achievement as bungee jumping off the Auckland bridge. Richard asks Amrit whether he can describe what it is like to bungee jump. Amrit says that it is a pretty scary experience, and to him personally it was quite fulfilling. The worst moment was when he had to step out and just jump... they counted him down, and that was the scariest part. After that it was great.
Hugh starts out with a pair of seven-letter words, while Amrit is unable to match him. Neither could make headway on the first numbers round, but thereafter it all goes Hugh's way. He picks up points in all the remaining rounds, including the conundrum, and Amrit was only able to get on the scoring board in the last numbers round. It's a very one-sided affair, with Hugh winning 62 to 10.
Monday, 28 November 2016
Ep 207: Hugh Davidson, Gabrielle Abel (October 24, 2016; originally aired May 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.
Hugh Davidson gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and we find out that Hugh used to play A-grade competition table tennis in Geelong, back when he was in high school. Richard asks how one trains for table tennis, and Hugh goes bizarrely off on a tanget saying that it's a weird sport that attracts weird people. Did part of the conversation get snipped? That made no sense as a response.
Tonight's challenger is Gabrielle Abel, an award-winning mechanic. Richard asks how that came about, and Gabrielle responds that it was during her apprenticeship (which she entered at what she describes as "quite an older age"). Her employer suggested that she enter for the award, so she did, and she says that it was mostly about being a good ambassador for the trade and the industry. (I'm not sure if this is her downplaying her abilities or not; it originally came across to me that way, but on reflection I am rather less certain of that interpretation.)
Gabrielle's award, incidentally, was the 2006 WA Motor Apprentice of the Year. I can also find a suggestion that she received an RAC Pre-Apprentice of the Year award, although I'm not able to track down more information on that. Earlier this year, She Skills had a post about Gabrielle.
Hugh started off by overreaching, trying an invalid nine in the first round. That gave Gabrielle a good lead, but Hugh won the next two rounds (aided by an invalid answer from Gabrielle to the first numbers round) to take a slender lead into the first break. The contestants shared the points in the following three rounds, and the match had the makings of a close game. But Hugh found the better answer in round seven, and then solved the target in round eight to give him a winning margin going into the conundrum. He did well to solve that, too, winning with 51 points to 22.
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.
Hugh Davidson gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight, and we find out that Hugh used to play A-grade competition table tennis in Geelong, back when he was in high school. Richard asks how one trains for table tennis, and Hugh goes bizarrely off on a tanget saying that it's a weird sport that attracts weird people. Did part of the conversation get snipped? That made no sense as a response.
Tonight's challenger is Gabrielle Abel, an award-winning mechanic. Richard asks how that came about, and Gabrielle responds that it was during her apprenticeship (which she entered at what she describes as "quite an older age"). Her employer suggested that she enter for the award, so she did, and she says that it was mostly about being a good ambassador for the trade and the industry. (I'm not sure if this is her downplaying her abilities or not; it originally came across to me that way, but on reflection I am rather less certain of that interpretation.)
Gabrielle's award, incidentally, was the 2006 WA Motor Apprentice of the Year. I can also find a suggestion that she received an RAC Pre-Apprentice of the Year award, although I'm not able to track down more information on that. Earlier this year, She Skills had a post about Gabrielle.
Hugh started off by overreaching, trying an invalid nine in the first round. That gave Gabrielle a good lead, but Hugh won the next two rounds (aided by an invalid answer from Gabrielle to the first numbers round) to take a slender lead into the first break. The contestants shared the points in the following three rounds, and the match had the makings of a close game. But Hugh found the better answer in round seven, and then solved the target in round eight to give him a winning margin going into the conundrum. He did well to solve that, too, winning with 51 points to 22.
Saturday, 26 November 2016
Ep 206: James Morris, Hugh Davidson (October 23, 2016; originally aired May 16, 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 James Morris, and we hear that he helps out at sports camps, trying to encourage kids under thirteen to get out and run and enjoy playing sport, to get outdoors into the fresh air and try to get fit. It's something that he would like to continue to do when he retires from construction.
Tonight's challenger is Hugh Davidson, a freelance sound recordist who also hosts and produces his own community radio show. That show aired on Radio 3MBS in Melbourne. He mostly plays old recordings of piano music from the '30s, '40s, and '50s.
It's yet another close game tonight, with the contestants finding equal results in the first two letters rounds. James gained a small lead from the first numbers round, but a tough letters round that followed saw Hugh equalise. An invalid word from Hugh let James take the lead once more, then Hugh rallied in the second numbers round to take the lead for the first time in the game. He extended it in the final letters round, only for James to narrow the margin with the numbers. Hugh was very slightly ahead going into the conundrum, but that margin was enough to give him victory as neither was able to solve it, leaving the final scoreline as 32 to 30 in his favour.
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 James Morris, and we hear that he helps out at sports camps, trying to encourage kids under thirteen to get out and run and enjoy playing sport, to get outdoors into the fresh air and try to get fit. It's something that he would like to continue to do when he retires from construction.
Tonight's challenger is Hugh Davidson, a freelance sound recordist who also hosts and produces his own community radio show. That show aired on Radio 3MBS in Melbourne. He mostly plays old recordings of piano music from the '30s, '40s, and '50s.
It's yet another close game tonight, with the contestants finding equal results in the first two letters rounds. James gained a small lead from the first numbers round, but a tough letters round that followed saw Hugh equalise. An invalid word from Hugh let James take the lead once more, then Hugh rallied in the second numbers round to take the lead for the first time in the game. He extended it in the final letters round, only for James to narrow the margin with the numbers. Hugh was very slightly ahead going into the conundrum, but that margin was enough to give him victory as neither was able to solve it, leaving the final scoreline as 32 to 30 in his favour.
Friday, 25 November 2016
Weekly summary: Episodes 201 to 205
I had a fairly shaky restart to the game, finishing ten points behind on the solo totals in an unusual way, missing out on all three numbers rounds. Things picked up thereafter, and I even managed to get a solo win over David and Lily on Thursday. I was not able to play Tuesday's game since SBS did not make it available on their website for some reason.
Andre got to a fifth game before falling to James, who saw out the week with a pair of identical winning scores.
It was an uneventful week, with no full monties on offer and all numbers rounds solved by Lily.
I was consistent on my letters performance this week, dropping only one maximum in each game. The numbers started out somewhat shakily, as I failed to hit any maximum on Monday and still missed one on Wednesday. The week finished strongly as I finally hit my stride on the numbers, and I solved all of the conundrums presented to me.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 62 | 75 | 75 | 74 | |
| Champion | 11 | 27 | 10 | 46 | |
| Challenger | 24 | 17 | 10 | 24 | |
| David + Lily | 72 | 79 | 74 | 76 | |
| Me (solo) | 62 | 75 | 75 | 74 |
Andre got to a fifth game before falling to James, who saw out the week with a pair of identical winning scores.
| Andre Sardone | 42 | 47 | 69 | 51 | 40 | 249 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Morris* | 52 | 52 | 104 | ||||
| Des Mullen | 45 | 45 | |||||
| Tony Moran | 41 | 41 | |||||
| Jenny Lee | 29 | 29 |
It was an uneventful week, with no full monties on offer and all numbers rounds solved by Lily.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Missed Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Tough Numbers | 0 | |||||
| Impossible Numbers | 0 |
I was consistent on my letters performance this week, dropping only one maximum in each game. The numbers started out somewhat shakily, as I failed to hit any maximum on Monday and still missed one on Wednesday. The week finished strongly as I finally hit my stride on the numbers, and I solved all of the conundrums presented to me.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| N | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | |
| C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Morris* | 104 | 2 | 52.00 |
| Andre Sardone | 249 | 5 | 49.80 |
| Des Mullen | 45 | 1 | 45.00 |
| Tony Moran | 41 | 1 | 41.00 |
| Jenny Lee | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
Thursday, 24 November 2016
Ep 205: James Morris, Des Mullen (October 20, 2016; originally aired May 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.
James Morris gets his turn in the champion's seat, after defeating Andre last night. In addition to his sporting prowess, James is also very into playing pool competitively; he says that he is captain of a pub in Melbourne, but I assume he means captain of some pool team associated with that pub. It was his girlfriend who really got him into the game, because she has played pool at the world level. Impressive!
Tonight's challenger is Des Mullen, a musician who played the part of the motorcycle cop in the Australian Village People. They toured around the country for about four years from the late '90s up to around 2002, performing specifically as "the Australian Village People" to avoid legal trouble. They did go to New Zealand once, and were asked to stay hidden as the organisers were trying to pass them off as the real Village People (oh, dear), and apart from the beard there was very little resemblance.
James took the lead with the best answer in the first round, but lost most of it on the first numbers round due to an invalid answer. He managed to extend his lead in round five, but for the most part the contestants found equal results with a series of rounds that did not hold out much potential for swing. Des was behind going into the conundrum but still in with a chance. It ended up proving to be too difficult for both contestants, however, so James held on for the win, 52 to 45.
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 Morris gets his turn in the champion's seat, after defeating Andre last night. In addition to his sporting prowess, James is also very into playing pool competitively; he says that he is captain of a pub in Melbourne, but I assume he means captain of some pool team associated with that pub. It was his girlfriend who really got him into the game, because she has played pool at the world level. Impressive!
Tonight's challenger is Des Mullen, a musician who played the part of the motorcycle cop in the Australian Village People. They toured around the country for about four years from the late '90s up to around 2002, performing specifically as "the Australian Village People" to avoid legal trouble. They did go to New Zealand once, and were asked to stay hidden as the organisers were trying to pass them off as the real Village People (oh, dear), and apart from the beard there was very little resemblance.
James took the lead with the best answer in the first round, but lost most of it on the first numbers round due to an invalid answer. He managed to extend his lead in round five, but for the most part the contestants found equal results with a series of rounds that did not hold out much potential for swing. Des was behind going into the conundrum but still in with a chance. It ended up proving to be too difficult for both contestants, however, so James held on for the win, 52 to 45.
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Ep 204: Andre Sardone, James Morris (October 20, 2016; originally aired May 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.
Andre Sardone is back for his fifth night, and it's time for the usual question about technique. It's always a disappointing question from my point of view, and even worse this time when Andre drops the conversational ball. Richard asks if Andre has developed any techniques, and Andre's response is semantically equivalent to "yes", but without explaining what they are. There's just nowhere to go from there, so we move on to chat with the challenger.
Tonight's challenger is James Morris, a site manager for a construction company. James did a triathlon the previous weekend, and also does mountaineering and a range of other physial pursuits.
It was yet another very close game tonight. In fact, the contestants had equal scores for the first six rounds. It looked like we might well head into the conundrum with scores tied, but James found a longer word in round seven to take a small lead. Andre blanked on the last difficult numbers round, but James found a way to score points there and had suddenly won the game. Neither contestant was able to solve the conundrum, so the scoreline remained 52 to 40 in James' favour.
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.
Andre Sardone is back for his fifth night, and it's time for the usual question about technique. It's always a disappointing question from my point of view, and even worse this time when Andre drops the conversational ball. Richard asks if Andre has developed any techniques, and Andre's response is semantically equivalent to "yes", but without explaining what they are. There's just nowhere to go from there, so we move on to chat with the challenger.
Tonight's challenger is James Morris, a site manager for a construction company. James did a triathlon the previous weekend, and also does mountaineering and a range of other physial pursuits.
It was yet another very close game tonight. In fact, the contestants had equal scores for the first six rounds. It looked like we might well head into the conundrum with scores tied, but James found a longer word in round seven to take a small lead. Andre blanked on the last difficult numbers round, but James found a way to score points there and had suddenly won the game. Neither contestant was able to solve the conundrum, so the scoreline remained 52 to 40 in James' favour.
Ep 203: Andre Sardone, Tony Moran (October 19, 2016; originally aired May 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.
It's the crucial fourth night for Andre. As of writing this, I have not seen the previous episode so I don't know how it went, but consulting the books suggests that his score was a very good 69 points. In the pre-game chat Richard says that it was a nail-biter, so his opponent must also have done well. Then the topic turns to chess, and we find out that Andre is the tournament director of the Bendigo chess club.
Tonight's challenger is Tony Moran, a school principal from Gunnedah, which Richard describes as "the home of the koalas". Tony is more precise, noting that Gunnedah claims to be "the koala capital of the world". They have had koalas in their schoolyard in the past (although not this year because there is construction going on), and often find them in the gum trees in the backyard. Richard asks if there is something particularly attractive to koalas about Gunnedah, to which Tony responds "lots of gum trees".
It was yet another close game for Andre tonight. He scooted out to an early lead in the first two letters rounds, but Tony gained ground back when Andre was not able to make progress on the first numbers round. The contestants matched each other over the next four rounds, then again Tony scored in the numbers while Andre was not able to get anywhere; that tied the scores going into the conundrum. Andre was able to solve that conundrum very quickly, though, giving him the win 51 to 41.
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 Andre. As of writing this, I have not seen the previous episode so I don't know how it went, but consulting the books suggests that his score was a very good 69 points. In the pre-game chat Richard says that it was a nail-biter, so his opponent must also have done well. Then the topic turns to chess, and we find out that Andre is the tournament director of the Bendigo chess club.
Tonight's challenger is Tony Moran, a school principal from Gunnedah, which Richard describes as "the home of the koalas". Tony is more precise, noting that Gunnedah claims to be "the koala capital of the world". They have had koalas in their schoolyard in the past (although not this year because there is construction going on), and often find them in the gum trees in the backyard. Richard asks if there is something particularly attractive to koalas about Gunnedah, to which Tony responds "lots of gum trees".
It was yet another close game for Andre tonight. He scooted out to an early lead in the first two letters rounds, but Tony gained ground back when Andre was not able to make progress on the first numbers round. The contestants matched each other over the next four rounds, then again Tony scored in the numbers while Andre was not able to get anywhere; that tied the scores going into the conundrum. Andre was able to solve that conundrum very quickly, though, giving him the win 51 to 41.
Tuesday, 22 November 2016
Ep 201: Andre Sardone, Jenny Lee (October 17, 2016; originally aired May 9, 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.
Andre Sardone returns for the new series, getting his turn in the champion's seat after the break for the finals. The pre-game talk is pretty much a non-event -- he is asked if he got up to anything creative, and responds that he did. But without giving any useful information, the conversation dies there. Contestants, this is not how to help out the show.
The first challenger for the new series is Jenny Lee, an engineering and science student. Jenny can solve a Rubik's cube, and her fastest time is forty-two seconds. (That's close to the winning time of the first speedcubing championship in 1981, which was thirty-eight seconds, but times have dropped greatly since then and the current record is an impressive 4.74 seconds, set by Mats Valk in 2016.) Richard asks Jenny about the number of possible combinations of a cube, which (unsurprisingly) she does not know offhand but guesses at 1032. That's not really a fair question, but for the record the actual figure is about 4.3*1019.
It ended up being a very close game. Jenny took the early lead when Andre's first word attempt was invalid, but Andre overtook her after the first numbers round. Jenny found her way back to the lead again in round five, only for Andre to once again get back in front due to the numbers. Andre extended his lead in the final numbers round, but the game was still up for grabs going into the conundrum. He ended up solving it first, for a 47 to 29 victory.
I had a disappointing night on the numbers, ending up one off the target each time. But my wordwork was acceptable, and I cruised home comfortably against the contestants.
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.
Andre Sardone returns for the new series, getting his turn in the champion's seat after the break for the finals. The pre-game talk is pretty much a non-event -- he is asked if he got up to anything creative, and responds that he did. But without giving any useful information, the conversation dies there. Contestants, this is not how to help out the show.
The first challenger for the new series is Jenny Lee, an engineering and science student. Jenny can solve a Rubik's cube, and her fastest time is forty-two seconds. (That's close to the winning time of the first speedcubing championship in 1981, which was thirty-eight seconds, but times have dropped greatly since then and the current record is an impressive 4.74 seconds, set by Mats Valk in 2016.) Richard asks Jenny about the number of possible combinations of a cube, which (unsurprisingly) she does not know offhand but guesses at 1032. That's not really a fair question, but for the record the actual figure is about 4.3*1019.
It ended up being a very close game. Jenny took the early lead when Andre's first word attempt was invalid, but Andre overtook her after the first numbers round. Jenny found her way back to the lead again in round five, only for Andre to once again get back in front due to the numbers. Andre extended his lead in the final numbers round, but the game was still up for grabs going into the conundrum. He ended up solving it first, for a 47 to 29 victory.
I had a disappointing night on the numbers, ending up one off the target each time. But my wordwork was acceptable, and I cruised home comfortably against the contestants.
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Ep 293: Shaun Ellis, Patrick Clark (April 1, 2015; originally aired October 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.
Shaun gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight for the last game before the finals start. Richard lets us know that Shaun is a keen poker player. Shaun expands on that by saying he is trying it as a hobby with the hopes of making it into a career one day. Shaun adds that he has had "a million" jobs in his life, and none of them have involved sitting at home in his pyjamas, drinking coffee, and doing maths puzzles all day. Richard points out that -- based on Shaun's previous game -- he does not exactly have a poker face. Shaun laughs and agrees, and responds that that is why he plays poker online.
Tonight's challenger is Patrick Clark, a neuroscience student. Patrick is very interested in the brain and the nervous system and how it all comes together. There's really not much more content than that, I'm afraid -- Patrick is doing that thing of responding to Richard's questions, but not expanding on them of his own accord. That's a common enough habit, but in a situation like this you need to be a bit more expansive.
The contestants started off by sharing a round, and then Shaun was a bit too risky in the second round and Patrick gained a modest lead. Some more shared rounds followed, and then Shaun levelled the scores on a reasonably awkward letters round. Another pair of shared rounds maintained the trend -- there really wasn't much to choose between the contestants -- but Patrick found the better option in the last numbers round to be ahead going into the conundrum. Shaun rallied, though, solving that conundrum in good time to finish victorious, 56 to 53.
I was a bit off my game tonight, and it was reflected in the low maximum count. Fortunately I managed to do enough to see off the contestants, although I was not able to get nearly as far clear as I should have done.
As usual, details after the jump.
Round 1: N T O E S R H E U
I had TONE, STONE, STONER, THRONES / SHORTEN, ENTHUSE, rightly rejected ENTHUSER, and SHOUTER. RENTHOUSE seemed unlikely to be a single word, so that was the best that I managed. After time I noted some other sevens of UNHORSE and TENURES / TUREENS.
It's seven from each contestant, with Patrick finding HUNTERS while Shaun has HORNETS. David has gone one better, finding SOUTHERN for eight. He wished that Shaun had tried a final consonant, as a D would have allowed SHORTENED for nine. I wish that, too, as I'd seen the potential for that (and its anagram DETHRONES)
The other eight is HEREUNTO. The other sevens are SOUTHER, NEUTERS / RETUNES, OUTSEEN, SHUNTER, REHOUSE, THEREON, TONSURE, HETEROS, and ESTRONE (variant spelling of OESTRONE (a certain hormone).
Shaun: HORNETS
Patrick: HUNTERS
Me: SHORTEN
David: SOUTHERN
Scores: 7 apiece
Round 2: S D B C I O A E M
I had BIDS, DISCO, BASIC, BODIES, COMEDIA (variant spelling of KOMEDYA: "a once-popular Philippine dramatic form dealing with the conflict between Christians and Moors in early medieval Europe"), and COMEDIAS. After time I noted some other sevens of AMOEBIC, MEDICOS, and CODEIAS (CODEIA being another name for CODEINE).
Patrick has BODIES for six, while Shaun goes out on a limb, tentatively suggesting COMBIES. Alas for him, COMBI is listed but without a specific plural form, so the plural is inferred to be COMBIS. David has found BODICES for his seven.
So I've got the consolation of outdoing David, although the legitimacy of COMEDIAS is a bit uncertain. I'm counting it, though. *chuckles* COMEDIAS is the only eight, with the remaining seven being AMEBOID (variant spelling of AMOEBOID).
Shaun: [invalid -- COMBIES]
Patrick: BODIES
Me: COMEDIAS
David: BODICES
Scores: Shaun 7, Patrick 7 (13), me 15
Round 3: Target 312 from 25 100 75 4 9 3
Getting close with 3*100 is easy enough, and a tweak got me to the target with 312 = (100 + 4)*3.
Both contestants have solved this, with different methods. Shaun went with 312 = 3*100 + (75/25)*4, while Patrick opted for 312 = 25*9 + 75 + 3*4. Richard jumps in to demonstrate that he has found a tweaked solution; it turns out to be the same one that I listed. Lily has also tweaked, but a different way: 312 = (75 + 3)*4.
Shaun: 312
Patrick: 312
Me: 312
Richard: 312
Lily: 312
Scores: Shaun 17, Patrick 17 (23), me 25
First break: DIME TEAT ("Find the answer and find peace")
Peace is hopefully the result if you MEDITATE.
David's talk is about a few words (or terms) notionally related to insects: 'paparazzo', 'Vespa', 'WASP', and 'carmine'. He also mentions 'vermillion', but points out that its derivation is from worms, not insects.
Round 4: N F D R I A E U G
I had FIND, DRAIN, FRIEND, FIGURED, READING / GRAINED, and was briefly tempted by FRAUDING (not valid) but decided against it. After time I noted FEUDING as another seven.
The contestants have each found seven-letter words; Shaun has READING while Patrick has GRAINED. David has found FEARING and GUNFIRE for his sevens, and points out that FRAUDING is not valid.
There is an eight to be had, though: ARGUFIED (ARGUFY: "to argue or wrangle"). The other sevens are UNFIRED, GAUDIER, FRINGED, GRADINE (variant spelling of GRADIN: "one of a series of steps or seats raised one above another") / DERAIGN ("to dispose troops for (battle)"), URANIDE, REFUGIA (plural of REFUGIUM: "an area where an organism can survive during a period of unfavourable conditions"), and DUNGIER*.
Shaun: READING
Patrick: GRAINED
Me: FIGURED
David: FEARING, GUNFIRE
Best: ARGUFIED
Scores: Shaun 24, Patrick 24 (30), me 32
Round 5: O I E W L T E S P
I had WILE, TOWEL, TOWELS, EPISTLE, and angsted over EPISTOLE (not valid). I knew there was a valid anagram of those letters, but was pretty sure that EPISTOLE was not it. Just after time expired I finally saw it: PETIOLES (PETIOLE: "the stalk by which a leaf is attached to the stem"). I was just a bit too slow, alas.
Patrick has been limited to SPOIL for five, but Shaun gets the points and ties up the scores with his find of TOWELS. David has found EPISTLE, but also PETIOLES.
The other eight is SWEETLIP (also SWEETLIPS, any of various fishes). The other sevens are PETIOLE, PEEWITS, POETISE, and PELITES (PELITE: "any clay rock").
Shaun: TOWELS
Patrick: SPOIL
Me: EPISTLE
David: EPISTLE, PETIOLES
Scores: Shaun 24 (30), Patrick 24 (30), me 39
Round 6: Target 550 from 100 50 25 75 8 1
Patrick chooses the heavyweight mix (which he calls the "dysfunctional family mix"), and I imagine Sam being pleased. Then the target turns out to be divisible by 25 and I imagine Sam being disappointed. Heh. I started off with 550 = (8 + 75/25)*50, then found the simpler 550 = 8*75 - 50.
It comes as little surprise that both contestants have solved this, using the second of the solutions that I did. It was also Lily's solution. However, David pipes up with a solution of his own: 550 = (8 - 75/25)*100 + 50. It's been good to see the hosts getting involved in the numbers tonight.
Shaun: 550
Patrick: 550
Me: 550
Lily: 550
David: 550
Scores: Shaun 34 (40), Patrick 34 (40), me 49
Second break: HAND BEAD ("Helps tame your mane")
Just swap the endings around to find HEADBAND.
Round 7: H F C R O E U T K
I had FORCE, FOURTH, TUCKER, and ROCKET. After time I noted CHOKER as another six, and then finally spotted TOUCHER (amongst other meanings it is a term from lawn bowls) for seven.
The contestants continue to be well matched, each finding sixes. Patrick has TUCKER -- he calls it "a delectable six" -- while Shaun ripostes with TOUCHÉ. David points out the sevens of TOUCHER / RETOUCH, and then the very interesting seven of FUTHORK ("the runic alphabet").
The other sevens are COUTHER and FUTHORC (variant spelling of FUTHORK).
Shaun: TOUCHÉ
Patrick: TUCKER
Me: FOURTH
David: TOUCHER / RETOUCH, FUTHORK
Scores: Shaun 40 (46), Patrick 40 (46), me 55
Round 8: Target 484 from 75 100 25 7 1 4
With the contestant's scores tied, the conundrum is going to matter whatever happens here. But there is still position to be jockeyed for, of course. Patrick tries the balanced mix this time, which has been surprisingly popular recently. I struggled to make anything with this, eventually settling for one away with 483 = 4*100 + 75 + 7 + 1. It took a little while after time before I realised that 121 could be made in another way than 100 + 25 - 4, and so found the solution 484 = (100 + 7*75/25)*4. That turns out to be the only solution.
Shaun is four away with 480; I'll take a wild guess that it was 7*75 - 25 - 100/(4 + 1). But Patrick has managed to get to just two away with 486 = (100 + 1)*4 + 75 + 7. A rare instance of tweaking from a contestant! Lily has found the solution to this round; well done, Lily.
Shaun: 480
Patrick: 486
Me: 483
Lily: 484
Scores: Shaun 40 (46), Patrick 40 (53), me 62
Round 9: QUIT GNATS
With the -ING, QU-, and a probable double T there was little rearrangement left to do to find the answer of SQUATTING. Shaun managed to get there in good time, and so survived a very close game.
Shaun: SQUATTING (3.5s)
Patrick: [no answer]
Me: SQUATTING (1.5s)
Scores: Shaun 40 (56), Patrick 40 (53), me 72
There was very little to choose between the two contestants tonight. A little each way, and the conundrum decided it all. I admit that I was glad to see Shaun win; he has been entertaining to watch. Bad luck to Patrick; it's rare that a contestant scores over fifty points and still loses. Not that I'd know anything about that. *cough*
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.
Shaun gets his turn in the champion's seat tonight for the last game before the finals start. Richard lets us know that Shaun is a keen poker player. Shaun expands on that by saying he is trying it as a hobby with the hopes of making it into a career one day. Shaun adds that he has had "a million" jobs in his life, and none of them have involved sitting at home in his pyjamas, drinking coffee, and doing maths puzzles all day. Richard points out that -- based on Shaun's previous game -- he does not exactly have a poker face. Shaun laughs and agrees, and responds that that is why he plays poker online.
Tonight's challenger is Patrick Clark, a neuroscience student. Patrick is very interested in the brain and the nervous system and how it all comes together. There's really not much more content than that, I'm afraid -- Patrick is doing that thing of responding to Richard's questions, but not expanding on them of his own accord. That's a common enough habit, but in a situation like this you need to be a bit more expansive.
The contestants started off by sharing a round, and then Shaun was a bit too risky in the second round and Patrick gained a modest lead. Some more shared rounds followed, and then Shaun levelled the scores on a reasonably awkward letters round. Another pair of shared rounds maintained the trend -- there really wasn't much to choose between the contestants -- but Patrick found the better option in the last numbers round to be ahead going into the conundrum. Shaun rallied, though, solving that conundrum in good time to finish victorious, 56 to 53.
I was a bit off my game tonight, and it was reflected in the low maximum count. Fortunately I managed to do enough to see off the contestants, although I was not able to get nearly as far clear as I should have done.
As usual, details after the jump.
Round 1: N T O E S R H E U
I had TONE, STONE, STONER, THRONES / SHORTEN, ENTHUSE, rightly rejected ENTHUSER, and SHOUTER. RENTHOUSE seemed unlikely to be a single word, so that was the best that I managed. After time I noted some other sevens of UNHORSE and TENURES / TUREENS.
It's seven from each contestant, with Patrick finding HUNTERS while Shaun has HORNETS. David has gone one better, finding SOUTHERN for eight. He wished that Shaun had tried a final consonant, as a D would have allowed SHORTENED for nine. I wish that, too, as I'd seen the potential for that (and its anagram DETHRONES)
The other eight is HEREUNTO. The other sevens are SOUTHER, NEUTERS / RETUNES, OUTSEEN, SHUNTER, REHOUSE, THEREON, TONSURE, HETEROS, and ESTRONE (variant spelling of OESTRONE (a certain hormone).
Shaun: HORNETS
Patrick: HUNTERS
Me: SHORTEN
David: SOUTHERN
Scores: 7 apiece
Round 2: S D B C I O A E M
I had BIDS, DISCO, BASIC, BODIES, COMEDIA (variant spelling of KOMEDYA: "a once-popular Philippine dramatic form dealing with the conflict between Christians and Moors in early medieval Europe"), and COMEDIAS. After time I noted some other sevens of AMOEBIC, MEDICOS, and CODEIAS (CODEIA being another name for CODEINE).
Patrick has BODIES for six, while Shaun goes out on a limb, tentatively suggesting COMBIES. Alas for him, COMBI is listed but without a specific plural form, so the plural is inferred to be COMBIS. David has found BODICES for his seven.
So I've got the consolation of outdoing David, although the legitimacy of COMEDIAS is a bit uncertain. I'm counting it, though. *chuckles* COMEDIAS is the only eight, with the remaining seven being AMEBOID (variant spelling of AMOEBOID).
Shaun: [invalid -- COMBIES]
Patrick: BODIES
Me: COMEDIAS
David: BODICES
Scores: Shaun 7, Patrick 7 (13), me 15
Round 3: Target 312 from 25 100 75 4 9 3
Getting close with 3*100 is easy enough, and a tweak got me to the target with 312 = (100 + 4)*3.
Both contestants have solved this, with different methods. Shaun went with 312 = 3*100 + (75/25)*4, while Patrick opted for 312 = 25*9 + 75 + 3*4. Richard jumps in to demonstrate that he has found a tweaked solution; it turns out to be the same one that I listed. Lily has also tweaked, but a different way: 312 = (75 + 3)*4.
Shaun: 312
Patrick: 312
Me: 312
Richard: 312
Lily: 312
Scores: Shaun 17, Patrick 17 (23), me 25
First break: DIME TEAT ("Find the answer and find peace")
Peace is hopefully the result if you MEDITATE.
David's talk is about a few words (or terms) notionally related to insects: 'paparazzo', 'Vespa', 'WASP', and 'carmine'. He also mentions 'vermillion', but points out that its derivation is from worms, not insects.
Round 4: N F D R I A E U G
I had FIND, DRAIN, FRIEND, FIGURED, READING / GRAINED, and was briefly tempted by FRAUDING (not valid) but decided against it. After time I noted FEUDING as another seven.
The contestants have each found seven-letter words; Shaun has READING while Patrick has GRAINED. David has found FEARING and GUNFIRE for his sevens, and points out that FRAUDING is not valid.
There is an eight to be had, though: ARGUFIED (ARGUFY: "to argue or wrangle"). The other sevens are UNFIRED, GAUDIER, FRINGED, GRADINE (variant spelling of GRADIN: "one of a series of steps or seats raised one above another") / DERAIGN ("to dispose troops for (battle)"), URANIDE, REFUGIA (plural of REFUGIUM: "an area where an organism can survive during a period of unfavourable conditions"), and DUNGIER*.
Shaun: READING
Patrick: GRAINED
Me: FIGURED
David: FEARING, GUNFIRE
Best: ARGUFIED
Scores: Shaun 24, Patrick 24 (30), me 32
Round 5: O I E W L T E S P
I had WILE, TOWEL, TOWELS, EPISTLE, and angsted over EPISTOLE (not valid). I knew there was a valid anagram of those letters, but was pretty sure that EPISTOLE was not it. Just after time expired I finally saw it: PETIOLES (PETIOLE: "the stalk by which a leaf is attached to the stem"). I was just a bit too slow, alas.
Patrick has been limited to SPOIL for five, but Shaun gets the points and ties up the scores with his find of TOWELS. David has found EPISTLE, but also PETIOLES.
The other eight is SWEETLIP (also SWEETLIPS, any of various fishes). The other sevens are PETIOLE, PEEWITS, POETISE, and PELITES (PELITE: "any clay rock").
Shaun: TOWELS
Patrick: SPOIL
Me: EPISTLE
David: EPISTLE, PETIOLES
Scores: Shaun 24 (30), Patrick 24 (30), me 39
Round 6: Target 550 from 100 50 25 75 8 1
Patrick chooses the heavyweight mix (which he calls the "dysfunctional family mix"), and I imagine Sam being pleased. Then the target turns out to be divisible by 25 and I imagine Sam being disappointed. Heh. I started off with 550 = (8 + 75/25)*50, then found the simpler 550 = 8*75 - 50.
It comes as little surprise that both contestants have solved this, using the second of the solutions that I did. It was also Lily's solution. However, David pipes up with a solution of his own: 550 = (8 - 75/25)*100 + 50. It's been good to see the hosts getting involved in the numbers tonight.
Shaun: 550
Patrick: 550
Me: 550
Lily: 550
David: 550
Scores: Shaun 34 (40), Patrick 34 (40), me 49
Second break: HAND BEAD ("Helps tame your mane")
Just swap the endings around to find HEADBAND.
Round 7: H F C R O E U T K
I had FORCE, FOURTH, TUCKER, and ROCKET. After time I noted CHOKER as another six, and then finally spotted TOUCHER (amongst other meanings it is a term from lawn bowls) for seven.
The contestants continue to be well matched, each finding sixes. Patrick has TUCKER -- he calls it "a delectable six" -- while Shaun ripostes with TOUCHÉ. David points out the sevens of TOUCHER / RETOUCH, and then the very interesting seven of FUTHORK ("the runic alphabet").
The other sevens are COUTHER and FUTHORC (variant spelling of FUTHORK).
Shaun: TOUCHÉ
Patrick: TUCKER
Me: FOURTH
David: TOUCHER / RETOUCH, FUTHORK
Scores: Shaun 40 (46), Patrick 40 (46), me 55
Round 8: Target 484 from 75 100 25 7 1 4
With the contestant's scores tied, the conundrum is going to matter whatever happens here. But there is still position to be jockeyed for, of course. Patrick tries the balanced mix this time, which has been surprisingly popular recently. I struggled to make anything with this, eventually settling for one away with 483 = 4*100 + 75 + 7 + 1. It took a little while after time before I realised that 121 could be made in another way than 100 + 25 - 4, and so found the solution 484 = (100 + 7*75/25)*4. That turns out to be the only solution.
Shaun is four away with 480; I'll take a wild guess that it was 7*75 - 25 - 100/(4 + 1). But Patrick has managed to get to just two away with 486 = (100 + 1)*4 + 75 + 7. A rare instance of tweaking from a contestant! Lily has found the solution to this round; well done, Lily.
Shaun: 480
Patrick: 486
Me: 483
Lily: 484
Scores: Shaun 40 (46), Patrick 40 (53), me 62
Round 9: QUIT GNATS
With the -ING, QU-, and a probable double T there was little rearrangement left to do to find the answer of SQUATTING. Shaun managed to get there in good time, and so survived a very close game.
Shaun: SQUATTING (3.5s)
Patrick: [no answer]
Me: SQUATTING (1.5s)
Scores: Shaun 40 (56), Patrick 40 (53), me 72
There was very little to choose between the two contestants tonight. A little each way, and the conundrum decided it all. I admit that I was glad to see Shaun win; he has been entertaining to watch. Bad luck to Patrick; it's rare that a contestant scores over fifty points and still loses. Not that I'd know anything about that. *cough*
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Ep 292: Deborah Kemper, Shaun Ellis (March 31, 2015; originally aired October 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.
Deborah gets her first turn in the champion's seat, after her victory over Matthew yesterday. Richard reveals that Deborah had a special anniversary recently, and asks her to tell us about it. Apparently, a little while ago (from when the show was filmed) Deborah's 20th wedding anniversary was approaching, and her husband sat her down one day and said that he had been saving money -- where in the world would she like to go? They ended up choosing a twenty-day cruise around the Mediterranean.
Tonight's challenger is Shaun Ellis, an online data producer whose goal is to live and work in New York. Richard asks what the attraction of New York is; Shaun responds that he went there on his honeymoon last year for seven fantastic weeks, and when he came back to Australia he missed some of the things he had become used to: a 24-hour chemist a block away, things open all the time, and $5 cabs across town. He can't wait to get back to that kind of living situation. He told his brother, Cameron, about how great it was; Cameron had fewer ties, and just upped and moved to New York in response. Now he posts on Facebook to tell Shaun what he is up to.
The contestants start out with a shared round, then Shaun took the lead in round two. He then extended it in round four to move clear by more than the conundrum. Deborah was not able to make any headway on that until the last letters round, where Shaun went against his instincts by gambling on a British colloquialism. It was not valid, and that opened the door for Deborah. But Shaun slammed it shut again by finding a good solution to the last numbers round, and was safe going into the conundrum. Neither contestant managed to solve it, and Shaun won through, 43 to 27.
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.
Deborah gets her first turn in the champion's seat, after her victory over Matthew yesterday. Richard reveals that Deborah had a special anniversary recently, and asks her to tell us about it. Apparently, a little while ago (from when the show was filmed) Deborah's 20th wedding anniversary was approaching, and her husband sat her down one day and said that he had been saving money -- where in the world would she like to go? They ended up choosing a twenty-day cruise around the Mediterranean.
Tonight's challenger is Shaun Ellis, an online data producer whose goal is to live and work in New York. Richard asks what the attraction of New York is; Shaun responds that he went there on his honeymoon last year for seven fantastic weeks, and when he came back to Australia he missed some of the things he had become used to: a 24-hour chemist a block away, things open all the time, and $5 cabs across town. He can't wait to get back to that kind of living situation. He told his brother, Cameron, about how great it was; Cameron had fewer ties, and just upped and moved to New York in response. Now he posts on Facebook to tell Shaun what he is up to.
The contestants start out with a shared round, then Shaun took the lead in round two. He then extended it in round four to move clear by more than the conundrum. Deborah was not able to make any headway on that until the last letters round, where Shaun went against his instincts by gambling on a British colloquialism. It was not valid, and that opened the door for Deborah. But Shaun slammed it shut again by finding a good solution to the last numbers round, and was safe going into the conundrum. Neither contestant managed to solve it, and Shaun won through, 43 to 27.
As usual, details after the jump.
Monday, 30 March 2015
Ep 291: Matthew Magain, Deborah Kemper (March 30, 2015; originally aired October 10, 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've got two new contestants today, since Anthony successfully retired on Friday. First up in the champion's position is Matthew Magain, a web and phone application designer. But in addition to that he has written and published a children's book, called Charlie Weatherburn and the Flying Machine. Matthew says that it is based on an Australian mathematician names Charles Weatherburn, who lived in the early 1900s and was "quite a giant" in the fields of vector analysis and differential geometry; the central character in the book was inspired by him.
And in the challenger's seat we have Deborah Kemper, an accountant who plays indoor soccer. Richard asks why indoor rather than outdoor; Deborah explains that her husband and son were playing it, and decided that it was time to get her involved with some sport. She plays defence when she plays.
Points were shared in the first round, and then Matthew took the lead in round two. He extended it further with an excellent find in round five, but that was the last piece of good news for him. Deborah solved both remaining numbers rounds while he did not, and Matthew misheard a letter in the last letters round to end up with an invalid answer. Neither contestant could solve the conundrum, but even if Matthew could have it would not have been enough. Deborah became the new champion with a scoreline of 43 to 32.
As usual, details after the break.
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've got two new contestants today, since Anthony successfully retired on Friday. First up in the champion's position is Matthew Magain, a web and phone application designer. But in addition to that he has written and published a children's book, called Charlie Weatherburn and the Flying Machine. Matthew says that it is based on an Australian mathematician names Charles Weatherburn, who lived in the early 1900s and was "quite a giant" in the fields of vector analysis and differential geometry; the central character in the book was inspired by him.
And in the challenger's seat we have Deborah Kemper, an accountant who plays indoor soccer. Richard asks why indoor rather than outdoor; Deborah explains that her husband and son were playing it, and decided that it was time to get her involved with some sport. She plays defence when she plays.
Points were shared in the first round, and then Matthew took the lead in round two. He extended it further with an excellent find in round five, but that was the last piece of good news for him. Deborah solved both remaining numbers rounds while he did not, and Matthew misheard a letter in the last letters round to end up with an invalid answer. Neither contestant could solve the conundrum, but even if Matthew could have it would not have been enough. Deborah became the new champion with a scoreline of 43 to 32.
As usual, details after the break.
Sunday, 29 March 2015
Weekly summary: Episodes 286 to 290
It was a week of good scoring for me, with all scores above 70 again. There must be something about Mondays, as it was my least-good day and it feels like that has been a trend recently. The second half of the week went quite well, as I managed a tie with David and Lily on Wednesday and Friday. It is possible that I would have done so on Thursday also, as the only difference was a very difficult numbers round that we did not find Lily's answer for.
Anthony obviously dominated the week, winning every game with a score of fifty or more. He had a particularly close game on Thursday but got through it to become a retiring champion. The limited leaderboard looks like this:
Thursday was the eventful day, with two potential full monties (only one of which was found) and an impossible numbers game due to Michael's choice of the rat pack.
I picked up one more maximum in each category than last week, so that's progress of a sort. I wish I were doing a bit better on the numbers, though. Still, I had two maximal games and one game that was only one round short of maximal, so it's going well enough.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 72 | 66 | 69 | 83 | 78 |
| Champion | 45 | 44 | 38 | 25 | 43 |
| Challenger | 27 | 27 | 25 | 20 | 17 |
| David + Lily | 77 | 76 | 79 | 85 | 78 |
| Me (solo) | 72 | 73 | 79 | 83 | 78 |
Anthony obviously dominated the week, winning every game with a score of fifty or more. He had a particularly close game on Thursday but got through it to become a retiring champion. The limited leaderboard looks like this:
| Anthony Kendall | 57 | 51 | 51 | 63 | 50 | 72 | 344 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brydon Coverdale | 43 | 47 | 56 | 61 | 70 | 52 | 329 |
| Paul Breen | 60 | 36 | 31 | 64 | 53 | 36 | 280 |
| Tina Rose | 72 | 46 | 63 | 57 | 29 | 267 | |
| Martin Gabor | 56 | 58 | 52 | 44 | 220 | ||
| Judithe Hall | 62 | 51 | 43 | 156 | |||
| Emily Hawker | 67 | 53 | 29 | 149 | |||
| Anushan Jegatheeswaran | 50 | 47 | 41 | 138 |
Thursday was the eventful day, with two potential full monties (only one of which was found) and an impossible numbers game due to Michael's choice of the rat pack.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Missed Full Monties | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Tough Numbers | 0 | |||||
| Impossible Numbers | 1 | 1 |
I picked up one more maximum in each category than last week, so that's progress of a sort. I wish I were doing a bit better on the numbers, though. Still, I had two maximal games and one game that was only one round short of maximal, so it's going well enough.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| N | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Invalid: L | - | - | - | - | - |
| N | - | - | - | - | - |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Kendall | 344 | 6 | 57.33 |
| Martin Gabor | 220 | 4 | 55.00 |
| Brydon Coverdale | 329 | 6 | 54.83 |
| Tina Rose | 267 | 5 | 53.40 |
| Judithe Hall | 156 | 3 | 52.00 |
| Emily Hawker | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Michael Stone | 49 | 1 | 49.00 |
| Niall Donohue | 48 | 1 | 48.00 |
| Billy Browne | 47 | 1 | 47.00 |
| Paul Breen | 280 | 6 | 46.67 |
| Anushan Jegatheeswaran | 138 | 3 | 46.00 |
| Sasha Quilty | 45 | 1 | 45.00 |
| Rebecca Skovron | 89 | 2 | 44.50 |
| Glenn Pile | 43 | 1 | 43.00 |
| Kim Butcher | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Brad Tucker | 41 | 1 | 41.00 |
| Angela Miezis | 80 | 2 | 40.00 |
| Daniel McNamara | 40 | 1 | 40.00 |
| Scott Ingram | 78 | 2 | 39.00 |
| Jodi-Ann Menzies | 77 | 2 | 38.50 |
| Shyam Subramaniam | 72 | 2 | 36.00 |
| Sneha Pereira | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| Surya Raviganesh | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| Geoff Walker | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| Kathryn Bickerton | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Miles Tilly | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Samantha McLaine | 65 | 2 | 32.50 |
| Cathy Bickerton | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Ajanthan Jegatheeswaran | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Kim Butcher | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| David Lowden | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Emma Watson | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Karen Barber | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Johanna Riley | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Cormac Murtagh | 58 | 2 | 29.00 |
| Jonathan Prout | 29 | 1 | 29.00 |
| Matthew Matten | 28 | 1 | 28.00 |
| Michael Lithgow | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Barry Cook | 26 | 1 | 26.00 |
| Tim Hoffman | 26 | 1 | 26.00 |
| Cameron Begley | 51 | 2 | 25.50 |
| Denver Quadros | 16 | 1 | 16.00 |
Friday, 27 March 2015
Ep 290: Anthony Kendall, Jonathan Prout (March 27, 2015; originally aired October 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.
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.
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.
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.
Weekly summary: Episodes 281 to 285
Starting off the week with a few monties kept my scores high; a poor set of numbers results meant that Wednesday's results were not quite as good as they could have been. I once again finished the week on a strong note, as it was only my overreach for another full monty that stopped me tying with David and Lily.
Tina had a good run in the early part of the week, but finally went down to Samantha on Thursday. Tina's scoring was erratic -- spread moderately evenly between 29 and 72 -- but she got to the important fifth game and maintained a good average. Samantha was defeated by Anthony on Friday, so once again Friday produces a turnover. The limited leaderboard looks like this:
There was a full monty available on each of the first three days of the week, but that was it as far as interesting features went. David's hopes were briefly raised, only to be dashed on Thursday.
I had a very good week with the letters maximums, and it would have been even better if I had not tried for the full monty on Friday The numbers results in the middle of the week were a little disappointing, however. I did manage to get four of the five conundrums, though, so that's a pleasing outcome.
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me | 88 | 78 | 79 | 63 | 70 |
| Champion | 16 | 20 | 28 | 10 | 14 |
| Challenger | 10 | 0 | 12 | 7 | 35 |
| David + Lily | 89 | 88 | 86 | 76 | 78 |
| Me (solo) | 88 | 85 | 79 | 63 | 70 |
Tina had a good run in the early part of the week, but finally went down to Samantha on Thursday. Tina's scoring was erratic -- spread moderately evenly between 29 and 72 -- but she got to the important fifth game and maintained a good average. Samantha was defeated by Anthony on Friday, so once again Friday produces a turnover. The limited leaderboard looks like this:
| Brydon Coverdale | 43 | 47 | 56 | 61 | 70 | 52 | 329 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Breen | 60 | 36 | 31 | 64 | 53 | 36 | 280 |
| Tina Rose | 72 | 46 | 63 | 57 | 29 | 267 | |
| Martin Gabor | 56 | 58 | 52 | 44 | 220 | ||
| Judithe Hall | 62 | 51 | 43 | 156 | |||
| Emily Hawker | 67 | 53 | 29 | 149 | |||
| Anushan Jegatheeswaran | 50 | 47 | 41 | 138 | |||
| Rachel Furness | 35 | 54 | 40 | 129 |
There was a full monty available on each of the first three days of the week, but that was it as far as interesting features went. David's hopes were briefly raised, only to be dashed on Thursday.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Monties | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Missed Full Monties | 0 | |||||
| Tough Numbers | 0 | |||||
| Impossible Numbers | 0 |
I had a very good week with the letters maximums, and it would have been even better if I had not tried for the full monty on Friday The numbers results in the middle of the week were a little disappointing, however. I did manage to get four of the five conundrums, though, so that's a pleasing outcome.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximums: L | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| N | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| C | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 |
| Invalid: L | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| N | - | - | - | - | - |
Contestants sorted by average score:
| Total | Games | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Kendall* | 57 | 1 | 57.00 |
| Martin Gabor | 220 | 4 | 55.00 |
| Brydon Coverdale | 329 | 6 | 54.83 |
| Tina Rose | 267 | 5 | 53.40 |
| Judithe Hall | 156 | 3 | 52.00 |
| Emily Hawker | 149 | 3 | 49.67 |
| Niall Donohue | 48 | 1 | 48.00 |
| Billy Browne | 47 | 1 | 47.00 |
| Paul Breen | 280 | 6 | 46.67 |
| Anushan Jegatheeswaran | 138 | 3 | 46.00 |
| Sasha Quilty | 45 | 1 | 45.00 |
| Rebecca Skovron | 89 | 2 | 44.50 |
| Rachel Furness | 129 | 3 | 43.00 |
| Brad Tucker | 41 | 1 | 41.00 |
| Angela Miezis | 80 | 2 | 40.00 |
| Daniel McNamara | 40 | 1 | 40.00 |
| Scott Ingram | 78 | 2 | 39.00 |
| Jodi-Ann Menzies | 77 | 2 | 38.50 |
| Shyam Subramaniam | 72 | 2 | 36.00 |
| Sneha Pereira | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| Surya Raviganesh | 36 | 1 | 36.00 |
| Geoff Walker | 71 | 2 | 35.50 |
| Kathryn Bickerton | 34 | 1 | 34.00 |
| Miles Tilly | 33 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Samantha McLaine | 65 | 2 | 32.50 |
| Ajanthan Jegatheeswaran | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
| Kim Butcher | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Emma Watson | 31 | 1 | 31.00 |
| Karen Barber | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Johanna Riley | 30 | 1 | 30.00 |
| Cormac Murtagh | 58 | 2 | 29.00 |
| Matthew Matten | 28 | 1 | 28.00 |
| Michael Lithgow | 27 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Barry Cook | 26 | 1 | 26.00 |
| Tim Hoffman | 26 | 1 | 26.00 |
| Cameron Begley | 51 | 2 | 25.50 |
| Denver Quadros | 16 | 1 | 16.00 |
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.
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